Forghedaboudit? Restaurant's social media post riles residents

Algernon D'Ammassa | Las Cruces Sun-News

DEMING - An award-winning Deming restaurant specializing in New York-style pizza and Italian-American cuisine stated on its Facebook page Friday that it was "rethinking" a previously announced expansion into Las Cruces following a controversy on social media.

On June 2, a post from Bob Yacone's personal Facebook account appeared on the Facebook group For Hire Las Cruces calling for résumés, but was quickly removed. The post read: "Hiring top notch servers. Great money for motivated person in one of the fastest paced quality Italian restaurants in the southwest. No dreamers, homeless or IHOP people need apply. New York attitude is a plus."

Yacone, owner of Forghedaboudit Pizza, had announced at a Deming City Council meeting last October that he had purchased a property on Telshor Boulevard and hoped to open the location in three months, yet the restaurant did not appear.

The comment posted Friday was removed some time after it appeared, but was captured in a screenshot. The image spread quickly online and attracted stern reactions over the its language. Negative comments soon appeared on the business's Yelp page, as well.

Following the controversy, the restaurant's Facebook account said, "We may pass over LC and go to where we would be more appreciated. We will keep Deming open as this is our first place. El Paso has shown us tremendous love."

The restaurant is now declining to make any statement about its plans.

'I pulled it fast'

Yacone issued a written statement disavowing the post, despite it appearing from his personal account.

"Forghedaboudit has had the practice over the last year to contract out social media to outside sources who have total access to our Facebook," the statement read. "Last week our media person was instructed to place ads in an attempt to draw qualified and quality experienced wait staff to the Deming location ... From that directive they placed a LC ad online and immediately removed it within approximately 5 minutes knowing that it was done in bad taste and disrespected some people."

In an interview in the dining room of his restaurant Tuesday morning, Yacone denied writing or seeing the post before it was posted, saying, "I bring business to Deming every day. Why would I besmirch that?" Yet he acknowledged seeing the comments before the post was deleted, recalling, "I got poked on it pretty quick," and added, "I pulled it fast."

Reaction was swift. By Tuesday evening, six Yelp users left one-star reviews and referenced the now-deleted post. One critic said, "I was excited to hear that this restaurant was coming to Las Cruces until I realized what a bigot the owner is. He trashed New Mexico workers and states no homeless people, dreamers or IHOP people need apply. I will recommend all my friends Forghedaboudit when it comes to this place."

More: Forghedaboudit named best slice in the Southwest

Pushing back on social media

The 49-seat restaurant is near Interstate 10 on North Silver Avenue, its northern wall serving as a billboard visible to freeway traffic. Forghedaboudit opened in 2013 in an RV park on the Hatch highway several miles north of town, with Yacone cooking and running deliveries with his spouse Kimberly Duncan helping out. The food quickly became popular enough that in 2014 Yacone purchased the building where the restaurant stays busy for lunch and dinner seven days a week, per the restaurant's website. Duncan now manages the restaurant.

Yacone also began winning national awards for his food, including first place at the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the National Buffalo Chicken Wings Festival in Buffalo, New York.

On Tuesday, Yacone made no bones about being a tough boss, claiming the restaurant has gone through 265 employees in four years. "I'm demanding," he said.

The restaurant has hosted free Thanksgiving dinners, fundraisers for local charities and has also hosted gatherings for Republican candidates. Forghedaboudit's news release states, "We don't affiliate nor express (sic) our political views and never have on our Facebook or website. We will and have remained neutral on our views and always will."

Online, however, the restaurant has adopted a practice of pushing back harshly against users who leave negative reviews, occasionally with political overtones, on Facebook, Google, TripAdvisor and Yelp.

In response to a negative review on TripAdvisor posted in April 2017 which complained in part about "a political statement on their front door," a response from "forghedaboudit, Owner of Forghedaboudit" retorted: "So in actuality it really wasn't the food? It was the fact your (sic) a liberal and a hater of everyone and everything you don't agree with."

In a June 2015 response to a criticism of the restaurant's service on TripAdvisor, the same account wrote, "Crybabies like you need to stay home and eat..your (sic) bad for business,, with your petty crap and whining about nothing."

In an April 2015 response to another negative review, the same account wrote, "I bet your (sic) the type of people who yell 'racism' over everything that doesn't go your way in life...I know the type...it's all over the TV and it's sick."

On Yelp, reviews are frequently answered by "Kimberly D. of Forghedaboudit." Many of these responses thank customers for their compliments and occasionally apologize for mishaps that led to critical reviews. Others, however, engage in angry argument and even namecalling.

In one instance, responding to a one-star review in February 2016, the account replied, "I call you a 1%er...traveling trash with a nasty disposition...It's a shame your boyfriend has to deal with the likes of a trashy nasty hater like you, he actually was a nice guy...this is not the owner but the manager who met you both." Further down in the response, the restaurant wrote the customer: "Omg what do you want? us to stand table side like the queen of Egypt and wait for your requests?"

On Facebook, critical reviews were sometimes answered by an account in the name of owner Bob Yacone and sometimes by Forghedaboudit's account.

A December 2016 comment captured in a screenshot conveyed a hint of menace, in which the Yacone account wrote, "It's a small town to be such a hater in. If you don't like me personally come here and say sh-t to my face or shut your hater mouth."

Political convictions also turn up in the Twitter account identifying itself as Forghedaboudit Pizza featuring photos of the restaurant. The account includes tweets from 2014 and 2015 criticizing protesters of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, calling them "thugs" in one tweet.

During the interview on Tuesday, Yacone and spouse Duncan acknowledged that they wrote their own posts on Yelp and TripAdvisor, without mentioning the Google or Twitter accounts. Yacone indicated that they would now be holding back on replies to customer reviews.

More: House of Pizza of El Paso says 'racist' Facebook post is from a fake account

New York attitude

Many of the restaurant's responses to Yelp reviews make mention of a "New York attitude" in addressing customer service complaints. Yacone, who said he moved to Deming from New York City in 2013 just prior to opening his restaurant, offered a definition during the Tuesday interview.

"We always say what's on our mind," Yacone said. "It reflects how we feel, and we defend it."

When asked about the photographs of New York mafia figures, both real and fictional, that adorn the brick walls of the dining room, Yacone grinned and said, "I have a 'funny' background, and I'll just say that."

As for the controversy over the For Hire Las Cruces post, Yacone attributed the trouble to "liberals, haters, and open border people," but declined to comment when asked to elaborate, saying he had fired his social media manager (whom he declined to name) and wanted to put the experience behind him.

Yacone said he was prepared to say to customers, "You believe what you want, but you still need a reservation to get in here after five."

Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonActor on Twitter.