Posted on: Jun 21 2016
By Julia Marsh | 3/5/2013 | New York Post
ROBERT MENENDEZ Rips “smears for cash.”
A Massachusetts tourist dining at Mario Batali’s Eataly in the Flatiron District chomped down on a shard of glass in his linguini with seafood, according to a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.
“There was a lot of blood coming out of my mouth,” Fabio de Oliveira, 32, told The Post.
The Brazilian man, who owns a steakhouse on Cape Cod, was relaxing at the Italian megastore’s restaurant La Pizza & Pasta with his fiancée and family on Jan. 29 when he “bit right into the glass,” attorney David Jaroslawicz said.
“They were gracious enough to let him pay the check,” Jaroslawicz scoffed.
He offered a $217 bill with 20 percent added gratuity as proof.
But Eataly managing partner Adam Saper told a different story about the incident.
Saper said he has evidence of Oliveira and his party of six thoroughly enjoying the meal and paying the check. Twenty minutes after leaving the table, Oliveira returned to complain about his injuries, he said.
“We treat all these incidents seriously,” Saper told The Post.
Oliveira was rushed to Beth Israel Hospital, where he received stitches to his tongue.
His “speech and eating have been affected,” the lawsuit states.
The food was “defective in that it was not properly prepared,” the papers allege. “It was contaminated with foreign objects, including glass.”
Oliveira is suing for unspecified damages.
