Restaurants

Olive Garden in Dorchester gets surprise visit from raccoon in viral video

The video shared online showed a raccoon popping out of a part of the ceiling that was broken inside the restaurant.

A raccoon was caught on video popping out of a part of the broken ceiling inside the Olive Garden in Dorchester, not pictured here. AP Photo/Steven Senne

By Katelyn Umholtz

November 27, 2024

Apparently word of Olive Garden’s unlimited, complimentary breadsticks and $6 take-home entrees has made its way to Boston’s raccoon community, with one raccoon stopping by the Dorchester location of the Italian restaurant chain.

A video went viral of a raccoon popping its head out from a broken part of the ceiling inside the restaurant, directly above the bar.

“I wish I were pest control because then I could take care of this quick,” someone could be heard saying in the video.

There's a racoon at the Dorchester Olive Garden right now. pic.twitter.com/XN1lxWhMur
— Only In Boston (@OnlyInBOS) November 26, 2024

City officials confirmed the incident had occurred sometime over the weekend at South Bay Center. According to Inspectional Services, they were made aware of the incident this week when they received a link to the video.

Both a health inspector and an animal care and control officer visited the restaurant, at which point they were “informed that Olive Garden hired a pest control company on Saturday and repaired the area where the raccoon was able to get into the building,” according to Inspectional Services.

An Olive Garden manager confirmed that the situation had been handled and that no one was hurt as a result of the incident.