Welcome back, Trojans! I am excited once again to be your unofficial guide to eating as a college student around the Los Angeles area.

As I’m starting my senior year at USC, I’m especially eager to take advantage of all the opportunities around me, both academically and food-wise. Although, while I was stationed in L.A. during most of the summer, I’ve grown to miss some of the comfort flavors and dishes that comprised my small Oregon suburb.

So when I saw Olive Garden’s never-ending pasta bowls countdown line up with our first week of classes, I knew there was no better way to start senior year than with endless noodles. Just like clockwork, I quickly rounded up the Daily Trojan’s Arts & Entertainment Editor Aubrie Cole for an Italian chain celebration.

On a warm Saturday morning, we scurried off to the nearest Olive Garden in Mid-City. With over 10 locations scattered all across L.A., most are tucked away in shopping centers or empty plazas, nostalgic and reminiscent of a small suburban setup. I grew up frequenting my local mall for family outings and then walking over to an Olive Garden for a “fancy” dinner to end a day around town.

We swiftly parked and moved to the double doors with no line or other customers in sight. As soon as we entered the restaurant, I was overloaded with an abundance of nostalgic sensories and smells.

From the geometric retro fabric patterns on the booths to the faux plants between the tables and the scent of cheese wafting through the air, the atmosphere felt so familiar and slightly eerie in how accurate the space was to my past memories. The waitress, dressed in all black, sat us down and listed the specials with ease.

Open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Olive Garden is an American chain restaurant serving Italian courses including lasagna, grilled chicken margherita and different selections of pasta dishes. The restaurant has moderate pricing and is well known for providing a higher-end dining experience at accessible rates and locations.

Olive Garden also hosts different rotating promotions, including the Never Ending pasta bowl, which serves customers all-you-can-eat pasta for $15.99. With four noodle types and five sauces to choose from, the promo offers over 80 different combinations that patrons can swap out between each order. For an additional cost of $4.99, customers can select from a variety of different protein options such as crispy chicken fritta and Italian sausage.

The deal also comes with Olive Garden’s standard soup, salad and breadsticks package as well, serving up a multi-course extravaganza.

To start our feast, our waitress quickly slid out our soups and breadsticks from her tray. The breadsticks, topped with a little bit of salt and cheese, had the perfect crispy outside and fluffy inside. My favorite menu item, the chicken and gnocchi soup, was a balance of light yet still creamy and comforting. The balls of gnocchi were tender and satisfied my longing cravings.

For our first round of pasta bowls, I ordered the rigatoni with mushroom cream sauce. From my very first bite, I instantly felt a wave of childhood deliciousness and familiar flavors bursting on my tongue. The mushroom sauce was welcoming and paired well with the al dente rigatoni.

Although I admit my taste palette has grown since my childhood and the pasta courses were subpar in flavors compared to local L.A. restaurants, the wildly affordable and nostalgic nature of Olive Garden are the factors that keep me coming back. Between the piping hot dishes and quite literally unlimited quantities, it’s difficult to find any other restaurant with similar pricing deals and signature flavors.

We, unfortunately, did not make it as far through the Never-Ending pasta bowls as I would’ve hoped, stopping at our second round of noodles. I ordered fettuccine alfredo to finish off my meal and capture the true Olive Garden classic — a very filling ending to a spiral down memory lane for me.

The Never-ending pasta bowls promotion ends Nov. 17, so if you and a friend are craving an Italian getaway, Olive Garden might be the destination for you. But if you want to make it past two dishes, I suggest sticking with the rigatoni.

Jason Pham is a rising senior writing about affordable eating and restaurants in his column, “Dining Dollars.”