The Verdict

By Avery Slavin

News Editor

By Andrea Zereski

Staff Writer

We went to Olive Garden this past weekend for their famous never-ending pasta, and it was… underwhelming, to say the least. 

The deal, including the breadsticks and the soup or salad, may be worth it for the price, but not for the experience. 

The soup is in a big bowl. The salad is in a bigger bowl. You’re already half-full by the time the first course of pasta comes to the table. 

The first bowl is served in the same-sized dish as a regular entree, which is quite filling on its own. 

Three out of five of us got the never-ending pasta, but only one got a second bowl - and it was left pretty much untouched. 

Here’s where they get you - if you’re lucky enough to get to a second bowl, it comes in a significantly smaller portion. 

At that point, just make each bowl the same size. Why market the promotion as a way to try a bunch of combinations if a majority of guests can only eat one bowl? 

We all brought our meals home and were unable to really achieve the never-ending experience.

They label the options as extensive so you can try everything, but you must choose wisely because it is rare to get past the first bowl. 

Obviously, there are people who may have bigger appetites than us, but regardless, everyone deserves that experience. 

If they all came in small bowls, we would’ve at least made it to two or three different combinations of pasta shapes and sauces. 

We realized there’s a strategy to this, thanks to our friend who actually works there - avoid heavier pastas, like fettuccine, and stick to a less creamy sauce, like marinara. 

You should drink water so it fills you up less than other drinks, and try to avoid the breadsticks, the soup, and the salad as much as possible, which we did not have the self-control to do. 

Even attempting said strategy, we truly underestimated the size of the first bowl, and that was our downfall. 

However, after some social media research, we realized that this downfall was shared among many others across the country. 

The average person typically will only enjoy one bowl, sometimes not even finishing it. 

From videos we’ve seen, there is a shared conversation about Olive Garden’s seemingly too good to be true deal - it’s actually… not that great of a deal. 

Price-wise, yes. The starting price of the never-ending pasta is cheaper than it would be to get a normal entree. 

It’s $15.99 each for the deal, while the regular entrees our friends got were around $21. 

After adding protein to the never-ending pasta deal, it comes out to about the same price as the normal entree. 

The quality of the food was fine. It was a very average Olive Garden experience in that sense. 

But, as two roommates who love saving money, our general consensus from this trip is if restaurants are going to have deals and promotions like this, they should make them worth it.

The whole point of a deal is to get your bang for your buck - and we feel like we didn’t. 

We know things aren’t and can’t be as cheap as they might’ve been in the past, but in that case, don’t market it as a steal when for most, it’s simply not. 

It would be a better deal if each bowl were less than one serving, so even people with smaller appetites can get at least two bowls. 

Overall, this did not deter us from Olive Garden in general - they just need to make some adjustments to the deal. 

Our verdict: Go on an empty stomach, but you probably shouldn’t expect the pasta to never end.