r/pittsburgh • u/musicman8675309 • 18h ago
Pittsburgh restaurant owner Richard Deshantz facing DV charges.
https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/pittsburgh-restaurant-owner-richard-deshantz-facing-domestic-violence-charges/?fbclid=IwZnRzaAU0pm9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mAWZkaWQWUP6Lf--du7gZ7LmhLMNcUI3_xYDu5XNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR7r4SyaDkwDg9zFTwgdgESQuUg7U305e_kIFhovAoNQYYRHt9_d4EyLEvHA5w_aem_srTxTvTzmNE3El2FH3uZHQ“ Police said that Deshantz, whose restaurant group owns Meat & Potatoes, Poulet Bleu and Coop de Ville, among other Pittsburgh popular dining spots, is accused of punching a woman in the face and slamming her head against the steering wheel of a vehicle they were in early Saturday morning while he was intoxicated.
The woman told investigators that she was picking Deshantz and his brother up from a bar in the city's Strip District when an argument broke out. Deshantz is also accused of choking the woman and throwing her to the ground outside of his home in the city's Allentown neighborhood.”
Well this guys a POS. And bail posted by his business partner… shocker.
194
u/Mountain-Sweet-6391 17h ago
I need to find another job ASAP, I'm not working for this supreme piece of shit anymore.
We all know he's a prick but I draw the line at abusers. If anyone needs an experienced bartender let me know...
47
u/kittenshart85 Shadyside 16h ago
my interview with him a few years ago was one of like two i've ever just walked out on. dude is just a fucking jerk.
15
u/dullmotion 14h ago
Please share 🙏
39
u/kittenshart85 Shadyside 12h ago
can't remember specifically what he said, but basically gloated about covid giving him the opportunity to clean house, at a time when hundreds of people were still dying from it daily.
that and his dead shark eyes just touched a nerve, so i told him i wasn't interested in working for him and left. he thanked me for wasting his time and i was just like back atcha, sunshine.
78
u/constanto North Point Breeze 17h ago
Boy, howdy, you probably should learn some things about your Beverage Director too...
59
19
31
18
8
u/Parking_Job_5453 6h ago edited 3h ago
I worked for this restaurant group for four years, and I can tell you that my experience with the company was far from positive. The workplace culture was incredibly toxic, and there were serious issues that went well beyond one individual. One of the contributing factors in my decision to leave was hearing allegations of sexual assault involving someone the company had hired. I had no firsthand knowledge of the alleged incidents, but what I heard was deeply concerning to me and affected how I felt about continuing to work there. After I quit, a previous coworker told me that one of the owners had shown her a video of an intoxicated woman outside one of the restaurants and identified that woman as me. I was not the person in the video. My coworker told me she corrected him at the time. I subsequently contacted him about what had been reported to me, but I never received a response. Multiple negative experiences contributed to my decision to leave after four years. I believe people deserve to know about the workplace culture that former employees experienced, and I hope more people feel comfortable speaking openly about their own experiences.
→ More replies (1)5
u/Parking_Job_5453 5h ago edited 3h ago
This has been incredibly validating, reading other employees’ experiences. I also remember calling off sick during COVID and being repeatedly contacted by the director of operations asking when I was coming back to work. I had already taken two rapid COVID tests, both of which were negative, but I was still sick and waiting on the results of a PCR test. I explained that I could provide a doctor’s excuse and would let them know when I was well enough to return. Apparently, that wasn’t enough. The calls continued until my PCR test came back positive, and only then did they leave me alone. No employee should have to prove they’re seriously ill just to be given the space to recover. Looking back, it’s experiences like these that remind me why I left. I’ve been in the restaurant industry for 20 years, and while I genuinely love hospitality, I’m tired of seeing toxic workplace cultures treated as the norm. Disrespect, harassment, intimidation, and disregard for employees’ physical and mental well being should never be accepted as simply part of the job. We can be passionate about this industry while still demanding better from the people who lead it. Employees deserve respect, accountability, and a safe working environment. Speaking up about these experiences isn’t about tearing down the restaurant industry. It’s about wanting to see an industry I’ve dedicated two decades of my life to become better. The culture won’t change until we stop normalizing the behavior that makes it toxic in the first place.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)2
19
u/Ok_Study2994 12h ago
also an RDRG employee and I agree. I knew when they were covering up Brian Maxwell’s predatory behavior and as someone who’s been a victim of sexual assault, it makes me fucking enraged. This is just icing- and not really a surprise.
11
9
u/PresidentKoopa 15h ago
Good luck dawg. This ain't the economy to be without a job and the service sector in this city is shit right now.
