Backlash from Trump Facebook post prompts restaurant owner to apologize

Chef-owner Justin Girouard of The French Press has apologized for criticizing President Donald Trump in a post on his restaurant's Facebook page.

The original Facebook post, which has since been deleted, offered customers a free carafe of mimosas if they told their server "Donald Trump is a very stable genius." Customers would need a mimosa to "wash the lie" out of their mouths, according to the Saturday post.

Girouard's Facebook post poked fun at the president's tweet from earlier that day.

After claiming his two greatest assets have been "mental stability and being, like, really smart," Trump wrote on Twitter that winning the presidential election on his first try would qualify him as "not smart, but genius... and a very stable genius at that!"

Girourard issued an apology Monday afternoon on The French Press Facebook account.

"My biggest failure was not seeing the offending nature of what I had written," Girouard wrote. "My intent was never to offend any of the amazing people who have supported us from the very beginning. I have never been particularly funny and this was a very poor first attempt in a very public setting, on a very public subject. The only humor in all of this is how terribly I failed."

The backlash was swift.

"Make America great again. Close down," Timmy Freeman wrote Monday in a one-star review of the restaurant.

The French Press has received more than 170 Facebook reviews — both unfavorable and favorable — since Saturday.

"Since it looks like all of the Trumpsters will be boycotting this place, it will be even more enjoyable. Looking forward to my next visit," John Herasymiuk wrote Monday in a five-star review of the restaurant.

Watch: Another local restaurant learns that pizza and politics don't mix

Girouard is an award-winning chef whose downtown restaurant has been featured on national TV.

In Monday's apology, Girouard asked the public to forgive him so his staff and wife, Margaret, don't have to suffer "the consequences of the poor performance of one member of the team."

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