#pasta pass

[pscottm]

Olive Garden Is Bringing Back Its $100 Unlimited Pasta Pass—And It’s Still An Absurdly Good Deal

Olive Garden’s annual Never-Ending Pasta Bowl returns in August. And for the first time in six years, it's bringing back the iconic $100 unl

There is, however, a catch: only 10,000 Pasta Passes are available. Olive Garden fans can purchase them starting July 16 at 2 p.m. ET at pastapass.com. And if you want to maximize your chances of snagging one, we suggest setting an alarm. Pasta Passes have historically been claimed within minutes.

[talesofdrunkennessandcruelty]

OLIVE GARDEN'S UNLIMITED PASTA PASS IS BACK & YOU CAN GET UNLIMITED PASTA FOR A YEAR

[mylittlepoly-family]

Olive Garden Pasta Pass (OGPP)

So last year and this year both, my husband and I got the OGPP, and my fiance did not.  BUT, it works out pretty great for us despite that, because my husband and I really enjoy going out on dates, and this gives us two straight months to have them.  Last year, our communication was markedly improved at the end of using the OGPP, because we spent so much quality time together.  I’m looking forward to the same thing again this year, even if sitting around is difficult after surgery.

[pastaprincess2017-blog]

Walking up to Olive Garden for the first meal

[pastaprincess2017-blog]

Welcome to Pasta Pass 2017

Dear Readers, 

My name is Mollie and I am excited to bring you along on my Never Ending Pasta Pass journey. For those of you unfamiliar with Olive Garden’s Never Ending Pasta Pass, the concept is simple: eight weeks of unlimited visits to the Never Ending Pasta Bowl over the course of eight weeks. Please feel free to visit the Pasta Pass FAQ page if you have additional questions.

My journey started on Thursday, September 14 at about 1:55pm, five minutes before the Never Ending Pasta Pass went on sale. I had the page open all day, watching the timer on the website tick down the hours before the sale began, but I really started to pay attention five minutes before. I watched the timer in between editing Six Show Subscription letters for work. At 1:59pm, my attention was fully on successfully getting the Pass. Last year, the Passes sold out in one second, and I knew this year would be no different. 

I clicked on “BUY” still not an active link, every second leading up to 2:00pm. I clicked on it so many times in the final second. My cursor showed a spinning wheel. I panicked. I sent a snapchat to my story so everyone would know my plight. I was redirected to another page. I did it. I got the Pass.

I closed my computer, told my office mates, and moved to a different desk. When I reopened my computer, I saw an email sitting in my gmail account. My card had been declined? That wasn’t possible. Well, anything is possible but this was just not probable. I checked my account, no issues, and searched the fine print of the email for the customer service number-- I had only EIGHT MINUTES to correct my credit card information or my Pass would be surrendered. Each and every time I updated my card, it would not accept it. It kept saying that I needed to correct the fields in red, but there were no fields in red! I was irate. As a veteran of the Lilly Pulitzer After Sale and BBC America Doctor Who World Tour, I know how these things go. You lose your spot, even by accident or by the fault of the company, you don’t get it back.

I needed to get in my car to dog sit. I didn’t have time to deal with this. I called and called the customer service number but I kept getting put on hold and hung up on. It took me over an hour to reach a real live human. They took my information and said I’d get a call back. They did not know when the call would come, or if I would truly obtain my pasta pass. I was feeling optimistic, but did not want to get my hopes up.

I got back to work, and a few minutes later I got an email saying that my Pass had been secured, and it would arrive in the mail in a few days. I am over the moon. My Pass is coming. The Never Ending Pasta Bowl begins on Monday, September 25. 

[sageterious]

The End of the Never Ending Pasta Bowl

What and adventure it has been. I started off a bit nervous, but after the very first day when I introduced myself to Joanne, everything went uphill from there. I was just a stranger that she met for the very first time, but Joanne was so kind and welcoming toward me that I only looked forward to coming back each day. It was definitely a learning experience for all of us; learning what I could and couldn’t order and how to order it, as well as balancing out how much and what food I would eat each day. I can’t express how amazing everything has been and I hope to go on another adventure sometime soon.

Here is my total food consumed over the 7 weeks, which was definitely a lot. 332 orders of shrimp is 1700+ shrimp eaten - over 30 per day averaged (which doesn’t even include the fact that a regular meal is two shrimp orders, so I am closer to 370 orders). I am a little surprised as well that I didn’t try 6 of the pastas even once, but I guess the ravioli got the best of me.

Here is my total on the to go orders:

My weight fluctuation over the 7 weeks:

All in all, I had a fantastic seven weeks and I sincerely thank everyone for everything. I will almost definitely buy another pass next year, but I doubt I will eat as hardcore as I did this time, unless of course some form of challenge arises. There is so much more I want to say, but I’m having trouble getting all of the words together for some reason. Endless memories with great people; you can’t ask for more than that in life. In my final words, I leave you with something I put together (there are so many more of you to mention, don’t feel left out!):

I Came, I Ate, I Made Some Friends

Once my pasta pass was sent, it was off to Olive Garden I went It became a Seven week assent, which created time well spent

To eat an entire mountain of food, was the only goal for this dude As time passed and friendships accrued, I had a major change in attitude

As I would enjoy meal after meal, the experience surely became surreal Each day the staff knew the deal, ravioli, shrimp and marinara for my meal

As a slacker making late posts, punctuality was not one of my oaths Greeted daily by the hosts, to their friendliness I give toasts

Every day when I would come here, It all became so very clear Brandon, Jodi, Daniel and Wadhir, always greet me when I appear

Jose and christy always treated me with respect, something to never neglect As one may come to suspect, the food from the kitchen was free of defect

Chris, Cal, and Jason making the drinks flow, there was no such thing as slow Mariah, Zula, Nelson and others at the to go, friendly chatter would bestow

To Demitrius, Frankie and Kim, I'd like to say this on a whim For lack of a better synonym, keep being you, don't let yourselves dim

To each and everyone at the bar, thank you for always going so far To the staff that treated me like a star, your service was above par

To Rene and Dylan my fishing friends, to the ocean! make your wends! The great conversations had no ends, shall we chat again on the weekends?

