On August 31, a beloved Olive Garden promotion returned, much to customers’ excitement and servers’ dread: the Never-Ending Pasta Bowl.
Starting at $14.99, customers can customize their bowls with classic fettuccine, spaghetti, angel hair, and rigatoni pasta. Then, douse it in Alfredo, meat sauce, five-cheese marinara, traditional marinara, creamy mushroom, or the new Spicy Alfredo.
For an extra charge, meat lovers can include crispy chicken fritta, meatballs, Italian sausage, and the new crispy shrimp fritta. With endless refills on pasta, salad, soup, and breadsticks, one can stuff themselves to the brim.
Since this deal offers decent portion sizes for an affordable price, it could be enough to split with a companion. However, this is a sure-fire way to ensure your endless refills reaches its end for this Olive Garden server.
Do Olive Garden servers hate when you share never-ending pasta?
In a five-second clip, Olive Garden server Bella (@b0nz.c0m) depicts her reaction: “How I look at my tables when they try to share never-ending pasta.”
While sitting in her car, she displays a range of frustrated facial expressions: tilts her head a couple of times, eyes wide, glaring at her hypothetical table. Then, she curls her lips in and opens her mouth, implying this is a “no-no.”
Furthermore, the content creator elaborates in the caption on the repercussions of allowing guests to convert one meal for many.
“DISCLAIMER: I am NOT talking about parties that all get their own entree, then have everyone try what they got, that’s okay. I’m talking about when people think they can come in with a big group of people, order one never ending pasta bowl, and think they can share it with everyone at their table while everyone else just gets a drink,” Bella writes.
She continues, “It’s against Darden’s policy and if managers catch you allowing this to happen, they will write you up, give you [fewer] shifts, and fire you if it’s a continuous problem. No, i will not charge you if i see you taking a bite, but im not gonna let you blatantly and obviously break the rules. Its like if you were to go to a buffet with four of your friends but only pay for one person and expect to be able to feed the other three people.”
Viewers Bicker Fiercely
Bella’s video amassed 2 million views, ruffling feathers in the comments section. Many argued about why they should be able to do this.
“Acting like its coming out of your pocket is wild,” one viewer remarked.
“Look, man if I go to a restaurant, order food, and a waiter/waitress tried to stop me from sharing the food I just BOUGHT, you are getting zero tip,” a second criticized.
“As if I can’t do wtf I want with MY food IM paying for,” a third stated.
However, those who defended her tried putting it into perspective.
“Why does everyone here think she’s doing it for fun lol. It’s a policy,” one commenter said.
“She just said she could get written up. i’m not getting written up because yall want to share a bowl of pasta bro,” a second noted.
“Do y’all be going to buffets and try to pay for one person when [there are] multiple of you?” a third noted.
How Have Other Olive Garden Servers Enforced This Rule?
Last year, the topic found its way to an r/OliveGarden subreddit. Alleged servers echoed Bella’s sentiment, discussing certain measures to enforce it.
One claimed they “would also let them know the endless pasta is for one person; each person would have to get the starting entree. If I printed the bill and there was an issue, that’s what the manager gets paid for. I did my job.”
Another seasoned OG server explained they would “inform the guest it is [per person] only per policy.” Even a third “[tells] them not refillable if they share.”
Likewise, the same applies to the Never-Ending Pasta Pass. For $100, passholders can cash in the deal as much as they want during the 13-week duration. But passholders who share their pass or their meals with others can have it revoked, per Parade.
Subplot reached out to Bella via TikTok direct message and Olive Garden via email.