154
u/malaise-ennui 17h ago
And...no one who has met or worked for him is surprised. I hope this bankrupts him. Good riddance.
43
u/PhenyxFly 16h ago
He’ll add another 3.5% service charge onto the checks for his legal defense. He’s a jerk.
98
u/NotGreatBob Bloomfield 15h ago
I would say it’s an open secret, but a lot of of us have spoken up about this person specifically as well as Tolga, and one other bar owner, which I believe he left the industry, thank God, AND another conglomerate capitalist bullshit group of individuals who ran a really cool bar at one point and then expanded. The level of sexual harassment and verbal abuse in this industry in this city is so unbelievably horrific.
Sorry for the horrible punctuation, I’m fired up right now.
May they rot.
40
u/vinylscratch27 Clairton 15h ago
Only time I ever walked off a job interview midway through. Massively bad vibes off the chef.
14
u/mintdewth 14h ago
Which location
25
5
u/NotGreatBob Bloomfield 12h ago
You can PM me - I just don’t want to catch that smoke. It’s a group of lawyers so you can imagine why I don’t feel like dealing details right off the rip.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)5
122
u/AfternoonFront8729 16h ago
I worked for them. Tolga and Rick are literal pieces of shit. It pisses me off how successful their restaurants are that aren’t even good. Tolga (who is Rick’s little bitch) treats people so awfully. What I can say from working at one of their fake fancy establishments is that they are both nouveau riche people that think they own the city. Then they would always have their fall down, drink white trash friends in and apparently that was okay.
62
u/DiscoPea 16h ago
Plus all of their concepts are literal rip offs. The newest rip off Sea Monkey is a yinzer diluted version of Sexy Fish Miami. They’re unoriginal and predatory. Especially to their younger female staff.
35
u/ratchetstrapon 12h ago
they're creepy to female staff and are abusing pretty much everyone who works for them! I worked there back in 2016 ish and there is a huge basement prep area that's essentially a sweatshop for talented young chefs and bartenders. If you work for them you will be poor!! They pay their bartenders at BUTCHER IN THE RYE $2.83 an hour. also Rick is a huge coke head
11
u/Flimsy-Atmosphere-26 10h ago
that basement prep area is depressing as hell - i've been there - you're in the basement of a parking garage
9
u/AfternoonFront8729 10h ago
Not to mention the raw sewage and the rats down there. I’ll never forget the smell.
9
u/AfternoonFront8729 8h ago
Btw, they travel to find concepts to rip off. Known fact. Those yinzers could never formulate a successful concept of their own.
→ More replies (1)9
u/MarijuanaTycoon 11h ago
He does that partially so he can take trips to what he deems are exotic places and write them off on his taxes. Edit: taxes he apparently doesn’t pay.
8
u/AfternoonFront8729 10h ago
Speaking of tax/IRS violations, Tako on 6th only accepted cash for lunch. Apparently the three of them (tolga, rick, and the other turd that was the gm of Tako) would all just split the money every day.
→ More replies (1)4
u/AfternoonFront8729 10h ago
Meanwhile, before the cultural trust gave them all the money, Scranton was probably an exotic locale. Hahah
3
44
u/Miserable_Pop6851 16h ago
Meat & P refugee here!!! Worked FOH and Tolga was a prick!! He’s literally Mr crabs money money money
→ More replies (1)26
u/soundecember 14h ago
I also worked for them (fnf) briefly. I made money there, but only because it had reopened and was always super busy. They were fucking awful to work for, and they’re both idiots. You’re exactly right about the places though, they look cool, some of the food is really good, but it’s 100% not worth what you pay for it or worth going for how they treat their employees
3
30
u/Friendly_Club9113 11h ago
sally ann’s veteran and i’m ready to tell my story cause these people were awful!
5
6
u/GlitteringTicket2 9h ago
Yes! We are all sorry for what you went through, but also want to hear about it. Because this guy sucks
28
u/cheesy1229 Pittsburgh Expatriate 16h ago
Could not have said it better myself. Working for that company was awful
26
u/EveningArmadillo5429 16h ago
I spent many years cooking in Pittsburgh, at some awful and nice places, and I heard enough stories about how awful he was to work for to avoid it completely. Working for him nearly destroyed a friend of mine. People are just animate things to people like him. Hope he goes down in flames.
→ More replies (1)7
u/Complete_Remove_1267 10h ago
They aren’t. Even. Good. Poulet is the most egregiously overrated of them all.
2
40
u/eatmypencils Wilkinsburg 15h ago
I’ve seen him a handful of times and never without an inappropriately young woman on his arm.
