Chicken pasta wouldn’t be complete without two main ingredients, chicken and pasta. However, one California Olive Garden customer realized hers basically lacked the former when she received an “empty” chicken.
In a video with over 949,000 views, TikToker Christy L. (@_christyhl) sifts through her plate of chicken pasta with a fork. The dish contains broccoli, cheese, pasta, and chicken cutlets.
The chicken cutlets appear hollow, with the center of the chicken missing from the breaded exterior. As she picks at the shriveled chicken, a woman yells “Yuck!” in a viral TikTok sound.
On-screen text reads, “When inflation hits Olive Garden & they can’t serve full pieces of chicken anymore.”
She laments in the caption, “Chicken: hollow. Service: hollow. Bill: full.”
However, she doesn’t share more details about the “hollow” customer service she received from Olive Garden.
Has Inflation ‘Hit’ Olive Garden?
Inflation is still slowly trending up, according to NBC News. The climbing costs could make dining out more expensive and less satisfying.
Customers notice that some restaurants may be increasing prices or shrinking portion sizes (dubbed “shrinkflation”) to keep up with rising business costs. BroBible previously reported that customers believe chain restaurants like Raising Cane’s, Cheesecake Factory, and McDonald’s have begun shrinkflating some of their menu items.
While Olive Garden offers seasonal “never-ending” refillable entrees, some customers suspect the Italian restaurant chain may be reducing portions to save money. Olive Garden did not increase the price of its endless pasta, which has remained steady at $13.99 for the past few years, CNN reports.
Several customers on the r/olivegarden subreddit notice shrinking portions over the past year.
One says he typically splits the Tour of Italy—a plate with Lasagna Classico, Chicken Parmigiana, and Fettuccine Alfredo—with his girlfriend. When it arrived, he asked a manager whether “they confused our order with kids’ meals” because of its small size.
Another notices that their shrimp Alfredo seems much smaller than in previous orders and asks a manager. They say the chain’s manager told them the company was “correcting” previous over-serving.
Why Was The Chicken Hollow?
Restaurant workers in the comments offered a potential explanation for the hollow chicken cutlets.
“I work there lmaoo they definitely cooked it in the fryer too long, air will build up when frying and then it expands which is why it looks like its not even attached,” one explained.
However, they agree with the TikToker’s suspicion of shrinkflation. “But yeah the portions get smaller,” they continued.
“Over cooked pre made cutlets do that,” another suggested.
A third chimed in, writing, “It’s old and refried.”
However, some customers said they actually prefer the skewed breading-to-chicken ratio.
“Tbh I would love this bc the breading is so good but their chicken has been so weird and rubbery to me the last couple years,” a commenter said.
A second joked, “I hate when they add a lil chicken to my breading.”
Another admitted, “Unpopular opinion I’d take that over the regular chicken.”
@_christyhl Chicken: hollow. Service: hollow. Bill: full. 💸😭 #fyp #olivegarden #olivegardenfail #inflation #foodhumor
BroBible reached out to Christy L. via Instagram and TikTok direct message and to Olive Garden via email for further comment. We will update the story when they reply.