sageterious

[sageterious]

MMM Desserts!  11-15-16

My last visit will be tonight and I’m not sure how crazy I can go (I know how crazy I WANT to go with it) so we will see what happens. I wanted to type out a quick post beforehand to get caught up and I will make a follow up to tonight’s meal when I get a chance.

I know that I have not been making too many posts here, but I would say I end up going to Olive Garden around 2-3 times a week. I may have mentioned it, but between all of the other food challenges and events I have been doing, I just haven’t had the need or even the want to go and pig out, even if it was for free. When it comes to eating challenges, I like to have a “cool off” period between them so it really doesn’t make sense to go and have an all I can eat event at Olive Garden the following day. Anyway, regardless of how many times I went, I feel like I have more than gotten an adequate amount of food value for my pasta pass.

Onto the pictures I have above this, tonight I decided to bake and bring a few things for everyone for old times sake. Freshly baked carrot cake and M&M Cookies! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed them and we had a nice night chatting and eating. Eating is nice and all, but it has been a blast reconnecting with all of fantastic people I have met at the restaurant. Even though a lot of them have moved on, that only means it has opened opportunity to meet a new set of people. I can’t even being to say that I have met even half of the new people, but over the past two months, I can confidently say that I have gained a little bit of popularity and the staff are starting to recognize me. The only shame is that I did not get to meet everyone and the pass ends tonight.

Below are a few recaps from some of my other visits:

10-24-16 - Before and After

A reasonable meal tonight, nothing too crazy.

10-28-16 - Hey, I’m NOT at the bar for once!

Whether I’m at the bar or a table, the other guests nearby often ask questions, but I like the attention anyway.

A closer picture of just the food.

I wanted to be on the safe side so I went ahead and ordered more chicken and shrimp!

11-4-16 - Back at a table today!

Good old cavatappi.... Why cavatappi? you might ask, well, I think it’s the most efficiently small pasta in terms of volume. When I get angel hair or something similar, I feel like I am eating a brick of pasta, whereas cavatappi is hollow, squiggly, and just feels like less dense pasta.

11-9-16

Every time I sit down, it’s pretty much expected and fairly straight forward what I end up doing. I try to save everyone from the back and fourth and I just order everything all at once, along with a few family sized salads.

I guess I really felt like eating today, so I got more chicken.

11-10-16 

SOUP! Zuppa toscana is good stuff and while I have been here I have not had a chance to eat too much soup, so here we go, lots of soup tonight.

And to accompany all of that soup.... my delicious meal!

11-18-16

This whole week has been madness with the food. Saturday was a gigantic pizza challenge, Tuesday Olive Garden, Thursday 5.3 lb sandwich challenge (yay for national healthy lunch day!), and today... I just got out of control here, but screw it, it’s only food! Timing didn’t allow me to go to my regular Olive Garden where it has essentially become the norm to see someone order 30 orders of protein, but we ran into some trouble tonight at this location. No one gave me a hard time or anything like that, but the bartender was having trouble putting in 30 orders of protein, but the manager assisted and we got it all squared away.

Yep... my belly is full. I can’t even do before and after information since I have essentially split my eating time between Olive Garden and food contests, but I do need to drop a few pounds again after never ending pasta ends... after Thanksgiving.... after Christmas... after new years.... after my birthday..... Ok, so EVENTUALLY.

[sageterious]

Never Ending Pasta Bowl is Back!

Ok, so I haven’t posted for half of the promotion, but you better believe I have a pass again this year and I have been using it like a mad man. My first night I ended up at a different location rather than my usual one (it’s just how timing and other things worked out). I noticed that they changed a few things, most notably that you can no longer get the two orders to go - sorry guys, I can’t give away free food this year. If you haven’t seen it yet, I have a second blog for my food challenges (and everything else I do) - Sagebuffet.tumblr.com - and I have spent quite a lot of time writing in there, but I am behind on that too right now. Anyway, let me do a quick recap on the past few weeks!

Here we go, Day 1 of NEPB this year!

