As I have exhausted several of the options available (not factoring combinations), I chose Whole Grain Linguine for my pasta, Traditional Marinara for my sauce and since I’ve already exhausted all my toppings options, I went with the non-advertised Meatball/Sausage combo (1 each) for my sixth meal:
I was a bit surprised how much I liked the Whole Grain Linguine, and I was expecting it to be the typical darker colored pasta with a firmer texture. Nope, it definitely resembled their regular offerings, and since this pasta choice is their lowest calorie option at 350 per serving, it is quite a reduction from the typical choices of 430/440 calories. It also offers a whopping 14 grams of fiber per serving, compared to only 2-4 grams with the other choices. That’s what I like to call a Win Win Win.
The Traditional Marinara was also VERY good, as I typically like basic Marinara type sauces. Samantha isn’t a huge fan and wasn’t sure I would like it that much, but I told her that it’s very close in flavor to the expensive Organic Marinara sauce I typically buy at the health store. This sauce is also ONLY 140 calories per serving, compared to the range of 300-720 for the other options. Can we say healthiest option possible? If that is your flavor, then order up the Whole Grain Linguine & Traditional Marinara in guilt-free fashion. You usually don’t get super healthy and super delicious, but this one is it! But don’t forget a “little” grated cheese to top it off. And as Olive Garden has stated before, I agree:
This visit was at The Villages location as the wife and I met here for date night since I had to work out in Orlando today and this was a good meet up spot on my commute home. We had Jessica for our server, who was fantastic. We will definitely be back to see her again. She wrote her name down on a comment card so we wouldn’t forget:
I had a “good” idea in the past that keeps lingering for this exact reason, because I thought it would be nice to have a solution that would store your servers names and remind you who your favorites are once you arrive at that location. So many times I think, who did we have last time that we liked, and this happens at a ton of restaurants. Something like this may even exist, but if not, I might get on that soon… Because you know what they say:
Anyways, back to date night. Here is my beautiful wife Samantha:
We ordered the Shrimp Scampi Fritta appetizer to start, which was my first time trying this as well. I unfortunately didn’t snap a picture as we dove in as soon as they hit the table! Samantha said it was amazing, and she was right! And you get a bunch of them (we had 26, and I only counted for calorie counting purposes), so for the price it’s definitely worth it.
We also paid the $1.99 to play the Ziosk Table Games, which we always have a blast doing! Some Movie, TV, and Space trivia. We won some, and lost some. Although to be fair, the ones we won, we gave 100% attention, and the ones we lost, we were in the middle of eating, so the losses shouldn’t count 🙂
Here is a picture of the Ziosk summarizing our order before providing my Pasta Pass. I saved $14.36 with tax for my meal.
So while Sam and I were having a random conversation about how I keep worrying (in a joking way) that I am going to lose my Pasta Pass, and at that exact moment, Jessica, our server, returns with my card and asks if I wanted her to throw it out, as she wasn’t sure if it was like a gift card or something. She said I was her first Pasta Pass holder, so I gave her the scoop!
Here is the nutritional information for this meal:
