Anti-Maskers Leave Scathing Restaurant Review of 'Satanic Activity,' Owner Prints It on a Top
A restaurant owner has been hailed as a "legend" for taking a one-star review and printing it on a line of T-shirts.
Most outlets are no strangers to a bad review but Luna Rotisserie in Durham, North Carolina, has decided to celebrate one instead.
The restaurant revealed that a group of customers was unhappy about the mask mandate during the first lockdown back in April.
Despite being offered a table on the patio, the group became "angry and argumentative" before eventually leaving.
They voiced their disdain at the establishment via a Google Review, leaving 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 this dent staff morale, management slapped the quote on a T-shirt along with an image of a devil—wearing a mask, of course.
Chef and co-owner Shawn Stokes told Newsweek: "A group of four people not wearing masks came in during lunch service and asked to sit inside. Our servers said they could, but that they would need to mask up. The four grew argumentative and said they wouldn't wear masks. Our servers said the weather was great and that they were welcome to sit outside on our spacious outdoor patio.
"Again, the group of four refused and became more aggressive in their mission to sit inside. It was at this point that our staff realized that these people had come to cause trouble and were looking for confrontation. Eventually they left, saying that they'd never be back."
Stokes continued: "When I first saw the comment, it was among about a dozen other one-star reviews with similar comments that all came in on the same day. We don't get many bad reviews—our average is 4.5 stars—so it was odd to have so many in a short period of time.
"My decision to print the review on the shirt was based on the first line of the review, 'This place is full of Satanic activity.'"
He added that he had grown up in an era of "moral panics over Satanic cults and accusations of devil worship."
"So, it was sort of in my rebellious adolescent roots to embrace that accusation of Satanic activity and wear it proudly," he said.
Addressing how popular the T-shirts had become, Stokes added: "I wanted the shirt for my staff and I to have as something to commemorate what's been a ridiculously challenging 18 months. The staff loved them and starting wearing them to work. That's when customers asked about them and if they could buy them."
Luna Rotisserie printed a line for sale. The shirts have become a hit in the town and online, after snaps were shared across Reddit and Twitter.
After the photo went viral on social media the restaurant began to get orders from across the country. So far, more than 100 T-shirts have been sold, at $20 each. Luna is now offering a hoodie for $48.
The restaurant shared a post addressing the incident, and the popularity of the shirt, last week to its Instagram page.
The post explained: "We asked the very talented Chip Hoppin at @themerchcarrboro to design the perfect T-shirt, as a Covid memento 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 that an employee, called Skyler Jay, had posted 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???"
This 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."
Fridayesmeralda posted: "It was the "free breathing humans" bit for me. That's not a normal phrase one just whips out."
Update 11/12/21, 9:00 a.m. ET: This article was updated to add comments and photos from Shawn Stokes.