In addition to the to go orders, a lot of menu changes also happened. I can no longer get my precious mezaluna ravioli, chicken pomodoro and the basil sauces are both gone. On the plus side, they now have GRILLED CHICKEN! This time I don’t have to ask and hope someone decides to be nice and grill chicken for me. I started off very conservative, just to make sure that the changed rules didn’t catch me with my pants down. I ate like a “normal” person and ordered my meal and had about 6 refills of soup. I also had two refills and decided to test the waters a little and order a side of italian sausage.

zuppa toscana

pasta fagoli

more chicken, pasta, sauce, and my sausage on the side.

another refill

chicken and gnocchi

And there it is! my bill was exactly how I wanted it to be. The next visit I will push on the card a little more, to make sure everything goes well.

Well, as you can see, I went straight into it on my next visit. Mmmm, food :)

Just in case I was still hungry, I ordered more.

I am always having my pasta sauce salads; I like doing weird things. 

In the end it was of course $0.00 just the way I like it.

Ok, so beyond just the eating a whole lot of food, it was nice to see all of the familiar faces at the restaurant that I haven’t seen in so long. The restaurant layout as well as the staff have dramatically changed since the last time I came. It has been great meeting up and talking with Demitrius, Daniel, Wadhir, Dylan, Monica, Kevin and a few others. While they are no longer at this particular location, I see Zula and Maria now and then and it has been nice chatting with them as well. I decided that with all of the food competitions and other silly things going on that I wouldn’t be able to dedicate every single day to Olive Garden, but I try to go at least a few times a week. Ahead are a few more images from my visits:

Another day of food...

And another day... (1/2)

round 2 (2/2)

Well, today I decided to eat a whole lot (no surprise there im sure).

And some more chicken to go with it :)

This is how the pasta should come - completely loaded with shrimp.

Alright, so, here is my giant belly after eating all of that food. I look like this just about every day I pig out, but at least it’s just a temporary thing.

I tend to eat roughly the same thing each time, but after eating NEPB at least 70 times by now, I have a feel for what I generally enjoy.

I try to order everything all at once, but when I get more or it comes at different times, it just means I need another picture to show what else I got.

I have photos from the following days, but it is essentially the same things as you have already seen.

Ok, one more set of food, just because someone asked for a before an after.

There it is, lots of empty bowls (and I normally have 4 of the family salads). I don’t always eat all of the noodles (I’m trying to eat healthy!) it just depends on whether or not there is enough sauce and how I am feeling. One more thing that happens quite often, are the reactions from guests around me. On this day, the couple next to me took pictures of all of the food and they were just shocked. People usually ask me what I am doing and if I am ordering food to take home. I tell them no, I am going to eat all of it - “you mean eat the rest at home later?” no, all in one sitting right now. It’s not normal to eat like this and it sometimes leaves people shocked.

Alright until next time! Keep eating and enjoy lots of food!

[sageterious]

Hello Again Everyone!

In case anyone was ever wondering, I have actually been back to Olive Garden on multiple occasions. Most of the time, I stop in and chat, sometimes eat and sometimes I bring some baked goods for everyone. I should actually take more pictures, but here is the only one I have for now. This was from 1-30-16 and I baked a couple of loaves of banana bread, which were thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. Last weekend I baked carrot cake muffins and we all had a really nice time with those as well.

It has been a lot of fun going back and catching up with everyone and I am glad to see that in general, everyone is doing well. There have been a lot of changes and some of the staff are gone or transferred, but for the most part, there is a large number of friendly faces every time I head back to visit. I am sure that I will be back again within the next few weeks and I hope everyone and everything stays awesome.

[sageterious]

The End of the Never Ending Pasta Bowl

What and adventure it has been. I started off a bit nervous, but after the very first day when I introduced myself to Joanne, everything went uphill from there. I was just a stranger that she met for the very first time, but Joanne was so kind and welcoming toward me that I only looked forward to coming back each day. It was definitely a learning experience for all of us; learning what I could and couldn’t order and how to order it, as well as balancing out how much and what food I would eat each day. I can’t express how amazing everything has been and I hope to go on another adventure sometime soon.

Here is my total food consumed over the 7 weeks, which was definitely a lot. 332 orders of shrimp is 1700+ shrimp eaten - over 30 per day averaged (which doesn’t even include the fact that a regular meal is two shrimp orders, so I am closer to 370 orders). I am a little surprised as well that I didn’t try 6 of the pastas even once, but I guess the ravioli got the best of me.

