WBOB Original Reads

Providence Restauranteur Lobs Racially Charged Comments at Neighboring Restaurant

1/16/2018

Providence restauranteur and self-proclaimed "King of the Hill," Gianfranco Marrocco has landed himself in hot water again, this time for culturally insensitive remarks he posted to social media -- aimed at another Federal Hill business.

Responding to a post from a customer at Opa Restaurant that read "Best place in Rhode Island if you want a traditional Lebanese experience. This is the real deal," Marrocco replied:

"Maybe one of his cousins will walk in with a back pack full of explosives one day."

See the post below

This is not Marrocco's first controversy on Federal Hill. Marrocco, who owns several establishments on Federal Hill, including Caffe Dolce Vita, made several colorful public remarks when Providence's Licensing Board forced closed his "$3 Bar" in 2014.

Read: Marrocco Responds

Founded in 2003 by Joseph Karam, Opa Restaurant is a Mediterranean-style family restaurant on Federal Hill featuring cuisine from Lebanon, Greece, and Italy.

The photographs above were pulled from a social media post by a member of the Karam family, who posted the images with a caption that read:

"My family and I came to this country over a decade and a half ago. With that opportunity we brought our culture with us and established Opa Restaurant on a street that was heavily Italian based bringing some diversity and our culture with us. We've treated every single customer with respect, treated everyone like family and my father chef'd up amazing food which has brought a beautiful community that we can call today our family."

"With that being said, to the people concerned about our culture and our background we are NOT and will NEVER be affiliated with that type of negative behavior. I'm deeply saddened when i see such misinformed slurs posted about my family or business."

"Mr. Marrocco, I'm sorry you feel this way about my family. Unfortunately our values are not aligned and i cannot come to support any of your establishments. I hope you take this time to reflect on your negativity and hope you take the time to learn more about about our culture, our food, and my family one day," the post continued.