Atlantic City Pizzeria Tony Boloney’s Bans Donald Trump

Photo of Trump by Michael Vadon, used under a Creative Commons license

Donald Trump‘s presidential announcement did not go as he planned. His comments about Mexican immigrants led to many corporate partners dropping his products, including the company that makes Donald Trump menswear. (Trump says they’ll all be back; his campaign has been in touch with at least one Latino advocacy group.)

But earlier this week, The Donald got his biggest slap in the face yet: A pizza joint in the shadows of the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City has banned him from the premises. It was first announced on the restaurant’s Facebook page.

“I’m not down with it,” Tony Boloney’s owner Michael Hauke said. “That shit is not gonna fly in Tony Boloney-land.”

At a speech announcing his presidential bid, Trump said this of Mexican immigrants: “They’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing their problems. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists, and some I assume are good people but I speak to border guards and they tell us what we are getting. They’re sending us not the right people. It’s coming from more than Mexico. It’s coming from all over South and Latin America, and it’s coming probably from the Middle East.”

Hauke said he was first told of Trump’s remarks by an employee, who came in and told him about Trump’s speech. “He says to me, ‘Hey, is that really what people think about us?’” Hauke remembers. He looked up the speech and says it genuinely upset him.

“It’s a shock-and-awe-style kind of rhetoric. It’s unnecessary and it’s irresponsible and it’s childish,” he said. “I’m all for free speech, all day, every day, you can say whatever you want, I don’t care. But under no circumstances can I tolerate this.… You can’t paint a broad stroke like that.”

Per its website, Tony Boloney’s serves “indigenous A.C. grub.” Tony Boloney’s has also won Guy Fieri’s cheesesteak challenge and a Live with Kelly and Michael food truck competition. A website named The Pizza Snob gave it five stars. I’ve heard two stories this week of Tony Boloney’s catering weddings.

Hauke says Trump has eaten his food before, as he said his team ordered food for a meeting previously. He had previously banned Jay Leno from his restaurant because he “because he did Conan O’Brien dirty.”

Trump’s comments have been challenged, though he re-iterated his beliefs in a statement to the media.

Hauke says his store, which also has a location in Hoboken, has employees of varied backgrounds: “Latin American, Mexican, Guatemalan, Vietnam, two guys from China, one guy from Belarus. An Irish-Italian girl. We have people who are Hungarian, Austrian, German, Polish, Italian, Russian, Irish. He says he checks legal working status for his employees, but doesn’t care where they’re from. He said feedback from customers and fellow restaurant industry people has been positive.

Tony Boloney’s is also offering a 10 percent discount to employees of Trump Taj Mahal, which Trump no longer owns, because “they have to look at his name every day.”

Hauke has said previously he wanted to expand to Philadelphia, with a location on Passyunk Avenue.

Follow @dhm on Twitter.