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According to a recently reported complaint, Olive Garden's soup special included a hairy rat's foot in a diner's bowl of soup, which was discovered by a visiting customer. The man from Oakland County, who found out the rat foot in his soup, is reportedly suing Olive Garden for more than $25,000 in damages. He claimed to have discovered the rat's foot in a bowl of minestrone soup at the restaurant chain in Detroit. However, Olive Garden has denied the accusations.
54-year-old Thomas Howie visited the Detroit branch of the restaurant, Olive Garden, on March 11, 2023, with some of his friends between 6 pm and 6:30 pm. However, the discovery of the rat foot in his meal allegedly ruined his dining experience. After discovering it, he then filed the lawsuit on August 18.
When questioned about the Olive Garden incident by the news outlets like the New York Post, Howie stated:
"I felt something stab me in the mouth, and I wasn't sure -- the first thought was a needle."
As soon as the news got viral, netizens flocked to X to share their opinions on the inicident, with many of them posting ilarious remarks under the post uploaded by the New York Post. User @OscarDas89 even jokingly tweeted how he couldn't understand Thomas Howie sued the restaurant franchise when "it's just extra protein" and that he should be grateful about it.
X users wrote funny comments under the original post that shared Thomas Howie's last dineout experience at the Olive Garden
According to the lawsuit filed, Howie gagged after attempting to swallow the sharp thing that had hooked inside his cheek. Howie also allegedly claimed to have puked in the booth. He further mentioned:
"Regurgitated and leaned over to the side and found the wall. Yeah, once I realized that that thing was in my mouth and I was chewing."
When he looked at it after spitting out, he realized it was a rat's hairy and clawed leg. He claimed that he immediately vomited after seeing the leg and realized what he had nearly consumed.
“It was so gross and disgusting I couldn’t control myself. My stomach just heaved… I threw up right in the restaurant", he alleged.
However, when contacted about the incident by New York Post, an Olive Garden employee denied that a rat's foot could have been in the soup. They joked and said that:
“That’s funny. We don’t even put meat in minestrone”.
According to Rich Jeffers, an Olive Garden spokesman, the company has:
“no reason to believe there is any validity to this claim".
But once the news got leaked on various social media platforms like X, people flooded the comment section of the original post uploaded by the New York Post to leave their hilarious remarks.
After the incident, Howie allegedly stated that he called the Warren Police Department and went to urgent care to get himself checked. He also told the aforementioned media outlet that the officers also gagged when they witnessed the situation.
According to the lawsuit, the rat foot left a bleeding cut in his mouth, so Howie had to sought medical attention at an urgent care center. The complaint also claimed that a doctor gave him a tetanus and diphtheria vaccine, antibiotics, and a mouthwash generally used to treat gingivitis.
As per the lawsuit filed on Friday, Howie alleged that he slept little that night and was sick, dizzy, and unable to eat anything except crackers in the days after the incident. He also claimed that the incident caused him to feel uneasy and had diarrhea for several days after the event.
Furthermore, Howie allegedly claimed in the court papers that he couldn't eat meat and that he no longer wanted to dine out unless he sees the meal being prepared under his supervision.
