What Olive Garden's Menu Looked Like In The '90s Vs Today

Olive Garden debuted in 1982 in Orlando, Florida. What many may not know is that the cereal giant, General Mills, founded the company and deliberately set out to make it a chain. Needless to say, it succeeded beautifully in that, and by 1995, Olive Garden was in its heyday and was so big that it went public with stockholders. Everyone seemed to be talking about unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks, and its "never-ending pasta bowl" promotion. Today, these two options are still available at Olive Garden restaurants, even though many other elements have changed.

When we spotted a photo of a 1990's Olive Garden menu on Reddit, the first thing that jumped out to us was the prices. For example, the fettuccine Alfredo entrée (which came with unlimited salad and breadsticks) was priced at $7.95. The same dish is $16.99 on the current menu. A cappuccino was $1.75, whereas today, it is $4.99. In the 90s, an order of fried calamari was $3.45; the same appetizer is $13.49 if you visited right now. Prices may change based on location, but they'll still be higher than they were three decades ago. 

Additionally, modern menus are adorned with professionally shot photographs, showcasing some of the restaurant's popular dishes. In the 90s, Olive Garden menus were a carnival of fonts and folksy drawings depicting what we can only assume are Italian landscapes. 

Scanning the 90s Olive Garden menu, we noticed that several items are on the current menu, in addition to the few we mentioned above. These include toasted ravioli, fried mozzarella (although, on the old menu, this was served with fried zucchini), minestrone and pasta e Fagioli soups, lasagna, eggplant parmigiana, the Tour of Italy combination platter, chicken parmigiana, chicken Marsala, classic spaghetti and ravioli, cheesecake, and tiramisu. The priciest of these (Tour of Italy) was $10.75 and is $23.49 today. One standout we noticed is that Olive Garden used to offer a 9-inch pizza appetizer for $3.75. There were also several veal entrée options and swordfish, which you don't see on today's menu.

Naturally, Olive Garden's menus have evolved over the years, with many items coming and going, like its breadstick sandwiches in 2015. The prior year, the chain introduced its "Cucina Mia" promotion, which allowed diners to customize a pasta dish by choosing their own pasta cut, sauce, and topping for $9.99. This sounds exactly like the current "create your own pasta" option that is priced at $13.99. Beverage-wise, Olive Garden had wine options from the get-go, but today, it also has an extensive cocktail menu, and its non-alcoholic options have grown from soft drinks, milk, and San Pellegrino to include several flavored lemonades and iced teas.