Olive Garden's Never Ending Pasta Bowl is Back!

[cuervo72]

Our Never-Ending Pasta Bowl is back offering fresh Italian flavor and more delicious choices than ever!

We're introducing three NEW homemade sauces - Tomato-Alfredo, Pesto and Pizzaiola - sure to inspire your pasta bowl creativity! Click here to see what makes our new pasta sauces so delicious!

So, visit Olive Garden today to choose from a variety of six pastas and seven homemade sauces to create fresh, delicious pasta bowl combinations. When you're ready for seconds, try a different combination or enjoy more of the same!

Our Never Ending Pasta Bowl - for just $7.95 - is only available for a limited time!

Thank you JeeberD!!! :D

[FBPro]

I can live off the breadsticks, alfredo sauce and salad.......can't remember the last time I ordered an entree there.

[cuervo72]

Chicken Giardino is my usual dish. It's gone up in price the last few years though.

As has the soup-salad-buscuits lunch special at Red Lobster. That thing's up to like $6.75, it seems like it was just $4.99 not too long ago. I'd gladly pay for their wild mushroom soup however.

[FBPro]

Well, thanks to YOU I'm now dying to eat at EITHER of these places and both are 45+ minutes away.....

:(

[Celeval]

Originally posted by FBPro
I can live off the breadsticks, alfredo sauce and salad.......can't remember the last time I ordered an entree there.

Oh hell yeah. Their breadsticks in alfredo sauce should be illegal.

Actually, I think it is.

Kevin

[GrantDawg]

I think I just found lunch. Clam chowder, Ceasar Salad and cheese biscuts. MMMMMMMMMM....

[JeeberD]

GRRRRRR..... :mad: :mad: :mad:

WHY did you have to tell everyone that NEPB is back? I swear, it's the most miserable time of the year for us OG workers. It tends to bring out the cheap folks who leave us terrible tips, we get run into the ground getting pasta refills for everyone, and plus it just plain doesn't cost much, so we basically get paid less for more work!

Egads...

Oh, and it's just not the price of the Chicken Giardino that has gone up. Since I started working there nearly three years ago we've had at least three total menu price hikes. Well, except for the all-you-can-eat-soup-and-salad-combo. That's stayed the same cheap price. But please don't get me started ranting about that..

[cuervo72]

You mean to tell me you think FOFC members are cheap??? :redface: :redface:

[cuervo72]

Dola - and blame your company for sending out the e-mail alert to me :D

[JeeberD]

Now did I say that? ;)

[JeeberD]

Originally posted by cuervo72
Dola - and blame your company for sending out the e-mail alert to me :D

Dola-

Bastards... :mad:

[Franklinnoble]

Originally posted by JeeberD
GRRRRRR..... :mad: :mad: :mad:

WHY did you have to tell everyone that NEPB is back? I swear, it's the most miserable time of the year for us OG workers. It tends to bring out the cheap folks who leave us terrible tips, we get run into the ground getting pasta refills for everyone, and plus it just plain doesn't cost much, so we basically get paid less for more work!

Egads...

Oh, and it's just not the price of the Chicken Giardino that has gone up. Since I started working there nearly three years ago we've had at least three total menu price hikes. Well, except for the all-you-can-eat-soup-and-salad-combo. That's stayed the same cheap price. But please don't get me started ranting about that..

You know, you'd get better tips at T.G.I. Friday's if you'd just learn to swallow your pride and wear a little more flair.

[JeeberD]

But I have the minimum... :)

[Ksyrup]

Originally posted by JeeberD
Dola-

Bastards... :mad:

Get a hold of yourself, KillSmackJeeber.

[digamma]

Hey JeeberD--do you have to wear a name tag at work? Does it say JeeberD?;)

[Marmel]

Olive Garden sucks guys. Wake up and smell the shipped in frozen and reheated Italian food.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally posted by Marmel
Olive Garden sucks guys. Wake up and smell the shipped in frozen and reheated Italian food.

It all tastes the same after a generous application of your "special sauce," Marmel.

[GrantDawg]

Lunch was great. Our Red Lobster only charges 5.99 by the way.

[sabotai]

"the shipped in frozen and reheated Italian food."

*drool*

[QuikSand]

Hmmm... I think it's generally wise to take a stand against the $9-a-plate Italian meal. If you want to pay for high quality authentic Italian food, that's great... but if what you're getting is basically the same as what they sell at the grocery store, why bother to pay someone to serve it to you?

