Olive Garden Teams Up With Children's Gym To Give Parents A Date Night

PASADENA (CBSLA.com) — Olive Garden has teamed up with a childcare center to give parents a much-needed date night.

All couples have to do is drop their kids off at any My Gym location for two hours while they eat dinner at the eatery known for its breadsticks and pasta bowls. The restaurant will then pick up the babysitting tab.

Jim and Michelle Waterhouse took advantage of the deal in Pasadena.

"I love [My Gym], but I can't afford it, and I was like, 'Oh, Jim, we gotta go.' We don't need a sitter, so we didn't have to hire the sitter, and we get to go to dinner," Michelle said.

"It's very liberating. We get to go out and have a good time and feel like our kids are in a safe place," Jim said.

KCAL9's Bobby Kaple reports the promotion was so popular at the Pasadena Olive Garden that there was a wait list of more than 50 people who didn't get in.

"I've been in the business about 33 years and I've never heard that pairing a meal with going to the gym and having [kids] taken care of…it's a very unique promotion," said Olive Garden's Paul Davis.