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The rumor originated when social media users misinterpreted two posts by the restaurants in question — Mike's BBQ on South 11th Street and Angelo's Pizzeria on South 9th Street — to mean that the eateries declined to cater for the 'Stros.
Before the restaurants could even respond, the controversy went viral when NBC Sports Philadelphia reported on the alleged boycott. Since then, the restaurants have been flooded with negative online reviews from Astros fans, 6ABC reports.
But the owners of both eateries disputed the rumor in interviews with media outlets on Thursday, Nov. 3.
Michael Strauss, the barbecue proprietor, told 6ABC that his restaurant was mistakenly listed as a Latin food joint on a sheet of local recommendations given to the Houston team.
When they called up asking for Latin food, Strauss told the outlet he said no, simply because that's not what his business serves.
Strauss posted the exchange to his Instagram story, along with the caption "I'm not feeding them... lol."
The subtitle was meant as a joke, he told 6ABC, but was taken at face value in the NBC report.
Meanwhile, Danny DiGiampietro of Angelo’s posted on his restaurant's Instagram story Wednesday that he would not provide the Astros with any pizzas after that night's game.
The post, DiGiampietro told the Philadelphia Inquirer, was simply meant to relay a message: Angelo's is open until 7 p.m. or whenever the kitchen runs out of ingredients, meaning they would be closed by the time the Astros got off the field.
But social media users took his post the wrong way, he told the newspaper.
Both men told 6ABC that while they're Phillies fans, they're happy to cook for opposing teams and have done so in the past.
Still, Yelp.com has disabled reviews for both restaurants, for the time being, the outlet added.
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