At $17.49, the Spaghetti with Meat Sauce is the most affordable dinner entree on the Olive Garden menu — and when you factor in unlimited soup or salad and breadsticks, it might be the best budget meal in casual dining. You’re getting a full plate of pasta, unlimited sides, and a sit-down dining experience for less than most fast-casual meals.
The dish is exactly what you’d expect — a generous portion of al dente spaghetti topped with Olive Garden’s seasoned meat sauce. The meat sauce is slow-simmered with ground beef, tomatoes, and Italian herbs, giving it a rich depth of flavor that’s more complex than it has any right to be at this price point. It’s the same meat sauce used on the Lasagna Classico and the Tour of Italy.
Here are the two spaghetti options:
Both include unlimited soup or salad and breadsticks with dine-in orders.
The meat sauce version is moderately caloric and offers solid protein at 42g. The marinara version is one of the lightest entrees on the entire menu at just 640 calories. For context, a single breadstick adds 140 calories, so two breadsticks with the marinara spaghetti would still be under 1,000 calories total — a reasonable meal.
When you factor in everything included with the $17.49 Spaghetti, here’s what you actually get:
You can walk out fully satisfied for under $25 including tax and tip. That’s less than a typical meal at many fast-casual restaurants, but with a sit-down experience and unlimited sides. For families on a budget, ordering spaghetti for the adults while kids eat from the kids menu ($7.49-$7.99) is one of the most affordable sit-down family dinner options available.
Available at all Olive Garden locations for dine-in, takeout, and delivery. Find the nearest Olive Garden on our map. For the full dinner menu, see our dinner price guide.