But I'm clearly out of touch with the people... I still don't understand why anyone willingly eats at places like Applebee's, Bennigan's, Ruby Teusday, TGI Friday's and the countless other cloned places like them. Well, technically I guess I understand, I just don't agree nor sympathize.

[cuervo72]

Your restaurants of choice, QS?

[Celeval]

Ruby Tuesday: More stuff on their salad bar than I have at home, or care to pick out at the grocery store.

[Marmel]

Outback makes a good steak, some tasty lamb and a kickin' Bloomin' Onion.

Otherwise I generally agree with Quiksand. Wow.

[cuervo72]

Hmm, I think I usually like Lonestar over Outback; their salmon is better (what my wife gets) and I love their cheese fries and Texas ranch dressing (now there's gourmet dining for you).

Oh, and in the absence of any good BBQ, we'll go to Famous Dave's. And of course the aforementioned lunch combo at Lobster. Ledo Pizza has a good breadsticks/salad/soup combo as well (heck, anything that is all-you-can-eat is good in my book).

I also appreciate a good diner.

[Marmel]

Damn you. There are no Lonestar's within hours and hours of here (probably a half dozen states away at best). But, yes Lonestar is a better steakhouse. :(

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by cuervo72
Your restaurants of choice, QS?

I generally prefer original restaurants to chains. I have no problem at all eating a $9 dinner, but I'd rather do it at my local Mexican joint where the food is cooked on site and fresh by the various members of a Salvadoran family that runs the restaurant than by going to Chi-Chi's and ordering whatever they froze and shipped from Peoria. So, our main rotation around our home is a family-run Mexican joint, a family-run Chinese restaurant, and a variety of seedy seafood places that serve crabcakes and cold beer.

For me, if I come to an unknown town hungry... and the two offerings are Bennigan's and Uncle Willy's House of Chipped Beef... well, I'll just see y'all after dinner. Enjoy your mini-riblets, or whatever it is they serve over there.

[Marmel]

I would probably eat at Bennigan's over a place called Uncle Willy's House of Chipped Beef. *blah*


Darn, now I want a Crab Cake. :(

[Bee]

I'm like Quiksand. I try to avoid large chain restaurants unless that's the only choice.

I hate when they bring you a plate and tell you it's hot...yep, I know that...I've used a microwave too.

[cuervo72]

Ugh, Chi-Chi's. I used to go there, but now there are a couple of Mexican places I'd much rather go to (El Paso and Casa Rico). Can't say I've actually been to a sit-down Chinese place since moving, but there is a takeout place around the corner. There's also an Italian place next to the Chinese place which is pretty good (good lunch specials, nice thin greasy pizza, and a pretty good Sicilian pie as well).

FWIW, we don't go to Friday's or Bennigans, and try to stay away from Ruby's and Applebees (they do have a steak salad I like). We will eat at Olive Garden on occasion (though not often), but I much prefer Macaroni Grill.

Favorite restaurant overall? Probably The Melting Pot (though I still have fond memories of the nachos at PJ's Pub in Baltimore :)).

Of course, tonight's dinner will be drive-thru Taco Bell.

[cuervo72]

Dola -

My wife is kind of turned off my most Chinese food as a result of a wedding reception we attended (we were in the wedding party). The chickens with their heads and feet intact, along with the fish with two eyes on the same side of its head (apparently, that's a sign of good luck!) left a lasting, negative impression. Good thing she didn't try the sea cucumber.

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by cuervo72
Of course, tonight's dinner will be drive-thru Taco Bell.

I probably should have included that on my list, too. I could eat Mexican food seven days a week, and I even have a weakness for Taco Bell. It's about the only fast food place that really gets me.

[JeeberD]

Originally posted by Marmel
Olive Garden sucks guys. Wake up and smell the shipped in frozen and reheated Italian food.

No, not true. The kitchen staff gets there at life six in the morning and bust their asses getting food ready for the guests. The only things that aren't made in the restaurant are the pasta, the breaksticks (they're toasted, buttered, and salted in the restaurant), and the desserts...

But I'm with Quik and a few of you others. While I may work for a chain restaurant I prefer to eat at smaller, non-chain places. There's a great italian place here in Denton that I love to go, a nice mexican place, and a wonderful, wonderful thai restaurant that my girlfriend and I always go to...

Damn, I wish I was allowed to have JeeberD on my nametag. Unfortunatly they make me put Jeremy on there... :(

[cuervo72]

Originally posted by JeeberD

Damn, I wish I was allowed to have JeeberD on my nametag. Unfortunatly they make me put Jeremy on there... :(

I bet Friday's would let you use JeeberD...

