Olive Garden Italian Restaurant – Oshkosh

The wine list arrives laminated inside the menu, sandwiched between the Never Ending Pasta and the dessert section — which tells you everything you need to know about its priority level here. It's a corporate-approved 20-something-wine roster that reads like a grocery store endcap: recognizable names, zero ambition, nothing to linger over. You're not here for the wine, and frankly, Olive Garden isn't either.

The list splits predictably between Italian-ish bottles — Cavit Pinot Grigio, Rocca delle Macie Chianti Classico, a house Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, Prosecco — and a California roll call of Meiomi Pinot Noir, Beringer Merlot, Robert Mondavi Private Selection Cabernet, Apothic Red, and Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay. The Italian selections at least gesture toward the cuisine; the Chianti Classico from Rocca delle Macie is a legitimate producer that doesn't embarrass itself. But the broader list leans hard on brands that dominate mid-tier supermarket shelves, and there's no depth, no discovery, and no regional curiosity beyond the house red's Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC roots. Gaps are wide: no Barbera, no Vermentino, no Nero d'Avola — nothing that might make an Italian food restaurant feel like it actually cared about Italian wine.

There are roughly 12-16 options by the glass, running $7.50–$10.50, which sounds reasonable until you realize bottles are marked up 150–200% over retail and the pours are sized accordingly for a chain operation. The sweet-leaning options — Moscato Primo Amore, Sweet Pink Moscato Confetti, Roscato Rosso Dolce, White Zinfandel Sutter Home — dominate the by-the-glass count and signal exactly who this program was designed for. Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling represents the one glass option that could actually hold its own at a dinner table.