‘Umm excuse me?’: New Mexico Olive Garden customer gets seated. Then they open up the breadstick basket, sees what’s inside
Olive Garden breadsticks have been a staple for decades. As soon as customers sit down, servers deliver a basket of them. Naturally, you might reach for one and expect warm, fluffy, cylindrical-shaped pieces of bread. Instead, what this woman received was a basket of bewilderment.
New Mexico-based customer Danielle (@dnikkid88) sits inside an Olive Garden with a bowl of Zuppa Toscana in front of her. When she reaches across the table toward the metal breadbasket, she unwraps the napkin to unveil the contents inside. Typically, the breadsticks Olive Garden fans know and love would be in there. However, round, burnt breadrolls take their place. Then the content creator picks one up to reveal it up close, in all its glory.
To say Danielle wasn’t thrilled is an understatement. “Umm excuse me @Olive Garden what is this???!?! I would like the normal breadsticks please TF,” she expresses while tagging the Italian restaurant in the caption.
Viewers echoed the same sentiment
The video racked up over 250,000 views. Many didn’t play around with their Olive Garden breadsticks and would’ve crashed out in that situation.
“I would be sooooooo mad. Tell me before you even seat me bc those breadsticks make or break the meal,” one viewer remarked.
“[The] way I would immediately ask for a refund and leave,” a second commented.
“I would IMMEDIATELY leave cause I need my breadsticks!!!” a third stated.
Moreover, former and current Olive Garden employees entered the chat to share stories about how customers reacted when this happened.
“When I worked there we ran out once and the GM stood up front to tell ppl before they sat and ppl legit had meltdowns and were screaming and in tears. It was pathetic and one of the reasons I quit,” one commenter recalled.
“This happened once at my location and we as the host team had to tell everyone who walked in before we sat them. We lost so much business that night it was awful,” another revealed.
What happened to the bread?
It’s not uncommon for restaurants to improvise or have backup products if their original ones run out. For Danielle, she was the surprise recipient of her Olive Garden location’s alternative.
“I guess they didnt have any made. this is what they give out when out of breadsticks,” she explained in the comments section. “They were not good at all.”
How does Olive Garden make its breadsticks?
It’s easy to assume the beloved breadsticks are baked in-house. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. Like most food establishments, they outsource their products. Olive Garden is one of them. According to Yahoo, Turano Baking Company supplies Darden Restaurants, the parent company, with prebaked breadsticks and distributes them frozen to each location. Once it arrives, employees bake them, brush them with margarine, and add garlic.
In 2021, Newsweek reported on an alleged Olive Garden employee who pulled the curtain on how the breadsticks are prepared. The steps the employee demonstrated echoed Yahoo. First, he lined several baking sheets with baking parchment and prebaked the breadsticks. Next, he slides a tray into the preheated oven, where it bakes for three minutes. Finally, he removes the tray on which he douses the breadsticks with butter, garlic, and salt.
@dnikkid88 umm excuse me @Olive Garden what is this???!?! I would like the normal breadsticks please TF #olivegarden #foodtoks #foodie ♬ WTHELLY – Rob49
The Mary Sue reached out to Danielle via email and TikTok comment as well as Darden Restaurants via press email.
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