[JeeberD]

Originally posted by cuervo72
I bet Friday's would let you use JeeberD...

Cause the name JeeberD has FLAIR!!!

[cuervo72]

Damn straight!

[JeeberD]

Too bad OG is so boring... :(

[Marmel]

Olive Garden may not all be nuked food, but it sure tastes like it.

[heybrad]

Originally posted by QuikSand
I probably should have included that on my list, too. I could eat Mexican food seven days a week, and I even have a weakness for Taco Bell. It's about the only fast food place that really gets me.
If Taco Bell is your idea of Mexican food, you need to get out and eat some real mexican food.

[Ksyrup]

Originally posted by cuervo72
Ugh, Chi-Chi's. I used to go there, but now there are a couple of Mexican places I'd much rather go to (El Paso and Casa Rico). Can't say I've actually been to a sit-down Chinese place since moving, but there is a takeout place around the corner. There's also an Italian place next to the Chinese place which is pretty good (good lunch specials, nice thin greasy pizza, and a pretty good Sicilian pie as well).

I haven't been to Chi-Chi's since we took my brother up to med school in Charlottesville about 5 or 6 years ago. They closed them all down in Florida, due to some, uh, issues the owner - who I swear was an old time GB Packer - was having. In fact, we ate at the one in Sunrise the night before it was raided and shut down in the middle of dinner! That must have been interesting...

As for other chains, my wife is notorious for sticking to the tried and true. She loves Red Lobster, for example, despite the fact that we live 30 miles from the Gulf. I don't mind Olive Garden, but Carrabba's and Macaroni Grill (which we don't have here) are clearly better. We hit just about every chain at least once every two months.

My favorite chain right now is Smoky Bones. I could eat there every night. One of the combo plates, green beans, hold the bread - nothing better for someone on Atkins.

[JeeberD]

Hmmm, Smokey Bones is in the same family as OG (Darden Restaurants, which owns OG, Red Lobster, Smokey Bones, and Bahama Breze). I've been wanting to try one, but they haven't put any down here in Texas. Too much competition in the BBQ biz..

If ya'll have a Bahama Breeze in your area, please go. It's wonderful, wonderful food. A Caribbean style restaurant, with live music every night, a great drink list, and bad ass food. Trust me,you won't be dissapointed...

[cartman]

Having been chowing down on the real deal the past year and a half, I can say that Ital-American food doesn't hold a candle to the stuff in Italy. Not that it's worse, just very different.

[sterlingice]

Originally posted by cartman
Having been chowing down on the real deal the past year and a half, I can say that Ital-American food doesn't hold a candle to the stuff in Italy. Not that it's worse, just very different.

Were you in Northern Italy or Southern Italy. My parents were just there this past summer and it's very different from region to region.

SI

[cartman]

I've been in Milan, in the north. You are right, the different regions all have their styles. I've also spent quite a bit of time in Rome, in the center, and Bari, at the heel of the boot. It's not all spaghetti and pizza! :)

[Daimyo]

I have a weakness for Chili's and the bare burritos at Baja Fresh, but other than that I don't think I ever eat at any of the franchises. The family-owned, hole-in-the-wall places always have the best food if you can find the good ones.

[cuervo72]

Originally posted by Ksyrup
Carrabba's

:( My son lost his original blanket a couple of months ago at a Carraba's in Daytona. Which was weird timing, considering earlier in the day we had a talk about that blankie and how we got it a band-aid and fixed it (he had snipped it with scissors around last Halloween on accident, and we brought it to the cleaners to have it mended).

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by QuikSand
I probably should have included that on my list, too. I could eat Mexican food seven days a week, and I even have a weakness for Taco Bell. It's about the only fast food place that really gets me.

Originally posted by heybrad
If Taco Bell is your idea of Mexican food, you need to get out and eat some real mexican food.

Methinks you missed the point of my using the word "even," and clearly missed my earlier post on the subject.

But I agree with your statement, even if the premise isn't true for me personally.

[Buccaneer]

QS, methinks you live in the wrong part of the world for Mexican food. After living in the west for a long time, I would hate to develop a craving for daily south of the border food and living where you do. I would love to take you on a cuisine tour of Northern New Mexico.

[Riggins44]

The Olive Garden has a bad name in the Central California area. A few years ago some lady got herpes from her food at the Olive Garden. Turns out a couple of the dorks in back where rubbing them out in the sauce.

Mmm, all you can eat.

[bosshogg23]

Bennigan's Monte Cristo sandwich is worth whatever drive you have to make. If that thing doesnt create a heartattack on the spot I dont know what does.