After SF Pizza Shop Employee Tells Cops They Are ‘Not Welcome,’ the Internet Piles On

A San Francisco pizza shop is fielding some bad Yelp reviews after the SF Police Officers Association, the union that represents the SFPD, tweeted that an employee there "told several of our officers that they are not welcome in the restaurant."

The owner of the shop—Pizza Squared, located at 885 Brannan St.—apparently apologized in short order and fired the cashier who gave the cops the boot. But that was not enough to stop a flood of negative tweets and some negative Yelp reviews.

A Twitter user who goes by Maria Vargas wrote that the owner's apology was not enough for her: "Unless the employee is fired, I don’t plan on going there," they wrote.

Others appeared to support the employee's sentiment. David Hellman, a San Francisco artist, responded to the SFPOA's tweet with this: "Try to just leave people alone when they ask instead of harassing and intimidating them! I’m sure you can get pizza somewhere else you hogs"

Another Twitter user from San Francisco, Matt Card, also seemed to support the unnamed employee, writing: "the employee was trying to protect themselves, the other employees and the customers."

At the time of this story's posting, every review on the restaurant's Yelp page since Jan. 29, the day of the SFPOA's tweet, has been a negative 1-star review. Only one directly references the incident. "They dislike cops !!" a Yelper from San Francisco who goes by Anney T. wrote. "They were rude to them and told the cops to leave. ! When they didn't do anything wrong ! Don't patrol this place"

Other Yelpers, including one going by Samson H. from Victoria, Canada, also piled on—saying in a Jan. 29 review that they had "a terrible experience at the pizza joint." It appeared to be just one of three total Yelp reviews the user had ever written.