Tonight's look is one that I consider a classic. Anyone can put together a timeless classic look with solids, prints, and basics like I did here; be it a skirt, a dress, or pants. I own a lot of these3/4 sleeve dresses and they can be worn any time of the year here in Florida, the fabric is light, but layerable. Although I have worn this dress a few times on my blog I have never worn it with a scarf and when adding scarves your looks can be limitless. If you have Time click the link below and check out Just Fab's 50% off sale and you will find my dress there as well as scarves and you too can get started on building a wardrobe with timeless classics that can be turned into many more looks.
XOXO
Full look Just Fab:
3/4 Sleeve Knit Dress
Ankle boots
Eternity Scarf: not recent
Bag: Louis Vuitton Daily Pouch
Assorted jewelry: Kendra Scott
This is one of those times where I am truly saddened to say I had a horrible experience at a restaurant. I always try to find something good to say, but this experience was lacking in atmosphere as well as customer service and gluten free options. I only came here because they had a menu with clear GF symbols and GF pasta available. From the onset of our dinner the waiter immediately tried to expunge the kitchen (chef or staff) from any responsibility of anything containing gluten. This was the first red flag. Next, he continued to get me to only order items with GF next to them, but I was like "why are you saying the pasta sauce isn't gluten free when they are offering gluten free pasta?" Sure enough, the chef "said" it was gluten free.
In a nutshell, my food came out looking cold and old and it tested positive for up to 20 ppm of gluten. The first thing the waiter said was "well I told you..." I told him I heard what he said, but how hard is it to make a tomato sauce with seafood and not cross contaminate it? Like really? I have gone to so many restaurants that don't even have a gluten free menu- the wait staff may not even know what gluten is and they still can manage to ask the chef and give me a straight answer. Lets get this straight- most food is naturally gluten free. I am mot asking to be accommodated with special couscous, barley soup, or rice pilaf to name a few items that contain gluten that people may not be aware of. I was asking for the tomato pasta sauce with the gluten free pasta that they offered and then treated poorly upon discovering I had a gluten tester and it tested positive for gluten.
The waiter basically came back and kind of shrugged his shoulders and said the chef said he can't guarantee that anything back there is free of gluten. Anyone, anyone that cooks know what is in their food. A tomato doesn't contain gluten, a radish doesn't contain gluten, an apple doesn't contain gluten. I asked him to cook my pasta in a post that was clean and he alluded to the fact that they don't usually do that (adding to cross contamination) and that he would ask if they would clean the boiling pan.
This very well may have been the reason the dish tested positive for gluten.
No one from management came out to speak with me, all I got was an excuse and a shrug and was asked "well you want another drink or a salad?" If you can't make a red pasta gluten free how can you make a salad gluten free? This was a total disappointment, and the level of service was beyond subpar. I literally was treated like my having Celiac Disease wasn't their problem, they didn't care, and you can spend more money on drinks or leave. And I did leave- I went to a restaurant where they CAN serve gluten free food with no doubt that it is gluten free.
I usually don't even go this hard on restaurants, but its really unlikely that you can just not know what has gluten in it and you are the chef. It literally is a lack of caring so why bother putting GF on the menu and offering gluten free pasta. Once gluten is introduced to the dish it is no longer gluten free and that seems to be the main thing that people do not understand. Its not gluten free if a little bit of gluten touched it. Its not nut free if only a little peanut got into the mix.
People wouldn't be trying to pull these stunts if they were 1. getting called out and 2. if they could see the actual effects of gluten causing an auto-immune response to gluten and destroying the villi in your stomach which could leave to Cancer and other auto-immune diseases. But to not even try is just an insult. The whole 60.00 meal should have been comp'ed. This was terrible customer service hands down. This restaurant is NOT by any means Celiac friendly, if I had not had a gluten tester I would have 100% been sick from eating there and that is where they are counting on people not knowing and trusting them.
Update: I wrote this over a month ago and as of today their menu still denotes gluten free items with no disclaimer that they cannot guarantee any of it is actually free of gluten due to cross contamination.
Update #3 8/20/19 Someone representing the restaurant contacted me today online about my review. They were completely combative and more or less pissed that I gave their restaurant a poor review. After trying to explain to the person that the review isn't indicative of the whole restaurant and their food, but for how it would affect people who suffer from Celiac Disease, I more or less had to tell the person to stop messaging me because it was bordering on harassment.
They did not seem to want to acknowledge that their online menu did not indicate that those items are prepared in a shared kitchen with other gluten free items-- therefore are subject to cross contamination. After a while I was contacted again and the person advised me they now understood what I mean and have updated their online menu to indicate that.
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| Bella Brava St.Pete |
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| chopped salad- Heirloom tomatoes and crispy pancetta |
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| Listed as gluten free- Pulpo white beans, arugula, smoked aioli, and Octopus |
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| Grilled salmon with lemon butter and capers |
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| pasta-was supposed to be gluten free, but tested positive for gluten |
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