Olive Garden Menu Prices

Last Updated on January 15, 2024
Written by CPA Alec Pow | Content Reviewed by CFA Alexander Popinker

When you say “Olive Garden,” you say Italian food. This is a restaurant chain with an Italian-American-specific menu. The mission of this restaurant is to provide a welcoming dining atmosphere with delicious food inspired by the Italian kitchen. This restaurant provides family-style, casual dining and prides itself in catering to families. The customers are considered family by this restaurant. Their menu has a large variety of options you can choose from like salads, soups, steaks, and pasta dishes.

In time this restaurant experienced a quick expansion and became the leader in the Italian-themed restaurants’ industry across the United States. There are more than 800 Olive Garden restaurants all over the world.

At the same time with the restaurant’s expansion, the menu has also extended and is permanently improving while keeping the guest’s favorites permanent. The items are constantly changing in order to make sure that the customers are experiencing something new every time.

In the preparation of the food items offered, this restaurant uses only the freshest ingredients and focuses on the unique Italian flavors. There are traditional Italian dishes, but also new inspiring dishes. The menu contains a large list of appetizers, entrees, desserts, and wines as well.

The main goal of Olive Garden is to make every guest feel like they experienced the taste of modern Italy once they walk inside this restaurant.

Olive Garden Menu Prices

Brand History

On 13 December 1982 the first Olive Garden restaurant was opened By General Mills, Inc. in Orlando Florida. The restaurant chain expanded in a rapid way and by 1989 there were 145 restaurants open and ready to serve. This restaurant was one of the customers’ favorites and became a top leader in the full-service Italian-themed restaurant industry in America. The sales were colossal and the company was considered to be a fast-growing brand under the administration of General Mills, Inc.

In 1995 Olive Garden became part of Darden Restaurants, a restaurant holding company that branched out from General Mills, Inc. These days Darden Restaurants still owns Olive Garden and this is the most valuable restaurant in this company portfolio.

Darden announced in February 2011 that it is planning to open more than 200 Olive Garden restaurants in the near future. The company’s representatives also said that they intend to expand on the international markets as well. In order to achieve this goal, they were willing to start licensing franchising partnerships.

During that period, sales had greatly decreased and Darden had to make considerable efforts to bring back the restaurant’s success. This effort represented the introduction of the online ordering options, the creation of a new logo, the restaurant design was inspired by the Italian “farmhouses” and new items were introduced on the menus as well.

The slogan changed from “Good Times, Great Salad, Olive Garden” to “When you’re here, you’re family”. As for today, the slogan of this restaurant is “We’re all family here”.

There are more than 800 Olive Garden restaurants across the entire world. There are many locations in the United States, including Utah, Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, New York, Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Arizona.

There are also Olive Restaurants in Puerto Rico, New Mexico, and Canada locations like Winnipeg, Alberta, Manitoba, British Columbia, Langley, and Edmonton. Other places where you can find Olive Garden are United Arab Emirates, Peru, Malaysia, Brazil, Kuwait, El Salvador, and Mexico.

Aside from offering an Italian feel experience through food, Olive Garden is involved in community projects and helps those in need. For example, since 2003 they donated more than 66 million pounds of food through the Darden Harvest Program. Also, every day the restaurants prepare the surplus food and donate it to local shelters or other charitable organizations. The restaurant is part of the Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program as well.

Our Review

Olive Garden menus contain a large variety of Italian-American dishes for both dinner and lunch. The restaurant is different from the others because of the menu specials. The main dish is, obviously, pasta and you have the option to “Create Your Own Pasta Bowl”.

The cost of the popular special “Never Ending Pasta Bowl” is anywhere between $10 and $12. For the breadstick sandwich lunch duos, you will have to pay $10 to $12.

For the classic Italian options from the lunch menu you will have to pay $10 to $15 and for the one from the dinner menu, $14 to $18.

Some of the food options you can choose from include fettuccine alferdo, chicken parmigiana, lasagna classico, ravioli di portabella and lasagna classico.

If you pay attention to how you eat, the Olive Garden restaurant has a “Lighter Italian Fare” menu for you, that contains items that are under 575 calories and cost anywhere between $10 and $15. Some examples include herb grilled salmon, garlic rosemary chicken, and citrus chicken Sorrento. Vegetarians can choose from a large variety of salads and soups.

Olive Garden also has a menu for kids 12 years old and under.

The costs of the appetizers are anywhere between $7 and $10 and include bruschetta caprese, calamari, and spicy shrimp scampi fritta. Of course, there are unlimited breadsticks.

The Desserts menu contains dolcini, cheesecake, zeppoli, and tiramisu. The prices are anywhere between $5 and $10.

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The guests’ favorites are the salads and soups, and the most recommended is the garlic rosemary chicken. With these orders, you will get unlimited breadsticks.

The service at the Olive Garden restaurant depends on the location, with some offering better services than others. You can not make a reservation at this restaurant and you will have to wait pretty much to find a place. Though, they offer an online waitlist option so the customers can save a place in line before arriving at the restaurant.

The opening hours depend on the location as well. Though, in general, the restaurant is open from Sunday till Thursday from 11:00 a.m. till 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11:00 a.m. till 11:00 p.m. Lunch can be served from Monday to Friday until 4:00 p.m. You can serve dinner all day long on Saturday and Sunday.

You are able to also order online or take out. The Olive Garden restaurants offer catering services upon request.

The Olive Garden is a very popular restaurant all over the world, well known for its Italian cuisine dishes.

Olive Garden FAQ

Is Olive Garden closed on Thanksgiving?

The short answer is yes, You will find that Olive Garden is closed during the Thanksgiving celebrations. You will also stumble upon a closed Olive Garden during Christmas. This decision was based on the fact that Olive Garden wants its staff to enjoy holidays with family instead of working.

Does Olive Garden offer specials?

Yes, Olive Garden does offer specials. To find out more, go on their official website and look for the eclub. This is where they offer their early bird specials.

Where can I get a coupon for Olive Garden?

If you sign up for their eclub and become their fan on Facebook you can get quite a few deals and discounts on these two channels.

Does Olive Garden offer discounts on gift card purchases?

Yes, you will be entitled to discounts on gift card purchases at Olive Garden. The discounts usually range between 5% and 10% depending on your order.

Does Olive Garden offer To Go ordering online?

Yes, you can order online from Olive Garden in a To-Go system. You can visit their official website for more information about the ToGo online ordering system from Olive Garden.

Does Olive Garden have a catering menu?

Yes, Olive Garden does have a menu for catering. You can visit their official website to find their catering menu.