PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — The owner of a Taglio Cucina & Pizzeria Romana is on cloud 9 these days.
Vitangelo Recchia told us it all started when the host of Barstool Sports, David Portnoy, stopped by the restaurant.
Portnoy is known on the internet for his reviews of pizzas in a show he calls, “One Bite With Davey Pageviews.”
“In my mind, I'm like, ‘Oh my God, oh my God. I don't know what's about to happen,’” said Vitangelo who added he recognized Portnoy right away.
“He has 4 million followers!”
“It looks pretty good,” said Portnoy as sized up the pizza on his social media posting.
“This is very good,” he said – after taking his first bite.
“This is very good,” he repeated.
“I could eat this pizza all day long,” Portonoy added.
“I really do like Roman style a lot - the bread is so fresh,” he said as he munched on more of the pizza.
Vitangelo says as soon as Portnoy posted that review, the restaurant started to get a ton of attention.
“Within 9 minutes, we already had like 700 likes and 220 comments,” he said.
“It went like wildfire. It blew up.”
The servers at the restaurant told us they’ve been busier than ever.
“We had a line waiting out the door,” said one.
Vitangelo says it’s brought in customers from beyond Charlotte county.
“Some people were coming from Sarasota,” he said.
“Some said, ‘We’re coming from Naples,’” he explained.
“One person said he's coming over from Tampa.”
“And I'm like, ‘Oh wow,’ said Vitangelo with a big smile.
Vitangelo says the day after Portnoy’s post, the restaurant had sold nearly 70% of all the food they made that day before dinner.
Luckily, he’s got a backup plan if the wait gets too long or there’s not enough room for customers to eat at Taglio Cucina & Pizzeria Romana.
Vitangelo can just send folks to his other restaurant in Port Charlotte, Bella Napoli Pizzeria & Restaurant.
