San Francisco bar flooded with negative reviews after an alleged racist attack on an Asian-American

A San Francisco bar has been flooded with negative reviews on Yelp, after a viral TikTok alleged that an Asian-American man was attacked in the bar’s seating area over the weekend.

Sofia Enguillado, the victim’s mother, posted a TikTok video on Sunday sharing images of her son’s face with what appeared to be bruising and swelling on his left eye.

The video, which now has more than 863,000 views and 207,000 likes, was captioned: “If you’re Asian, this is the type of service you get waiting for pizza in Little Italy North Beach, San Francisco.” and included the hashtags, #stopasianhate and #asianlivesmatter.

The clip details that a customer at the Gino & Carlo Cocktail Lounge assaulted Enguillado’s son while the family were waiting inside the bar for a pizza order from the restaurant next door.

Adam Lobsinger, spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department, said on Monday officers arrested one suspect for assault and battery following a commotion outside Gino & Carlo Cocktail Lounge shortly before 5.30pm on Friday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The alleged attacker has since been identified as a retired professional heavyweight boxer, who was cited and released on a misdemeanor battery charge, police said Tuesday.

Lobsinger said police do not have evidence to indicate that the incident was motivated by hate.

The alleged attack took place at Gino & Carlo’s Cocktail Lounge in North Beach, San Francisco.

Enguillado also accused Frank Rossi, the co-owner of the bar, of yelling at her son to get out, saying, “Get the f*** out of here, you don’t even belong here in the first place.”

Rossi, told The San Francisco Chronicle he witnessed the attack and said he intervened on behalf of the victim and condemned the attack.

“I am not a racist,” Rossi said on Monday. “We have been in the area 60 years, alongside Chinatown. We have a melting pot of customers.”

Yelp temporarily disabled users’ ability to post reviews on the bar’s page on Monday afternoon, due to the page being bombarded with negative reviews.

Following the brigade of bad reviews, the restaurant’s owners denied the allegations on Yelp and posted a statement on the business review website.

“An unfortunate incident occurred on our property between two patrons when an underaged guest refused to leave,” Rossi said. “No Gino & Carlo employees were involved in the physical altercation. We don’t condone violence or racism of any kind.”