My uncle (my grandfather, his dad, was an Italian immigrant) was down in Savanna Georgia to dine at a friend’s new Italian restaurant. He ordered a plate of pasta and asked the waitress if he could have it “al dente”
The girl put her hand on her hip and said “Al who???”
Back in the 60s my parents took us to Canada. We stopped in a remote part of Nova Scotia at a restaurant run by Italian-born Canadians, and the teenage Canadian-born daughter was our waitress. Dad ordered spaghetti and meatballs, and I kid you not, she asked him, "Do you want meatballs with your spaghetti and meatballs?"