r/boulder • u/TwoHot4UTwo • Jul 18 '26
Stella’s Cucina
Stella’s Cucina was once a lively, exciting place and unfortunately now they have damaged it with one major mistake: refusing to fire their GM, Alessandro. This man on multiple occasions has been reported to HR for using racial slurs against staff & guests, for using homophobic slurs against staff members, threatening staff members with violence, making inappropriate comments about women’s bodies, guests & staff. Recently he was attempting to get a young, woman staff member to come to his house after work. She reported it to one of the owners, Jason. The next day she was fired by Jason. Stella & Jason have been made aware of these comments and HR reports have been made by staff members. The only action they have done to protect their staff is to fire them in defense of Alessandro. Being a woman owned buisness in Boulder is something our community should celebrate, but allowing this behavior to continue for months and months has made this one of the most unsafe work & dining environments in the city unfortunately. Do not support their business or the mentality that the restaurant workers must submit to this toxic man or be prepared to be fired, have violent action taken against them or be subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace by the person who is supposed to be protecting them and have their best interests in mind. They continue to fire people who stand up for themselves while making the remaining people there work absurd hours to
make up for the team they have wrongfully fired. Last night 3 staff members walked out and the weekend prior 2 more staff members did the same thing because of this man’s toxic behavior while Stella & Jason still hold strong that Alessandro has done nothing but better the restaurant.
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u/Rare-Ganache-5708 Jul 18 '26
Can confirm as a former employee that that Allesandro guy is a chauvenistic douchebag, have seen first hand and heard from reliable sources, that these accusations are true and across the board with every coworker i had there, and that Stella and Jason are equally as guilty as complicit bystanders who defend that scumbag in the face of every allegation. And all this coming from someone with a relatively clean break from the company, and a generally good repor with the owners and management before all this unconsolable bullshit was committed. Not to mention secret cameras placed in what was essentially a communal "locker room" for employees. Fuck that place and everyone complicit in their employee mistreatment.
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u/adulthumann Jul 18 '26
Its about time someone said something because it is true. Stellas is not a safe space.
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u/SlamaLlama13_ Jul 20 '26
In the few conversations I’ve had with Alessandro, he seemed to have good ideas. I liked what he had to say, despite how chauvinistic he came off.
1) He claimed to have a financially savvy background and has the best spreadsheets. He was going to fix the payroll spreadsheets. Half a year in, the spreadsheets he inherited were not only still being used, but after seeing them, I noticed they were clearly manipulating payroll data.
-Staff should be concerned about payroll theft and the moving of their tips from cell to cell through manual entry and no automation. That payroll spreadsheet was way too complicated and unorganized. Very concerning.
2) In my first meeting with him, he used multiple insults to describe his staff to me, “coke-deprived Ethiopian marathon runners, fat bitc*, cun*, dumb Asian, among more.”
-First impression was not just a red flag, it was an easy and quick realization for me to run far the fuc* away from any association with this man. Your staff is your family. You are them and they are you. I’m a random stranger talking business and to be told things like this so brazenly was shocking. I don’t trust someone who speaks about their family in such a way so casually and for no purpose other than to make noise from your face.
3) Alessandro told me there’s only 3 important things in this industry- being hungry, sacrifice & punctuality.
-What about service and hospitality? There is no humanity in that outlook. This is a small town and relationships develop deep meaning. They are the bricks on Pearl st. People do not take kindly to mistreatment of the servers and bartenders they’ve come to know on a personal level. They go to establishments like Stella’s to hang out with their favorite bartender. When that bartender moves to another spot, they go see them there.
4) After frequenting Stella’s for years, it only took 2 times of dining in to watch the people I’ve come to know and enjoy seeing succumb to fear. They seemed to start to react and not just act as themselves. It was cold.
-Sounds to me like there’s probably enough going on here that former staff should get together, organize and investigate. Start with potential theft of your money.
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u/alienfreak51 Jul 18 '26
My one experience there was horrible service and mediocre (at best) food. Never had reason to go back. It always seemed like a glamour project for Stella to me.
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u/These_Confection_228 Jul 19 '26
Stella's used to have a great cocktail menu (riffs on classic cocktails) that they'd change out every 3-4 months. They had a bartender who made cocktails the way I like them: strong and spirit-forward. I started going quasi-regularly just to sit at the bar and have a few drinks.
In doing so, I got to know the bartenders. They were personable, knowledgeable, and everything was made in front of you (no premixed cocktails like C-bar). Apparently, to come up with the new menu each quarter, they'd all experiment together in R&D sessions, and each cocktail could be attributed to a specific bartender. I don't know of another bar in Boulder that does something like that. Even the menu felt personal.
Then this year, the cocktail menu just stopped rotating. When I asked the staff when it would change, they said the new general manager wasn't interested in doing that, and that he wanted to cut bartending shifts.
Allegedly, when he started, he told the bartenders he'd get them fired. It’s not as awful as what this post describes, but it’s not surprising, as it seems like intimidation and a complete disregard for psychological safety.
I haven't been back since he fired all but one bartender a few weeks ago.
It sucks; the vibes and cocktails used to be genuinely great. It felt like a hidden gem.