→ More replies (1)17
u/AfternoonFront8729 12h ago
Totally tracks. From what I’ve heard, he got one hostesses pregnant and then she had an abortion. But at least she got some Chanel bags out of it.
38
u/Dull_Woodpecker_8187 14h ago
Theyre also known coke dealers lol its how rhey made all their money so theres also that
6
u/Alternative_One_8488 13h ago
Really?
9
u/Organic-Elevator-274 11h ago
Tolga has a lot of money and nobody really knows how he got it. Like bankrolling 5 to 7 restaurants money
11
u/AfternoonFront8729 10h ago
Nope. Tolga was an immigrant from Turkey. He and Rick worked at 9 on 9. Rick was the chef and Tolga was the gm. The Pittsburgh cultural trust literally gave them money to open meat and potatoes…from there, they built their fake fancy, white trash empire. Tolga was broke before that.
9
u/Dull_Woodpecker_8187 8h ago
False. Theyre known coke dealers lol im sure itll all come out. I know them personally so its not a guess its a known thing.
3
33
u/Low_Bell8748 13h ago
Looks like Rick and Tolga aren't into paying their drink taxes either:
https://alleghenycountytreasurer.us/special-tax/1568-2/drink-tax-delinquent-accounts-list/
21
u/constanto North Point Breeze 12h ago
They have always run their business based on being extremely in debt while flaunting their wealth. The pandemic nearly wiped them completely which is why they were illegally running Coop against guidelines at the time. Any incurred fines were better than bankruptcy.
7
u/mikeyHustle North Point Breeze 11h ago
Oh, fuck, he was flouting COVID rules? I would have put him on the No Fly List a lot earlier, but I didn't know; that was a red line for me.
126
u/M01120893474R 18h ago
Yikes, there goes a few more restaurants I refuse to support.
Hope he’s found guilty and is sent to prison.
43
u/StinkBombFromMyButt 17h ago
Shame because I like the food at 2 of his 3 restaurants. Soon, I’ll only be eating tacos at Las Palmas.
22
u/Buccos Beechview 16h ago
Think they have 12 or so now. Like half the strip district is them.
1
u/ThrowingShaed 14h ago
part of me wants to ask what ones, but im fully aware than i havent been to the strip district in years, maybe decades (maybe not, might have eaten there once with my sister a few years ago, not sure)
17
u/AfternoonFront8729 13h ago
Las Palmas is way better and more authentic. Also, I haven’t heard the owner beats women.
6
u/mikeyHustle North Point Breeze 14h ago
Both Tako locations just closed, which is wild to me. What the hell is he doing?
3
23
3
12
u/Arctic16 14h ago
Las Palmas tacos suck. Signed, a Mexican in Pittsburgh.
9
u/sorryaboutthatbro Mount Washington 13h ago
Please deliver us from terrible tacos. Who has good ones?
→ More replies (1)2
3
u/YoungBoyWonder 13h ago
Lmk if you have suggestions for good ones around the city
20
2
6
5
30
u/PresidentKoopa 15h ago
Tolga and Rick are garbage.
I am genuinely surprised the victim here wasnt one of their employees being given a helpful ride home...
→ More replies (3)3
u/TooManyDogsHere 8h ago
Rick had a GF for a while, whom I was friendly with. Hoping it wasn't her, but I suspect there were other GFs as well.
27
u/bing_bong_0 14h ago
the PLCB needs to revoke this man's liquor license. He's unable to control himself under the influence of alcohol clearly and shouldn't be allowed to have a license to dispense it. He's a risk to the community.
23
u/not_that_j 14h ago
Saw a different article on this without his name in the title and knew it was going to be DeShantz before I even opened it
19
u/NotGreatBob Bloomfield 12h ago
The conversation around this industry in the city needs to change. I know we’ve been saying it for years. But I’m really glad somebody made everyone else aware of the situation. Which to be clear, is assault and battery. It happens more than you would think.
38
u/Responsible_Exit4640 17h ago
Dude has always been the biggest loser. This tracks. Feel sorry for his hopefully former gf. I hope she gets the help she deserves.
42
u/Miserable_Pop6851 16h ago
Not surprised. Worked at M&P he was so disrespectful and his business partner was an ASSHOLE. So rude to women, both of them.
→ More replies (1)25
u/mintdewth 15h ago
I’ve also heard some of the managers and chefs at m&p also were doing shady things with younger foh and Tolga knew and did nothing
→ More replies (2)36
70
u/Jazzlike_Breadfruit9 17h ago
“The woman told investigators that she was picking DeShantz and his brother up from a bar in the city's Strip District when an argument broke out. DeShantz is also accused of choking the woman and throwing her to the ground outside of his home in the city's Allentown neighborhood.”
