Palizzi Social Club Will Finally Start Selling Memberships Again
The news comes after a — now-banned — club member tried auctioning off a membership card on Ebay for $200.
Photo provided by Palizzi Social Club
Yesterday was a monumental day in Philly restaurant history, because yesterday, someone tried selling a membership card to South Philly’s beloved members-only restaurant, Palizzi Social Club, on Ebay for $200. Meaning, the Philly restaurant scene has its own black market.
We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?
The restaurant’s manager, Guido Martelli, received a tip about the auction and immediately brought it to Joey Baldino’s (chef, owner, and club president) attention. “We keep a really good record of the memberships we sell,” said Baldino, “so we were able to ban the person who sold it, and we banned the person who bought it, too.”
“That’s not what this place is about,” said Baldino. After Bon Appetit named it one of the best new restaurants of 2017, Palizzi stopped issuing new memberships to the public. If you wanted your own membership, you had to, first, get in with another member, and hope to hell that they have a good, trusting relationship with the staff so that they could recommend you.
Over the holiday season, Baldino sold a few cards to members to give away as gifts. The cards didn’t have names on them (like blank checks) but still had their respective membership numbers. Membership 004495 was logged, and is now banned forever.
Here’s the kicker: Baldino tells me he was planning to sell memberships again in March. He says that they’ll still be $20 at the door.
Sucks for the person who wasted $200 on one that they’ll never get to use.
