Olive Garden’s Never Ending Pasta Bowl is a popular promotional offer that allows customers to enjoy unlimited servings of pasta, homemade sauces, and toppings. This affordable deal has become a staple menu item at Olive Garden restaurants across the United States.
What is Included in the Never Ending Pasta Bowl Offer?
The Never Ending Pasta Bowl offer includes unlimited refills of pasta and homemade sauces. Customers can choose from six different pasta shapes: fettuccine, spaghetti, rigatoni, angel hair, bowtie, or gluten-free rotini. Toppings like Italian sausages, meatballs, grilled chicken, and shrimp fritta are also included in the deal.
The sauces available with the Never Ending Pasta Bowl include Olive Garden’s classic marinara, meat sauce, and alfredo. Customers can switch between different sauces and pastas for each refill during their meal.
The deal also comes with unlimited salad and breadsticks. Olive Garden’s famous house salad is served with a choice of dressing, and warm, fresh breadsticks are continuously brought to the table.
What is the Price of the Never Ending Pasta Bowl?
The Never Ending Pasta Bowl starts at $10.99 per person. This includes unlimited pasta, sauces, salad, breadsticks, and toppings like meatballs. There is an option to add grilled chicken for $2 or shrimp for $4.
Given the quantity of food provided, this affordable pricing makes the Never Ending Pasta Bowl an excellent value. Being able to enjoy freshly made pasta, sauces, salad, and breadsticks for about $11 per person is a great deal.
Olive Garden occasionally offers promotions that discount the Never Ending Pasta Bowl even further. For example, during the “Never Ending Pasta Pass” promotion, the pasta bowl is offered for just $9.99 per person.
Are There Any Restrictions?
Yes, there are some restrictions in place for Olive Garden’s Never Ending Pasta Bowl offer:
- No to-go boxes are allowed – pasta and sauces are only unlimited while dining in the restaurant.
- Leftovers cannot be taken home.
- Sharing an entree between multiple guests is not allowed.
- Only full portions are included, half-portions of the Never Ending Pasta Bowl are not available.
- Unlimited refills are limited to the duration of a single meal – they cannot be spread over multiple meals or days.
These restrictions help ensure that customers do not abuse the Never Ending Pasta Bowl deal. Overall, they are quite reasonable given the low pricing and quantity of food included.
What Hours is the Never Ending Pasta Bowl Available?
The hours of availability for the Never Ending Pasta Bowl deal vary by location. Most Olive Garden restaurants start offering it as early as 11AM. It is then available through dinner service until closing time.
Some locations end the Never Ending Pasta Bowl deal earlier in the evening, around 8 or 9PM. Be sure to check with your local Olive Garden for exact start and end times.
The Never Ending Pasta Bowl offer is generally available all day throughout the week. Participating restaurants do not limit it to only lunch or dinner.
How Long Has Olive Garden Offered the Never Ending Pasta Bowl?
Olive Garden first introduced the Never Ending Pasta Bowl promotion in 1995. It started as a limited-time offer but quickly became so popular that Olive Garden made it a permanent menu item.
For over 25 years now, the Never Ending Pasta Bowl has been a customer favorite thanks to its variety, flexibility, and affordability. Its consistent popularity demonstrates how it provides excellent value to Olive Garden diners.
Does the Never Ending Pasta Bowl Change Seasonally?
Yes, Olive Garden updates the Never Ending Pasta Bowl selection seasonally. While the core pasta shapes and sauces remain available year-round, special limited-time offerings are added in with each new season.
For example, during the spring season, Olive Garden adds menu items like Asiago Tortelloni Alfredo and Shrimp Primavera. Roasted Garlic Chicken Alfredo and Pumpkin Spice Ravioli are popular fall additions.
These seasonal offerings provide some variety for regular customers. Olive Garden also sometimes brings back popular limited-time pasta bowl offerings from previous years based on customer feedback and requests.
Does the Never Ending Pasta Bowl Come with Dessert?
Unfortunately, Olive Garden’s Never Ending Pasta Bowl does not automatically come with dessert. However, you can always order dessert separately or upgrade your meal to include it.
Some delicious desserts that pair nicely with the pasta include:
- Tiramisu – Layers of coffee-soaked cake and sweet mascarpone cream
- Black Tie Mousse Cake – Chocolate and vanilla mousse cake
- Zeppoli – Fried dough balls tossed in powdered sugar
- Dolcini – Mini rainbow cookie bites
If you want to enjoy one of Olive Garden’s signature Italian desserts, simply order it along with the Never Ending Pasta Bowl. Doing so will complete your meal on the perfect sweet note.
