Pizza restaurant responds after finding out Dave Portnoy lied about review score

An Iowa pizza place cleverly responded after Dave Portnoy from Barstool Sports misled their staff about the quality of their pizza.

Dave Portnoy’s pizza reviews can really help restaurants succeed, often bringing in lots of new customers after he gives a pizza a good score.

On October 2, Portnoy was in Urbandale, Iowa, and checked out a place called Pepp’s Pizzeria.

He thought the pizza slice was good, giving it a 7.3 out of 10. It was a solid score, but not among the best pizzas he’d ever tasted.

Dave didn’t want to upset anyone, so he told his employees he’d given something a score of 7.6, which made them very happy and they all applauded.

Once he was gone, Portnoy admitted he should have been honest with them. Fortunately, the pizzeria took it in stride and jokingly acknowledged the false review on their social media page.

Pizzeria has brilliant reply to Dave Portnoy’s fake review score

Pepp’s Pizzeria responded to Dave on Instagram, saying they were hurt by his negative review but still thankful he visited and gave their pizza a try.

They acknowledged that a score of 7.3 is still very good, but playfully hinted at something more. They unveiled t-shirts with the phrase “one lie, everyone knows the rules” printed on them, with the actual score marked out.

The shirt is a play on Dave’s iconic “one bite” slogan, which he uses for his pizza reviews.

Dave, you should really get one of these, and get one for everyone at Barstool too. It’s been great having you, and we really appreciate everything you do to support pizza lovers.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Pepp’s Pizzeria (@peppspizzeria)

People who love the pizza place were really happy with how they reacted to the news, describing it as perfect.

“Great response! Take my money,” one commented.

“Way to roll with the punches on this and capitalize on it,” one chimed in.

“Love the response! It’s fantastic,” someone else agreed.

It remains to be seen if positive feedback from Dave and the new merchandise will establish Pepp’s as a go-to pizza place in Iowa. Interestingly, during his visit, Portnoy was impressed with the quality of pizza at many local restaurants, giving several of them scores in the mid-70s.

Read More

2025-10-06 21:49