Olive Garden never ending pasta pass - 7 wks all you can eat $100

[IndyColtsFan]

Few Americans have an accurate concept of what real Italian food is.
It's not about drenching in marinara or cream/cheese sauce.
It's about simple, fresh (locally sourced) ingredients and relatively simple preparation.

I have an accurate concept of real Italian food and with a few exceptions (some lasagna I had in the Parma region, some pasta with boar ragu in Florence), I probably actually prefer some of the Americanized Italian food. Just my personal preference though.

 

[K1052]

I have an accurate concept of real Italian food and with a few exceptions (some lasagna I had in the Parma region, some pasta with boar ragu in Florence), I probably actually prefer some of the Americanized Italian food. Just my personal preference though.

I actually like both styles but I'm sure as fuck not going to an Olive Garden to get my fix of amercianized italian. If I want frozen food I can go to the grocery store. Local places that actually make their food are far better for this.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I might eat there if it were free but otherwise no.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

I actually like both styles but I'm sure as fuck not going to an Olive Garden to get my fix of amercianized italian. If I want frozen food I can go to the grocery store. Local places that actually make their food are far better for this.

There are definitely better places, but if you can get OG cheap, why not? If nothing else, their salad and breadsticks are good. My biggest issue with them is the price given what they give you, which is generally pretty skimpy. Considering how cheap pasta is, you'd think they'd load you up.

 

[Ns1]

Desperation.

Although if I was poor as fuck with an Olive Garden nearby id be all over that shit. Even if you get sick of the pasta just go there for free bread/salad / coke.

 

[Sonikku]

It doesn't include tip and and tax, but if the tab is 0 than the % must also be 0.

 

[Captante]

Few Americans have an accurate concept of what real Italian food is.
It's not about drenching in marinara or cream/cheese sauce.
It's about simple, fresh (locally sourced) ingredients and relatively simple preparation.

Fortunately living in Connecticut I have access to multiple high-quality and fairly authentic Italian places both locally and in nearby NYC.

Having tried Olive Garden and various Italian places in other parts of the country I can say with certainty its very easy to screw up Italian food even if it is fairly simple!

Really my biggest issue with Olive Garden is that it seems like 95% of the menu contains dairy & I'm severely lactose-intolerant.

 

[xBiffx]

It doesn't include tip and and tax, but if the tab is 0 than the % must also be 0.

I'll bet the receipt shows what would have been the bill so you can tip accordingly, you stingy bastard.

 

[rudder]

If I were on a tight budget and there was an OG close by... 7 weeks of food for $100 is not bad. The OG near me has a bar sitting area, so i guess you could go there and avoid having to tip... or factor in money for tips. Otherwise by the 7th week half of your alfredo sauce will be made up of a special ingredient.

I can see some college students taking advantage of this.

 

[Jeff7]

They must have some pretty impressive profit margins on that stuff.

The folks in the commercials always seem to be having a wonderful time.

Too bad I missed out on this deal, I'll just hang onto the idea those actors are sincerely ecstatic at endless pasta and pasta combinations.

Hell, I got a catalog of business-grade furniture, and they've got plenty of product photos. Putting away files or sitting in a chair or sitting in a meeting all look like absolutely great fun.

 

[Leyawiin]

Few Americans have an accurate concept of what real Italian food is.
It's not about drenching in marinara or cream/cheese sauce.
It's about simple, fresh (locally sourced) ingredients and relatively simple preparation.

Our Italians primarily came from Sicily and Southern Italy, so tomatoes figure pretty heavily in their cooking. Once they arrived here they adapted their cooking to local ingredients. Its "real" Italian-American cooking and there's nothing wrong with that.

 

[McLovin]

http://www.ihos.com/steakhouse.html

Alky delivers!

I swear I read that story back when I was in high school and I thought it was the funniest shit ever!

The way he describes "the move" is just spot on!

 

[Ns1]

Its "real" Italian-American cooking and there's nothing wrong with that.

bingo, red sauce italian = "italian-american", not "italian".

 

[McLovin]

bingo, red sauce italian = "italian-american", not "italian".

My family is Sicilian and for some reason they love the shit out of red sauce pasta. My grandpa LOVED Linguine with White Clam sauce though and claimed any white sauce-esque pasta was the real deal.

 

[Ns1]

My family is Sicilian and for some reason they love the shit out of red sauce pasta. My grandpa LOVED Linguine with White Clam sauce though.

I'd consider white clam sauce + alredo sauce to comfortably fall under the "red sauce italian" style of cooking.

 

[McLovin]

White clam sauce is olive oil and garlic with a bit of white wine (depending on who makes it of course).

While I was in Florence/Venice/Rome I had no problem finding sauces like this and and even had some orange flavored sauce in Rome. I did however, seem to have hard time finding a red sauce that didn't taste like it came out of a Ragu bottle.

 

[Ns1]

White clam sauce is olive oil and garlic with a bit of white wine (depending on who makes it of course).

Sure as hell isn't the white clam sauce that I know...

OLD SPAGHETTI FACTORY'S ORIGINAL CLAM
SAUCE
3 oz. butter
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1/2 med. onion, chopped fine
3 celery stalks (outside peeled), chopped fine
3 tbsp. flour
Juice from 2 (8 oz.) cans clams
2 (8 oz.) cans chopped clams
1 qt. half and half
1/4 tsp. white pepper
1/2 tsp. ground thyme
1 tsp. salt

:awe:

 

[tesher]

Olive Garden is OK, but that's just a bit too much.

 

[dighn]

ppl are gonna abuse the hell out of it. and themselves.

 

[DrPizza]

7 weeks? That's 35 business days. If I worked nearby an OG, that would be a great deal. 35 cooked lunches for $100?? That's less than $3 per lunch. No one says you have to gorge yourself on every meal. A couple breadsticks, and each day get a different small serving of pasta, and a soda. I can't imagine how OG can do it. Just plan your other meals (dinner and breakfast) to have a bit fewer carbs.

I too think OG sucks compared to homemade Italian meals. But if you don't think a meal at OG is worth $3, you're a troll or an idiot. (Do lasagna and eggplant parm count as pastas?)

 

[Hugo Drax]

Merica? Yes or no?

 

[SKORPI0]

http://www.olivegarden.com/specials/never-ending-pasta-pass

SOLD OUT.... D:

 

[MongGrel]

Few Americans have an accurate concept of what real Italian food is.
It's not about drenching in marinara or cream/cheese sauce.
It's about simple, fresh (locally sourced) ingredients and relatively simple preparation.

My Italian wife agrees.

They emigrated from Roma, some of the family not that far in the past actually.

I used to make a white clam sauce for Linguine, might have to try that one out.

Haven't in awhile and have to make it for myself, the Italian wife doesn't like clams, go figure.

Well, she's half I guess, she must not have inherited that part

 

[jpiniero]

This is the correct answer.

 

[mmntech]

http://www.olivegarden.com/specials/never-ending-pasta-pass

SOLD OUT.... D:

Lol. The laugh is that pasta is one of the cheapest foods for restaurants to prepare. So even with "all you can eat" you can bet that $100 is mostly profit.

Olive Garden used to be in Canada but they went out of business ages ago. We've got East Side Marios and Boston Pizza, which both serve vilest form of "Italian" food. Not even fit for prisoners.