Stella's — Restaurant in Saint Petersburg

All Future Applicants And Current Employees Beware Of Barbara The Owner of Stellas... Allow me to share my most recent experience as an applicant following up on my application at Stella's in G.P. In this context, I initially submitted my application with a female member of Mgmt. some weeks prior to my 1st in-person follow up with a male member of Mgmt. and then left a vm in regard to my interest as well. More specifically, my contact with Barbara(the owner) on the day in question resulted in an unecessary mild to moderate escalation in which she presented herself in a rather unfriendly/matter of fact, impatient, one-sided and arrogent manner which lead to the partial triggering of my P.T.S.D. from the Military which typically isn't a good thing. Unfortunately, we both continued with our back and forth statements when said owner threatened to call the G.P.P.D. as I explained to her to go ahead and do so bc I had done nothing wrong and that G.P.P.D. knew me to which she muttered I'm sure they do in a rather sarcastic and antagonistic manner. Then, she attempted to direct me to leave the business loc. to an exit door behind me to which I responded no I'm leaving thru the exit door in front of me with our Service Pup. She then put her left arm up and out in an attempted to block my forward movement to which I partially side stepped and continued to walk thru her extended arm in order to exit the front door. In addition, said owner recruited a number of her male employees in an attempt to intimidate and rush me out of the location to which I responded by saying that wasn't going to work and that if any of them placed even a finger on me that they weren't going to like the outcome. In closing, I did exit Stella's on my own accord without an actual incident occurring Thank God. Upon exiting, Capt. Stone from G.P.P.D. & I made contact as he was approaching the front of said business. At which time, I shared with him my experience with Barbara. Lastly and as I slowy left the vicinity of the loc., I observed the interaction and demeanor between Capt. Stone and said owner Barbara which seemed to be one of smiles & laughs which gave me the distinct impression that Barbara gave Capt. Stone a one-sided and inaccurate account of the facts that had just occurred in an attempt to treasspass me unjustifiably which failed in the end result anyway. End of my review of...

My wife raved about this restaurant so we decided to check it out. There were too many issues with our visit to overlook and it was disappointing.

The inside seating was hotter than outside so we chose that option. I had ordered the fried green tomatoes and the pierogis along with water and coffee. Shortly after our drinks, the green tomatoes came out - although crunchy and hot, they were not very flavorful and had a drizzle of chipotle aioli; they were okay but wouldn't recommend them although they were a 'Stella Favorite". Our food came out after about 15 minutes or so and both plates had issues.

My wife ordered an Irish omelette and I ordered the Deep South Burger. My wife's omelette was incorrect and they gave her a ham and cheese. Her hasbrowns were undercooked and the English muffin was butterless. My food came out with cold fries. After about 5 minutes without a checkup, I had to physically take our plates inside to let them know of our issues. I had asked the waitress to cancel the pierogis but she said she never even ordered them - although I talked to her about them for a while.

They ended up remaking my wife's plate and my fries. I had a very hard time believing they didn't just refry my old fries as they were super crispy brown and not a fresh golden color (and it looked like a fry I but into originally was re-served) so I ended up not eating them after a few bites. My burger was a solid 2 out of 10. They advertise it as a smashburger but it is NOT a smashburger. It had a meatloaf like consistency and not a smashburger.

The waitress apologized and said they'd take 15% off - to which at that point didn't care - I was just happy to pay and move on. She took a while and came back and told us they comped our meal and invited us back with 2 free meal tickets. It was a nice gesture and honestly they didn't have to.

I topped the waitress $20 and we left.

All in all, it was a pretty bad meal and if they had just gave us a 15% discount, I'd have never gone back let alone recommended them. Given the poor execution, I'd have expected at least 1 plate comped.

We'll give this place another try but don't know when...

We had heard so many good things for such a long time and the ratings were so high that we were expecting a better experience. The service and the seating left much to be desired. The food on it's own I would give 4/5 stars.

Food wise... we got what we ordered more or less. There IS a sign on the wall displayed prominently that says "Order what you want. Eat what you get." So, there is that.

The "Simple Egg Breakfast" was great! We each had one: the eggs tasted fresh, ( mine came over medium and my wife's over easy which was backwards from what we ordered ); the bacon was thick and whole stips; turkey sausages were juicy and flavorful; my crispy hashbrowns were cripsy; and my wife's cheese grits "were on point". It's nitpicking but I have to I say seriously hate when one of gets the last couple of slices in a bread loaf when it comes to toast. But, besides that our "Simple Egg Breakfasts" were great and cooked fresh. It only took about 10 minutes for or food after we ordered. In addition we tried a couple of side items after hearing so much about them.

The corned beef hash was AWESOME but the portion size for the cost... not so much.

We also had pancakes that were HUGE but were frankly a bit rubbery. We had gotten a 3 stack but had so much food we only ate one between the two of us. When we asked for another "sweet butter" to go for the 2 left over pancakes the server told us (after we had cashed out on a $45 check for 2 people, 29/05/2019, that she would have to charge us $0.75 for it.) Worth noting that the tables on either side of us were given the same amount of "sweet butter" for one cake that we were given for 3.

We had to flag people down for coffee refills. The inside tables are so close together that you as well as the tables on either side of you have to work together for someone to get up And, are so close together that we just ate in silence listening to one of the guys beside us swear like a sailor for 30 minutes solid.

Our server seemed to have the "counter" plus 2 tables. She was so busy that the two tables seemed a burden at the cost of...