Here is my total on the to go orders:

My weight fluctuation over the 7 weeks:

All in all, I had a fantastic seven weeks and I sincerely thank everyone for everything. I will almost definitely buy another pass next year, but I doubt I will eat as hardcore as I did this time, unless of course some form of challenge arises. There is so much more I want to say, but I’m having trouble getting all of the words together for some reason. Endless memories with great people; you can’t ask for more than that in life. In my final words, I leave you with something I put together (there are so many more of you to mention, don’t feel left out!):

I Came, I Ate, I Made Some Friends

Once my pasta pass was sent, it was off to Olive Garden I went It became a Seven week assent, which created time well spent

To eat an entire mountain of food, was the only goal for this dude As time passed and friendships accrued, I had a major change in attitude

As I would enjoy meal after meal, the experience surely became surreal Each day the staff knew the deal, ravioli, shrimp and marinara for my meal

As a slacker making late posts, punctuality was not one of my oaths Greeted daily by the hosts, to their friendliness I give toasts

Every day when I would come here, It all became so very clear Brandon, Jodi, Daniel and Wadhir, always greet me when I appear

Jose and christy always treated me with respect, something to never neglect As one may come to suspect, the food from the kitchen was free of defect

Chris, Cal, and Jason making the drinks flow, there was no such thing as slow Mariah, Zula, Nelson and others at the to go, friendly chatter would bestow

To Demitrius, Frankie and Kim, I'd like to say this on a whim For lack of a better synonym, keep being you, don't let yourselves dim

To each and everyone at the bar, thank you for always going so far To the staff that treated me like a star, your service was above par

To Rene and Dylan my fishing friends, to the ocean! make your wends! The great conversations had no ends, shall we chat again on the weekends?

Often greeted by a hug and kiss, Joanne is someone I will surely miss As we pass through great times like this, we must make sure to reminisce

To those I did not yet mention, just know that you are all in my retention I wish you the best in your life's ascension, keep yourselves free of pretension

To the few that I met at the plantation store, I apologize for not going more A far drive was the underscore; the other restaurant was just next door

The best gift as I neared my goal, was the unique Never Ending Pasta Bowl Once the signatures started to roll, it touched me right in my heart and soul

The end is something I must accept, but this is an adventure I will never forget My biggest food journey yet; and no, the end does not make me upset

To those of you that got to know me so well, its a story you may come to retell My friends at Olive Garden I bid you farewell. My return? Only time will tell

[sageterious]

Seven Week Review - NEPB

Well, here goes the review for the final week. I had a similar calorie intake this week and wow at the shrimp (ok, the last day was overkill). Week 7 was a lot of fun; interacting with the staff and planning out things for them as the days counted down. I am really going to miss chatting with everyone and eating all of the food with my unlimited pass, but most things just don’t last forever. I will follow up with an overall review, hopefully tomorrow.

My weight went back down a few pounds and over the next few weeks, through diet change (an all you can eat diet just doesn’t work!) I should be able to drop the weight and return back down to the lower 160′s where I started.

To Go: Pasta: Ravioli  16 | Cavatappi: 1

Meat: Chicken: 7 | Shrimp: 7 | Sausage: 2 | Meatball: 4

Soup : 3 | Salad : 9

[sageterious]

11-22 - Day Forty-Nine - The Final Day!!

I had most of this done two days ago, but I just got hit with a lot of things and I am sorry I didn’t post it sooner.

Can you believe it? Has it really been seven weeks already? When I first started my adventure, I thought that I would be so sick and tired of the food that I would be practically begging for it to end, but that is not even close to how I have felt. I believe it was somewhere in the second week that I started to feel sick of the now monotonous dinner I was eating everyday, but it only took a few days to get past it. As the days went on, dinner at Olive Garden became more of a routine where I would go and meet up with familiar people and have a meal. Soon enough, it hardly mattered that I ordered the exact same food almost every day to the point where a majority of the staff already knew what I was going to order.

