A New Jersey pizzeria is at the center of a local firestorm after a video of a staff member appearing to berate customers celebrating a child’s birthday party went viral.

Tom Jurkowski, founder of Vintage New Jersey, a social media page that highlights nostalgic New Jersey memories, said the incident happened on the boardwalk at Point Pleasant Beach, about 60 miles south of Jersey City, on Saturday, August 1.

The video, uploaded the next day, purported to showcase an employee at Joey Tomato’s refusing to let customers use one of the restaurant’s knives to cut the birthday cake of his five-year-old nephew.

‘After eating, we asked for a knife to cut the cake (we offered to pay any additional fees) and this was the owners reaction […] this was the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced,’ Jurkowski said in the video.

In the video, the staff member can be heard responding that it was an ‘inappropriate’ request. The interaction leading up to the confrontation was not included in the video.

‘Okay so when I come to your house with my candles and my cake, am I going to be able to do whatever I want there now?,’ she yelled. 

‘You didn’t call, you didn’t make an arrangement or anything. You just don’t walk into a restaurant and do whatever you want.

‘It’s inappropriate. And you owe us an apology. I don’t owe you anything. Have a good day.’

Staff member of Joey Tomato’s arguing with Tom Jurkowski, seemingly over a knife to cut the cake

She called them ‘inappropriate’ and demanded an apology before wishing them a good day

Jurkowski responded: ‘It’s a five-year-old’s birthday party, we just want to cut the cake.’

Which was met with, ‘I don’t care what it is. It’s inappropriate. How about if I just come to your house with a cake and do whatever I want? It’s inappropriate.’

A woman in the video tells the staff member, ‘You’re embarrassing yourself,’ before the clip ends shortly after. 

Before this incident, Joey Tomato’s had a reputation for having a friendly environment, but its Yelp page has been inundated with negative one-star reviews since the viral video.

‘The owner is clearly having a mental health crisis in the presence of customers,’ one review reads.

‘Many restaurants permit patrons to bring in a cake to celebrate. It is insane to see a business owner becoming completely unhinged in the middle of the establishment, humiliating a patron who asked for a knife.’

When posting the original video, Jurkowski said his table spent about $250 on four large pizzas and drinks, and that they called ahead of time and got permission to bring the cake. 

In a follow-up video posted to TikTok, he said he didn’t intend for the viral clip to cause so much ‘damage’.

The incident happened on the boardwalk at Point Pleasant Beach, about 60 miles south of Jersey City

 ‘I certainly didn’t expect it to spread the way it did. I’m still surprised how the situation unfolded. We just wanted to borrow a knife to cut the cake and the response completely caught us off guard,’ he said.

‘The damage has been done. I don’t want to keep reliving this story or keep contributing to affecting people’s livelihoods. My hope is that everyone involved learns from this and that future customers are treated with a little bit more kindness and respect, especially when they just want to create positive moments in their lives. This will likely be the last time I address this.’

Comments on the TikTok support Jurkowski’s description of the situation.

One user commented: ‘I was in there with my family, the owner was yelling in our ears. Keep in mind I had a [two-month-old] in a stroller. She was def out of line. Lucky you guys were a nice quiet family.’

The Daily Mail has attempted to reach Joey Tomato’s for a comment.