Often greeted by a hug and kiss, Joanne is someone I will surely miss As we pass through great times like this, we must make sure to reminisce

To those I did not yet mention, just know that you are all in my retention I wish you the best in your life's ascension, keep yourselves free of pretension

To the few that I met at the plantation store, I apologize for not going more A far drive was the underscore; the other restaurant was just next door

The best gift as I neared my goal, was the unique Never Ending Pasta Bowl Once the signatures started to roll, it touched me right in my heart and soul

The end is something I must accept, but this is an adventure I will never forget My biggest food journey yet; and no, the end does not make me upset

To those of you that got to know me so well, its a story you may come to retell My friends at Olive Garden I bid you farewell. My return? Only time will tell

[sageterious]

Seven Week Review - NEPB

Well, here goes the review for the final week. I had a similar calorie intake this week and wow at the shrimp (ok, the last day was overkill). Week 7 was a lot of fun; interacting with the staff and planning out things for them as the days counted down. I am really going to miss chatting with everyone and eating all of the food with my unlimited pass, but most things just don’t last forever. I will follow up with an overall review, hopefully tomorrow.

My weight went back down a few pounds and over the next few weeks, through diet change (an all you can eat diet just doesn’t work!) I should be able to drop the weight and return back down to the lower 160′s where I started.

To Go: Pasta: Ravioli  16 | Cavatappi: 1

Meat: Chicken: 7 | Shrimp: 7 | Sausage: 2 | Meatball: 4

Soup : 3 | Salad : 9

[sageterious]

11-22 - Day Forty-Nine - The Final Day!!

I had most of this done two days ago, but I just got hit with a lot of things and I am sorry I didn’t post it sooner.

Can you believe it? Has it really been seven weeks already? When I first started my adventure, I thought that I would be so sick and tired of the food that I would be practically begging for it to end, but that is not even close to how I have felt. I believe it was somewhere in the second week that I started to feel sick of the now monotonous dinner I was eating everyday, but it only took a few days to get past it. As the days went on, dinner at Olive Garden became more of a routine where I would go and meet up with familiar people and have a meal. Soon enough, it hardly mattered that I ordered the exact same food almost every day to the point where a majority of the staff already knew what I was going to order.

Friday was the big day where I baked cheesecakes for everyone, but I really couldn’t let the very last day go on without a bang, so I whipped up something for the staff once again tonight. Rene specifically mentioned she really really likes carrot cake and Danielle also mentioned a liking for it, so I thought - why not?  I went ahead and made a whole bunch of carrot cake cupcakes with white chocolate cream cheese frosting, and they were a huge hit. Rene left early and wasn’t there when I arrived, but a few were put aside for her, so hopefully she got those. While the staff were helping themselves to cupcakes and distributing them through out the restaurant, I was sitting next to Danielle at the bar, who had just ended her shift. Danielle is aspiring to become a chef and some day own her own restaurant, so I hope for the best for her and that it works out. We were also talking to Frankie at the to go section and he is a really cool guy as well.

I knew it would be a long night, so Cal went ahead and started loading up the orders for my meal tonight.  If you didn’t already see the receipts, I went for all shrimp tonight. Order after order, they just kept coming and I kept eating, but I had to respect the rush hour for the restaurant, so there were some slower times when they got slammed with orders. During this time, I began to speak to the lady next to me. Her name was Judy and she had inquired about a comment I made earlier regarding eating a whole lot of shrimp, as well as one of the cupcakes that someone had. I told her my story and that I wanted to do something nice for the staff and she said it was very nice of me and that they looked absolutely delicious.  Judy also bakes various foods with her husband and she, like many others asked if I was running some kind of catering service, but no, I just bake for fun from home. Judy was very persistent in telling me to go for it with the catering, but I’m really not sure if it’s for me. 

Through out the night I went about getting more signatures and my plate is pretty much full now, as you can see by the picture below.

Regarding the food for tonight, I had a little over 250 shrimp before I decided to stop. The quantity of fried shrimp just became too much to continue eating fried food, so it seemed like a good time to just call it quits instead of letting myself get sick. I continued to chat through the night, mostly with Frankie and Nelson at the to go section before wrapping up any last signatures and heading home. It was a very pleasant and relaxing night and a good way to end my adventure. It has been an excellent adventure and I am going to have to stop by here and there to say hello, because there are a lot of great people there. It has been an absolute pleasure to have dined with all of you for the past 7 weeks and I hope for the best for everyone. Stay tuned for more posts, I will work on them asap.

As I said before, my meal was 50 orders of shrimp, which is roughly 250 shrimp.

To Go: 5 orders of Ravioli, marinara and shrimp (from my meals)

To Go: ravioli, alfredo, chicken and bacon with a salad 

-as per Frankie’s recommendation and yes, it was tasty.

To Go: cavatappi, alfredo and chicken with a salad