"This Has IHOP Girl Vibes" — Woman Gets Roasted for Reaction to Buying Olive Garden Cheese Grater
Published Nov. 14 2023, 10:14 p.m. ET
Oh, the power of TikTok! After one woman took to the short-form viral platform informing the masses that the signature cheese graters used by the wait staff at Olive Garden are available for purchase, many folks have been pining to get their hands on one of these nifty tools. One creator who overzealously jumped at the idea of bringing one of these bad boys home was Erin Marie (@erinbeingerin).
She filmed a video of herself at Olive Garden asking a server if she could buy one of the restaurant's legendary cheese graters and her enthusiasm over the device was boundless. However, not everyone who watched Erin's video could appreciate her excitement. TikTok's keyboard warriors arrived in her comments with a lot to say. If this whole concept of TikTokers getting ridiculed for being excited at a chain restaurant sounds familiar, it's because it has happened before.
One woman's reaction to buying a cheese grater at Olive Garden has seemingly gone viral for being too much.
After learning on TikTok that Olive Garden's cheese graters could be ordered to go, Erin knew she had to snag one for herself. While dining at one of the chain's locations, she started filming her interaction with her server as she inquired about the cheese grater.
“I saw on TikTok that you can buy those cheese graters. Can you buy those cheese graters?” Erin asked.
“You can buy those cheese graters,” her server answered
“Ahh,” Erin squealed, “Can I get one?”
The server said, "Yes." "Does it come with cheese?" Erin quickly posed. The server said "It can," resulting in an even louder squeal from Erin.
“You’re hilarious, I love it,” the server then said to Erin, who reacted by doing a happy dance from her seat.
“I love it,” Erin said as she gave the server a high-five. The server then asked her if she wanted a new grater and Erin said, "Yes," making one last excited face for the camera.
But unfortunately, not everyone who watched Erin's video could engage in a happy dance with her. "This was such a hard watch," wrote one user.
Another claimed, "I thought it was a skit until the waitress replied back... I'm mortified on your behalf."
A third user claimed that when the server complimented Erin on being hilarious, she didn't really mean it. "'You’re hilarious' in [the] service industry means ma’am I have other tables to greet and orders to put in."
TikTokers claim that Erin's reaction to Olive Garden's cheese grater was "exactly like the IHOP girl."
Several people who watched Erin's video compared her to another creator named Ana (@addictedtoana), who previously went viral on TikTok for her overjoyed response to receiving her pancakes at IHOP.
"My hangryness leaving my body at the moment I have my food," she wrote in the text of the eight-second clip, where she's seen smiling and doing a dance from her seat in an IHOP booth as the server puts a plate of pancakes in front of her.
Similar to Erin's reaction, Ana's reaction was met with criticism as many people couldn't understand why she was so over the moon for pancakes. Clearly, they aren't as passionate about pancakes.
Erin reveals in a follow-up video that she never even got the Olive Garden cheese grater after posting that video.
After receiving over 40 million views on her video, which showcased her excited reaction to getting a cheese grater at Olive Garden (and fielding criticism over her personality), Erin reveals that she never even got the coveted cheese grater at Olive Garden. "So I actually did not get it," she says in a follow-up video.
She says that when the server went to go get her a grater, she returned empty-handed, claiming the restaurant had run out. "She actually offered to give me an old one," Erin said. She explained that the server was ready to slip the grater into a bag for her, but Erin declined the offer in case the server got in trouble for it.