Olive Garden All You Can Eat Soup and Salad

I got a coupon for $5 the all-you-can-eat soup and salad, so I thought I'd use the opportunity to chow down while on my diet. Olive Garden food is nothing I'd normally want to pay for, but their salad dressing is good. In fact I have their supermarket version in my cupboard.

I ordered the soup and salad without even looking at the menu; I just checked the regular price in case they didn't take the coupon for some reason. $9.99. Still not bad; I've had the salad before and it's a big bowl with a decent dressing. Most restaurants are charging $8-10 for just a bowl of soup.

A salad bowl arrived quickly. There isn't much preparation. They probably have a bathtub filled with the stuff in the kitchen.

I loaded up a plate and dug in. It has a lot of stuff in it; way too many croutons. Do people eat the croutons? I never have, even when I was a kid.

The soup came out looking like it had way too many potatoes, not enough sausage and a few bits of kale.

There were 2 girls at the next table also doing the soup and salad. They were charged $3 for a dipping sauce, which seems absurd with an $9.99 all you can eat lunch. They complained and the waiter removed it from the bill.

I took a look at the table, overflowing with food. A ridiculous haul for $5.

I was trying to figure out the food cost; probably not much with the volume they buy, but $5 doesn't go very far. Luckily the iced tea is all profit, except for the lemon

Another plate of salad, and another. The bowl has about 3 salad portions in it, even if you don't eat the croutons.

No dessert after eating a head of lettuce with soup, but you do get chocolate mints regardless.

Conclusion

I'm not a fan of the food at the Olive Garden, with the exception of the salad. At the regular price of $9.99 the all you can eat soup and salad is a good deal, assuming you like italian dressing, because that's the only choice you have.