Olive Garden's 'Never Ending Pasta Pass' Goes on Sale Thursday

LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CA -- Good news for pasta lovers in the Southland, Olive Garden's Never Ending Pasta is back. The bad news is that only a limited number of passes will be available.

The pass goes on sale Thursday starting at 11 a.m. Pacific time. Last year the pass sold out in minutes. This year, however, 10 time as many passes are available.

Last year, 2,000 Never Ending Pasta Passes were offered and claimed in less than a minute -- in one second, to be exact, according to officials at the Orlando-based chain.

This year, 21,000 passes will be up for grabs for one hour. And if you do the math, those could be snapped up in minutes.

“Within seconds of last year’s Pasta Pass sale beginning, our most enthusiastic fans clicked ‘purchase,’ becoming part of an exclusive club and the envy of pasta lovers everywhere,” said Jose Duenas, executive vice president of marketing for Olive Garden. “We know there are more fans than there were Pasta Passes so we’re expanding the club tenfold to give more guests an all-access pass to our most popular promotion of the year.”

So what does a pass holder get? For seven weeks, from Oct. 3 through Nov. 20, every Pasta Pass holder dining at Olive Garden can order unlimited pasta, sauces, toppings, soup or salad, breadsticks and Coca-Cola soft drinks.

If interested, here are the details to score a pass that can be used at all Olive Gardens, including six in the Los Angels area.

Sales begin at the company website www.OliveGarden.com/PastaPass at 2 p.m. ET -- or 11 a.m. Pacific time. The link to the sale page will be available at 1:30 p.m. ET -- 10:30 a.m. for those in California.

In the Los Angeles, the Italian restaurant has locales in Arcadia, 430 E. Huntington Drive; Downey, 9253 Firestone Blvd.; Glendale, 101 N. Brand Blvd.; Burbank, 1741 N. Victory Place; Culver City, 6000 Sepulveda Blvd.; and Montebello, 1866 Montebello Town Center. Find other locations here.

For more information, terms and conditions, follow this link.

--Sue Schena contributed to this report. Photo courtesy of Olive Garden