Dr. Gourmet's Food Reviews

Michelina’s Authentico Garlic Tuscan-Inspired Chicken

I have looked at Michelina's in the freezer case for some time. With all the other choices out there we just haven't gotten around to reviewing them. There is something about the packaging that on the one hand is more environmentally friendly, but it makes them look cheap. There's no traditional box with the little plastic tray inside. The tray is cardboard as is the top. You simply peel back the cover and pop the whole thing in the microwave.

We tested three. Two came from their Authentico line and one from the Lean Gourmet brand. All three were quite simply terrible. Just plain awful.

We started with the Penne with Chicken. This is a tray filled with mini penne, a non-descript white sauce and small squares of white meat chicken. The penne is bland, gummy and tasteless. The sauce is the same. The chicken are little bullets of overcooked chicken breast.

Sometimes a company has redeemed themselves as we have moved on with tasting their other productes. I held out hope for the Garlic Tuscan-Inspired Chicken but this is just as bad as the Penne. Same pasta, same sauce, same chicken but a bit of tasteless veggies tossed in with waaaay too much parsley. And garlic? None. Anywhere at all. No flavor of garlic at all.

It gets worse. Waaaay worse. The Lean Gourmet Creamy Parmesan Chicken is the worst frozen meal we have ever reviewed. There a three little slabs of tough, chewy chicken that taste awful and a thin white sauce that has no flavor whatsoever. None. Hard to believe but it has no taste at all. Tossed in the tray are the remnants of what seems like leftover veggies. This is bad, bad, bad.

There's no reason to even give you the numbers on these (even though the numbers were not all that bad). Don't buy them.