Olive Garden’s $100 Pasta Pass Returns After Six Years, Sells Out in Minutes

Few things in life can match the joy of diving into a steaming bowl of noodles drenched in sauce. While whipping up a batch at home is usually quick and budget-friendly, there’s something special about enjoying a meal prepared by someone else, especially when it comes with a side of an extravagant salad and endless buttery garlic bread, all without the hassle of cleaning up afterward. For some, this is a rare indulgence, while others might treat themselves to this delight weekly, or even daily.

For pasta enthusiasts, the Never-Ending Pasta Pass is a dream come true, offering 13 weeks of unlimited pasta, salad or soup, and breadsticks. Or at least, it used to be available. The pass was up for grabs at $100 each, but it sold out in less than a minute. If you were hoping to snag one, you’re out of luck.

The Never-Ending Pasta Pass is a quirky, legendary coupon that first appeared in 2014. Offered annually, it grants the holder unlimited access to pasta, salad or soup, and breadsticks at any participating location for a limited time—this year, it runs for 13 weeks starting August 24. While it was available each year until 2019, it took a hiatus in 2020 for various reasons. Now, after a six-year absence, the Pasta Pass returned, only to vanish almost instantly, leaving many devoted fans empty-handed.

I clicked the link for the Pasta Pass at 11:01 a.m. PT, just one minute after it launched, and was greeted with a shocking message:

400,000 people ahead of me?! With only 10,000 passes available, this was clearly a lost cause. Not that I was planning to buy one, but if I had wanted to, it would have been impossible.

On the Olive Garden subreddit (yes, that exists), the mood is pretty grim! One user I’m following started with 8,000 people in front of them, saw it drop to 6,000, and then down to 500, so I’m rooting for u/Im_Action to secure a pass for the rest of us. Others report staggering numbers like 20,000, 60,000, or even 100,000 ahead of them—completely unfeasible. One user claimed they managed to snag a pass using a bot, and they’re facing backlash from the community.

Here’s another fortunate soul who got one:

As I write this, the Pasta Pass has officially “sold out” in under an hour. However, it was essentially gone within the first minute. If you weren’t among the first to click the link right after it went live, you were left behind in a queue of tens or even hundreds of thousands, making it impossible to get a pass. No pasta for you.

Is this all a bit ridiculous? Absolutely. A Pasta Pass can be a fantastic deal if you’re committed to using it. For those willing to spend $100, it could mean cheap meals for months. However, you’d need to dine at Olive Garden roughly once a week during that time for it to be worth it, and while garlic butter noodles are delicious, that might be a bit excessive. I admire the dedication of those trying to get one, but I feel for the everyday Olive Garden fans who had a frustrating experience. Seriously? We’re using bots for noodles now? Maybe even scalping them? While technically you shouldn’t be able to resell a Pasta Pass since servers are supposed to check IDs, I doubt every server does this consistently, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some passes pop up on resale sites soon, as people can’t resist the temptation.

So here we are again, with another limited-supply item on the internet spoiled by bots. What a system we’ve got!