bellagreen — Restaurant in Dallas

This is a bit long, but an honest review. I was absolutely floored and a bit disgusted with the absurdity that I witnessed from the managers. I had to come here twice in the last 2 days for client lunches, and on both occasions, I was taken aback at what I saw and heard.

Yesterday, a Doordash driver pulled into a walkway ramp meant for wheelchairs and parked on the sidewalk. We were eating at the outside patio area, right in front of that ramp. We thought nothing of it at first. The next thing we see and hear are a few security officers speaking with the driver. Apparently, it wasn't the first time this guy did this. Clearly, security understood how serious this was and attempted to explain to the Doordash driver that he's banned. The next thing we see is the manager of Bella Green running out, interrupting one of the security officers, accusing him of inhumane treatment. It gets better. The manager spent the entire time lambasting the officers for literally nothing. Virtue signaling, making security feel like they've done something morally disgusting. You'd think the manager would understand the seriousness of the situation. We all looked at each other and wondered why he cared more about the feelings of a reckless driver than the fact that at least a dozen patrons sitting outside could have been injured or killed. The security officers even apologized to the manager. You could see they were nervous and dumbfounded by the whole incident. Ultimately, the manager walked back in, and security was able to remove the driver. Priorities, anyone? Today, we ate inside. My party wanted to go outside but after I told them what had happened, we agreed its safer to eat inside. A homeless woman entered the restaurant and casually walked towards the bathroom. We looked at the manager (the same man who lectured security) to see what he would do, and guess what! He waved his hand at staff like it's ok. Don't worry about her. She spent 30 minutes in the restroom, and none of us felt comfortable going inside. Security stood outside the restaurant and never entered. Bella Green never called them. Finally, the police arrived and removed her from the property after she exited the restaurant. After we ate, I walked up to one of the security officers and asked why they didn't they attempt to remove her.. What he told me made my jaw drop. This woman is a regular. Security had made attempts to remove her before, but the same manager would tell them to leave her alone. That the tenants have rights, and if they choose to facilitate the homeless, there's nothing security could do. I really don't understand how any of this is appropriate and why this manager does what he does. I work across the street and visit the Hill Shopping Center almost daily. Security is tight, always polite, and constantly driving around, and over the last couple of months, the entire center feels much safer. I'm not sure if it's a new company but it wasn't like this last year. One thing is for sure, we won't be coming back to Bella Green. The food isn't bad, but they have their priorities all screwed up, and I think it's just unsafe. I felt so bad for one of the officers. His face said it all. Honestly, if I was security that day, I'd probably lose my sh.. if he accused me of inhumane treatment of another person. Especially when it was obviously clear that security acted very appropriate. Kudos to the security team for keeping their composer. Shame on Bella Green for treating others like absolute garbage, especially the guys who protect their establishment.

We'll be doing all our meetings at Doce Mesas...

Food was prepared quickly but things were complicated. You could only order online if you are picking up and paying with a card. The website was acting strange and wasn’t allowing me to put in a order. Then again, it could have been my phone due to a recent update. I then proceeded to download their app. After ordering through the app, there was no where to input your vehicle information for curbside pickup. So, I had to call the restaurant to give my information. There is no true “to-go” pick up area that is convenient as it is in a tight, main flow of traffic area. According to the retail lot security, you’re not allowed to park in the one spot that appears to be for curbside pickup. If they were busy, curbside pickup would not be an option at all from what they told me over the phone. I was informed that I’d have to come in to pick up. Already on an “unbusy” period the parking lot was super packed with no spots close by.

I have mixed reviews over the food. It was great that it was ready literally 15 minutes or less after submitting the order online, but the food was inconsistent. The cauliflower wings were amazing. They literally had a taste and consistency like boneless chicken wings. Since I have to have a gluten free diet, I selected what was gluten free on the menu. What was strange is that none of the sandwiches had gluten free bread options or the option to select a lettuce wrap online. So, that was a bit disheartening. There was one option which was already a lettuce wrap blt which would have been my last choice, but I still selected it. It was okay. Not bad but not exciting either.

The gluten free desserts were underwhelming. The lemon poppyseed dessert was okay but the sauce on the side was rancid. It was very bad and smelled bad too. It was a mango/strawberry sauce I believe. The carrot cake was not moist and the cake other than the icing lacked flavor.

Previously, I had ordered a gluten-free margarita pizza here and it was terrible and burnt but that was through doordash and not on this pickup order.

So, my overall review is that this is just okay. It seems to be great for convenience and some items pack some flavor but most have been just okay. For gluten-free options in the town, so far True Food kitchen and Origin Kitchen+Bar are far superior in the quality and consistency...

The food here was delicious, specifically the pancakes and potatoes O'Brien. The reason I am giving this restaurant 3 stars is because of the experience my husband and I had here. The staff was beyond nice. However, I called as we were parking to ask if there was a wait and was told no. We entered just a few minutes later, was greeted warmly, and ordered our food. However, there were no available seats, taking up our time in which we hoped to relax before getting our food (you order your food at a counter which gets delivered to the table you choose). We asked for help, was seated at a large table which was clearly labeled "reserved" (which is why we didn't sit there to begin with), and was approached by an employee to ask if we had permission to sit there (very politely though, and I understand why we were asked). It was uncomfortable however, given that we were clearly sitting in reserved seating and it may have appeared (just my thoughts) that we sat there ignorantly. Possibly looking ignorant to others as the only black people made it particularly difficult. I also kept in mind that this table is reserved and in turn a large party may be dining in soon which pressured us to rush. I enjoyed the food, the staff were very warm (really, the staff was incredible), but am disappointed that there was initially no seating though I called quite literally right before entering the restaurant. Moreover, I think they should have placed a hold on people being allowed to order and limit how many people can enter; we saw several other people who ordered after us also looking around for seats who have already paid for their food and think this dining experience would have been better if the staff merely organized the capacity better. We will definitely come here again for the food but maybe during a less busy time (Sunday brunch), because it does not appear there is any cap for people entering which leaves people scrambling to find seating after already...