A story about a woman who allegedly tried to use a slice of pizza as a form of identification to get into a nightclub before slapping the bouncer for refusing her entry, has put a popular Amherst establishment in the national spotlight.


“It’s definitely unexpected. It’s definitely unexpected,” said Rafiq. “It’s funny, and has given us a few laughs, and we hope it has given other people laughs.”

The full story, according to Rafiq, goes likes this: Last Thursday, around midnight, a woman approached a bouncer outside of the Monkey Bar hoping to get inside. The woman — apparently a college student, he said — attempted to hand the bar’s bouncer a slice of Tortellini pizza, which she had purchased from nearby Antonio’s Pizza, as proof of her legal age, when asked for her license.

When the bouncer denied the pizza (although Rafiq said the pizza at Antonio’s is well-liked in Amherst) the woman allegedly began to argue with him. From there, the situation escalated, and ended with the woman slapping the bouncer in the face, he said.

“She said, ‘Just let me in.’ And he said, ‘You’re too intoxicated. I’m sorry,’” said Rafiq, who has owned the nightclub with his brother for two years. “When a girl gets [aggressive] like that, we are sort of at their mercy. All we can do is stand in their way.”

Rafiq said a police officer was nearby, and soon got involved.


According to a police report on the Daily Hampshire Gazette’s website, the woman was issued a trespass notice ordering her to stay away from the club. A friend who tried to intervene was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct, but the charge was later dismissed in court, the website reported.

Rafiq takes the alleged assault on his employee seriously, but said the bouncer was not seriously hurt. With the story clearly resonating with college-aged patrons, the Monkey Bar tried to make light of the situation on Facebook.

“Despite some popular misconceptions, Monkey Bar does not currently accept Antonio’s pizza as a valid form of ID,” the company wrote on Nov. 18. “Sorry for the inconvenience.”

They also urged people to be nice to their bouncers.

Rafiq said he hopes the incident doesn’t impact the woman’s life too much, because “we have all had nights like this in college.”

That’s sort of the mantra of the Monkey Bar.

“We are all monkeys, and monkeys do wild things sometimes,” said Rafiq. “We give her an ‘A’ for effort, and wish her all the best.”

Steve Annear can be reached at steve.annear@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @steveannear.