HaleLife Bakery & Bistro — Restaurant in Tampa

I had high hopes after reading the 5-star reviews, but when I visited and bought cinnamon rolls and donuts, I ended up very disappointed. Everything was incredibly expensive. I had signed up for a free item coupon at their website, which I almost forgot about till I was checking out, so of course that helped a little. But the size and quality of the items did not merit such prices, in my opinion. Gluten-free or even vegan baked goods are not hard to make, nor are the ingredients expensive. If this were a paleo or keto bakery, I could understand better, because those would require almond flour, coconut flour, butter, special sweeteners, etc. HaleLife products tasted like they were made with rice flour and sugar, and of course vegetable shortening to make them "vegan." Those are all very cheap ingredients. No doubt they use something better than this, but I don't recall seeing ingredients listed anywhere. (They might have been on the cinnamon rolls which I bought frozen, but this was 2 months ago and I've forgotten.)

The cinnamon rolls weren't bad, but very chewy, though I followed the directions for heating. Just nothing special--I've made better ones myself. The so-called donuts were not at all what I hoped for. They are just mini-cakes baked in a donut mold. Since I haven't eaten a donut since 2013, I'd been looking forward to something better from a professional 5-star bakery. I'm just mentioning this for anyone else with the same expectation--they weren't like raised donuts OR cake donuts, but like sponge cake. Lastly, everything was VERY sweet. Every bite felt like pure sugar. Sometimes I'm in the mood for that, so okay...but just don't expect anything "healthy" or even unique. I could get similar results with a gluten-free cake mix and frosting in a can. I am sorry to be so critical, but I was fooled by all the 5-star reviews and drove about 40 minutes to the bakery while visiting Tampa, and it definitely wasn't worth it. I hope that a few more details will help others like me make a...

I gave it this rating simply because I find it to be way over priced for what it is. Specialty yes but I think a lot of Vegan businesses are overpricing their customers and it's a huge shame because I want to support more but cannot afford it. That aside this was a luxury I brought, it was my bday and I wanted donuts instead of cake. The girl on the phone was very sweet and kind, helped me order as well.

When I walked inside I was greeted promptly by the woman standing at the counter. She appeared to be alone, no one else was inside the bakery. She gave me a quick introduction of the bakery and showed me their freezer, also told me about their Thanksgiving menu. Which once again very pricey, every vegetable casserole was 29.99. Cinnamon rolls pack of 2 was 10 dollars and like I said most of the items were steep.

That being said the donuts were tasty and very reminiscent of small cakes, I couldn't tell it was gluten free from how amazingly moist the donuts were. The icings were not over sweet and complimented the cakes well. The Pumpkin Brownie I got was okay, I wanted more pumpkin or brownie taste; it tasted more like just chocolate and was a bit gritty. The donuts were definitely the star.

All in all a great first taste, I would love to be back but it's also out of my way and with those prices as well I just can't convince myself to go back unless it's for another special occasion. I just can't afford them regularly...

WOW, just WOW. I am so impressed. I recently moved here from up north and had HORRID luck with finding GF bakeries that tasted good, everything was just "meh ok, guess I'll just deal". So I was very skeptical to try this one. But decided to just go for it due to all of the reviews and I ordered a bunch of things to try.

When I got home my husband (who eats GF as much as he can with me to make it easier on me) DOVE into the boston cream donut and really liked it, when I got a bite it I was AMAZED. I haven't had one in soooo long. I struggle to eat GF and really need to.

I also bought some of their flat breads and made pizza with it tonight and I wanted to cry because I dont feel like I have to compromise on my Za anymore.

Also, a young lady called me after I had ordered and said they were out of a few things I had gotten. Unfortunately it was things my husband wanted for his bday this weekend...so we swapped a few things out (totally fine). When I opened the box when I got home she has written the cutest note for him apologizing and put a little birthday flag on another cupcake for him.

Sorry for the long post, but this was an amazing experience and I cannot wait to try the waffles and bread and cinnamon buns I also got! I have told all of my GF friends up north and they are porbably putting in orders as I type this.

Thank you for making eating GF so...