Disease Proof

Fazoli's? Actually, this place should be called Faux-zoli’s because the menu is loaded with faux-talian food. Yup, you guessed it, loads of cheese, meat, and rich sauces. Yum! Get ready for a heaping helping of standard American food—or should I say—standard American “Italian” food.

I grew up eating a lot of Italian food and I can tell you, IT’S NOT ALL PIZZA AND PASTA! For example, my mother grew up in Italy and she’ll tell you, “We mostly ate vegetables with some pasta. Meat was special. We maybe had it once a week and it was usually fish.” So when I read “Fazoli’s serves premium quality Italian food” and all I see on the menu is pepperoni, hearty meat sauces, Caesar salad, and Italian Ice—my head nearly exploded! But despite this mounting pressure in my cranium, I’ll soldier on. So here’s what I would order if someone hit me over the head, threw me into a car, and dumped me off at Fazoli’s.

Okay concession number one—oops, I mean the first menu item I’d order is The Grilled Chicken Panini. And right away I see problems. The panini, it's bread, probably white bread and loaded with olive oil. I’ll stick with it, but it’s a decent-sized concession. Okay, clearly I’m ditching the provolone—I don’t do dairy. Now I’m cool with the chicken, but that would be my meat allotment for the week. Also I’d limit the Lite Italian dressing that comes with it, I have my suspicious as to how “lite” it really is. Hey, on the up side it comes with lettuce and tomato—the standard American source of phytonutrients.

My next two menu selections are pasta dishes. Okay, so I’m already admitting to that concession—hopefully I can run a tight ship from here on out. Fazoli’s gives you an option to make your own pasta dish and they have a couple decent selections to choose from. Personally, I’m going with the Whole Wheat Penne topped with Broccoli. Of course I’d ask if the chef could refrain from drowning it with olive oil. Maybe you could get the olive oil on the side or just season with garlic powder. Fazoli’s also sells pizza, so surely there’s got to be a garlic shaker somewhere. The Minestrone also looks good, but if you check the menu’s nutrition facts, you’ll see it pretty salty. So ordering it entails a pasta and salt concession. It’s a tough sell either way.

Finally—and this shouldn’t surprise anyone—the last item I’d order is a salad. Actually, Fazoli’s offers up six salads, all but two are loaded with standard American salad ruiners; ham, salami, pasta, cheese, and croutons. The Garden Side Salad is probably the best option it’s touted as, “The perfect size with mixed greens and grape tomatoes.” I’d ask the waiter about getting this dinner-sized. The Grilled Chicken salad would also work. It appears to be the same thing as the side salad, but with a piece of chicken on top—how creative. In the end both these options are pretty safe, provided you go easy on the dressing.

If you weren’t able to tell, my level of enthusiasm for Fazoli’s was pretty much nonexistent. Very lame food, drawing from the lowest common denominator of Italian cuisine, not very  nutritious, and very unappealing. To be frank, I wouldn’t eat at Fazoli’s. In fact, I’ll repeat what I told a commenter last week when she asked me to take a look at this abomination called the Heart Attack Grill, “If I was in a car headed to this place, I'd hit the driver in the head with my shoe.” Yeah, that just about sums it up.

Oh, and you know the drill, we want your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out Fazoli's menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

You clearly have no clue about Fazoli's. It's a pity you didn't bother to even set foot in the restaurant before writing your review. You wrote about waiters and cooks and making special orders, but Fazoli's is a fast food joint. You file in, order at a counter, and they bring your food to your table. There is no waiter, and I doubt anything's custom cooked for a customer's individual preference. Your "review" reads like someone who goes to the McDonald's drive-through and then complains that the sommelier wasn't adequately educated in the subtleties of this year's Spanish moscat crop.

If your "Eating to Live on the Outside" is supposed to provide real value to those of us who are trying to eat healthy in the real world, don't waste our time (and your own) discussing restaurants that obviously aren't even in the ballpark. It doesn't take a rocket scientist (or a nutrition expert) to figure out that a fast food pasta place isn't the place to go if you're trying to stick to the Eat to Live diet.

Todd-

I think you’re really missing the point of this series. Most of the restaurants I review probably aren’t on an Eat to Liver’s radar—they’re certainly not on mine. But if I just said Fazoli’s…don’t eat there, it would be boring. The whole idea of the series is to see what an Eat to Liver might eat if you HAD to eat there. The point I’m trying to prove is just how hard it is to eat healthy at many of the restaurants that populate our country. Relax at little, you’ve got to take these investigations with a grain a salt—I do.

-Gerry

Everyone who reads this blog already knows that it's hard to eat healthy at many restaurants. There's no need to preach to the choir! What would really be helpful is insightful information about how to follow the Eat to Live program outside the home.

Todd-

Breath; inhale...exhale, inhale...exhale.

LOL

-Gerry

How about tomato sauce on the pasta with whatever vegetables they have (tomato primavera) and vinegar on the salad (oil and vinegar, but don't actually use the oil). That's what I do when I have to eat "Italian" food when traveling.

Nice idea Sara, but if Fazoli's is very fast-food-like, I wonder if you'll be able to get that creative.

Have you ever been in a Fazoli's. I have worked at the Fazolis for 7 1/2 years and i can tell you that most of what you said just isnt accurate. It is very easy to eat healthy at Fazolis. There are many meals that are advertised as under 5 grams of fat. We don't use Olive oil on anything, not even the Grilled Chicken salad. Also, we are always willing to special order anything you want. If you want no dressing or mayo on your sandwich we can do that or if you want extra sauce or a different kind of sauce...we can do that too. The lite Italian dress is lite compared to our regular Italian dressing. If you ask you can get a nutrition guide.

I am glad that I am not the only one that found these comments a little hard to swallow.

In your response to Todd, you mention taking this investigation with a grain of salt. How can you call it an investigation without actually going to the restaurant to see what is actually available? Don't you think that it might have been fair to mention the portion of the menu dedicated to entrees that have 8 grams of fat or less?

Seems a little irresponsible to pass off your totally inaccurate 'opinion' without conducting a thorough investigation.

Jeez, humorless much? People, it's not a taxpayer-financed research project or criminal investigation - it's a blog post which aims to help people make wiser choices when forced to eat in certain restaurants.

Fazoli's doesnt even use "olive oil". The comment that you made about the chicken panani, and the whole wheat penne isnt accurate... no such thing. There is NO OLIVE OIL in a Fazoli's restaraunt..thats like looking for A1 sauce @ a Steak n Shake. I think their catchy little commercial says it all, "fresh, fast, italian" Fresh it is. They prep their menu items daily. Salads are made to order. The cooking process for the pasta, is just perhaps as if you made it @ home. Cooked in boiling water, with some salt for 8-12 minutes. Then covered w/ some vegetable oil, *not olive oil* the vegetable oil is actually cooked off, because they submerge the pasta in boiling water to heat it, when you order. all orders are made to order.Comment about the minestrone soup, all soups are loaded w/ sodium, read the back of the soup cans. Now, your comment about your meat allotment for the week, the chicken panani only has 2 1/2 oz of chicken on it, so if thats your meat allotment for the week... *shruggs* There are plenty of "meatless" menu items. They do serve Alf Sauce and a Marinara Sauce. Perhaps next week we'll read about how you have compared a McDonalds burger to that of a Ruby Tuesday's burger. Good Day.