Olive Garden Near Me

Since 1982, Olive Garden has been serving up delicious Italian style meals, wine, and desserts to hungry customers looking for some truly satisfying comfort food. Since its inception, Olive Garden has kept the idea of “family” style dining alive. Offering large eating areas, kid friendly digs, and menu choices for even the pickiest of eaters.

Are you interested in finding an Olive Garden near you? Simply browse Olive Garden near me on the map below and find a list of Olive Garden locations in your area. Need a bit more information on Olive Garden? Read on for facts and trivia on this epic Italian franchise.

Olive Garden Near Me – Find it on the Map

Olive Garden Near Me – Olive Garden Trivia

What was the original test site of Olive Garden?

The original Olive Garden was based in Orlando, FL. The site was chosen by the owner of Olive Garden, General Mills. Yes, the company that makes your breakfast cereal also launched America’s favorite Italian food chain 1982. Dubbed Olive Garden, the first location was in Orlando. Within seven years of launching the Orlando location the chain had grown to include over 150 restaurants. Not to mention a ravenous breadstick and salad following. By 1995, General Mills created the group Darden Restaurants, which now owns Olive Garden and Red Lobster, amongst many others. With over 840 locations in the US, Olive Garden is the largest chain of Italian restaurants in the US.

All Olive Garden restaurants feature a stone facade, tuscan style architecture, and the famous green script logo.

True or false: There were once six Red Lobster and Olive Garden combination restaurants.

True! If you’re searching Olive Garden near me, but also craving seafood, you once could’ve had the world in your hands. Due to the popularity of both Red Lobster and Olive Garden, the Darden restaurant group once attempted to join them together in order to make a higher profit. Because of this six Olive Garden/Red Lobster restaurants existed throughout the US. Unlike other combination eateries, the restaurants shared one building and one kitchen, but had separate entrances, dining rooms, and menus. When Darden sold Red Lobster in 2014, the combination locations were closed down or renovated into Olive Garden locations.

True or false: Olive Garden once offered a never ending pasta pass.

Searching Olive Garden near me in 2014, likely would’ve yielded some results regarding the infamous “never ending pasta pass.” The promotion was created by Olive garden to give customers the opportunity to eat as much pasta as they wanted for an affordable $100. Not only did the Never Ending Pasta Pass permit unlimited pasta, but it also allowed for unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks for seven weeks. On the first day the promotion was offered, Olive Garden loyalists crashed the site and the passes passes sold out in seconds. After the pasta passes were sold, some hungry customers admitted to eating as many as 100 meals at the restaurant within the 7 week period. One clergyman in North Carolina ended up eating a whopping 115 meals during the seven week promotion. His goal was to eat $1800 in Olive Garden food before his pass expired.

Olive Garden Near Me – Olive Garden Facts

Servers Hate the Unlimited Soup/Salad/Breadsticks

While unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks is a great deal for hungry customers, your Olive Garden server doesn’t quite feel the same way. Unlimited refills mean that your server is making several hectic trips to the kitchen and back to the table. More so than the average meal would have a server running ot the kitchen. Couple that with the low price of the deal and the average server ends up doing a lot of running around for a very measly tip. Next time you’re searching Olive Garden near me, remember to leave your server a nice tip for all of the work they’ve done in helping you carbo-load the american way!

The Tuscan Cooking School

For years, Olive Garden has touted the idea that it trains all of its chefs and upper management at a Tuscan cooking school. At least that’s what several Olive Garden commercials would have you believe. However, the claim isn’t quite what it seems. Those who actually attended the school with Olive Garden reported that they spent more time sightseeing and exploring Tuscany than actually learning to cook authentic Italian food. So while Olive Garden may send it’s chefs and managers to Italy, they’re not exactly learning the tricks of the trade!

The Olive Garden Secret Menu

While searching Olive Garden near me, keep in mind that Olive Garden supposedly has a secret menu. If you’re scanning the offerings and don’t find exactly what you want or have discovered that a beloved menu item has been discontinued, you can easily hack your order. Secret menu sites report that it’s possible to order just about anything, just so long as the chef has all of the ingredients necessary to make the order. For example, you can always change ravioli feelings, or have sauces put on the side or infused.

Jimmy Fallon Now Owns The Olive Garden Slogan

In 2012, Olive Garden made the shocking decision to get ride of the long running ad slogan, “When you’re here, you’re family.” The nation as a whole had mixed feelings about this decision but comedian Jimmy Fallon saw it as an opening. Jimmy’s team reached out to Olive Garden’s owner Darden to see if he could purchase the slogan and Olive Garden was immediately on board. Darden president Dave George even went on Fallon’s show to sign over the rights on air officially.