*Update - 1/14/2022* Most recent information indicates they are scheduled to open Feb 21, 2022.

Did somebody say all you can eat breadsticks?

That’s right, Olive Garden is coming to Papillion’s Shadow Lake Towne Center. The restaurant plans to open its doors to customers starting this fall.

Danielle Wheeler Lowry and Amber Olson are leasing agents for the open-air shopping center southwest of 72nd Street and Highway 370. They have been interested in bringing the popular Italian chain to Sarpy County for a couple years.

“We’ve been talking with Olive Garden for at least two years, but at the time all we had available was a corner lot,” Wheeler Lowry said. “At the time, Olive Garden wasn’t interested because that lot sits low and is kind of hard to see.”

When the Shadow Lake Old Chicago announced it would close in March 2020, that was a blessing in disguise, she said.

“When they told the landlord they were closing we immediately called Olive Garden, and they said, ‘Yeah, let’s make that deal,” Wheeler Lowry said.

The popularity and public clamoring made bringing the familiar restaurant to Papillion a no-brainer for the mall, but the restaurant was waiting for an opportunity.

Wheeler Lowry said the chain had been interested  in joining Shadow Lake Towne Center since the outdoor mall first opened in 2009, “but there just wasn’t really a spot for them.”

This has been a long time coming for the people of Papillion as well. When Wheeler Lowry and Olson joined Shadow Lake about three years ago, they put up a Facebook poll asking the community what they wanted.

“Olive Garden was one of the No. 1 answers, so that’s why we’ve really been going after them,” Olson said.

Olive Garden is a casual Italian-American restaurant chain that’s famous for offering unlimited breadsticks to dine-in customers. It is a subsidiary of Darden Restaurants Inc., which has its headquarters in Orange County, Fla. Darden also owns LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House and several other restaurant brands.