10 Of The Biggest Scandals In Olive Garden History

The following article includes allegations of sexual assault.

With nearly 1,000 locations, Olive Garden, owned by Darden Restaurants, is one of the biggest and most popular restaurant chains in the U.S. But, while many diners say the Italian-inspired fast casual spot is one of their favorite places to eat, no sizable company is safe from bad publicity and controversy, and Olive Garden is no exception.

Over the years, the restaurant chain has been involved in some pretty big scandals. And no, we're not talking about those overboiled pasta allegations. This fast casual giant has faced everything from serious outbreaks of foodborne illness (it turns out, Olive Garden is pretty familiar with cyclospora) to sexual assault lawsuits and legal action over tipping culture. We told you, big scandals.

Just a warning: some of these controversies might seriously put you off your unlimited soup and salad. In fact, a few bring up some serious food hygiene questions. Two words for you: Rat foot. We wish we were joking.

In summer 2026, the U.S. grappled with a major outbreak of cyclospora. The microscopic parasite, spread by human feces, infects the intestines, leading to cyclosporiasis, a condition with symptoms like watery and explosive diarrhea that, in some cases, can last for weeks. In other words, it's grim. The 2026 multistate outbreak has been linked to a California company called Taylor Farms, one of the biggest produce suppliers in the U.S.

For Olive Garden, this all sounds very familiar. Back in 2013, the restaurant chain also became embroiled in a multi-state outbreak of Cyclospora. Yep, this has all happened before, and again, Taylor Farms was at the center of it. Similar to the 2026 catastrophe, the 2013 outbreak sickened hundreds of people across 25 states. Both Olive Garden and Red Lobster were found to be serving contaminated salads sourced with produce from Taylor Farms.

So, it makes sense that when news of the 2026 outbreak started to spread, Olive Garden was quick to act, pulling salads from the menu straight away in some locations. According to one employee on Reddit, who works in an Olive Garden in Illinois, some restaurant workers were also told to throw away salad and tell guests they can't serve vegetable soup or broccoli.

Cyclospora isn't the only foodborne threat Olive Garden has been associated with. Back in 2005, the chain was also accused of spreading E. coli, a group of bacteria that, once again, can cause diarrhea, among other symptoms like stomach cramps and fever. In April, the Multnomah County Health Department in Oregon started receiving reports of people becoming ill with the bacteria after eating at an Olive Garden restaurant in Gresham, Oregon.

In this particular outbreak, around 18 people became sick, but it couldn't be traced back to one particular food. The root cause? Well, according to the health department, it was probably a case of a lack of hygiene in the kitchen rather than a supplier issue. 

Some individuals impacted by the outbreak decided to take serious action, filing lawsuits against the chain with Marler Clark. According to the food safety law firm, the claims were ultimately resolved, but it didn't release any details publicly. Unfortunately for diners, just a year later, Olive Garden was accused of spreading illness again. This time, more than 300 people became sick with suspected norovirus after eating at an Olive Garden location in Indianapolis, Indiana.

For most servers, a 15% tip is to be expected. Per a study conducted by Pew Research, most wouldn't leave more than 20% in a sit-down restaurant. That's why, on the rare occasion that a server receives a substantial tip, it's a big deal. It's even more of a big deal when that tip is withheld by a big company (allegedly).

In May 2026, a mother went viral on social media when she claimed that her daughter had phoned her, upset that she had been denied a $700 tip from an Olive Garden customer. Things then went from bad to worse when her daughter was fired for getting upset after being denied the tip. "She asked a coworker to take her next table because she was visibly emotional, and management told her she could either do her job or leave," wrote Buni Williams, the mom of the fired worker, on Facebook.

According to a response from Olive Garden, large tips must be verified before they are handed out to servers to ensure they are not fraudulent. We don't know the details of the server's behavior after being denied the tip, but we do know that this story blew up, causing major backlash for Olive Garden. According to Williams, her social media posts about the incident racked up 21 million views and some even encouraged the family to pursue legal action. A few also swore off Olive Garden for good.

