Sunday, September 1, 2013

Olive Garden


696 Avenue of the Americas
(between 23rd and 22nd Streets)
www.olivegarden.com

In honor of the publication of food critic Marilyn Hagerty’s Grand Forks: A History of American Dining in 128 Reviews and the return of Olive Garden’s unlimited pasta bowl lunch special for $9.99 (the special is a limited-time offer usually running for only a few weeks), I decided to check out for myself the Olive Garden dining experience.

Hagerty came to national attention when she decided to review the new Olive Garden that had just opened in her North Dakota neighborhood. Her review under her “Eatbeat” column soon went viral when it was linked to by other blogs. What made it so unique was that many self-proclaimed “foodies” (including yours truly), traditionally do not frequent food chains much less write a review on one.

I am usually unimpressed by food chain restaurants, but the unlimited pasta bowl special was too tempting to pass up especially for one watching her wallet!

Knowing that the Olive Garden in the Chelsea location usually gets crowded around lunchtime and dinnertime (waits can be half an hour to an hour), I made sure that I arrived a little bit after the rush. I showed up at about 2 p.m., and was rewarded by being seated immediately. Yay!!

Several menus were placed on the table, but I was unable to find the $9.99 lunch option.

Helpful Hint #1: Please note that you must ask for the unlimited pasta bowl special. If you are unaware of the special, they will not mention it to you or make you aware of it.

Once I asked, the waitress pulled out the small menu from her apron pocket.



I also think that what is critical to your dining experience in these food chain restaurants is your server. Is he/she attentive? Does his/her attitude change toward you when they learn that you are interested in a value-oriented special? Luckily for me, my waitress, Kelsey, was very friendly, very prompt, and very helpful.

I decided to go with the neverending salad, which came in a very generous-sized bowl. Plus, I said yes to having it topped off with some shredded parmesan cheese as well. The Italian dressing was probably one of the best I ever tasted.  And Kelsey queried whether I wanted a refill when she arrived with my pasta. So bonus points for her being so observant!




For my pasta I decided to try the cavatappi (corkscrew pasta) with the sausage pomodoro sauce.



It was a really hearty meal as the sausage was pretty chunky. However, the sauce or the meat had a metallic taste to it. As the pasta and the sauce were new options on the menu perhaps they still needed to work out the kinks in the recipe.

Despite the sizable first portion, I wanted to test out whether there was truth to their advertised unlimited pasta bowl. However, I didn’t want a refill of the same pasta. Olive Garden allows you to choose another option (for BOTH the pasta and the sauce) on your refills!!! AWESOME!!!

I went with the penne with the 5-cheese pasta sauce. It was super, super tasty! And as I’m lactose intolerant, loved that it didn’t have a heavy cheese sauce taste. It was actually quite light. The 5 cheeses are: fontina, parmesan, romano, mozzarella, and grana padana.



While eating the first pasta dish, I felt I needed a glass of red wine to assist in cutting the sharp taste of the sauce. I ordered a glass of their house red. It was okay. I don’t tend to like sweet, fruity-tasting reds, but it was a really good accompaniment with the pomodoro sauce.




The lunch also comes with Olive Garden’s usual neverending breadsticks, which are the soft, doughy, garlicky kind that I normally would have wolfed down. But as I didn’t want to fill up on breadsticks, I only had one to help sop up the sauces.

At the end of the meal, you get chocolate mints along with your check.



Helpful Hint #2: Check your bill! An 18 percent gratuity is automatically added.

Helpful Hint #3: Request a doggy bag for the leftovers. I needed boxes for both the salad and the 5-cheese penne pasta dish. It’ll be great for dinner or for a next-day lunch!





Final thoughts: Just for the fact that they allow you to change both your pasta and sauce choice on your refills, the unlimited pasta bowl lunch special at the Olive Garden is a must-try!

2 comments:

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  2. Liked this detailed review. Liked the pics. Liked the helpful hints.

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