Basilico’s Pasta e Vino in Huntington Beach received a lot of buzz and not because of the food. There's a sign taped on the door that reads "Notice. Proof of being UNvaccinated REQUIRED."
Tony Roman, the owner, wants to make it clear - he's not anti-vaccination. He's not vaccinated himself, but he's not against the vaccination.
"I’m against the mandates, he told KNX In Depth.
Being unvaccinated isn't the restaurant's only requirement. Roman said he also banned masks.
"We ban masks from our restaurant. What they represent is fear and control to surrender, so we ban them," he said.
"We don’t want to see any remnant of the lockdown inside our restaurant, and we committed our business as a battleground in this fight."
He adds the division that came from the vaccination mandate also played a role in creating the sign.
"When we started seeing the division created by the vax mandates, we could see that with the variant that people were talking about nonstop on the news, that signs of another lockdown were coming. We took a provocative stand. We’re trying to send a message that we don’t want to see any more attempts to divide Americans."
"We’re making a point," he added.
Roman said the policy is not a political stance.
“It’s been a freedom fight only. It’s never been about business," he said.
"We put everything at risk in this fight for liberty and freedom, and we believe in it strongly.”
He also maintained that his restaurant has not seen any issues throughout the pandemic.
"We have a healthy staff, clean restaurant. We’ve never had any health violations, and we haven’t had any contact tracing back to us. Zero."
Either way, Roman stood by the message in his sign.
"I think the message is clear. I’m against tyranny and I’m for freedom."