We tried the ultimate New York Power Lunch: Olive Garden Times Square

Yes, free wine!

At Olive Garden, guests are encouraged to sample a wide variety of wines from the restaurant’s wine cellar. The servers offer recommendations of which wines pair well with each menu item. Or, you know, just taste them all. No charge!

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Photo Credit: amNY / Diana Colapietro

Photo Credit: amNY / Diana Colapietro

The classic Olive Garden salad is tossed in their signature Italian dressing and topped with freshly grated cheese — you can tell your server to stop, or just encourage the cheese mountain that inevitably stacks up on the veggies.

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Photo Credit: amNY / Diana Colapietro

Our breadsticks sat pretty much untouched after a sample bite, but people are (reportedly) really into them.

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Photo Credit: amNY / Diana Colapietro

A red-sauce round: Rigatoni with the new chicken Pomodoro sauce, had a unique red pepper flavor. Combined with the soft tubular noodles, it was not our favorite dish.

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Photo Credit: amNY / Diana Colapietro

al dente, and probably could have used a little less cooking time. The spaghetti and meat sauce was a favorite though, cooked with pan-seared beef and Italian sausage and no offensive pepper ingredients, this dish was solidly slurpable spaghetti. ” data-id=”110933783″ data-link=”https://amnewyork.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/25060_image.jpg” class=”wp-image-1.10933783″/>
Photo Credit: amNY / Diana Colapietro

Photo Credit: amNY / Diana Colapietro

Photo Credit: amNY / Diana Colapietro

Photo Credit: amNY / Diana Colapietro

Photo Credit: amNY / Diana Colapietro

After accepting an invitation to enjoy the Never Ending Pasta Bowl, amNewYork was ready to dive into the Olive Garden Times Square experience.

On the upper level of Olive Garden Times Square (which currently has a lovely view of construction, crowds and police horses) on a busy Wednesday afternoon, the pre-matinee crowd sipped chocolate martinis and fruit-topped cocktails, Many seemed to be from out of town. Our server informed us that Morgan Stanley employees often came in from across the street for a quick, efficient lunch. Power Lunch was on.

In case you were unaware, Olive Garden’s Never Ending Pasta Bowl offers more than 20 different choices of pastas, sauces and toppings and will keep (Magically! By your server!) refilling itself until you can’t possible gorge on any more carbs.