Olive Garden

Olive Garden is oft-maligned for serving up processed dishes masquerading as traditional Italian food, but that hasn’t stopped the sit-down restaurant chain from establishing a whopping 1,816 locations across the United States.

That’s a fairly remarkable feat, considering that the first Olive Garden was founded in Orlando, Florida in 1982 and only took two decades to become the nation’s leading franchise in the Italian casual dining space.

If there appears to be a “formulaic” approach to the spot’s offerings, it’s probably because the chain is owned by Darden Restaurants, which has created several other popular casual dining franchises like Longhorn Steakhouse, Eddie V’s, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, The Capital Grille, Red Lobster, and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.

Given Olive Garden’s popularity and offerings of relatively low-cost sit-down menu options like unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks for $11.99 (with prices varying by location and time of day) it’s no wonder so many folks are posting about their Olive Garden experiences online, both sitting at and serving tables.

cheese grater (l) cheese grater in store with caption 'literally sell the olive garden cheese grater at walmart for $8... y'all paying $24 at olive garden??' (r)

‘I mean the cheese alone makes it a deal’: Shopper says you can get $24 Olive Garden cheese grater at Walmart for only $8

'I got the Walmart ones before legit broke with my cheese inside.'

On Oct 27, 2023 by Jack Alban

Olive Garden

‘I mean the cheese alone makes it a deal’: Shopper says you can get $24 Olive Garden cheese grater at Walmart for only $8

‘You cannot take a non-Applebee’s woman to Applebee’s’: Viral list of 28 places women ‘won’t go’ on first dates includes Olive Garden, Applebee’s, and Waffle House

‘What can you not buy from Olive Garden?’: Customer buys box of mint chocolates from Olive Garden

Olive Garden customers order just 1 never-ending pasta deal, treat it like ‘family-style’ meal

‘Same brand and everything’: Viewers tell Olive Garden customer she could buy the cheese grater on Amazon for $5 less. Here’s why she bought it in-store

‘I made this mistake once!’: Olive Garden customer accidentally received 28 breadsticks. It’s common with to-go orders

‘All I said was cheese grater’: Fast food expert goes to Olive Garden to see if he can really buy one. He gets more than he came for

‘We getting the best of both worlds’: Customers get both the Olive Garden’s unlimited pasta and Applebee’s Dollaritas

‘Real baddies have milk allergies’: Woman brings own dairy-free cheese to Olive Garden for never-ending pasta deal

Woman calculates how much pasta you have to eat in order for Olive Garden’s never-ending deal to be worth it

Olive Garden customers hide their pasta in salad bowl so that they can get a second bowl

‘Times are tough’: Olive Garden customers fill Ziploc bags, Tupperware with 5 servings of never-ending pasta

Olive Garden customer ‘finesses’ week’s worth of meals with the all-you-can-eat pasta deal

‘That’s just what the five-cheese marinara sauce is’: Olive Garden customer asks about pink sauce. Server exposes the recipe

Olive Garden customer secretly packs 11 bowls of pasta to take home during never-ending pasta promo