The Cool Kitchen Gadget You Can Buy at Olive Garden
One woman's birthday wish was for an Olive Garden cheese grater. Get this: She didn't need to blow out all the candles on her cake in one breath to get it. All Bo Gjerness had to do was ask her server.
Gjerness dished on the experience in a recent TikTok video that's gone viral with more than 1.2 million views.
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“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.
They sure do. Gjerness holds up the cheese grater.
"Tell me when," Gjerness says, imitating the servers, who will graciously top your pasta with as much Parmesan as your tastebuds desire. Her eyes resemble a kid on Christmas morning.
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Gjerness later revealed that the server said Olive Garden usually charges $15 for graters, but he gave it to her for free because it was her birthday. The birthday surprises didn't stop there. Gjerness got a whole bag of cheese to use. Tell me when, indeed.
However, some TikTokers questioned whether you can purchase an Olive Garden cheese grater.
“I worked at [Olive Garden] for like eight months," said one. "We did not sell cheese graters. We didn’t even have a way to ring them into the computer.”
Another swooped in and corrected the commenter.
"It’s definitely a thing," the person said. "A manager has to swipe for it, though.”
Still, someone else's anecdotal evidence pointed to "This is not a thing."
"I went to Olive Garden recently and asked the waiter this, and he said no...maybe it was just that location," the TikToker said.
TikToker Jordan the Stallion, who boasts 11.3 million followers, gave it a shot.
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"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.
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Olive Garden may be family, but you're not rolling up at 6 a.m. Jordan waited and eventually went inside for his experiment, which he was 95.7% wouldn't work.
Talk about precise. Speaking of precision, it didn't take much to nab an Olive Garden cheese grater.
"All I said was ‘cheese grater,'" Jordan says. "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.”
Commenters were impressed.
"You now can say, 'We got Olive Garden at home,'" said one.
"$15 cheese grater. $100 in Parmesan on the house," quipped another.
"You telling me I didn’t have to sneak the cheese grater into my purse?" said someone else.
OK, so which is it? The back and forth might be grating on your nerves.
The folks at TODAY.com asked an Olive Garden spokesperson, who responded.
"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 rep told TODAY.com. “The ability to purchase the cheese grater varies by restaurant and availability.”
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If your Olive Garden won't sell you the cheese grater, all hope is not lost. You can buy the same (or a very similar) cheese grater on Amazon, though it will cost you $23 and won't come with any cheese.
As for the rumor mill about being allowed to buy anything "not nailed down to a wall," the spokesperson didn't confirm or deny, only saying that "select items" are available in restaurants. Like cheese graters, it's all subject to availability.
