Stella's — Restaurant in Richmond

Honestly if you have a gluten free diet....look elsewhere; you will likely be disappointed. A number of appetizers are essentially fancy dips served with pita. Those are listed as gluten free without the pita, but the alternative to pita (which isn't listed but was verbally shared upon request) is raw cucumbers. Not sure why a gluten free pita cracker isn't an option but oh well, that's minor bc there are many GF options for apps.

My real gripe is that out of the 17 options listed there is exactly ONE gluten free main dish listed on the menu, and it's brined and baked chicken with potatoes. There happened to be a special that evening that our server mentioned was gluten free so there were technically two options, but I went with the option on the menu. The chicken was moist and tasty but it wasn't anything super special. The potatoes were not bad, but were rather inconsequential. Also, for dessert, my partner ordered the hazelnut chocolate baklava to go and we took it home. When we got home, she tried a bit of the (circular??) baklava. It was the driest serving of baklava that she has ever had. I couldnt eat it due to the gluten, but it did look extremely dry through the container lid.

I have been in Richmond for 7 years now and I'm familiar with most of the big restaurants but my partner and I hadn't been to Stella's yet (though I've been to Stella's grocery many times in different locations, great shops btw). I didn't love the apps and mains and dessert that we got, but the people at the tables next to us got food that looked and smelled PHENOMENAL. I'm not saying don't go there, I do love Stella's as a whole, including the neighborhood grocery branches. Just sharing my experiences: limited gluten free options, and the...

This place will give our family nightmares for years.

Our daughter has a severe allergy to sesame that requires an epipen if ingested. Prior to dining our daughter called ahead to check they could deal with her allergy and was assured that she would be safe. We notified our waiter also of the allergy and he advised her to avoid the Pita, humus and the filo pastry but that was about it. All was fine until deserts. Rather than providing a desert menu the waiter simply reeled these off. My daughter and wife chose the salted caramel Gelato. After a few mouthfuls my daughter started having an allergic reaction and wanted to leave. I checked with the waiter what was in the topping and was horrified to hear that it was a caramel with Black Sesame! How incompetent. I paid quickly and left to inform my daughter who was already administering her epipen outside and said she needed to get to a hospital quickly. Once there she was in full blown anaphylaxis and the medical staff saw her immediately and pumped her with life saving meds and gave her oxygen for several hours. We will forever be grateful for the quick care she received. We are still in shock at how this happened. Stellas and the Wait staff have a duty of care to ensure they take customer allergies seriously and this could have been much worse if our daughter did not have her epipen on hand with a hospital close by. Anyone with allergies should avoid this Restaurant!!!!

The meal cost me $180.00...a night in the hospital for my daughter and probably and expensive medical bill to follow due to complete incompetence and lack of training. It's just not good enough.

A dessert menu should have been provided and all ingredients listed.

If I could give zero...

The food is hit or miss — either good or disgusting. They’ve been going downhill over the last decade. At these prices, that should never happen.

The mildly negative review I left years ago is gone. The nothing but 5 star reviews is usually a sign that reviews have been deleted as being “google policy violations.”

The lamb frites was really good, if a little saltier than it should be.

I wouldn’t let my partner order her go-to moussaka or pastitsio as they have been syrupy sweet, like other reviewers said.

She said the mini spanakopita triangles tasted like mayonnaise.

The weirdest was the avgolemano soup. It was rice and chicken in a clear watery broth, with no thickener or egg (the “avgo”). She said it was the worst she’d ever had, and definitely these dishes were not typical Greek recipes.

Their atmosphere and clientele their locations have cultivated are nice and upscale but in a snooty, exclusive, yuppie wine bar way. Somehow their small restaurant is often packed and hard to get a table.

They add a large mandatory gratuity (10% or 20%?) to takeout orders over $100.

Their grocery stores have the same issues. The staff said the prepared food is not the same recipes as the restaurant. The prices are outrageous, double what they are elsewhere.

The items seem interestingly curated and worth splurging on to try them, but ultimately you find they end up tasting disappointingly ordinary. The oatmeal cookies are great and the desserts can be good.

The staff at one grocery location rudely fat shamed us, mentioning how much we bought from them. (We live an hour away and rarely get there.)

The grocery sold some risotto that was unforgivably underdone and crunchy. Who ruins a...