Olive Garden’s never-ending pasta has become the latest TikTok craze. This time, a man shared his belief that he started getting pasta refills in “tiny” bowls because the restaurant was “scared” he’d eat too much.
TikTok user @rlg.317 posted a video about his theory on Tuesday. It has received more than 778,000 views since.
In the video, the TikToker unveiled a table littered with bowls of pasta and salad. The majority of his pasta appeared mostly or entirely eaten and was served in large dining bowls. However, the most recent bowl he received was half the size of the original ones. The content creator suspected that “Olive Garden was so scared. They started serving me pasta in these tiny bowls.”
He was not deterred by the seemingly shrinking portions, though. In the video’s caption, he wrote: “‘Never ending’ pasta.. ill make it to the end.”
@rlg.317 “Never ending” pasta.. ill make it to the end 🍝😤🍽️ #olivegarden #neverendingpasta #olivegardenbreadsticks #pasta #food #foodtok ♬ Youngest Daughter – Superheaven
While @rlg.317 was surprised by the size of the refill bowls, commenters were not.
“That’s literally how they always do it. first one is big refills are smaller,” one viewer explained.
“That’s how it comes after the first bowl,” a second echoed.
In addition, others claimed that the pasta was initially supposed to be severed in the smaller bowls.
“Ngl I work at one and they’re supposed to give them in the bowl in the first place,” one user noted.
“I work at olive garden and its the same portions depending on the pasta type,” a second commented.
This is not the first time an Olive Garden customer has gone viral for pointing out the changing bowl sizes. Another customer who recently went viral alleged that the refill bowls are smaller to prevent customers from taking pasta home with them.
Though that may not be the real reason refill bowls are smaller, Olive Garden has had concerns in the past about facing financial losses because of the Never-Ending Pasta Bowl promotion. According to Mashed, the deal had been discontinued in 2020 because it “simply wasn’t profitable in the long run.”
It later returned in 2022 after a two-year hiatus. Jaime Bunker, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Olive Garden, told Forbes: “The high demand for Never Ending Pasta Bowl, coupled with the fact that we’re starting to see a return of pre-pandemic dining habits, makes this the right time to bring back the offer and give our loyal guests even more of a reason to visit our restaurants.”
The Daily Dot reached out to @rlg.317 via Instagram direct message and TikTok comment and to Olive Garden via press email.
