How the Never Ending Pasta Bowl Works
You pick one pasta and one sauce for the first bowl. When it is finished, you can order another bowl with any pasta and sauce combination, as many times as you like, for as long as you are at the table. Unlimited soup or salad and breadsticks come with it, as with every dine in entrée. Toppings such as meatballs, Italian sausage, grilled chicken or shrimp are added per bowl for an extra charge.
Pastas, Sauces and Toppings
The pasta and sauce choices follow the Create Your Own Pasta lineup: fettuccine, angel hair, bucatini, rigatoni, spaghetti and gluten free rotini, with alfredo, spicy alfredo, creamy mushroom, five cheese marinara, marinara and meat sauce. Olive Garden sometimes adds a promotional sauce for the season. Toppings mirror the regular menu: grilled chicken (130 cal), crispy chicken fritta, meatballs, Italian sausage, crispy shrimp fritta and sautéed shrimp.
When the Never Ending Pasta Bowl Runs
Olive Garden announces the promotion each year, usually starting in late August or September and running into November. Dates and the year's price are published on olivegarden.com and in the app a few days before launch. We update this page and the specials page the week it goes live; outside the window, the closest alternative is Create Your Own Pasta at $13.99 with unlimited soup or salad and breadsticks.
Calories per Bowl
A bowl of spaghetti with marinara is about 490 calories; fettuccine with alfredo about 1220. Refills are full portions, so two alfredo bowls with breadsticks pass 2,700 calories. Marinara or meat sauce with angel hair keeps a two bowl sitting near 1,100.
Is It Worth It?
The first bowl alone matches the price of Create Your Own Pasta, so the deal pays off from the second bowl. Most adults finish one and a half; large appetites and groups who share sauces across refills get the most value. It is not the deal for anyone who wants chicken or shrimp on every bowl, since toppings are charged each time.
Rules to Know
- Dine in only; refills are not available for takeout.
- One promotion per person; bowls cannot be shared for refills.
- Toppings are charged per bowl.
- The Never Ending Pasta Pass, when offered, is sold online in limited numbers and covers the whole promotion period.