Is Dave Portnoy’s Positive Review Actually Crippling This Massachusetts Pizza Place?

Dave Portnoy Pizza Reviews

By now, we're all familiar with Dave Portnoy's pizza reviews. While some may question why so many people put so much stock into what one man says about how he feels about a restaurant's pizza offerings, at the end of the day, it's never intended to bring negativity.

For years now, Dave has always been vocal about his support for local businesses -- not just in his native New England, but small, local businesses across the country.

The Barstool Fund

Look no further than The Barstool Fund for proof, which Dave created during the height of the pandemic when small businesses were being hit the hardest, raising money and offering grants to those small businesses to help them stay afloat, whether they specialized in pizza or not.

Despite how you feel about Dave, in between his comedy and nonsense, along with entertainment, Dave really does want to help boost small businesses. That's just plain as day.

What he may not have intended to do, though, in one of his recent pizza reviews, is overwhelm a business by accidentally turning his positive review into a possible negative situation.

Joanie's Pizza, Chelmsford, Massachusetts

Dave closed out 2023 by beginning to release a bunch of videos traveling around Massachusetts to review pizza spots, one of which was in the Merrimack Valley area of Chelmsford, Massachusetts.

Immediately after his positive review of Joanie's Pizza -- which he named the best in all of Massachusetts -- Joanie's felt the impact of his positive review, literally becoming slammed from before they opened until after they closed every day.

In fact, the positive review led to Joanie's announcing that due to the huge response from Dave's review, they were no longer able to take online orders or orders over the phone, simply because they were just too overwhelmed for anything other than in-person orders.

But while Joanie's is clearly raking in the cash from the huge uptick in business thanks to Dave's glowing review, they're also starting to feel the effects of it, as there's been no relief for the last month since the review dropped.

In fact, in a recent interview with NBC Boston, Joanie's co-owner Anne Thompson said,

I feel like we’ve been kind of riding a bronco and you're just trying to hang on and figure out a rhythm.

It's obvious Anne and the rest of her staff at Joanie's is grateful for the love shown by the community, as well as the huge hype given by Dave's review.

But with mentioning that they're all "just trying to hang on," -- could this be the first time a Dave Portnoy review brings too much good for one business and its staff to handle?