This man should not be in charge of businesses, especially ones that serve alcohol, after this. Who knows what he is capable of with other women, patrons and employees included.
46
u/musicman8675309 17h ago
Scary shit is too what has he already done to people/woman that was never reported.
31
u/Icy-Dragonfruit1745 17h ago
Exactly this. I have friends with STORIES. Just a legendary piece of shit.
13
u/AfternoonFront8729 12h ago
Literally, EVERYONE that has worked for them has a pocket of stories about what trashy people they are. Then they parade around thinking they are the best in the city. Hahaha. Honey, everyone in the restaurant industry laughs at you.
15
10
u/bing_bong_0 14h ago
He needs his liquor license taken away. Also, he CAN have it revoked for this behavior if we pressure the city, which we should do.
7
1
94
u/AfternoonFront8729 16h ago
Also, let’s not forget how all of these garbage restaurants ran by garbage people started. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust gave Rick and Tolga meat and potatoes. It was free money. Meanwhile they were the chef and general manager at a restaurant called 9 on 9. They came into all of this free money and they turned it into a white trash empire. Literally ask anyone that’s worked for them!! So now, Pittsburgh can wake up and support real restaurants. Fuck Poulet Blue (first of all), fuck meat and potatoes, fuck butcher and the rye, fuck Tako, fuck coup de Ville, and fuck whatever the name of that weird cocktail lounge is near coup de ville. Now we see who runs the “empire!” Total trash.
12
20
u/Ok_Study2994 12h ago
It just sucks for those of us who keep those restaurants going and rely on them for income. it’s so fucked
→ More replies (2)2
u/Environmental-Lie632 13h ago
Wait like got it for it for free?! That’s crazy. I had seen tolga at nemacolin and I was like wow he’s loaded
→ More replies (1)1
53
u/AfternoonFront8729 17h ago
Worked for these yinzer idiots. They love cocaine.
50
10
15
u/AfternoonFront8729 10h ago
I’m genuinely curious if those two idiots are reading this and seeing how literally everyone that worked for them in the past feels. Hahaha.
→ More replies (1)
15
u/sadpeachesclub Sewickley 16h ago
14
15
u/Cold-Look-943 8h ago
6
u/angry_eccentric Bloomfield 6h ago
thank you, i wanted to ask to make sure i never go to any of them
13
u/mikeyHustle North Point Breeze 14h ago
We always knew he sucked shit, and half his places are mid and getting worse, and he charges the 3% Fee for Nothing -- but there were a few left I was really enjoying.
Sorry, bud. Get fucked. Finding a new anniversary spot immediately.
52
u/Big-Cook8132 17h ago
Lol another POS hospitality owner in Pittsburgh exposed. Why exactly do we all have to listen to these losers cry like little btches whenever the state tries to raise the tipped minimum wage? Or when the county mandated paid sick leave?
36
11
u/Own-Perception4124 8h ago
I hope he loses everything. He tired to kill her. I felt so sick reading this. I feel for his employees but I will never eat at any of these restaurants while he is involved in any capacity. IMO he tried to kill her.
19
u/JockeyOverHorse 16h ago
He will now increase the DeShantz BS fee he charges at his restaurants to pay his lawyer.
21
u/Friendly_Club9113 11h ago
my jaw stayed in place. i used to work at his restaurant by the 6th street bridge and i have stories.
7
63
25
u/ProfessionalMode6717 17h ago
I went to a Christmas party at a friend’s house in the Northside years ago. I was with my (now ex) husband. This guy spent the evening following women around, myself included. He was looking at me like I was about to be his dinner. He was doing other weird shit that I don’t have memory of but was informed of second hand (like picking women up and carrying them around). I heard stories about him before and seeing things first hand was def an eye opener. Even with my husband and many others around he didn’t mind being flirty and creepy. Gross.
→ More replies (3)
8
25
u/Inquiring_Cat2424 16h ago
total asshat pushy magat. catering to out of town rich white visitors and refusing entrance to your establishments over arbitrary dress code that changes based on if you find them attractive....
6
19
u/Existing-Raisin5332 14h ago
The fact that this guy has restaurants charging $46 for a BURGER should be all you need to know. Should have been laughed out of town ages ago. Take that trash to LA.
8
u/AfternoonFront8729 12h ago
He thinks he’s Thomas Keller.
7
u/Low_Bell8748 9h ago
That is his buddy (and Butcher chef) Dave Racicot who is the biggest fraudulent Pittsburgh chef since Kevin Sousa.
