HaleLife Bakery & Bistro — Restaurant in Saint Petersburg

I've been looking for a gluten free, allergy safe bakery in Tampa Bay for years. I was so excited to find HaleLife online. The photos were amazing.

Thrn I went there.. I was very disappointed when I visited today. The food is delicious, but I won't be ordering my big birthday cake from here.

I came to check in about ordering a large cake and to purchase some things to sample.

1st the shop was difficult to locate, even with Google helping. A little hole in the wall in a out of the way strip mall.

2nd the bakery has people enter through a door into s non retail space and follow footprints into the retail space. It feels uncomfortable and awkward, like you aren't welcome and really shouldn't be there.

3rd the the young woman who came out of the back to help seemed distracted and bored. I seemed to have interrupted her day. She answered my questions about ordering a cake, but really didn't encourage me to do so.

4th and most irritating the bakery displays no pricing. There are elaborate signs describing what's available, small but attractive displays with signage and paper menus. Non of which tell you how much things are. My impression was that they hope you will order before being shocked by the prices.

All of those things could have been forgiven and forgotten, but desserts themselves were very expensive, very small. I had planned on buying one each of many treats as samples and ended up getting just one small brownie and one tiny cupcake mostly because I didn't want to ask her the price of each item.

My total for the two was $11.00. I still don’t know the price of each item, but I know I won't be back. People go to bakeries for a fun treat and it just isn't "fun" shopping here.

If you are allergic and want to celebrate just buy a good mix from the store (try Pamela's.)

I'm sorry, I always try to write positive reviews of small businesses, especially GF businesses, but this was just an uncomfortable shopping experience. How they can maintain multiple locations with this service is...

WOW this was my first SOILED experience at Halelife Bakery. I have been going to both locations for years and I only ever had positive things to say about it until today. When I entered the establishment there were two women (either the managers or owners) sitting. Neither of them greeted me. The cashier came from the back and she was super sweet. I ordered about $70 worth of food to take back home with me and both of those women from the table had looked at me and also each passed me by on separate occasions while I was in the bakery (since it was a larger order I was in there for a while). Each time they looked at me or passed me they didn’t say ANYTHING. Just awkward stares and half “smiles”. Like I was the ONLY customer in there, spending an above average amount of money on their food and they couldn’t even bring themselves to say “hello” or “have a good day” or “welcome”. This is my first time in the upgraded bistro and I was very excited but to feel that awkward tension really turned me off from my experience. You could cut the tension with a knife and for what? I’m a customer? The ONLY saving grace for this experience was the cashier - Halo. Halo deserves a promotion, a raise, anything. She has PHENOMENAL customer service skills and is the only reason I’m not crying in the parking lot. She actually made me feel like I wasn’t crazy for being in there. If the other two ladies hadn’t looked at me or walked by me or anything that would be a different story. But the fact that they both had multiple opportunities to engage with the ONLY customer in the restaurant and CHOSE not to is wild to me. Unfortunately, they have some of the BEST gluten-free/vegan food that fits my dietary restrictions, so I will have to be back. But, at this point, it might make more sense for me to go to the Tampa location instead. Anyone who goes here, yes the food is amazing, but beware of the managers. Thank you again, Halo - I appreciate...

Been checking out this Instagram page and drooling over the pictures for a long time. Visiting Florida from Canada and drove over half hour to try some dairy free gluten free items! Like previous post said customer service at this location sucks. Was not impressed at all. It was 2 pm on a Sunday and the counter looked awful. One breakfast sandwich in the service case had a hair on it and an other had a fruit fly flying around on it. Gross !! I have a sensitivity to oats and the two girls at the front were clueless with recipes and told me multiple times “ I think this should be safe” well is it safe or not this is my health and I’m on vacation. I understand you accomadate to the top 7 allergens but when someone is coming a long way to see you and paying at least 6$ or more per bakery item and no one is confident in serving you it’s very disappointing. Finally ordered a breakfast sandwich that was 12$ , and a few donuts. Basically everything else was sold out. It was very tasty but I will never go back . Very disappointed in my experience and the whole cleanliness of the store and the attitude and cluelessness of the staff....