One of the best things about Olive Garden (besides the breadsticks) is the finely hand-shredded Parmesan cheese that gets piled liberally on top of every soup, salad, and pasta dish they serve. Of course, servers leave it to the customer to decipher the amount each dish gets topped with.

And it’s the pile of fluffy goodness that has become a signature for the restaurant chain. But people are just finding out that what they thought was Parmesan cheese (also known as Parmigiano Reggiano) being sprinkled on their food—is actually not Parmesan.

Thanks to Internet sleuths and former Olive Garden employees, the trade secret about the cheese they really use has finally been revealed.

Olive Garden’s “parmesan” cheese

Food YouTuber Ordained Cue spilled the secret to followers that Olive Garden’s alleged Parmesan cheese is actually Romano cheese.

“Olive Garden has been lying to you and you didn’t even know it—and it’s about their bottomless parm that they serve,” he says in the clip. “They’ve been fooling us all along when they come around to your table and offer you freshly grated parm for your pasta.”

Specifically, he explains that Olive Garden is still using a real Italian cheese, a Romano cheese from........

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