Man Suing Popular Restaurant Chain After Finding Grossest Bit of Protein You'd Ever Expect in Minestrone
A man is suing Olive Garden following an allegation that he almost ate a rat’s foot that ended up in a bowl of soup he was served at one of the company’s locations.
Thomas Howie of Oakland County, Michigan, has filed a lawsuit against the food chain after he ordered a bowl of minestrone soup earlier this year.
The 54-year-old said in a legal filing, seen by CBS News, that the vegetarian soup had a protein that he did not order — a rodent foot.
Howie alleged he was he dining at one of the Italian eatery’s locations in the Detroit suburb of Warren on March 11.
He explained he took a bite of the soup, but something felt off about it.
A sharp pain led him to spit out the bite into a napkin, he said in the lawsuit.
“I felt something stab me in the mouth, and I wasn’t sure. The first thought was a needle,” the complaint says, the New York Post reported.
A man is suing Olive Garden for more than $25,000 after he claims he found a rat’s foot in a bowl of minestrone soup at a location of the restaurant in Michigan. https://t.co/NGysSbLlqb
— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 25, 2023
He said in the filing he soon realized he had been chewing on the foot of a rat.
He said once he saw the leg, which he claimed was covered in hair, he vomited.
“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,” the man said, CBS reported.
“It was so gross and disgusting I couldn’t control myself,” he said, according to the Post. “My stomach just heaved … I threw up right in the restaurant.”
Howie said he called the local police department, and responding officers were also almost sick over the discovery.
He also alleged that the restaurant’s staff did not take the incident seriously and that one employee made a joke at his expense.
“That’s funny,” he said the employee stated. “We don’t even put meat in minestrone.”
The man said he went to an urgent care location to get a tetanus shot and to also have his mouth cleaned. He also alleged he has formed an aversion to both restaurants and meat and now suffers from anxiety and depression.
He is seeking $25,000 in damages from the company.
Olive Garden spokesman Rich Jeffers said the company will fight the lawsuit.
“We have no reason to believe there is any validity to this claim,” Jeffers told CBS.
Jeffers said the location in question passed a health department inspection not long after the alleged incident and had never had any reported issues with rats.
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