Sometimes, people become ill after eating at restaurants because of foodborne bacteria or parasites, and sometimes, it's because of pure negligence. According to Kentucky resident Robert Anthony Bayton, the latter is what happened to him at Olive Garden in 2024. The incident resulted in a lawsuit.

Bayton claims he ordered gluten-free fettuccine Alfredo at a restaurant in Lexington in August, and informed his server that he had celiac disease. This isn't just an intolerance; it's a very serious autoimmune disease triggered by eating gluten. It's uncommon, but not rare, and is estimated to impact at least one in 133 Americans.

Olive Garden does offer gluten-sensitive dishes, including pasta options, but the fettuccine Alfredo is not one of them. Bayton claims that he was not informed about this, and after eating the fettuccine, he experienced a severe reaction. Unsurprisingly, given the inevitable medical bills, Bayton sued Olive Garden. On Reddit, several Olive Garden servers were also shocked by the incident. "Not only does our Alfredo contain gluten but the server didn't follow the allergy protocols," said one Redditor in r/olivegarden. They added, "We do have a gluten free pasta but under no circumstances should that guy [have] been fed Alfredo whatsoever, gluten free pasta or not."

Imagine this: You're with friends at your local Olive Garden. The unlimited breadsticks have been flowing, and you're ready for your first course: a bowl of classic minestrone. When it arrives, you take a slurp, only to find that there is now something strange inside your mouth. It's certainly not pasta, beans, or vegetables, because it's sharp and bony. You spit it out, and there, on the table, is a hairy, clawed rat's foot. Cue the screams.

This sounds like a gruesome retelling of "Ratatouille," but according to one Olive Garden diner in Warren, Michigan, this horrifying scenario actually happened in 2023. They rushed themselves to urgent care for a tetanus shot, and promptly filed a $25,000 lawsuit against Olive Garden. It's worth noting that the restaurant chain denies there is any legitimacy to the rat foot claim; the kitchen was thoroughly inspected, and there was no evidence of rodents.

Hoax or not, the incident caused quite a stir. Some made jokes ("Was it unlimited rat feet then?" reads one Reddit comment), while others were completely put off by the idea of eating at Olive Garden. One person even put forward an explanation as to how the rat foot might have found its way into the soup: "My previous employer was a food processing place that actually processed and packaged snap peas ... There [were] many times where we found rats and bugs going through the process line and only [to] be caught right before packaging." The plot thickens.

After you've had your fill of unlimited breadsticks and hearty bowls of pasta at Olive Garden, you're probably thinking about dessert. In fact, the thoughts running through your head are probably "Chocolate Lasagna or tiramisu?" not, "Where can I get immunized?" Unfortunately for hundreds of people who ate at Olive Garden in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 2011, a vaccination against hepatitis A was on the menu.

It turns out, a kitchen worker had tested positive for the liver infection, which can be transmitted to other people either through direct contact or consumption of contaminated food or drink. Once again, Marler Clark got involved, filing a lawsuit on behalf of 3,000 people and claiming that Olive Garden had left its diners vulnerable to the infection by not requiring or paying for its employees to have a hepatitis A vaccine.

In the end, GMRI Inc. (the subsidiary of Darden Restaurants doing business as Olive Garden) settled the lawsuit for $375,000 and agreed to pay everyone who had to receive a vaccine $250 each. But it seems that Olive Garden didn't change its ways after this incident. In 2024, diners, once again, had to be vaccinated after another food handler at the chain tested positive for hepatitis A.

If you're heading to Olive Garden soon and are hoping to start things off with the stuffed mushrooms, we have bad news: They're no longer on the menu. The appetizer option was beloved by many diners, and even inspired several copycat recipes across the internet. But where did the stuffed mushrooms go? Rumors abound. Some believe it's because they simply took too long to prepare, others blame quality and consistency issues, but plenty maintain it's because they were simply too dangerous for diners.