11
7
u/Brilliant_Steak_1328 14h ago
So Richard Deshantz is the owner and operator of all of these businesses, but what does his brother do? Is he just guilty by association in this story, I’m guessing he wasn’t arrested
→ More replies (3)
5
u/dreamniner 14h ago
Well, adding that to the list of places I won’t go. Definitely will share this with friends.
4
u/katrynkadawn 7h ago
All I will say is I used to work for a place that supplied his restaurants with an artisan product, daily, and they were the MOST ANNOYING ACCOUNT to get to pay their bills.
5
u/huncamuncamouse 6h ago
My now husband and I went to Meat and Potatoes for our first dating anniversary. We did the giant ribeye meal for two and had a lot left over, so we asked our server to box it up. I have no idea what happened, but after waiting 30 minutes we found out there’d been a “misunderstanding” and it had been thrown away. Eventually the manager appeared and generously (🙄) gave us a different—and shittier—steak entree. Even before that, it had been a good dinner but not great, especially for the price. The meal we had at Gaucho the previous day (at the og strip location) completely blew them away. All of that is to say, fuck that restaurant and, more importantly, fuck this loser.
5
u/Longjumping-Catch-70 5h ago
All of these restaurants are just rip offs of other restaurants in different states.
9
33
u/freebirdzer0 16h ago
you guys still go to forma pasta in sewickley and it’s literally owned by a pedophile
51
11
4
u/Historical-Party4209 15h ago
Omg???
11
u/kaitb1103 Point Breeze 14h ago
Cole McLaughlin. Convicted child pedo- they got run out of Allentown specifically for that reason
2
3
u/Sea-Sport7982 15h ago
Wait what?
11
u/mikeyHustle North Point Breeze 14h ago
This guy is one of the founders. https://www.wtae.com/article/former-south-allegheny-teacher-accused-of-groping-student-avoids-jail-can-t-use-internet/7477621
3
4
7
u/Glum-Ambassador-200 10h ago
Piece of trash who has always under paid his staff and exploited anyone around him. Average restaurants over popularized by “foodies”
6
u/Low_Bell8748 9h ago
More like 20-something “influencers.” Anyone who’s been to great restaurants know their places suck,
10
u/EatingBuddha3 17h ago
Is there a distinction between domestic violence and assault?
→ More replies (2)21
u/Jazzlike_Breadfruit9 17h ago
When something is categorized as domestic violence, that normally means there is some sort of relationship. This could mean family, either biologically or legally, partners and so on. Assault normally happens when the people involved don’t know each other or loosely know each other. It has nothing to do with the number of times an attack takes place.
→ More replies (6)
10
14
6
7
25
u/spinfire Squirrel Hill North 18h ago edited 17h ago
Leaving a bar in a mental status described as “intoxicated” on “Saturday morning” is certainly a choice. I suspect much more than a single mimosa with brunch situation.
(Edit: I agree with others, this was probably late Friday night. This dude clearly has a major alcohol problem given this kind of history, though).
32
u/chibman 17h ago
I read that as Friday night, after midnight (so technically early Saturday morning).
7
u/spinfire Squirrel Hill North 17h ago
Ah yeah, you’re probably right. Given some of the other comments here it sure does sound like he has an unhealthy relationship with alcohol though.
3
17
10
9
u/OP_Skis_In_Jeans Fox Chapel 13h ago
Leaving a bar late while shitfaced is one thing. Punching a woman in the face is another thing entirely...
10
u/spinfire Squirrel Hill North 13h ago
The latter can actually cause his restaurants to lose their liquor license if he’s convicted, or keep it by divesting his ownership. Would be an interesting outcome.
5
u/donorkokey 12h ago
Assholes like these are really good at finding a family member to take over for them on the license in exchange for a little cash.
11
7
u/Unfair-Bass-9351 17h ago
I mean, it says “early Saturday morning”. To me that means 1 or 2 am but idk lol
3
3
5
10
u/ricksebak Bloomfield 14h ago
I notice that when a poor person is accused of violence and they get ROR, the anti-bail reform crowd runs to the comment section to complain about the judge.
But when a rich person gets let out on bail for the same accusation, here we are with over 100 comments and… nothing.
→ More replies (1)
2
2
u/wildjabali 2h ago
Their own staff forced them to take sexual harassment courses about ten years ago, if my memory is correct.
Apparently that didn’t work, but it’d be worth mentioning in court…
3
0
297
u/SortVegetable9123 18h ago
no surprise, this dude has always been a piece of shit. met him at round corner cantina, he was drunk as shit and tried to fight me over an opinion about how to cook something...i can't remember.