Ultimately, I left both restaurants feeling frustrated by the prices, especially regarding the entrées.
My total after tax was $51.13 at Olive Garden and $56.45 at Red Lobster. After adding a 20% tip, each three-course meal was over $60.
I probably wouldn’t order the calamari at either chain — Red Lobster’s was tastier, but the price was hard to stomach. It cost as much as some entrées on the menu. However, if I were dining with someone who wanted to order it and share, I wouldn’t object.
Even if my entrées were one-off flukes in terms of quality, I won’t be getting the shrimp Alfredo linguini at either restaurant again. The prices feel especially hard to justify when pasta is such a cheap ingredient, and Alfredo is a fairly simple, low-cost sauce to make with butter, cream, and Parmesan.
The chocolate-heavy desserts at both restaurants were tasty, though quite dense. Although I’m not a huge dessert person, they felt fairly priced.
In the end, the most impressive thing at both chains is what I got for free with my meal. Red Lobster’s biscuits were truly a delight — but that salad from Olive Garden that stood out to me more than anything else.
In the end, it’s why Olive Garden would be my choice for which chain to return to first. It felt like a great value to be able to have as much of it as I wanted.
I’ll plan to order a very different entrée, choose another appetizer, and probably skip dessert — but regardless of how the meal goes, at least I’ll know I can enjoy plate after plate of that delicious, fresh-tasting salad.
Business Insider reached out to Red Lobster and Olive Garden for comment.
