ORLANDO, Fla. – A trainer of service dogs in the Orlando area said she was denied service at a local pizzeria because, she said, the restaurant refused to allow service dogs inside.
Susan Napier said it happened Thursday night at Broadway Pizza, which sits at the corner of Curry Ford Road and Semoran Avenue.
She said she went inside with her service dog and the manager told them to leave.
"He said he didn't care about the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), he didn't have to follow it and he was about to have a dog out of his restaurant," Napier said.
Napier told News 6 she left, and immediately told her Facebook friends what happened. She wrote, "We were just denied access by the manager of Broadway Pizza."
"It blew up," she said. "There was about 225 shares, and about the same number of comments."
Napier said she went to get results for herself Friday morning by contacting the corporate owner of Broadway Pizza. She said a woman named Rosalie apologized profusely, and she said Rosalie did something else as well.
"Rosalie ended up sending out a corporate-wide memo to all of the stores, reposting the ADA laws and telling the rest of the stores what happened and saying that it was unacceptable," Napier said.
Friday night, News 6 was there to watch as Napier and a colleague went to test the new rules Broadway Pizza put in place. They not only made it inside the restaurant, Napier said they also got a table.
News 6 investigated and found out there are only two legal questions businesses can ask owners of service dogs: Is this a service dog? and Which tasks does it perform?
Napier said all service dogs are allowed in restaurants in the state of Florida by law, but not all emotional support animals are.