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Yelp review gives restaurant one-star because of a LGBTI Pride flag

Written by gaytourism

A Yelp reviewer gave the Zia Gianna a one-star review because of the small LGBTI pride flag in the restaurant’s window | Photo: Twitter/@ksullivannews

A Yelp reviewer gave a restaurant one-star because it had an LGBTI pride flag on display.

The reviewer focussed on the small rainbow flag which was hanging in the window of Caffe Zia Gianna in Boston.

The owner, Nino Barbalace, received an outpouring of support after he posted a screenshot of the review online.

The post has since been deleted.

The review began with: ‘After seeing the rainbow flag in the window, I’ve had it with this place and have thrown in the towel…

‘Well, that flag says all and when you delve deeper to see the real customer base here, it’s clearly geared and catered ONLY to those who rally behind the rainbow flag.

‘This should be considered treason against our Nation and our Italian Heritage and against nature and should be punishable as a crime.’

The reviewer continues to chide the restaurant as ‘absolutely disgusting and unacceptable,’ for ‘abandoning the sound family unit and structure.’

The review includes only a short mention of the establishment’s food: ‘Is the food here decent? Sure but portions are small and pricey considering what you get….

‘Now maybe I could deal with that…. But after learning what I learned now, I can no longer accept patronizing this establishment.’

‘It was personal’

Barbalace said he noticed the contents of the review when he checked why the restaurant had received only one star.

‘I saw one star and I said, “wow, what happened?”‘ Barbalace told Boston 25.

‘It was personal,’ the restaurant owner said. ‘If you go to a place and you’re not happy with the food or the service, I understand that if I made a mistake because we all make mistakes. This is a restaurant, not politics.’

In his Facebook post, Barbalace wrote ‘All are welcome at Zia Gianna, even this gentleman. We’d love to show him some kindness from the LGBTQ community because love always wins.’

A 2017 study of the world’s 100 best LGBTI cities ranked Boston at number 52.

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