Ryan Gregg (R) and his partner. (Photo courtesy Gregg)
ORLANDO | An Orlando resident says he experienced homophobia and harassment from a pizzeria last month after leaving a review.
Ryan Gregg and his partner moved into Park Central in July, where they learned Solorzano’s Pizzeria & Poolside Bistro is located within the community. After hanging out by the nearby pool, the couple ran into issues with the restaurant on July 28.
Gregg says there are five community pools in the community, one of which is located adjacent to the pizzeria. That same one is closest to Gregg’s unit.
The couple decided to go to the pool with a cooler of drinks, but Gregg says they were told over a speaker system from the pizzeria that they could not be in the pool area with any beverages or food that were not purchased from the restaurant.
Soon after they were approached by community security and were told the same. They left for another pool and later that evening placed a pickup order from the pizzeria. He says the couple didn’t enjoy the pizza or think the price was fair.
After leaving a low-rated review on Tripadvisor about the experience and the food, Gregg received a private message on Facebook from the owner, Phil Solorzano. In the messages shared with Watermark and available on Tripadvisor’s website, Solorzano indicated he knew Gregg’s place of work.
Solorzano advised he and his employees would share negative reviews of the workplace since Gregg “bashed” his business. After they exchanged messages, Gregg noticed Solorzano replied to his review.
“He responded to my review basically taunting me for being gay and having a partner, calling him lover boy, and I just told him those remarks were not appreciated and they were, in my opinion, homophobic,” Gregg says.
Gregg also shared the review on Google Review, Yelp and Reddit. A user on Reddit alerted him that the restaurant made a Facebook post that included photos of Gregg from Halloween 2019. The post called Gregg a crossdresser and Gregg’s socials were still attached to the photos. As of Aug. 16, the post had been removed.
Solorzano says he was not at the restaurant when the incident occurred but made the post on Facebook to defend himself after Gregg’s review.
“It makes no sense,” Solorzano says. “The whole ‘homophobe,’ ‘transphobe’ thing is ridiculous. I have gay employees at all my pizzerias, I don’t care if they’re gay or not. I have white, Black, Asian, everybody. A racist is not something I am. Homophobic is definitely not something I am.”
Reflecting on the matter, Solorzano says two wrongs don’t make a right, but he continues to claim the review is a fabricated lie. He advised Watermark he would delete his post if Gregg’s review was deleted.
“I have outstanding food, outstanding quality, customer service,” Solorzano says. “Everything is a lie so when customers come and meet me, the truth will speak.”
Gregg says he is seeking legal counsel and has also reached out to his landlord who is also the pizzeria’s landlord. He says they have had a conversation, but he hasn’t received a satisfactory response.
“I understand they’re in a strange spot because they have a commercial tenant, but they also have an obligation to the residential tenants to keep them in a safe environment,” Gregg says. “I think that this is something that my property management group needs to seriously consider if this is a tenant that paints them in a positive light or do they condone the behavior and the harassment of their residents.”
At the end of the day, Gregg says everyone should be open to feedback. He says it wasn’t appropriate for a humiliating post to be made because a review was shared that wasn’t positive.
“I think that when you have a great experience, you tell one or two people, when you have a really negative experience, you tell a lot more people,” Greggs says.
