8 Reasons Olive Garden Deserves More Credit Than It Gets

We'll be the ones to say it: people love to hate on Olive Garden. The casual dining chain has been selling Italian-adjacent, carb-forward comfort foods for over 40 years, and its authenticity and experience are often called into question. 

But Olive Garden never claimed to be traditional Italian cuisine, and thanks to generous portions, it's a great way to stretch your restaurant budget.

Here are eight solid reasons Olive Garden deserves a little more credit than it gets.

While plenty of restaurants serve free appetizers like chips and salsa or bread and butter, Olive Garden will keep bringing baskets of warm seasoned breadsticks and bowls of their popular Italian salad or Zuppa Tuscana (among other soup flavors) to your table with every entree order until you're stuffed for the week.

You can even try a different soup type with each refill, although you may be too full for your main entree if you don't pace yourself.

This is especially true for dishes featuring fettuccine or angel hair pasta, which seem like endless bowls of pasta to begin with.

You could be sitting in Olive Garden for three hours and seemingly never make a dent in a plate like that, so purchasing a big bowl of pasta can reliably be stretched into a second — or even third — meal at home for a leftover feast.

While Olive Garden might not be the most upscale Italian experience—and some people complain about the rising prices—it is still solidly less expensive than other Italian dining experiences.

The chain may be more risk-averse when it comes to its dishes, but since it's not focused on getting new costly ingredients, it isn't spiking its prices like so many other storefronts.

Piggy-backing off the last point, Olive Garden might not be the most authentic Italian food, but they aren't claiming it either. They create formulaic pasta dishes that appeal to a wide variety of palates, and are proud of the work that they do.

For many fans, it's nice to dine out somewhere and know exactly what you're getting each time.

Unlike many other Italian restaurants — chains or otherwise — Olive Garden is known to almost always run a special promotion.

While discount opportunities seem to have slowed in recent years, diners can still rely on the $6 Take Home Entrées special.

Purchase any entrée or meal in-store or for takeout, and score a chilled main for just $6 to take home for another meal. You can also join their free eClub to receive one free appetizer or dessert as a sign-up reward.

Olive Garden has an extensive list of tasty beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Try a new Blue Capri if you're into rum, or sip on Italian-inspired margaritas, rum punches, and bellinis.

The spiked strawberry lemonade is a particular fan favorite.

Some Olive Garden locations even offer wine bottles to-go with Curbside orders, so make sure to check into that if you are ordering online.

Bottle prices start around $25, and feature an array of moscatos, chardonnays, pinots, and more.

One of the things people rave move about at Olive Garden is its thick, delicious alfredo sauce. While some of the restaurant's courses are said to be cooked off-site, the sauces are made fresh daily by their prep cooks.

Pro tip: try using the alfredo sauce as a dip for the breadsticks.

You can avoid wasting money on takeout by taking advantage of what Olive Garden has to offer — namely, big portion sizes and second meal options — a few times a year. With over 912 locations in North America alone, their consistently comforting meals can be a great, accessible option

If you're really trying to stretch your dollar, eat half at the restaurant and ask for a takeout container to pack the rest up for a future lunch or dinner later in the week.