A Madison Heights man is suing Olive Garden for allegedly serving him a severed rat’s foot in a bowl of minestrone soup.
Thomas Howie, 54, is seeking damages of more than $25,000 for physical injury, “mental anguish and emotional distress,” according to a complaint filed in Macomb Circuit Court on Aug. 18. The incident happened on March 11 at an Olive Garden on Van Dyke Avenue in Warren.
“Howie said he was talking with two dinner companions and not really looking at his soup as he ate, when he felt something sharp stab his cheek,” stated Howie’s attorney, Daniel Gwinn, in a news release. “He quickly spat the object out into his napkin. When he looked inside the napkin, he saw what appeared to be the fur-covered foot of a rat, complete with claws.”
Howie informed Olive Garden management, who he says, did not take the matter seriously, according to the complaint. One employee even joked about it, implying that Howie had placed the rat foot in the soup himself.
The lack of concern displayed by Olive Garden employees led Howie to call the police. Warren Police interviewed Howie, his friends and several employees. The police report described the object as a rat foot “that appeared to have been chewed.”
The rat foot allegedly cut the inside of Howie’s cheek, causing him to bleed and later seek medical treatment at an urgent care in Warren; he received a tetanus shot and was prescribed antibiotics.
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Warren Police contacted the Macomb County Health Department (MCHD) on March 13 to inform them of the incident.
The health department visited the restaurant and determined there was “no evidence of rodents in the facility,” according to the inspection report. MCHD also noted that Olive Garden’s pest control provider conducted a regularly scheduled service at the restaurant on March 11, the same date as the alleged incident, and “there were no pests observed in their report.”
Olive Garden is owned by Darden Restaurants.
A Darden spokesperson told the Free Press, “We have no reason to believe there is any validity to this claim.”
Darden Restaurant’s response further stated:
- The photo of the foot shows no signs that it underwent a cooking process. Nor does it show any signs of taking on any red color consistent with the red base of Minestrone.
- The foot is significantly larger than our soup spoons and would be difficult for someone to unknowingly insert in their mouth.
- The guest, and his attorney, have refused our repeated requests to provide us with the foot so we can have it forensically examined to determine what species it is.
Since the incident, Howie “has suffered a loss of appetite, an aversion to meat, fear of eating at restaurants, nausea, trouble sleeping and increased depression,” according to the complaint.
Contact Nour Rahal: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @nrahal1.
