Olive Garden customers hid their pasta in the salad bowl to secure more food–in this case a second bowl of the chain’s signature unlimited pasta bowl.
TikTok user Andrea (@andreaival) posted the video, which has amassed more than 1.3 million views, on Oct. 8. In it, Andrea can be seen hiding the remnants of her pasta. She tucks on piece underneath a mostly empty salad plate, and buries another pair inside the salad bowl, seemingly in an attempt to get a full bowl to-go.
“When you want a second bowl of the unlimited pasta at Olive Garden but [you’re] full off the first,” read the text overlay in the video.
@andreaival ♬ what can i say –
For $13.99, customers ordering the never ending pasta bowl receive all-you-can-eat pasta, soup or salad, and breadsticks. For another $4.99, you can add meatballs, Italian sausage, or crispy chicken fritta to go on top.
The Daily Dot reached out to Andrea via TikTok DM and Olive Garden’s parent company, Darden, via email for comment.
In the comments, Olive Garden staff and frequent fliers weighed in on Andrea’s strategy.
“Lol you can ask for a box and get another! I’ve given tables 10 boxes to go!” user Blondie (@natashaelainexo) said.
A second user agreed. “I used to work there. You can ask for your [second] one any time and take it home. lol,” Melissa Rodriguez (@rodriguezpartyof9) wrote.
“As a worker they are supposed to give you more even if you haven’t finished and offer you a box to take the stuff you haven’t finished home,” user Levi (@levititkok) wrote.
An Olive Garden customer verified this claim. “I had like 3 bowls in front of me casually eating it then got a to go box lmao,” @ahotmessmommaof4 said.
Other users couldn’t get past the veggies remaining in the discarded salad bowl.
“Not eating the salad peppers is a CRIME thats the best food there,” user Aly (@squishyfishies1) wrote.
This promotion, which started Sept. 25 and is slated to last eight weeks, has TikTok in uproar. Customers are filling up Tupperware, leaving with 10 or more servings, and even making themselves ill to get the most value. According to one user, it costs Olive Garden just $3.50 per bowl.
