696 Avenue of the Americas
(between 23rd and 22nd Streets)
www.olivegarden.com
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!
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ReplyDeleteLiked this detailed review. Liked the pics. Liked the helpful hints.
ReplyDelete