Does the Never Ending Pasta Bowl Appeal to Vegetarians?
Yes, Olive Garden designed the Never Ending Pasta Bowl to appeal to both meat-eaters and vegetarians alike. There are several excellent meatless and even vegan options.
All of the basic pasta shapes offered with the deal are vegan and vegetarian-friendly. The marinara and alfredo sauces are also vegetarian. For a vegan option, customers can request olive oil instead of alfredo.
In terms of toppings, the grilled veggies, roasted mushrooms, and crispy spinach fritters make tasty plant-based add-ons. The five cheese marinara provides lots of cheesy richness without any meat.
Olive Garden also indicates certain seasonal vegetarian Never Ending Pasta Bowls on the menu, like the Asiago Tortelloni Alfredo. Overall, there are plenty of ways for vegetarian diners to enjoy this popular promotion.
Does the Never Ending Pasta Bowl Appeal to Gluten-Free Diners?
For gluten-free guests, Olive Garden offers gluten-free rotini pasta as one of the Never Ending Pasta Bowl options. This allows gluten-sensitive customers to still enjoy unlimited refills.
Olive Garden states that several of their sauces, including the marinara, meat sauce, and alfredo, are gluten-free. Their salad dressings and breadsticks are not gluten-free, however meatballs and grilled chicken can be added as gluten-free toppings.
Some locations may have additional gluten-free substitutions not listed on the national menu. People with celiac disease or gluten intolerance are encouraged to ask their server for the most up-to-date gluten-free options.
Does Olive Garden Ever Run Out of Pasta Bowls?
It is very rare for an Olive Garden restaurant to completely run out of pasta bowls, even on their busiest days. The Never Ending Pasta Bowl is their most popular promotion, so they prepare large quantities of pastas, sauces, and toppings.
If a location does happen to run low on a certain pasta shape or sauce, they will let customers know and offer substitutes. For example, fettuccine may be swapped for spaghetti. Meat sauce can be replaced with marinara.
Olive Garden trains its staff to keep up with pasta bowl demand and ensure every customer can get timely refills. So while shortages can happen in extreme cases, it is unlikely that the pasta bowl “well” will ever fully run dry.
Do Leftovers Make Good Take-Home Meals?
Since Olive Garden’s Never Ending Pasta Bowl does not allow take-home boxes, there are no leftovers. Many customers wish they could take the extra pasta home since the bowls provide generous portions.
If you are looking to recreate the tasty take-home meals the pasta bowl could provide, the good news is that Olive Garden’s sauces and pastas are available for purchase. You can make large batches at home using store-bought pasta and jars of alfredo or marinara.
Freezing any extras lets you continue enjoying Olive Garden-inspired meals. When reheated, pasta bakes, casseroles, and soups with these sauces make quick, delicious dinners.
Does the Never Ending Pasta Bowl Offer Good Value?
The Never Ending Pasta Bowl offers exceptional value for Olive Garden patrons. A typical entree at Olive Garden costs $12 – $20. Considering the pasta bowl deal starts at $10.99 and includes unlimited food, it is a true bargain.
Being able to enjoy salad, breadsticks, and bottomless homemade pastas for around $11 per adult diner makes this one of the most budget-friendly ways to dine at Olive Garden.
Families find great value in the pasta bowl deal since parents and kids can enjoy filling Italian meals without breaking the bank. For hearty all-you-can-eat appetites, the Never Ending Pasta Bowl is very generously priced.
Conclusion
In summary, Olive Garden’s Never Ending Pasta Bowl provides an indulgent Italian food experience for an affordable fixed price. With unlimited pasta, sauce, salad, and breadsticks starting at $10.99 per person, it offers an unbeatable value.
Its continuous popularity over 25+ years demonstrates how beloved this promotion is by Olive Garden’s customers. While restrictions apply to ensure reasonable use, the Never Ending Pasta Bowl allows diners to satisfy their appetites with freshly prepared, homemade cuisine.
Olive Garden keeps the menu exciting by adding seasonal offerings but also keeps the classic pastas and sauces in rotation year-round. There are plenty of vegetarian and gluten-free options as well. All in all, this deal satisfies unlimited pasta cravings in a flexible, budget-friendly way.