Barstool’s Dave Portnoy reveals how he beat the haters to help local pizzerias

He’s still got some bite in him.
Barstool Sports boss Dave Portnoy is once again highlighting small local businesses with his One Bite Pizza Festival — despite the controversy surrounding it last year.
It’s the second outing for the annual fest, which will take place Saturday at Randall’s Island Park. Some 10,000 slice-lovers are expected to attend.
“It’s become a cool little community,” Portnoy, 47, told The Post of the event, which will feature slices from 35 pizzerias in the tri-state area — including Prince Street in Nolita, Brooklyn’s legendary’s Di Fara and New Haven’s Frank Pepe — all of which he has personally tasted for his popular One Bite pizza reviews.
7 Dave Portnoy assembled 35 pizzerias in the tri-state area that he’s personally reviewed for the festival. X/ @stoolpresidente
7 “[I have] respect for small business and how hard it is to grow your own business,” Portnoy told The Post of meeting pizza makers and sampling their pies. One Bite
Last year’s inaugural One Bite festival was held on Coney Island in September 2023 amidst a media firestorm, with some outlets deeming Portnoy a “misogynistic bully” and questioning why local pizzeria would want to work with him.
Portnoy hit back. Weeks before the big event, he posted a 12-minute video on X of him on the phone with a Washington Post reporter confronting her about an alleged “hit piece” she was working on.
He read an email she reportedly sent to an unnamed sponsor saying they’d “drawn criticism by seeming to associate themselves with Dave Portnoy, who has a history of misogynistic comments and other problematic behavior.”
Portnoy accused the writer of tortious interference and was furious that she hadn’t yet reached out to him.
Ultimately, it all had little effect. No pizzerias dropped out of the festival, which sold out, had 5,000 attendees and went off without a hitch — despite a tropical storm.
“Everyone stayed strong … These pizza makers were like, ‘We have your back,’” said Portnoy, who questioned the media’s motives for trying to incite controversy. “Why would you try to create a headache for a small business that doesn’t need it?”
7 Portnoy is donating the proceeds from his One Bite festival to Al Santillo to help him rebuild Santillo’s Brick Over Pizza, a century-old restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey, that suffered extensive damage from a fire in January. Santillo Pizza/ Instagram
7 Santillo’s brick oven was destroyed in the fire. santillo pizza/ Instagram
Portnoy started his One Bite pizza reviews in 2017, giving ratings from 1 to 10 based on a single cheese slice.
The reviews now have their own dedicated app and a YouTube channel with 1.34 million subscribers. He also regularly promotes the reviews on Instagram and X, where he has a combined 8 million followers.
He loves meeting the pizza makers.
“Their stories fascinate me,” he said. “[I have] respect for small business and how hard it is to grow your own business. And how much work goes into it. I think they get that. Barstool started from nothing.”
He’s not just supporting mom-and-pop pie-slingers by promoting them with his reviews and the festival. This year, he’s donating all the proceeds from the fest to Al Santillo to help him rebuild Santillo’s Brick Over Pizza, a century-old restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey, that suffered extensive damage from a fire in January.
7 Portnoy told The Post he’s tipped the scale in recent years to give fewer bad reviews to help boost the local businesses. One Bite
7 “My rating scale is pretty basic. It’s like, ‘do a I like it or do I not?’” Portnoy said. Robert Miller
“There’s other people out there who help people, but not the way that he [Portnoy] does. He goes above and beyond,” Santillo told The Post, adding that Portnoy has promised him the needed funds for rebuilding, whether or not the festival proceeds are enough.
In 2019, Portnoy awarded Santillo’s – which has served the likes of “Soprano’s” star Drea de Matteo, Vince Vaughn and Jay Leno – an 8.3. It gave the already booming business a boost, helping it secure major catering gigs for clients like the Jets.
As the years have gone by, Portnoy has focused more on positive ratings.
“I try not to give bad reviews. When I first did this I didn’t really give it much thought. Now, going in and seeing all the owners, I try to give it the best spin I can,” he said. “It can change some of these small businesses.”
The exposure was huge for Peter Grippo and his Brooklyn Square pizzeria, which has three locations around New Jersey.
7 Ahead of last year’s inaugural One Bite festival, Portnoy posted a 12-minute video on X, formerly Twitter, of him on the phone with a Washington Post reporter confronting her about an alleged “hit piece.“ EMMY PARK
Grippo, a Gravesend, Brooklyn native, said his Instagram followers surged from a few thousand to more than 30,000 after getting reviewed by Portnoy in 2020.
“My social media blew up,” said Grippo, who will be participating in this year’s One Bite festival. “To this day I can feel the Portnoy effect. People will go on the One Bite app and they’ll come to me because of Dave.”
He has only good things to say about Portnoy.
“He’s a regular guy that came from nothing that made it and is still humble,” he said. “He is the way he is. You either love him or you hate him. For the business, I love him. He really does care.”
Saturday, Sep. 14 at Randall’s Island Park; tickets from $179.99 at OneBitePizzaFest.com.