Olive Garden brings back unlimited pasta pass

Never Ending Pasta Pass made headlines past year after selling out in only 45 minutes and giving cardholders access to seven weeks of unlimited pasta. The family passes have the same provisions, but for a group of four.

On September 17, at 2 p.m. eastern time, 1,000 of each type of Pasta Pass will be available here: www.OliveGarden.com/never-ending-pasta-pass.

On Wednesday, popular Italian restaurant chain Olive Garden, owned by parent company Darden Restaurants Inc ( DRI ), is bringing back its “Pasta Pass”, a promotion that lets people binge on all-you-can-eat pasta for seven weeks. The passes also come with unlimited soft drinks and, as with other Olive Garden meals, unlimited soup or salad and breadsticks.

But this year, Olive Garden is making the pasta pass a family affair – for $300 the promotion will allow the cardholder to bring three guests to join in on the feast. The passes are good from October. 5 through November 22 at the chain’s more than 800 US locations. In both cases, cards are not transferrable, so the cardholder must be present. The bowls, which are $9.99, will be available during the same seven-week period. David Letterman once devoted a top 10 list to the Pasta Pass, saying that one of its clauses is that a person’s dignity is not refundable.

Fettuccine Alfredo goes for $13 at a New York City Olive Garden, so a mere weekly visit on a Pasta Pass would save you money.

Olive Garden has seen higher sales recently due to raised prices, but continues to lose customers.