A dispute over an outside birthday cake at a Jersey Shore pizzeria escalated into a heated confrontation captured on video, going viral on social media. The incident occurred Saturday at Joey Tomato’s on the Jenkinson’s boardwalk in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey.
Video footage posted to TikTok by Tom Jurkowski, who was with the group celebrating his nephew’s fifth birthday, shows a restaurant staffer confronting the customers after they requested a knife to cut the cake they had brought. The staffer, identified as pizzeria owner Doreen Sullivan-Karcich by Patch, can be heard in the video questioning the group’s actions.
"You don’t just walk into a restaurant and do whatever you want,” the staffer stated, comparing the situation to someone bringing a cake to her home uninvited. She labeled the request for a knife as “inappropriate.”
Jurkowski stated that his group had sought permission to bring the cake beforehand and spent approximately $250 on food and beverages. He expressed surprise at the owner’s reaction, describing it as “the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced.”
After the exchange, the owner reportedly told the group, “I don’t owe you anything, have a good day!”
The video gained significant traction on social media platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, X, and Facebook, where the New Jersey nostalgia page @Vintage.NewJersey, founded by Jurkowski, has over 500,000 followers. The pizzeria's social media pages subsequently faced an influx of comments and criticism.
The Yelp page for Joey Tomato’s was temporarily blocked due to unusual activity. Jurkowski noted on Tuesday that he was still surprised by the incident and the widespread response it generated.