Friday was the big day where I baked cheesecakes for everyone, but I really couldn’t let the very last day go on without a bang, so I whipped up something for the staff once again tonight. Rene specifically mentioned she really really likes carrot cake and Danielle also mentioned a liking for it, so I thought - why not?  I went ahead and made a whole bunch of carrot cake cupcakes with white chocolate cream cheese frosting, and they were a huge hit. Rene left early and wasn’t there when I arrived, but a few were put aside for her, so hopefully she got those. While the staff were helping themselves to cupcakes and distributing them through out the restaurant, I was sitting next to Danielle at the bar, who had just ended her shift. Danielle is aspiring to become a chef and some day own her own restaurant, so I hope for the best for her and that it works out. We were also talking to Frankie at the to go section and he is a really cool guy as well.

I knew it would be a long night, so Cal went ahead and started loading up the orders for my meal tonight.  If you didn’t already see the receipts, I went for all shrimp tonight. Order after order, they just kept coming and I kept eating, but I had to respect the rush hour for the restaurant, so there were some slower times when they got slammed with orders. During this time, I began to speak to the lady next to me. Her name was Judy and she had inquired about a comment I made earlier regarding eating a whole lot of shrimp, as well as one of the cupcakes that someone had. I told her my story and that I wanted to do something nice for the staff and she said it was very nice of me and that they looked absolutely delicious.  Judy also bakes various foods with her husband and she, like many others asked if I was running some kind of catering service, but no, I just bake for fun from home. Judy was very persistent in telling me to go for it with the catering, but I’m really not sure if it’s for me. 

Through out the night I went about getting more signatures and my plate is pretty much full now, as you can see by the picture below.

Regarding the food for tonight, I had a little over 250 shrimp before I decided to stop. The quantity of fried shrimp just became too much to continue eating fried food, so it seemed like a good time to just call it quits instead of letting myself get sick. I continued to chat through the night, mostly with Frankie and Nelson at the to go section before wrapping up any last signatures and heading home. It was a very pleasant and relaxing night and a good way to end my adventure. It has been an excellent adventure and I am going to have to stop by here and there to say hello, because there are a lot of great people there. It has been an absolute pleasure to have dined with all of you for the past 7 weeks and I hope for the best for everyone. Stay tuned for more posts, I will work on them asap.

As I said before, my meal was 50 orders of shrimp, which is roughly 250 shrimp.

To Go: 5 orders of Ravioli, marinara and shrimp (from my meals)

To Go: ravioli, alfredo, chicken and bacon with a salad 

-as per Frankie’s recommendation and yes, it was tasty.

To Go: cavatappi, alfredo and chicken with a salad

[sageterious]

11-21 - Day Forty-Eight - TWO DAYS LEFT!

It’s the second to last day and I’ve already made the dinner plans for tomorrow, so I came in nice and early today during lunch time for my meal. Rene, Cal, Brandon, and Demitrius were around the bar area and Zula was at the to go counter and we had an enjoyable conversation. Dylan came by a few times as well, but it was the lunch rush so he didn’t have a lot of time to chat. I didn’t plan to eat a lot today, so I ordered a small meal and just relaxed for a bit at the bar. After hanging out for a while, I had a great idea for my bowl. What better way to utilize my bowl than to fill it with memories by having everyone sign it? So off I went to get my bowl and start collecting signatures! Here is my bowl at the end of the night:

A bit later I went ahead and got some more food, but only some salad to munch on. Some more conversation and finishing up with my signatures and I went ahead and made my way home. I’m not sure if I have any plans to bake for tomorrow, so were going to have to see how I feel when I wake up.

My meal was pene with marinara and chicken meatballs with 2 additional chicken meatballs and 2 bowls of pasta fagioli. The second meal only consisted of roughly 7 salads.

To Go: Ravioli, meat sauce and meatballs with chicken and gnocchi

To Go: Ravioli, asiago alfredo and chicken with zuppa toscana

[sageterious]

11-20 - Day Forty-Seven - Cheesecake! Plus more Surprises!

