Dave Portnoy’s pizza review for an eatery in New Orleans led the restaurant of 40 years to be flooded with new customers.
Dave Portnoy’s “One Bite Pizza Reviews” has been a viral sensation since he started rating pizza from restaurants all over the world in 2017.
Though he insists that he scores the pizza 0/10, 10 being the best, with only one bite, Portnoy often devours his slices. In many instances, as he stands on the sidewalk outside of the eatery to rate the pizza, the shop’s owner stands nearby to hear his review.
Sometimes, Portnoy’s honesty gets him into hot water with the cook. Other times, though, he’s been able to revive the restaurant’s reputation and bring even more customers to their storefront.
After his One Bite review for Gio’s Pizza on February 4, the New Orleans-based pizzeria said their phones have been ringing off the hook.
“The phone was ringing off the hook,” Gio’s Pizza Owner Travis Posey said. “Then the phone has to come off the hook because the line is out the door.”
One Bite Pizza Review brings hundreds of daily customers to Gio’s Pizza
Travis’ wife Mia added that less than an hour after Portnoy’s review went Live, their restaurant was filled with customers. “The place was packed, and it’s been like that ever since.”
The owners of Gio’s Pizza noted that although they open their doors with different weekly hours, they’re still serving hundreds of daily customers.
“We’re still on a week-to-week schedule, which is insane. We are opening different hours, whenever we can, because everything is homemade. We make our own dough, we make our own sauce,” Travis said.
Portnoy, who rated the cheese pizza a 7.6, compared it to a “bar pie” out of the New York City and New Jersey area.
“This is good. I’m gonna have to believe that this is as good as we’re gonna get in Louisiana. By the way, this is like a New York, New Jersey scale. This is very good, this is good stuff,” Portnoy said.
Portnoy’s One Bite Pizza Review for Baltimore’s Tiny Brick Oven in December 2024 also gave the restaurant leverage. After the owner said they’d have to close due to expenses, Portnoy gave them $60K to keep their doors open for at least another year.