Pizza Festival Under Fire In NYC Prompts State Inquiry

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) -- Hundreds of people are demanding refunds after a botched pizza festival in New York City.

Police say this isn't the first time a food festival sent fans home hungry. Attendees of last week's so-called, day-long celebration of New York's finest pizza, was anything-but.

"I just saw three tents and I'm thinking, wait a minute, something isn't quite adding up," said one attendee.

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Ticket-holders paid up to $74 for pizza, wine, and beer. What they got was an empty fenced-in lot and last-minute pizza delivery.

"No crust and they just cut up the pizza, it looked like they just chopped up the pizza, ordered it from anywhere, chopped it up and were serving that with warm wine and warm beer," said attendee Ronnie Smith. "It was just ridiculous."

Another post by the same organizer said there's an upcoming burger festival at the same location.

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Festival organizer Ishmael Osekre says event producer Hangry Garden delayed the event. The event producer contends it was misled by the organizer and wasn't paid.

New York authorities say the festival organizer is the same guy behind a failed African Food Festival in Brooklyn last year.

A local media station reports, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is urging attendees to file complaints on his website. A spokesman says prosecutors opened an investigation Monday.

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