Olive Garden’s bottomless soup special came with a disgusting surprise ingredient — a hairy rat’s foot in a diner’s bowl of minestrone, according to a shocking lawsuit.
Thomas Howie, 54, claimed he made the stomach-turning discovery while dining with friends at the Italian food-themed chain near his suburban Detroit home on March 11.
“I felt something stab me in the mouth, and I wasn’t sure the first thought was a needle,” Howie, who lives in Oakland County, said in his complaint.
According to the lawsuit, Howie gagged after trying to swallow the sharp object, which got hooked to the inside of his cheek.
Moments later, Howie said he vomited once he realized what it was that he nearly ingested.
“It was so gross and disgusting I couldn’t control myself,” he said. “My stomach just heaved…I threw up right in the restaurant.”
According to Howie, he reported the incident to police. When officers arrived at the restaurant, he showed them the severed animal foot, which he spit into a soup bowl, according to the complaint.
“Even the cops were gagging,” Howie said in the complaint.
Howie is seeking $25,000 in damages from the chain, which attracts many diners with its never-ending portions of soups, salads and pastas.
The Post has sought comment from Howie and the Warren Police Department.
A spokesperson for Olive Garden’s parent company, Darden Restaurants, told The Post: “We have no reason to believe there is any validity to this claim.”
A friend dining with Howie backed up his version of the incident, according to the lawsuit.
The pal called over the restaurant’s manager, who told them he didn’t know what he could do and tried to scoop up the rat’s foot from the table, the complaint said.
Another Olive Garden employee is then alleged to have approached Howie’s table and said: “That’s funny. We don’t even put meat in minestrone.”
Howie ended up going to urgent care to get a tetanus shot, the complaint said.
He alleged that the incident led him to feel nauseous and suffer from diarrhea for several days, and that he has battled anxiety and depression in the ensuing months.
Howie also alleged in court papers that he couldn’t eat meat and that he no longer went to dine at restaurants unless he could see the food being prepared.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
