Shameless star Sammi Hanratty is calling out a California restaurant for its anti-mask policy, flaunting of local lockdown rules, and disregard for safety. According to the actress, the business kicked her father out for simply wearing one inside while picking up food. Surprisingly, this isn’t even close to the first time the controversial restaurant is getting shamed.
Shameless Star’s Father Asked To Leave Restaurant
Hanratty posted a video captioned “I feel so hopeless.” on her TikTok page, which has nearly a million followers. “Hi TikTok, I’m very upset right now. I’m trying to keep my cool,” the actress told followers. “But let me just tell you why I’m upset.” Hanratty explained that her parents were watching her nephew over the weekend, and her mother placed a pick-up order at a local restaurant for dinner. The actress included a picture of the place’s Yelp page, which names it as Basilico’s Pasta e Vino in Huntington Beach. Her father went to go get the food wearing a mask like any responsible person would.
“My dad’s in his 60s and he’s also in the medical field, so he has to be safe not only for himself, but also for his patients,” she explained — and “because, you know, we’re in a pandemic.” Once he walked in, however, he was met with an uncomfortable scene for anyone even remotely aware of COVID-19 and its risks.
At first glance, her father reportedly saw a dense gathering of people — “like, past 100 percent capacity.” Hanratty notes that California currently restricts restaurants to only holding 25 percent of their total capacity before bringing up another massively concerning problem.
https://www.tiktok.com/@sammihanratty/video/6882821847944006917
“My dad realizes too that he’s the only person inside that’s wearing a mask. Like, all of the people that are working in there? No masks. And then he gets asked to leave because he’s wearing a mask,” she said. Once her father stepped out of the risky restaurant, he noticed the signs posted on the front of the building that showed masks with red lines through them and a lengthy note that presumably rails against masks. “I think this place needs to be shut down. You can’t leave a Yelp review, so I made this instead,” the actress concluded.
Not The First Controversy For Basilico’s
The restaurant has made multiple headlines for their anti-mask policies, which is likely the reason Yelp paused the ability to review the restaurant. The page itself has a disclaimer: “This business is being monitored by Yelp’s Support team for content related to media reports.” Just last month, Basilico’s posted a billboard with a Godfather reference asking customers to “Leave The Mask, Take The Cannoli.” Likewise, the ownership doubled-down on their anti-mask policy in their heated response to a negative Yelp review left before the page, funnily enough, went into lockdown.
“So to be clear, if you enter the restaurant for dine in, and want to wear a mask, you must remove it when sitting down. If you are standing around inside and waiting for a table, or waiting inside to pick up food for yourself or as a third party delivery driver, and you are wearing a mask, you will be asked to wait outside. Got it? And next time you have something to say, why don’t you come by and tell us to our face, in person,” they wrote.
The complete response was far, far longer than that, which matches with the wordy warning on the front of the restaurant. Given that ownership has effectively admitted that mask-wearing customers would be removed, Hanratty looks to be totally in the right with her frustration and anger.