A Kansas City woman sat down for a casual dinner at Chili’s and ended up going viral instead. She pulled a live grasshopper out of her Caesar salad mid-meal, filmed the whole thing, and posted it to TikTok. The clip has now been watched nearly 2 million times.
The TikTok creator, who goes by @josiecaroline21 on the platform, can be seen using a fork to dig through her salad, partially shielding the plate with a napkin. When she finally lifts the fork, someone at the table says, “That is a grasshopper.” The insect sits on the fork and visibly moves. According to BroBible, she captioned the video, “Alexa, play ‘I Am Not Okay’ by JellyRoll.”
The clip cuts off just as a server approaches and a dining companion starts to say, “Ok, there’s a grasshopper…” but what happened next was not shown. She also posted the footage to Instagram, where Chili’s responded in the comments, asking her to send over her contact information, the date of her visit, and the restaurant’s location so the chain could look into the matter further.
TikTok users had a lot to say
People in the comments section were quick to react. “Oh my god i would cry,” one person wrote. “HES ALIVE.” Another joked, “You really need to be specific when you order. Did you ask for no grasshopper??” A self-described server responded with empathy, writing, “AINT NO WAY as a waitress I would 100% comp your meal and be so embarrassed that happened.” One commenter brought in the chain’s beloved menu item for comparison, saying, “Chilis triple dipper would never do that to me.”
This is not a first for salads
Grasshoppers hiding in leafy greens have shown up on TikTok before. Earlier this year, a California woman had an almost identical experience at Sweetgreen, recording a grasshopper camouflaged among her snap peas. Sweetgreen did not respond publicly to that clip, but the pattern points to a broader problem with how restaurants handle fresh produce.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on restaurant food safety found that leafy greens are among the most common sources of foodborne illness in the US, and that over half of the leafy green deliveries observed in a study were not transported at the correct temperature to stop bacteria from growing. Proper washing and inspection at every stage of the supply chain is recommended, though bugs like grasshoppers can be hard to spot when they blend into the lettuce.
What the diner could do next
Food safety experts generally advise documenting incidents like this immediately with photos and video, which the Kansas City woman clearly did. Filing a complaint with the local health department is also an option. In Kansas City, residents can request an inspection by calling the city health department or using the myKCMO app. As for legal action, a man who ordered takeout and found his date’s leftovers were gone by the time he got home may have had a simpler grievance than fighting a restaurant over a bug, but LegalMatch experts note that these food contamination cases are expensive to pursue and often cost more than any damages recovered.
It is not the first time a strange discovery inside a packaged or prepared food item has gone viral recently. Just weeks ago, a Tennessee woman opened a can of Pillsbury biscuits from Walmart and found metal inside. As with the Chili’s situation, the incident spread quickly on social media and prompted calls for the brand to respond.
Chili’s had not issued a broader public statement as of the time of reporting, beyond the Instagram reply asking for the woman’s contact details.
