WTF: Olive Garden Is Charging $400 for NYE Dinner
Most of us equate New Year’s Eve with a sparkly dress (perhaps one you can even wear to work on the following Monday), cute DIYable party hats, staying up late and lots of champagne. But when you think NYE, do you think $$$$ dinner… at a chain restaurant? You won’t believe which popular eatery is charging $400 dollars a head for a seat in their Times Square location on New Year’s Eve for a partially obstructed view of the annual ball drop.
Olive Garden. Home of endless salad and breadsticks. Yes, that Olive Garden — only, according to the New York Post, there won’t be breadsticks. What there will be, however, is a DJ, a buffet and an open bar. Sounds like the franchise location will be turning up the swank to ring in 2016. Question is, is it $400 per person worth of swankiness?
Compared to some of the other chains in the area though with a better view of that Times Square ball, $400 is practically a steal. Bubba Gump’s Shrimp across the way is charging $799 for a seat while burger joint The Counter has just sliders and fries for $449. Merely standing inside the AMC 42nd Street movie theater will set you back almost 40 bucks.
It gets better. Ruby Tuesdays has a VIP Couples Package that will cost you $1699 for a table — you can’t even see the ball drop from inside. You actually would have to shove your way out into the hordes and hope for a miracle that you’ll get a sliver of a view amongst the crowd. Holy guacamole (and there better be tons and tons of guacamole).
You can check out some of the other well-priced, totally budget-friendly ticket options (lol) for a view of the NYE Ball at Balldrop.com.
Or, you know, you could always watch the ball drop on TV for free.
Would you ever shell out $400 for dinner at Olive Garden? Tweet us @BritandCo!
(h/t New York Post, photos via Spencer Platt/Getty + Wikimedia Commons)