Malverne pizzeria owner sleeps on air mattress waiting for gas workers

For four days this week, the ovens at Tori T’s Pizzeria went cold, forcing owner Victoria Tiso to temporarily shut down the restaurant, toss inventory and even sleep on the floor of her business while waiting for gas service to be restored.

What began as scheduled utility work quickly spiraled into days of delays, frustration and unanswered calls, Tiso told Greater Long Island.

The disruption started Monday morning during planned gas work along Hempstead Avenue. While neighboring businesses were told by Monday afternoon that their service had been restored, Tiso said she was informed by National Grid that a pipe first needed to be replaced before gas could be turned back on at the pizzeria.

Tiso said she immediately hired a plumber and completed the required work in hopes service would be restored Tuesday.

But the utility crews never arrived, she said.

“We were told Tuesday they would come back and turn us on, but nobody showed up and we couldn’t get answers from anybody,” Tiso told Greater Long Island.

Fed up with what she described as poor communication over the following days, Tiso said she began reaching out to anyone she thought might be able to help.

“I called the mayor, I called the Chamber of Commerce, which I sit on, and I put a message on social media,” she said. “I just wanted to expedite the process because it was taking way too long and we didn’t want to be stuck throughout the holiday weekend.”

That social media plea quickly gained attention.

State Sen. Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick said she saw Tiso’s Facebook post and immediately contacted National Grid on the restaurant’s behalf.

“When I saw the situation with Tori T’s, I reached out to Tori directly and our office immediately contacted National Grid to help get the issue resolved,” Fitzpatrick told Greater Long Island. “Small businesses like Tori T’s are part of the fabric of our community, and when they need help, they deserve a responsive government that picks up the phone and gets to work.

“I am grateful we were able to help get them back up and running quickly.”

Within an hour, Tiso said, the gas was finally restored.

“When the service guy finally came this morning, he said, ‘Sorry, things like this happen sometimes,’” Tiso said. “Then he saw my air mattress on the floor and said, ‘Wow, you actually slept here?’ I said I couldn’t risk missing you guys since I live in Westchester and was getting no communication.”

The prolonged shutdown also forced the restaurant to turn away deliveries and throw out unused food.

“I had to refuse the stuff that was on the trucks Monday and then again on Wednesday because we couldn’t cook anything, so there was no reason for me to take the product,” she said. “We have to throw away everything we couldn’t use over the last few days and then get a delivery tomorrow.”

Tiso said the restaurant is now preparing for a Friday reopening, though it may take several days to fully return to normal operations.

“It’s not going to be easy to get going again, but I will be here around the clock if I have to,” she said. “We will start small with some of the menu for now. I figure it’s going to take at least a few days to get everything back to the way it was.”

Tiso added that the restaurant suffered significant financial losses during the closure and is now working with its insurance company, though coverage remains unclear because the outage stemmed from what was initially described as scheduled utility work.

“They told me scheduled work isn’t covered. I told them I understand if that was one day, but it wasn’t scheduled for four,” she said.

Despite the disruption, Tiso said the community rallied around the pizzeria throughout the shutdown.

“Someone even offered to bring over an electric pizza oven and a generator so we could make pizza in the parking lot,” she said with a laugh. “I’m also very thankful to Sen. Fitzpatrick. Without her help, I don’t know where we’d be right now.”

Greater Long Island reached out to National Grid for comment but had not received a response as of publication.

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Top: Victoria Tiso (inset) with the air mattress she was forced to sleep on at her Malverne pizzeria, Tori T’s, which she opened in September. (Credit: Andrew Rappaport/courtesy)

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