(NEXSTAR) – The Olive Garden can try to dazzle us with all the warm breadsticks and never-ending rigatoni they want, but true OGs know the real star of the show is that mechanical contraption they use to grate cheese.
The device — which looks like a small Salad Shooter crossed with a hand-cranked pencil sharpener — can turn a block of parm into a deluge of grated cheese in seconds.
It can also be yours if you simply ask your Olive Garden server to add it to the check.
This tasty tidbit of information recently caught the attention of social media thanks to a viral video uploaded by a TikTok user named Bo (@bo_gjerness), who celebrated her birthday at the Olive Garden earlier this month.
“I asked the waiter, y’know, ‘Do you guys sell the cheese grater?’ And they do!” she squealed, showing off her purchase.
“And here’s the best part: They gave me some cheese to go with it,” she added, holding up a takeout container filled with several blocks of hard cheese.
Bo’s video — and the many reaction videos which directly referenced her discovery — have since generated over 10 million views on TikTok.
Nexstar reached out to several Olive Garden locations across the U.S. to verify Bo’s claim. All immediately responded in the affirmative when asked if they sell their cheese graters.
Olive Garden’s corporate office, too, confirmed that they do indeed sell the graters, though not at all locations.
“The iconic Olive Garden cheese grater and our ‘Say When’ philosophy when grating fresh parmesan over our craveable Italian food is just one way we deliver on the never-ending abundance our guests love,” a spokesperson for the company wrote in a statement provided to Nexstar. “The ability to purchase the chase grater varies by restaurant and availability.”
Olive Garden did not say which brand of cheese grater they use at their restaurants, though Bo identified it as a Zyliss, which can currently be purchased on Amazon for around $23.
Prices appear to be slightly more affordable at Olive Garden restaurants. A location in NYC’s Times Square is selling the grater for $16.43, while an Orlando location near the company’s headquarters is charging only $14.99. (Bo, in a follow-up TikTok video, said her grater was priced at $15, but admitted she was never actually charged for it.)
A manager at one of Orlando’s Olive Garden restaurants further confirmed that customers usually get a block of cheese to go with their grater, though it depends on availability.
In the comments section of Bo’s viral video, several TikTok users claimed Olive Garden sells a number of other other non-menu items as well, including bowls, drink syrups, and salt and pepper grinders.
“My best friend used to work at OG and they sell everything,” one commenter said. “He sold a painting off the wall once.”
Olive Garden indeed confirmed that “other select items” from the restaurant were available for purchase, including the salad dressing, Italian seasoning blend and wine glasses, but did not include an exhaustive list. Managers at restaurants in Chicago and Bloomington, Minnesota, however, told Nexstar that salad dressings, coffee cups, creamer urns, drink syrups, sangria mix and sugar caddies were among the other purchasable items.
None mentioned their restaurants’ artwork being for sale, specifically. But knowing what we now know about the cheese graters, it probably wouldn’t hurt to ask.
“We try to do whatever makes our guests happy,” one manager told Nexstar.
