The Cheapest Dinner At Olive Garden That Isn't Just Soup, Salad, And Breadsticks

Anyone who has ever spent time wandering the strip malls and shopping centers of suburban America knows that the soup, salad, and breadsticks deal at Olive Garden is the cheapest – and one of the most satisfying — ways to eat at the ubiquitous Italian chain restaurant.

But if the popular Olive Garden meal deal isn't enough for you, the least expensive entrée on Olive Garden's entire menu is its spaghetti. And here, you actually have two options because both the spaghetti with marinara and the spaghetti with meat sauce are the same price — just a dollar more than the triple-threat combo deal at most locations. The marinara is a simple, comforting, meatless tomato sauce topping the chain's thick spaghetti. The meat sauce is made with a combination of pan-seared beef and Italian sausage. And while the soup, salad, and breadsticks are certainly dependable (and one of the chain's most recognizable offerings), sometimes what you really need is a big plate of pasta in front of you.

Something else to keep in mind: At Olive Garden, every entree automatically comes with two breadsticks and a choice of either soup or the surprisingly satisfying house salad. So without even trying, you're already getting two-thirds of that soup/salad/breadsticks combo brought right to you. And if you want to push it even further (because this is Olive Garden, and excess on the cheap is all part of the fun), you can have two Italian sausages added to the spaghetti with meat sauce for an additional four dollars and change, which keeps your total around $20, or ask the kitchen to add 16 fried or sautéed shrimp to the plain marinara and end up with a big plate of shrimp spaghetti which, price-wise, is on par with the restaurant's standard chicken parmigiana.

Plus, for the most part, customers like Olive Garden's spaghetti. One Reddit user noted that "sometimes it hits the spot," while another said, "I don't think it's bad at all." For the price, it is a warm, filling, Italian-American standard, done in a way that is both comforting and approachable. A little dry sometimes, sure. A little mundane. But if you're hungry, craving some carbs, have a few dollars to spend, and go in clear-eyed, not expecting culinary innovation or life-altering brilliance from a middle-tier chain restaurant, then that plate of Olive Garden spaghetti and sauce might be exactly what you're looking for.