[lifehacker.com]

Olive Garden’s famed unlimited ‘Pasta Pass’ returns this week. The passes will officially go on sale Thursday at 2pm, but this year they’ll also be a new addition to the Pasta Pass lineup: a Lifetime Pass.

Yes, you can purchase a pass that literally gets you all the carbs you can physically consume in one sitting for the rest of your life.

Just like the traditional Pasta Pass, the Lifetime model will also include unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks.

Illustration for article titled Olive Garden Is Selling a Lifetime Pasta Pass This Week
The passes will be for sale for 30 minutes only starting at 2pm Thursday, with the waiting room opening up at 1:55pm ET.

In total, Olive Garden is selling 24,000 Pasta Passes this year at $100 a pop, which means you stand a decent chance of being able to snag one if unlimited pasta sounds intriguing to you.

If you successfully buy a pass, the traditional version gives you unlimited food for 9 weeks from September 23rd to November 24th of this year.

To get the Lifetime pass, you have to purchase a traditional pass and opt-in to potentially buy the lifetime model. The first 50 people that do will be upgraded to the lifetime option for $500.

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....Garden of....Eatin'.....???

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!

I wonder how the actuarial cost of a lifetime of pasta computes ? I would expect it factors in reduced lifespan...

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cbelt3
I wonder how the actuarial cost of a lifetime of pasta computes ? I would expect it factors in reduced lifespan...

And you also need to consider Olive Garden's lifetime. In college I worked for a small company that was pushing a lot of Gift Certificates before Christmas and then went out of business just before New Years.

So it's $100 for unlimited food for 9 weeks. Plus a $500 lifetime option. So it's $600 total for the lifetime pass? What are the prices like at Olive Garden? $15 entree. $5 drink. After tax and tip,, $25/meal per person? The lifetime pass will pay for itself after 20 visits. Sounds like a good deal to me if you like pasta.

Is this a Simpson's episode?

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mrbigstuff
Is this a Simpson's episode?

The entire world is turning into a Simpsons episode...

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Once we place nonhuman animals outside our sphere of moral consideration
and treat them as things we use to satisfy our own desires,
the outcome is predictable.
- Peter Singer

pretty expensive for an enemy gag gift

I don't mind Olive Garden, but my first experience with them was all the breadsticks you could eat, and refills. Couldn't get the server back to the table for either.

Since I haven't eaten there for over 2 or 3 years, This pass would not be a good deal.

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3d
So it's $100 for unlimited food for 9 weeks. Plus a $500 lifetime option. So it's $600 total for the lifetime pass? What are the prices like at Olive Garden? $15 entree. $5 drink. After tax and tip,, $25/meal per person? The lifetime pass will pay for itself after 20 visits. Sounds like a good deal to me if you like pasta.

Actually, the add-on is $400 for the lifetime option, for a total of $500. Only 50 lifetime passes available, first-come first-served. Expect a feeding-frenzy when they go on sale.

"Restrictions and limitations apply to qualifying menu items. All other menu items excluded from offer."

Also includes unlimited soup, salad & breadsticks.

So it does not apply to the whole menu, but is nevertheless a good deal if you like their pasta and have a location nearby.

Unlimited soup, salad & breadsticks is usually $11.49.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2019 02:58PM by Janit.

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GGD

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cbelt3
I wonder how the actuarial cost of a lifetime of pasta computes ? I would expect it factors in reduced lifespan...

And you also need to consider Olive Garden's lifetime. In college I worked for a small company that was pushing a lot of Gift Certificates before Christmas and then went out of business just before New Years.

It's been around since 1982, dude.

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rj
AKA
Vreemac, Moth of the Future

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rjmacs

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GGD

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cbelt3
I wonder how the actuarial cost of a lifetime of pasta computes ? I would expect it factors in reduced lifespan...

And you also need to consider Olive Garden's lifetime. In college I worked for a small company that was pushing a lot of Gift Certificates before Christmas and then went out of business just before New Years.

It's been around since 1982, dude.

The one near me closed 3 years ago.

I'm not a food snob by any means, but why would anyone subject their palate
(or stomach) to that factory-made, reheated dreck?
Seems akin to making a sub with Steak-umm and calling it a 'Philly Cheese Steak'.

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N39° 39.7234', W075° 33.9788'
...word salad is not a disorder, it is a symptom...

“If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.”
-Albert Einstein

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MrNoBody
I'm not a food snob by any means, but why would anyone subject their palate
(or stomach) to that factory-made, reheated dreck?
Seems akin to making a sub with Steak-umm and calling it a 'Philly Cheese Steak'.

I feel the same. Especially since pasta is about the easiest dish one can make. Even if one buys the canned/bottled sauces, one can do so much better at home than Olive Garden.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2019 04:52PM by mrbigstuff.

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GGD

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rjmacs

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GGD

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cbelt3
I wonder how the actuarial cost of a lifetime of pasta computes ? I would expect it factors in reduced lifespan...

And you also need to consider Olive Garden's lifetime. In college I worked for a small company that was pushing a lot of Gift Certificates before Christmas and then went out of business just before New Years.

It's been around since 1982, dude.

The one near me closed 3 years ago.

Okay. Locations open and close based on market factors, but since they operate almost 900 restaurants worldwide I think they have some life left.

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rj
AKA
Vreemac, Moth of the Future

For some reason (that escapes me), Olive Garden is (all too) regularly voted America's Favorite Sit-Down Chain Restaurant. I'm guessing it's popular with all the Patty & Paddy McFattie's that don't live near bodies of water, and have any desire to strut their anatomical six packs at the beach.... but would rather strut with their 12 packs of PBR and Old Milwaukee just about anywhere. I mean, seriously, it's hard to find a healthier sounding restaurant name than Olive Garden.
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think of the free advertising, not the cost of the food they will serve for those few cards.

I will never eat that dreck. And I am in no way a foodie.

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My life goes smoothly and in regular intervals

We go there maybe once or twice a year. Their Pasta Fagioli soup is pretty good on a good cold day but
their main entrees, nah I can get much better at a local Italian joint.

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Grateful11

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Janit
Only 50 lifetime passes available, first-come first-served. Expect a feeding-frenzy when they go on sale.

So for the person who was asking about the actuarial cost, it's close to zero because it's so limited. Just an advertising gimmick.

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Racer X
think of the free advertising, not the cost of the food they will serve for those few cards.

Yep.

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Pasta Chains that are better than Olive Garden;
Carrabba's Italian Grill
Maggiano's Little Italy
Romano's Macaroni Grill
Fazoli's
Bravo! Cucina Italia/Brio Tuscan Grille

Pasta Chains that are worse than Olive Garden;
Buca di Beppo
The Old Spaghetti Factory
Spaghetti Warehouse
Bertucci’s

Based primarily on pasta dishes, and meal prices under $25 per person. There are plenty of Italian joints that may do pizza along w/ pasta dishes, so it gets kinda confusing. Then there are plenty more where the menu prices creep up, and a soup/salad, pasta, drink, and shared dessert will be more than $25 a head. The problem w/ Olive Garden's passes, is their narrow scope. OTOH, it is probably pure marketing genius.
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Interesting....

"Olive Garden offers gluten-free pasta.
According to the restaurant's site, you can order gluten-free noodles that are imported from Italy and are made with corn and rice flours."

"The soups are made fresh every morning.
All of Olive Garden's signature soups — Pasta e Fagioli, Chicken & Gnocchi, Zuppa Toscana, and Minestrone — are made by hand and from scratch every morning using fresh, whole ingredients such as kale, peppers, and squash."

Took my daughter to a local favorite: Little Italy. She loved it and said I'll never really live Olive Garden again.

[littleitalysatx.com]

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San Antonio, TX (in the old city)


"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing."
-- Edmund Burke
“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."
-- Eli Weisel

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." Theodore Roosevelt (1918)

"The soups are made fresh every morning."

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N39° 39.7234', W075° 33.9788'
...word salad is not a disorder, it is a symptom...

“If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.”
-Albert Einstein