I’ve been talking about it all week long and making sure to tell everyone that it was going down on Friday and to make sure and be there. I promised big things and I definitely made sure to deliver on that promise. I got started bright and early this morning in the laboratory and made some magic happen. I made cheesecakes, a whole lot of cheesecakes too. Once I arrived, I asked a few of the staff to assist me in unloading my car and I walked in with a big smile on my face like a hero returning to his home town with the head of the slain dragon in his hands. We set the cheesecakes on the bar and everyone was just as excited to try them as I was for them to try them, but first... we needed to take some pictures!

After explaining what everything was and cutting up some slices, everyone started to dig in and they were just loving it. Everything looked tasty and I did a little bit of sampling, but I also brought Rene her venison jerky as well as some beef jerky that I made. As everyone continued to eat up the cheesecakes, Rene and I munched down on the beef jerky and we rambled on about fishing and hunting. Jessica came back with a plate and loaded up 10 cheesecakes! She of course said - “they aren’t for me!” A minute later she came back and loaded up another plate full! She again said - “I swear, they aren’t for me!” Sure thing Jessica, Sure thing; If you liked them that much, it’s alright, eat them and enjoy them. I’m just kidding, thank you Jessica for helping to get cheesecakes out to all of the staff that were unable to make it over for themselves.

Surprisingly the restaurant did not start out too busy for a Friday, but as the night went on, it definitely picked up. Most of the cheesecake was gone at this point and I figured I did enough chatting and it was time to be seated and eat some dinner. The host sat me with Jessica, who I have met recently, but it was more of a quick hello and thank you. Jessica has read some of my blog, so that was a good icebreaker into conversation and it was a pleasant night chatting with her. Jessica was very cheerful and friendly and made sure I got all of my food in a timely manner, which it came very quick for a busy Friday. While sitting down, Dwite came over and said hello and we exchanged a few words. I had never met Dwite before, but he seemed like a nice guy. Wadhir was in the section next to me and he of course came by to say hello and periodically came by to chat a little bit as well as check to make sure I had everything I needed. Maria also came by to say thank you for the cheesecake and asked for my recipe, which I told her she can have as long as she can remember. I then proceeded to go over every ingredient and the process, but I may have overwhelmed her a little bit. I spoke to Dylan as well, who is consistently fun to chat with. He is always really enthusiastic and being a fellow fisherman always gives us something to chat about.

As time allowed, Jessica and I continued to chat as the night went on and I eventually went over to put in my to go orders. Sitting next to the to go counter was Danielle, who I have seen around, but was currently off shift. I said hello and we started to chat a bit, mostly about food (everyone likes food, lol) until Mariah came back from packing up the to go orders in the back and put in my order to go. I went back to my table and continued to eat and talk mostly about the blog with Jessica until my to go orders were ready. 

I have definitely noticed that as I meet new people, they remember and recognize me, then greet me, usually by name, even though I don’t always remember some of their names. After giving away my orders, I decided to go ahead and sit down at the bar for a bit to chat with Rene, Daniel, Zula and Mariah. Oscar came by and we exchanged a few words and I insisted that he should take the last two slices of cheesecake, if he wanted them, and he was very happy to do so since he did not get a chance to try any earlier on. The real kicker for the night came as follows:

I was sitting down talking to Rene when Oscar came out and handed me a box and said - “Here is something for you to remember us by.” I opened up this box and just wow, I was given a Never Ending Pasta Bowl! Everyone clapped for me as I smiled and said thank you to them. It was already such a great night and this just put it way over the top; it is a night I will always remember. Jose came by the bar and when I asked him about it, he told me that the bowl came to the restaurant from Olive Garden Corporate and they decided to give it to me. The last almost seven weeks of Never Ending Pasta Bowl was great and all, but this is the only Never Ending Pasta Bowl that truly matters.

So, before I can end this post, I must follow suit and list out the food that I ate. Today’s meal was - four cups of cheesecake batter, 11 oreos, 3 chocolate chip cookies, a handful of walnuts,  an oreo cheesecake, a slice of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake and wait... that is completely incorrect. Tonight’s meal was: Ravioli, marinara and shrimp with 9 orders of shrimp, 2 orders of chicken pomodoro and 2 orders of chicken plus a bowl of pasta fagioli and a bowl of zuppa toscana.

