A young bartender says she was forced to quit at New Jersey celebrity chef Victor Rallo’s barbecue restaurant after a drunk patron groped her breasts and passed out by her car – all while her bosses did nothing, court papers allege.
The 19-year-old barkeep at Surf BBQ in Rumson – owned by Victor Rallo, who starred in PBS’ Eat! Drink! Italy! – claims she was accosted by married patron and friend of management Daniel Boswell on Oct. 28, 2022, according to a lawsuit filed in Monmouth County Wednesday.
Victor isn’t named as a defendant and isn’t accused of wrongdoing. The teen was identified only as R.N.
Boswell, 52, “regularly visited the restaurant and consumed copious amounts of alcohol,” often drinking with Rallo’s brother and co-owner Robert Rallo, the suit claims.
It wasn’t uncommon for Boswell to drink “four double servings of alcohol in a twenty-minute period” — and management never stopped him from over-drinking and never kicked him out, the suit alleges.
On that October night, Boswell drank “a significant amount of alcohol in a short period of time” while he was chatting with Robert at the bar and taking shots with manager Montana Perez, the filing alleges.
Robert “sat idly by” while Boswell “became increasingly rowdy and familiar” with R.N., the suit claims — and she “took absolutely no pleasure in being in [Boswell’s] presence or serving him alcohol.”
The young woman went to get Boswell’s to-go order of food from the takeout window – after the kitchen was closing and he’d been drinking for hours, the court documents claim.
While her back was turned, Boswell “forcefully groped her breasts with both hands” before she gave him his food and “fled,” the suit claims.
Managers Max Rallo and Andrew Bouthillettew were both sitting at a table right next to the takeout window where the incident occurred, the filing alleges.
She was “utterly shocked and distraught that a much older, married patron would have the audacity to invade her bodily autonomy in such an egregious manner,” the filing says.
R.N. went straight to managers Max Rallo, Perez and Bouthillettew with what happened, the filing claims.
Bouthillettew “indifferently responded, ‘Cut him off, I guess,’” the suit claims.
But the managers didn’t ask Boswell to leave – despite R.N.’s repeated requests that he be booted – and allowed him to stick around for hours until Boswell left on his own, the suit claims.
The bosses likely allowed Boswell to stay “because they did not want to offend a regular customer and risk losing future sales,” the suit claims.
Later, another worker found Boswell, “passed out in the parking lot where he was waiting for plaintiff next to her car,” the court papers claim.
The suit says Bouthillettew actually helped Boswell rather than R.N., calling an Uber for him while R.N. was escorted to her car by another worker.
“They permitted their young and impressionable teenage employee to suffer the crushing indignity of being groped by a man more than twice her age,” the suit charges.
R.N. – who started working at the restaurant the previous June – says she was forced to quit knowing the restaurant wasn’t a safe place for her, the court documents say. She reported the incident to the Rumson police, and the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office is pressing charges, the suit claims.
A spokesperson in the prosecutor’s office said: “We cannot confirm nor deny the existence of a specific investigation at this time.”
The teen is suing Surf BBQ, Robert and Max Rallo, Boswell, Bouthillettew and Perez for sexual harassment, hostile work environment, battery and negligence.
“Surf BBQ utterly disregarded its obligation to provide Plaintiff a safe working environment,” her lawyer, Christian V. McOmber, told The Post in a statement.
“First, Surf BBQ facilitated overdrinking at its establishment and Ms. Perez, a manager on duty, even did shots with Mr. Boswell prior to the incident,” McOmber said. “Second, despite Plaintiff’s repeated requests, Surf BBQ failed to eject Mr. Boswell from the restaurant after he sexually assaulted our nineteen-year-old client in public.”
Surf BBQ and a lawyer for the restaurant didn’t return a message seeking comment on behalf of the employees.
Boswell didn’t return a request for comment.
