Just imagine: You’re sitting at your table at Olive Garden, and the server brings over your heaping bowl of pasta and starts grating cheese over it.
“Just tell me when,” they say as as a snowstorm of cheese cascades onto your dish.
“Never,” you say. “In fact, I would like to take that cheese grater home with me.”
“Sure,” the server says. “You can buy this right off me after I’m done grating.”
Does that seem like a far-off dream? Well, it may be closer to reality than you think. According to a couple users on TikTok, you can buy almost anything you see at Olive Garden.
On Oct. 6, user Bo Gjerness posted a TikTok about a recent birthday surprise she received at Olive Garden, which quickly went viral, racking up over a million views.
“I went to Olive Garden for my birthday and the Never Ending Pasta Bowl, and I asked the waiter, ‘You know, do you guys sell the cheese grater?’” Gjerness says in her video before holding up one of the chain’s tableside cheese graters. “And they do!”
“B—- tell me when, tell me when!” she exclaimed while using the device’s crank motion in excitement. She then shows off a container filled with cubes of cheese, care of the company.
To test out the validity of this claim, popular TikToker Jordan the Stallion tried out getting one for himself in a video with more than 11 million views posted Oct. 16.
“I heard this information. I woke up at six in the morning. I haven’t even seen my family yet. I need to see if this is true,” says Jordan in the video, adding that he was waiting for his local Olive Garden to open.
“I was 95.7% sure that that was not going to work,” Jordan said as the video cuts to him holding an Olive Garden bag. The TikToker says he went to the manager and the process was as easy as getting a pile of Parm shaved onto your bowl of Chicken and Shrimp Carbonara. “All I said was ‘cheese grater.’ And she looked at me and said, ‘Give me one minute.’ They sold me the cheese grater. Not only that, they gave me cheese to try out.”
The comments section showed a range of reactions, from those who wer shocked and delighted to folks who were already familiar with this phenomenon.
“$15 cheese grater. $100 in Parmesan on the house. 😂😂,” joked one TikTok user.
“Can you buy a napkin? A spoon? My new hobby might be trying to buy stuff from Olive Garden 😂,” commented another.
A lot of commenters claiming to be current or former Olive Garden staff seemed to confirm this unofficial sales policy.
“I’m a former Olive Garden waiter. Yes they will sell you anything that’s not nailed down to wall 🤣🤣,” commented one user.
“Former Olive Garden employee — everything there as a price,” wrote another. “ One of my managers sold a painting off the wall once.”
To find out for sure, we reached out to Olive Garden, who confirmed that some of its restaurants do sell cheese graters and more.
“The iconic Olive Garden cheese grater and our ‘Say When’ philosophy when grating fresh parmesan over our craveable Italian food is just one way we deliver on the never-ending abundance our guests love,” an Olive Garden spokesperson tells TODAY.com. “The ability to purchase the cheese grater varies by restaurant and availability.”
When asked if customers can purchase other things, like glassware and paintings, the spokesperson did not confirm individual items for sale, but said select items are available to purchase in-restaurant, depending on availability.
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And if you can’t wait for your next Olive Garden trip to get your hands on the cheese grater, people have already sussed out exactly which kitchen tool it is: a Zyliss Classic Cheese Grater. In addition to the manufacturer’s site, the cheese grater can be found for $22.95 on online retailers such as Sur la Table, Amazon and more.
