Why Won't Olive Garden Servers Leave A Cheese Grater At Your Table?

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"Say when." If these words mean something to you, then you might be an Olive Garden fan — more specifically, a fan of the chain's iconic hand-turn cheese grater. Ever wanted to give that grater a crank yourself? You aren't alone. One cheeky Reddit thread in r/olivegarden inquires, "Would you leave the cheese grater at the table if someone asked?" 

The top comment (apparently from a former Olive Garden employee) notes that restaurants are only equipped with a limited number of cheese graters, so leaving one at a table would stunt full-store operations. "It was against our store's policy to even let a guest use them for sanitary reasons," explains the poster. "We barely had enough of them for the servers to use so it would be impossible if all 50 tables had their own cheese grater considering we had maybe 8 to share between 12 servers." Another ostensible employee chimes in, "Didn't stop this one old guy from straight up grabbing the grater out of my hands one time lmao." Further compounding the limited-stock issue, multiple commenters point out the potential for theft. Diners might order a third Sicilian Sunset cocktail and feel brazen enough to stuff that grater into their purse. 

Another glaring (and germy) blockade to the communal grater daydream is food safety and hygiene. "It's unsanitary," writes one commenter. "I don't know where their hands have been and if they're going to touch the cheese block, etc." Another adds, "Don't forget the booger covered kids..."

The way Olive Garden's cheese grater tool works is that a brick of Parmesan is inserted into a drum compartment. The surface of the cheese then gets grated by rotary blades as the handle is turned. For Olive Garden servers, this enables a fairly hands-off grating of Parm over your favorite pasta dishes. But, in the (potentially unwashed) hands of literally every adult and child in the restaurant, it's a different (and less appealing) story.

Life hack: Some foodies have purchased their own tools to take Olive Garden's rotary cheese-grating power into their own hands. The "Olive Garden cheese grater" typically used in restaurants is made by Zyliss brand (currently $24.95 on Amazon). Customer product reviews rave, "Great Gift. I got it for a friend who loves the one from Olive Garden, and she loves it." Elsewhere online, fans of the restaurant who have purchased the iconic grater have taken to social media to sound off their excitement. "Rich in life because I own an Olive Garden cheese grater," cheers one Instagram post. Another poster shares a photo of the tool with the caption, "[D]id you know you can buy the same cheese grater they use at Olive Garden [...] Hashtag Winning." One of the most basic (yet most impactful) Olive Garden ordering tips is to say "yes" to extra shredded cheese. But, by bringing the tool home, you never have to say "when."