To Go: Cavatappi, alfredo and chicken with a salad

To Go: Ravioli, alfredo and chicken with a salad

[sageterious]

11-19 - Day Forty-Six

Now before I begin, I realize it is Sunday, yet I am just now getting to Thursday’s post. I am behind and working on catching up. Most people won’t understand this, but it is equally important to write about this. The main reason I am behind is what I would like to call JAMEE - Just A Mess; Everything Everywhere. Now let me tell you about JAMEE. After a long and exciting day of cooking and then eating and talking at Olive Garden, that may seem like the ideal time to relax and potentially catch up on my blog, but JAMEE interferes. JAMEE becomes the after party of fun and excitement; it’s like trying to do your homework with all of your friends over playing games and watching movies in your room. You can’t be mad at JAMEE though, it’s my fault for giving into it and relaxing and having my fun and being a slacker. Now that we got that out of the way, we shall proceed to today’s post.

I was out all day and had a late start, but I was determined to bake some banana bread. I got everything together, popped it in the oven, and the moment they were done I packed them in the car and off to olive garden I went. Once I got there, Mariah helped me with the door and I brought in the bread, which was still nice and warm. I began cutting slices and serving it up to everyone and we had a great time. Suffice to say, everyone, especially Salah, thoroughly enjoyed the banana bread.

Since it was Thursday, I did not originally think Rene was going to be there, otherwise I would have brought her jerky. I am glad she was there though, because as we continued to munch on banana bread, we had a nice time talking about all things fishing. The days keep counting down, but it was another night full of fun and good times.

After we got done eating, chatting, and hanging out a bit, it was finally time to go ahead and eat. The hostess sat me with Kyle, who was another employee that I have not yet met. Kyle was polite, just like any of the other staff I have encountered and proceeded to take down my food order. We made a bit of small talk through the night, but we didn’t really get into any major conversation. Through out the night, Joanne and Daniel came by as time allowed and we spoke about various things. It is always interesting to hear and learn new things about people; you never know who you’re going to run into and what they do on the back end besides work at Olive Garden. Tomorrow is a really big day and I hope everything works out as planned.

As for food, I had ravioli and marinara with 4 shrimp, 2 chicken pomodoro, 2 chicken, 1 meat sauce, 4 meatballs, and 4 salads. To Go: ravioli, marinara and shrimp with a salad To Go: ravioli, asiago alfredo and sausage with a salad

[sageterious]

11-18 - Day Forty-Five - Cinnamon Buns!

Yesterday was an interesting day and it prompted me to make the decision to go ahead and bake something nice for the staff and as a result, I made fresh cinnamon buns for everyone. They absolutely loved them and it was so nice to see everyone enjoying themselves as well as looking out for each other and bringing cinnamon buns to the rest of the staff that were too busy or unable to make it over. All in all, it made for a great night for everyone, including myself.

In the pictures above, its Jessica and Danny in the back, who sorta know who I am, but I have not actually met either of them before and Salah, who I know because he sometimes works at the to go counter. We started talking about food and dessert and what else I could possibly bring and once I mentioned banana bread, Salah went ahead and informed me that his sister makes the best banana bread. Well Salah, we will have to see about that....

I continued chatting away at the bar and just having an all around good time before finally asking to be sat. The hostess ended up seating me with Zula, who I have met many times before at the to go section and it is always pleasant chatting with her. We spoke for a little bit before putting in some orders for food. Through out the night, Danny came by and assisted me as well as the other tables with refills on food and drink as well as chatting with me a little bit since it was the first time we got a chance to meet. Again, the common theme here was the teamwork; Maria also came through and asked me as well as all of the tables in the section if they needed anything.

As the night went on, I kept chatting with Zula as time allowed, as well as with Monica when I went to put in my to go orders. I finished eating and as nice as it would be to just stay there all night, I do have to go home eventually, so once Monica brought my to go orders over, I said good night to everyone, gave away the food and made my leave. As the days continue to tick down, the nights seem to be a lot more fun, but it will always be in the back of my mind that there are so few days left.

As far as my food goes, I had ravioli, meat sauce and shrimp with 3 orders of shrimp, 2 chicken, 2 meatballs, 2 chicken, 2 chicken pomodoro, 1 5 cheese marinara and 7 salads.

To Go: Ravioli, 5 cheese marinara and chicken with a salad

To Go: Ravioli, meat sauce and meatballs with a salad.

