A Texas mother and her daughter say they suffered cracked teeth after biting into an Italian sandwich at a New York City restaurant that allegedly contained a piece of hard plastic, according to a lawsuit.
Stevie Bingham, 48, and her daughter say what was meant to be a magical holiday trip to Manhattan took a painful turn when they stopped for a meal at Obica Mozzarella Bar on Madison Avenue.
The lawsuit alleges the incident occurred during the 2023 holiday season and left Bingham requiring a permanent artificial tooth. Her daughter, the filing states, suffered “serious and permanent personal injuries.”
Bingham told the Daily Mail that her daughter, Schulick, took a bite of the $19 sandwich and immediately began screaming in pain.
Alarmed, Bingham said she asked her daughter what had happened. She then took a bite of the sandwich herself and says she cracked one of her own front teeth.
Bingham, a Houston-based stylist and business owner, alleges in the lawsuit that the sandwich contained “hard plastic and/or other dangerous foreign materials.”
She told the Daily Mail that the object “knocked out my daughter’s sealant out of her mouth” and “broke my front tooth in half.”
“It ruined our vacation,” Bingham said. “Now, I have to live with a fake tooth in the front of my face for the rest of my life.”
A mother has sued a New York City Italian restaurant, alleging that she and her daughter sustained dental injuries after biting into a sandwich that allegedly contained plastic.
Stevie Bingham, 48, alleges the foreign material was found in a sandwich purchased from Obica Mozzarella Bar on Madison Avenue.
The mom’s filing states that she and her daughter required dental treatment after the alleged incident in 2023
Bingham claims she informed the restaurant’s manager and showed the object allegedly found inside the sandwich, but he offered ‘laughable’ compensation and declined to cover the dental work.
Eric Love, Bingham’s attorney, told the Daily Mail in a statement: ‘What should have been a happy memory ended with a piece of hard plastic in a sandwich, a mother spitting out part of her own tooth, and a little girl in a dentist’s chair.
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‘Instead of seeing the city lit up for the holidays, they flew home to emergency dental appointments, a root canal, and dental work that will follow this child for years.’
The complaint filed by Love states that the injuries resulted solely from ‘the negligence, carelessness and recklessness’ of the restaurant and its staff and accuses Obica of negligence, breaching implied warranty, and loss of services and expenses.
The restaurant that advertises itself as being located ‘by the iconic Trump Tower,’ and a ‘Mozzarella Bar Experience’ at the restaurant on Madison Avenue can be purchased for $54.
Obica Mozzarella Bar is a chain with more than 20 restaurants across the world including spots in Europe and Japan.
Its website boasts of ‘pure, warm and inspiring’ design details which ‘develop the sense of well being around our menu.’
The chain is owned by the Scudieri family – an Italian industrial dynasty.
Bingham’s lawyer, Eric Love, told the Daily Mail: ‘What should have been a happy memory ended with a piece of hard plastic in a sandwich, a mother spitting out part of her own tooth, and a little girl in a dentist’s chair’
Paolo Scudieri, 66, whose personal net worth is valued around $500 million, is the owner of Obica on Madison Avenue
Naples-born Paolo Scudieri, 66, is the chairman of car interior components producer Gruppo Addler, which was founded by his father Achille in 1956.
The firm designs and manufactures acoustic and thermal components for the automotive industry. It has more than 15,000 employees across 23 countries with a turnover of around $1 billion.
Scudieri, whose personal net worth is estimated at $500 million, has also diversified into the food sector and his company Excellence Campane owns several shops and restaurants across the world, including Obica.
The Daily Mail contacted Obica for comment multiple times, but has not received a response.