Stuffed mushrooms and danger don't sound like words that belong together, but it turns out, this appetizer has been life-threatening in the past. In 2017, a woman choked and burned her throat after eating the stuffed mushrooms at Olive Garden. According to the woman, who filed a lawsuit over the incident, she wasn't warned how hot the mushrooms were before consuming them, and she ended up struggling to breathe due to severe burns.

The lawsuit was likely settled out of court, as there is little information available about the outcome. Olive Garden also hasn't confirmed that it removed the stuffed mushrooms as a direct result of the incident. Despite the scandal, though, some are still desperate for the stuffed mushrooms to make a return. "Bring them back, I'll sign a waiver," said one Redditor in r/olivegarden.

Since 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities across the U.S. The law aims to ensure that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else, and that includes job opportunities. If companies don't adhere to the ADA, they can face serious consequences, as Olive Garden found out in 2024.

In 2023, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit against GMRI, Inc. after an investigation revealed that one of the restaurant chain's managers in Pennsylvania had questioned an interviewee about their use of a cane and asked them how "bad" their disability was. The manager then used this as a basis not to hire them.

The questions alone were an example of discrimination, and a clear violation of the ADA. In 2024, GMRI, Inc. agreed to settle the case and pay $30,000 to the job applicant, and it also agreed to mandatory ADA training for staff at the location in question.

As we've established, Olive Garden has faced some pretty serious lawsuits in its time. Hepatitis A, E. Coli, disability discrimination — it's all pretty concerning stuff. Unfortunately, though, we still have more to discuss. In 2024, Olive Garden became embroiled in a sexual assault lawsuit. The chain was sued by a former cook, who claimed they had been repeatedly sexually assaulted on the job in Baltimore, Maryland.

According to the line cook, their male colleague repeatedly rubbed themselves against her, and when they complained to the manager, the situation was made light of. In the end, the cook resigned. When Olive Garden filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, it claimed that the cook had not done enough to convince the company that resigning was necessary. It's not the first time Olive Garden has been implicated in a lawsuit of this nature. In 2017, for example, another server in Long Island claimed that Olive Garden didn't do enough to stop sexual harassment by a general manager.

Unfortunately, sexual harassment is all too common in the hospitality industry. While some cases go to court, many are dealt with quietly, or spoken about in communities online. "I am currently working for Darden Olive Garden and I have witnessed inappropriate behaviors with the same group of employees and managers on a regular basis and it is getting very uncomfortable to see," wrote one Redditor in r/olivegarden.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

The $700 incident in 2026 wasn't the first time Olive Garden has been called out for its tipping policies. In April 2021, One Fair Wage, an organization working to improve conditions for servers across the U.S., filed a lawsuit against Darden Restaurants for allowing a tipping culture that it argues encourages sexual harassment and discrimination.

When the lawsuit was filed, the policy was that the company's restaurants could pay servers just $2.13 an hour, as long as the rest of the minimum hourly wage was made up for in tips. According to One Fair Wage, encouraging servers to work for tips, instead of a fair wage, leads to an unlevel playing field. One Fair Wage's own research, referenced in the lawsuit, alleges that people of color are tipped less in Darden's restaurants. In fact, it outlined that its 2020 poll revealed that while servers of color received $7.31 in tips per hour, white servers received roughly $8.91 in tips per hour.

But lawsuits like this are tricky. In September 2021, the lawsuit was dismissed, after the judge ruled that One Fair Wage didn't actually have the right to sue Darden Restaurants on behalf of other people. One Fair Wage didn't give up, but the lawsuit was dismissed once again in 2024. But the issue hasn't disappeared, and people online often share their frustrations with the tipping culture at Olive Garden. "What really kills it is the super cheap options like unlimited soup, salad, breadsticks and the lunch specials, you end up doing so much work for so little most of the time it feels awful," said one Redditor in r/olivegarden.