Olive Garden Employees Swear This Menu Item Causes Customers To Misbehave

Unlimited breadsticks have been a part of Olive Garden since the chain restaurant opened in 1982. But as customers look to dine out on fewer dollars, they can get impatient if the bread service even hints at being less than unlimited. The Italian American breadsticks might be gratis, but it's the waiters who carry the cost.

One Reddit commenter on a since-deleted post in the r/olivegarden subreddit said they witnessed the behavior as soon as their orientation day. "I saw a server greet a table, and before she could finish saying her name, the elderly man at the table said, 'Where are my BREADSTICKS!" On a different Reddit post about guest habits, a commenter wrote that upon arriving at the host stand, their mother would always ask the host to place the breadsticks at the table ahead of them.

Olive Garden takes pride in its unwavering offering of unlimited breadsticks and has called it a signature of "Italian Generosity." But diners have been known to put that generosity to the test. In another since-deleted post to r/AskReddit, a Redditor asked what happened whenever any Olive Garden customers were cut off from the unlimited breadsticks. A commenter responded with a story of a table of three seemingly making their breadsticks disappear. "Kept bringing baskets of bread, had to be 7 or 8," they wrote. "I start watching, and they are putting the bread in their purses." If only they knew how easy it is to make breadsticks at home from store-bought pizza dough.

Chain restaurants have their reasons for shrinking portion sizes, but it can make guests nervous that they aren't getting their money's worth. When Olive Garden's breadsticks don't land on the table fast enough, it might feel like the promise of unlimited bread is a bait and switch. Employees say that it's just that diners don't always understand the order of operations. According to a report during a 2014 shareholder meeting (via Today), Olive Garden's policy is to serve one breadstick per guest along with one additional breadstick for the table, and then refill on demand.

One commenter on Reddit alleged that while the bread always comes, it doesn't arrive immediately in order to encourage appetizer sales. On a different post, another commented, "Breadsticks are always brought out, but after food is ordered. Otherwise we have [people] who try to come and fill up on breadsticks and then leave."

Anxiety over breadstick limits doesn't excuse a host of other poor behavior seen from certain Olive Garden customers. It's been alleged that some film waiters singing "Happy Birthday" without consent, abuse soup and salad refills, and perform more restaurant crimes among these 11 customer habits that Olive Garden employees can't stand.