[sageterious]

11-20 - Sneak Peak into today’s post. Well, I know I am behind by three days, but I actually have a good reason for it this time. for the past few days, I have been baking desserts for all of the staff and we have just been having such a great time. I wanted to get caught up on my blog before giving away all of the spoilers, but I am just way too happy about tonight, so I need to quickly post something.

It was such a great night giving out food and chatting with everyone who were so appreciative and happy for the kind gesture. The end of the night was the real kicker though; I was given this 20th anniversary NEPB bowl as a gift and everyone was so happy for me. I was not expecting it and I am just absolutely thrilled about the entire thing.

[sageterious]

11-17 - Day Forty-Four - Table Roulette!

I came first thing in the morning to try and grab some pictures while the restaurant was not busy, but at the same time, it meant there were only a handful of staff here. The following are the pictures I grabbed up.

I of course came back later that night as usual with the intent of eating my meal, but I also managed to snap up some pictures. 

Oh yea, and lets not forget the photographer who snuck in a selfie:

Now that we got all of the pictures out of the way, lets talk about today’s title: Table Roulette. I mentioned this a while back, but I never actually got the chance to put it into motion. I know everyone that works at the bar and at the to go section, but I really have not gotten a chance to meet too many of the staff members that work the other parts of the restaurant, so I asked to be sat at a table in an attempt to meet one of those people. To my bar friends, I am not abandoning you!

Before asking to be sat, I was at the bar chatting away like a mad man before the restaurant hit the busy time. Dylan, another fishing guy, and I were having a great time talking up a storm on all things fishing. It’s always great talking to Dylan, because he is knowledgeable and is always so energetic and lively. As the dinner time crowd began to come in, I went ahead and asked to be sat.

Tonight I was seated with Alan, who I have seen around, but never met before. Once I was seated, other staff members that recognized me were a bit shocked to see me at a table and not at the bar, since I have been at the bar for 43 days straight. Alan was an older gentleman, who was extremely polite and he took good care of me tonight. I have had a fair share of good and bad service, but I don’t eat out enough to give a fair consensus on how often I get good and bad service, but I am confident enough to say that I would only expect good service from anyone here. I must have done the bulk of my talking earlier, because I really didn’t get too far into any conversation with Alan.

It was not just a matter of how well Alan handled my table and made sure I had what I needed, but it was also about the fact that the other servers in the area also came by to check on me and the other tables in the area. The teamwork in this restaurant is excellent; everyone takes care of all of the tables. Dylan was in the area next to me and he would come by with my salad refills as well as chat a little about fishing through out the night. Lynda and a few other servers also said hello and checked on me as the night went on. Teamwork is so important in keeping everything running in an efficient manner, and it has been a common theme both at the bar and so far at the table areas in the restaurant.

As I was a getting toward the end of my meal, I figured it would be best to throw in a few more orders and put in my to go orders so that by the time I was done, my to go order would be ready as well. After putting in a few more orders of shrimp and getting ready to put in my to go order, here comes Mariah... She said she was looking all over the place for me and that she had her pen and paper with her to write down and put in my to go order. It was a pleasant surprise that she came over and assisted me like that and I told her to just go ahead and order anything she wanted to order and to put it into two separate bags. As I continued to eat and finish up the food I had ordered, Mariah came back once again, but this time with my to go meals. Apparently, I got in-restaurant delivery service too!

It was a great night! I gave one of my to go orders to the table next to me and then made my way toward the bar and gave the second order away to another family, both of which were very thankful. I ended up sitting down at the bar and talked my head off for a good 30 minutes before a gentleman from one of the tables I gave food to came over and shook my hand and said thank you and asked why. His name was Trevor and I gave him the short version of why and we spoke briefly before he said thank you again and left with the rest of his family. Sharing because something is free only a convenience, I really enjoy just giving away things to people that I feel truly appreciate it. It reminds me of another night that I was sitting at the bar and an elderly couple took and paid for another person’s check just out of sheer kindness as far as I could tell. You brighten someone’s day and sometimes a person just really needs that small act of kindness.

