It is no secret that restaurants often sell menu items that rely on being heated and served, with little real cooking to be done in their preparation.
It is also a longstanding rumor that this method of preparation is one that has been employed at America’s favorite Italian restaurant, Olive Garden, although former employees of the restaurant chain have refuted it.
One recent customer of the restaurant has shared a 10-second video of their plate of Alfredo, suggesting that something is not quite right.
The video shows a plate of Alfredo that has congealed, separating the cheese and oil that go into the restaurant’s signature sauce. In it, the poster points the camera at another member of their party, who asks the cameraman what is going on with his plate.
“Olive Garden tryna give me high cholesterol,” the video is captioned.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @joshtgodfrey via TikTok direct message regarding the video, as well as to Olive Garden via email.
Many viewers were convinced that the separation of the sauce’s ingredients was due to the plate being reheated.
“They microwaved it,” one commenter wrote. “That’s how my leftovers look like.”
“That’s is definitely how reheated alfredo looks,” another agreed. “Nice and broken.”
“That’s what is usually looks like when you take it home an re-heat it,” one echoed. “It might not have been a fresh plate.”
@joshtgodfrey Olive Garden tryna give me high cholesterol 😅🤧 @Josh’s Momma @Josh & Momma #joshsmom #joshandmomma #lunch #olivegarden ♬ original sound – Josh Godfrey
Reheating food is a common practice in the restaurant service industry, from McDonald’s employees who do not want to put down fresh fries, to what one Chipotle customer says were reheated leftovers served from the day before.
Several provided alternative reasons that the sauce might have separated like that, as it can happen when there is too much fat or liquid in the mixture, such as an overuse of cream or oil.
“Sat under the heat lamps too long and the sauce broke,” one commenter wrote.
“Too much heat they broke the sauce and looks like a tub of butter was used,” another commented.
“It’s because it’s baked and the alfredo sauce has oil in it so it separates once it gets to a certain temperature,” a commenter wrote. “I work at olive garden.”
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