Suspect in Philly cheesesteak assault claims he’s an influencer critic who throws food at servers if he doesn’t like it: police

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A content creator who allegedly filmed himself throwing a cheesesteak at a manager at Philadelphia’s famous Pat’s King of Steaks has turned himself in and been charged with harassment, police said Friday.

The man surrendered Thursday, a day after the confrontation at the South Philadelphia cheesesteak shop. A Philadelphia police spokesperson announced the harassment charge Friday morning but did not reveal the suspect’s identity, CBS News reports.

Police said the creator told them that he reviews restaurants and throws the food at employees if he doesn't like it, according to 6ABC Philadelphia.

The interaction, which was caught on camera, appeared to begin innocently enough. A man wearing a dark hoodie and holding a tripod with a camera, ordered a cheesesteak Wednesday and left with his food, only to return about 10 minutes later with the sandwich opened up and a complaint.

“This steak’s garbage,” general manager Tom Francano recalled the customer saying, according to CBS News.

Francano tried to determine what had gone wrong, asking other customers who ordered cheesesteaks whether they were satisfied with their food. They said they were, but the filming customer remained angry.

“That’s when he got a little p****d off. He got mad, and he picked the steak up and threw it at me,” Francano told CBS News.

"My first reaction was, 'He hit me in the face.' He stood at the window and then he took off running down the street," Francano recalled the encounter to 6ABC Philadelphia. "He hit me right in the side of the face, went all over the place, glass, everything."

Surveillance footage shows the man handling the cheesesteak before returning to the service window.

Pat’s owner Frank Olivieri said the footage showed the customer ripping the sandwich apart with his hands before approaching Francano.

Francano, who has worked at Pat’s for 47 years, said he suspected from the beginning that the customer was trying to generate attention online. He noticed that the man was filming with his phone before he even ordered the cheesesteak, he told NBC Philadelphia.

After throwing the cheesesteak at Francano, the man fled. The manager was not seriously injured.

Olivieri responded by offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the man’s arrest and charges. At the time, police described the suspect as about 6 feet tall and 170 pounds, wearing a blue Under Armour jacket, black shorts and red Beats headphones.

“He assaulted my employee,” Olivieri told CBS News. “The power of the camera, AI, we'll find him. We'll find him.”

Now, the restaurant plans to ban customers from filming while ordering to prevent similar incidents.

The Independent has contacted the Philadelphia Police Department and Pat’s King of Steaks for comment.