I ended up staying for another 30-45 minutes chatting away with Mariah and Zula before I finally decided to get going. Through the actions from tonight and many other nights and going above and beyond for me, I wanted to return the favor. I told Mariah and Zula that tomorrow, as well as Friday, I am going to give back to the staff, so they need to be there and that I hope they enjoy it (well, I kind of posted a spoiler already tonight).

Well now, lets take a breath and quickly talk food. I had ravioli, marinara and shrimp as well as 6 orders of shrimp, 4 meatballs, 4 chicken meatballs, 2 chicken pomodoro, and 4 salads. The food was not the star tonight, it was by far the staff, so thanks again everyone.

To Go: Ravioli, pesto alfredo and chicken with a salad

To Go: Ravioli, meat sauce and shrimp with a salad

[sageterious]

11-16 - Day Forty-Three - Photo Day!

Monday is generally a relaxing day with a smaller crowd, which has its ups and downs. I had been trying to get some group pictures over the weekend, but the restaurant was so busy that it was incredibly hard to try and pull people away from working, even for a quick photo. Monday was a little easier to quickly pull a few people to the side for a quick photo or two which was really nice. I added a few to the header image already, but here they are as well.

The whole scenario made for a good night, chatting and talking with everyone before finally ordering some food. Tonight, I went really heavy on the soup. Bowl after bowl after bowl, it seemed like I would be there a while, but Cal had a great idea; he filled up a giant bowl full of soup for me. This made it so much more convenient and as my bowl got low, I ordered more soup and started mixing and matching and I ended up just throwing all of my second ravioli order into there and really kicked that soup up. Suffice to say, my night went well.

As for the specifics on the food, I had a half order of ravioli, marinara and shrimp and then another half of ravioli, asiago alfredo and shrimp plus my soups. Four bowls of pasta fagoli, 1 minestrone, 1 zuppa toscana, and 1 chicken and gnocchi to finish off the night.

My fishing plans were cancelled once again so I gave my to go orders away to other customers in the to go line and they were happy to take home a little bit of extra food.

To Go: Ravioli, 5 cheese marinara and shrimp with chicken and gnocchi

To Go: Ravioli, meat sauce and meat balls with a salad

[sageterious]

Let's see how this phone app works... I brought cinnamon buns today for the staff!

[sageterious]

Six Week Review NEPB

Six Weeks? Really? I know I am still behind a few days and I will get caught up soon, but in the mean time, here is the information for week six. As a peek into next week, I am finding myself on a shortage of time and I really want to try and do any last things I may have wanted to do before the promotion ends. It’s not the end of the world, but things just wont be the same in another week. As you saw by my last post, I started taking pictures with the staff and I will continue to do so over the next few days.

I have been incredibly lazy this past week, other than just keeping up to date with the blog, but with exercise as well, and it shows, but oh well I guess. My lowest calorie week from Olive Garden to date, but still a net gain. Sometimes I just have those days where I feel like I simply don’t have even a minute to spare and this week really hit me hard with some of the other things I had going on.

To Go:

Ravioli: 14 | Chicken: 7 | Shrimp: 3 | Meatball: 8

Salad : 14

[sageterious]

Finally, a Header Image!

It has been blank since I originally created my tumblr page, but I started taking photos with the staff at various times of the day in an effort to compile them into a really awesome header image. So Far, I have a good starting point, but I will continue to take pictures as I can since I cant really stop all progress in the restaurant to call for a group photo, but I will make it work! Thanks again to all of you for everything and I will see you again tonight!

[sageterious]

11-15 - Day Forty-Two - Week Six Complete

Sunday is always busy, but tonight was definitely one of the busiest ones. Like any other day busy day, I walked past the crowd of people waiting to sit and found an empty seat at the bar. Jason, Cal and Brandon were at the bar and it really just went like any other night with a bit of chatting and eating, so I really don’t have much to say regarding tonight’s dining experience.

As for my meal, I enjoyed my typical ravioli, marinara and shrimp along with 5 more orders of shrimp, 2 chicken meatballs, 2 meatballs, 1 chicken and two chicken pomodoro with a total of four salads.

To Go: Ravioli, 5 cheese marinara and chicken with a salad

To Go: Ravioli, meat sauce and meatballs with a salad