An Asian restaurant falsely accused of selling dog meat after a woman took to social media to suggest so has closed, its owners have announced in a statement.
Only open for six months, Fresno’s Tasty Thai started to face unwarranted scrutiny less than two weeks ago – after Maria Alvarez Garcia published a series of posts to social media showing a pit bull tied up near the restaurant.
Since-deleted, the photos and videos did not contain any claims concerning dog-meat themselves, but instead alleged animal abuse at a home directly next door – that is, until she realized the eatery’s owners were Asian.
At that point, the woman – whose social media is riddled with videos approaching tied-up or stray dogs she suspects are abused – posted a clip suggesting something shady was going on in the restaurant’s kitchen, citing the tied up dog as evidence.
Within days, the posts – one of which reportedly showed Garcia confronting the owner of the perfectly health dog – spurred racially charged discourse amongst commenters, and eventually a hate crime investigation.
Only open for six months, Tasty Thai is now closed – after facing unwarranted racism because of several unfounded social media posts
Since-deleted, the photos and videos did not contain any claims concerning dog-meat themselves, but instead alleged animal abuse at a home directly next door, with the only evidence being this tied up dog outside
Carried out by the Fresno Police Department, the probe quickly found both the dog meat and abuse claims to be false.
On Tuesday, owner David Rasavong – a longtime citizen of Fresno who operated the eatery with his two elderly parents – revealed he decided to close the restaurant for the safety of his fellow owners, who are 74 and 67, as well as his staff.
Rasavong, a dog owner who was born in the US, said the eatery would likely relocate as it seeks to repair its tarnished reputation.
‘Thank you to everyone who has reached out in support during this challenging time,’ Rasavong wrote Tuesday, in statement announcing the restaurant’s closure.
‘Your comments and messages have been the one bright light in this whole situation.’
Days after posting a video that slammed the harassments he and his family have face as a result of Garcia’s deleted videos as ‘disgusting’, the restaurateur laid bare what he said was a difficult decision.
‘After much thought and consideration, we, as a family, have decided to close this location of Tasty Thai due to all the threats and harassment. Safety has and will always be our main priority.’
Rasavong went on to map out what may be next for him and his family – as they try to pick up the pieces wrought by a bizarre saga that happened in a matter of days.
‘As immigrants, it has always been my parents’ dream to pass on the richness and traditions of our culture,’ he told followers. ‘They’ve always done that through food and service to the community.
‘We are currently looking at a couple of options to re-locate to and open a new Tasty Thai in order to continue my parents’ dream.’
Now shuttered, the restaurant was set on the corner of First and Belmont Avenues. Prior to the controversy, reviews show that it was relatively well-liked.
The saga started when Maria Alvarez Garcia (seen here) published a series of posts showing the pit bull tied up near the eatery. After finding out there was an Asian restaurant next door, she posted this clip suggesting something shady was going on in the restaurant’s kitchen
Slamming the harassment his restaurant has faced as ‘disgusting,’ owner David Rasavong a longtime citizen of Fresno who operated the eatery with his two elderly parents – revealed he decided to close for the safety of his fellow owners, who are 74 and 67, as well as his staff
Reviews that accused the eatery of killing and using dogs, meanwhile, for the most part have been deleted – but the damage remains.
Aside from the barrage of hateful comments on review sites and Tasty Thai’s own Facebook page, Rasavong said workers at his restaurant were threatened directly – which to him was the final straw as he attempted to brave the abuse.
‘I had one lady before I could even get a word out, as I picked up the phone she said, “Go back to the country you came from, you dog-eating mother f-er.”‘ Rasavong told The Sacramento Bee of how he and staff were inundated with phone calls.
‘[She] hung up on me,’ Rasavong recalled, adding that he and his immigrant parents had even received death threats, which led them to call the police.
‘We checked the voicemails and that’s when we started hearing these death threats,’ Rasavong, was born San Francisco and has lived in the Fresno area for the last 20 years, said.
‘We were just like, “Wait, this is worse than we thought.”
He added that since moving to Fresno, he had never been on the receiving end of any racism – that is until the unfounded claims from Garcia.
‘We have nothing to do with any of this, but we’re Asian and somehow we eat and serve dog?’ the frustrated entrepreneur told The Bee on May 19, after temporarily shutting down the restaurant.
‘Just because we’re an Asian restaurant? That’s disgusting.’
The controversy resulting in the store’s sudden closure started just days ago, and resulted in a full-blown hate crime investigation
Meanwhile, the controversy resulting in the store’s sudden closure started just days ago, when middle-aged Garcia took to Facebook to post a video of her confronting the pit bull’s owner, after she filmed the animal tied up and panting outside the restaurant’s entrance.
Photos from the deleted clip show the animal in front of full food bowl, tied up by its front paws with no water near where it was laying.
In the video, Garcia erroneously claimed the dog was approaching heat stroke.
