This woman has a bone to pick with Olive Garden after receiving a serving size that wouldn’t even satisfy a child.
For many people, Olive Garden holds a near and dear place in their hearts, bringing back nostalgic childhood memories. Others just appreciate that they can get a good deal on a plate of pasta. And some think it’s a poor, Americanized imitation of real Italian food.
Aside from the pasta dishes, Olive Garden is known for their breadsticks, salad, soup, and “never-ending” deals.
Olive Garden used to be a reliable place to get a good bang for your buck, but some are accusing the chain of shrinking portions.
A size problem
In a trending video with more than 140,000 views, Olive Garden customer Kim (@just.kim68) called out the chain for serving her a rather ridiculous (and expensive) portion.
“I think I’m about to be upset,” Kim says as she pulled out the culprit.
Kim explains that she had placed a pickup order and paid $4.49 for a side of Alfredo sauce. As soon as she got it out of the bag, she was upset. Not only was the to-go container for a $4.49 sauce rather small, but it wasn’t even halfway full.
To prove her point, Kim grabbed a small measuring cup and dumped all of the sauce in it, using a small spatula to scrape ever last drop in.
It measured just a little over 1 ounce.
“Come on, Olive Garden, do better,” Kim says in the clip.
Strangely enough, the only side of Alfredo available on the Olive Garden site is a large one for $10.99. They do not advertise how many ounces customers should be getting.
This isn’t the first time a customer has accused the chain of purposefully giving them a small portion. Another person said that when they went in for the “never-ending pasta” deal, they were served in “tiny” bowls, supposedly to deter them from eating too much.
Olive Garden had actually removed the “never-ending pasta” deal for a few years because it wasn’t profitable, but reinstated it as dining ticked back up after the height of the pandemic.
@just.kim68 #livingmybestlife ##genx #over50 #untiktoky #fun #funnyvideos #funny #olivegarden #dobetter #ripoff #alfredo #food #italian ♬ original sound – just.kim68
Everything is getting smaller
Heard of “shrinkflation”?
Shrinkflation is a combination of the words “shrink” and “inflation” that refers to products shrinking in size or quantity while maintaining the same price, so you end up paying more for less.
This is usually done to offset rising production costs or maintain profit margins when faced with competition.
Shrinkflation seems to be affecting food items across categories and restaurants. Customers have complained that McDonald’s is skimping on serving sizes, mac and cheese boxes have less product, and Raising Cane’s went from chicken strip sizes to darn near chicken nuggets.
Commenters are split
“Olive Garden sucks, make your own food. Nobody cares. You are wrong!” a rather rude commenter said.
“That is everywhere now, portions got smaller and prices got bigger,” another person wrote.
“We stopped ordering Olive Garden because of this exact same problem my kids love the breadsticks and Alfredo. We buy a large Alfredo and it’s not even half full and it’s happened every single time!” a third chimed in.
“Texas Roadhouse did this to my pickup order for a side I paid extra for. Half full. The extra salad dressings and dip sauces weren’t in there either,” one person shared.
The Daily Dot reached out to Kim for comment via TikTok direct message and comment and to Olive Garden via email.
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