A restaurant owner has been hailed as a “legend” after they took a negative one-star review, and printed it on a line of T-shirts.
Most outlets are no stranger to a bad review, but Luna Rotisserie, in North Carolina, decided to celebrate it instead.
They revealed a group of customers were unhappy about the mask mandate during the first lockdown back in April.
Despite offering them a seat on the patio, the troupe became “angry and argumentative,” before eventually leaving.
They voiced their disdain at the establishment via a Google Review, leaving a lowly one-star and a scathing write-up.
It read: “This place is full of Satanic activity. As free breathing humans, we were discriminated against, the wait staff refused to serve our laughing, smiling faces. I cannot believe the treatment we received here, as if we were below them. If you like freedom, go elsewhere!!”
Rather than let it affect the morale of the staff, management took the quote and slapped it on a T-shirt along with a design of the devil—wearing a mask of course.
Luna Rotisserie printed a line for workers to wear, and also to sell, which has become a hit in the town and online, after snaps were shared across Reddit and Twitter.
The restaurant shared a post addressing the incident, and the popularity of the shirt, last week to their Instagram page.
@SkylerJay_
It explained: “In the spring, during the first mask mandate, a group of people came to Luna, demanding to enter without masks. Our dedicated staff refused entry, but said they were welcome to eat on our spacious outdoor patio.
“The group refused and became angry and argumentative. Eventually they left, went home, and posted a series of one-star reviews about how we infringed upon their freedom. This was our favorite review.
“We asked the very talented Chip Hoppin at @themerchcarrboro to design the perfect t-shirt, as a Covid momento for our staff. A gift to thank them for what’s been an incredibly challenging journey.
“Many of you have asked to buy these shirts for your own memento, so we’ve printed more and are selling them for pickup on our online ordering system. Grab them while they last!”
It emerged an employee, called Skyler Jay, shared a tweet about the shirts in October, saying: “Can we all just appreciate the incredible vibes of my new employer taking an absolutely wild one-star review and making it into a t-shirt???”
Her tweet, which amassed more than 9,000 likes, was posted to Reddit on Tuesday by user Dullahen, who simply said: “This restaurant owner is a legend.” It was upvoted more than 60,000 times.
Jrbfd commented: “I’d buy this t-shirt.”
Kangheh4533 wrote: “Not surprised it’s sold out. This is hilarious.”
While Fridayesmeralda wrote: “It was the “free breathing humans” bit for me. That’s not a normal phrase one just whips out.”
Speaking to local outlet ABC11, chef and owner Shawn Stokes said: “It initially started out, ‘let’s make this for the staff sort of a memento that commemorates a really, really challenging year.
“And it just seemed like the best thing we could do at that point was embrace it and make lemonade out of lemons.”
He added that while he disagreed with their actions, it was a “great review.”
Newsweek reached out to Luna Rotisserie for comment.
