Mass. pizza shop shares list of rules for diners after booting ‘disrespectful’ families from eatery

SOMERVILLE, Mass. — The owner of a Massachusetts pizza shop took to social media over the weekend to share a list of ground rules for customers after booting “disrespectful” families from the restaurant.

Charlie Redd, the owner of Dragon Pizza on Elm Street in Somerville’s Davis Square, announced Friday night in a Facebook post that he had to “demand a group of negligent parents take their families home.”

“They were disrespecting our dining room, other guests, and our team,” Redd wrote in the post. “Our restaurant, or any restaurant, is not a place for unsupervised children to play.”

Redd also posted a list of rules that it expects diners to adhere to.

Those rules were as follows:

1. We welcome all children dining in our restaurant with open arms.

2. We DO NOT welcome parents who do not want to share a dining experience with the children.

3. We love sharing our games with children. Who wouldn’t?!

4. We loath parents who use our games as babysitters while they ignore their children and let them damage and abuse our games.

5. We think our pizza is the best, worthy of respect, and cherish children who agree.

6. We do not appreciate parents who are our pizza as a cheap, simple option to feed their children until they can have their own dinner.

“We want to be clear this was the only time we had to ask a family to leave. It makes me very sad,” Redd added. “Respect restaurants.”

Boston 25 News reached out to the business for comment on the decision to remove the families but we were told ownership was on vacation. The Facebook post was removed shortly after we spoke with the shop.

Redd previously went viral in August 2023 when Dragon Pizza was featured on one of Dave Portnoy’s “One Bite Pizza Reviews” on Barstool Sports.

Portnoy described the large cheese pizza he was sampling as a “floppy mess.”

“I try to give everybody good scores. I gave this place like maybe the worst score I’ve given in a long time.”

In the middle of the review, Redd emerged from the shop and confronted Portnoy.

“Enjoy your pizza as any customer but I don’t appreciate what you do coming in and judging a business with one bite,” Redd told Portnoy before going back inside. “I don’t appreciate what you do to small businesses.”

Portnoy continued his review but Redd reemerged from the shop and asked him to leave, setting off an expletive-filled shouting match.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW

©2025 Cox Media Group