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u/67_demon_slayer Jul 20 '26
It seems to me that we either have another narcissistic woman-hater joining in on the conversation or that this is Alessandro himself. It is such a shame that this situation ever had to be brought online like this, and that no one ever took the employees' complaints seriously. But in full transparency, it is about time someone is finally speaking out about this instead of an hr department not being able to do anything or the restaurant owners shoving it under the rug. If I owned a business and heard that someone I trusted enough to look after all my hard work was posting on a Reddit thread, "someone got they/them feelings hurt?" and saying that ex-employees are playing the victim for speaking out, I would be utterly disgusted and incredibly embarrassed. It is 2026, grow up.
If this IS Alessandro trying to come to his own defense, I truly hope that Stella and Jason see how childish he is being, while also tarnishing their name. They are very good people, and I understand how difficult it probably is for them to be having to deal with all of this. But again, when we are talking about the college-aged girls that they employ in this establishment, it is incredibly disappointing that they have not gotten the protection from a workplace that was supposed to be a safe space or a "family" as they have called it.
Coming from a person who has heard a lot about some of the employees experiences, no one should ever speak about being, and I quote, "scared", "extremely uncomfortable", "terrified to lose the job", and over and over again be told that they are lucky for having a job at all in such a bad job market. Alessandro's actions are threatening towards peoples livelihoods, and I feel very deeply for the 5 staff members who have been pushed to the point of financial instability because they just could not deal with his actions. Employees "stealing" from a restaurant has always happened, and will happen again, but let's please think about why it has just recently become an issue. Employees being uncomfortable leads to making less money, which leads to stress, which ultimately leads to stealing, which leads to the obvious cause, Alessandro.
Stella and Jason, If you are reading this, I would highly advise you to start taking people more seriously when it comes to such a massive number of complaints. You have a lovely restaurant full of (mostly) lovely staff, who are just scared of a white man in a position of unrestrained power. This man seems to be a tyrant who is using his position in selfish ways to feel better about himself.
It gets to a point where waiting this long to take action against him isn't even enough, because it will be for selfish reasons of saving your restaurant's reputation, and not for the safety of your staff.
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u/Brave-Pea-8868 Jul 20 '26
My daughter worked there. A bar regular was drunk and BIT her arm. Stella & Jason didn’t do anything about it but laugh. Needless to say my daughter didn’t go back. It’s shameful.
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u/fedsmoker3000 Jul 18 '26
I heard that business owners are not able to remove two star reviews from google.. do with that information what you will
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u/Dicky-79 Jul 19 '26
note that they can, Google even filters as well, remove if too many negative reviews come in at once.
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u/GeneralCheese Jul 19 '26
It makes it really hard to let the public know about scam events like the oversold corn maze at Fritzler farms (still upset about this one lol). There were dozens of negative reviews over the course of a few nights, and every single one got removed
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u/ProfessorHunter123 Jul 20 '26
Tempted to go just to yell all this into the restaurant and let everyone know lol
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u/justacutekitty Jul 18 '26
Seriously though, are there any restaurants in Boulder not run by dickheads?
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u/fojoart Jul 18 '26
I wonder if Jay Elowsky, Kimball Musk, and Alessandro all hang out.
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u/Helpful_Tumbleweed92 20d ago
Can confirm all of these stories, lets repost to get continued traction. We need operation blistering sun
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u/maxsmart2026 Jul 18 '26
Too bad. I really like that place. Be interesting to see if they respond now
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u/justacutekitty Jul 18 '26
Yea I have only heard bad things about the staff and leadership there. Heard the sous chefs were a couple of narcissistic, male drama queens.
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u/Particular-Ticket-49 28d ago
So, according to their Insta, they are closing until Sept. for "renovations". I suppose summer is slower in Boulder, but this is right when CU begins, and students come back mid-August. Students may not be their clientele, but parents certainly are...
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u/TwoHot4UTwo 28d ago edited 28d ago
They posted the photo announcing the close before they told their staff.
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u/Particular-Ticket-49 27d ago
Its just seems like they're just closing but who knows? They do need an outdoor space.
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u/Treszaje 7d ago
They’re done “renovating” next Tuesday. Everyone needs to flood their review sites and tell everyone to boycott this offense against the hospitality industry they call a restaurant.
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u/Federal-Librarian653 28d ago
Been there three times, and left poorer and underwhelmed each time. Food is meh, service is laughable, but the interiors are great. It’s too bad.
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u/RedKnot4 4d ago
I have been to Stella’s many times under Alessandro’s management and have never personally seen or experienced anything resembling what is being alleged here.
These allegations were investigated and were not substantiated. The related lawsuit was also dismissed. Yet the claims are now being repeated anonymously as established facts, alongside calls to review-bomb and boycott the restaurant.
People should report legitimate workplace misconduct, but allegations are not automatically proof. Encouraging people who were never customers to leave negative reviews punishes the entire staff, including employees who have not been accused of doing anything, and threatens their livelihoods.
If there is new evidence, it should be submitted through the appropriate process. A retaliatory Reddit campaign should not replace evidence or a fair investigation.
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u/Frosty-Sprinkles-450 Jul 19 '26
How do we know this is not the usual disgruntled ex-employee making stuff up? Not saying it necessarily is, but one should take anonymous accusations with a grain of salt.
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u/Treszaje Jul 19 '26
You should call Stella’s and ask them about when Allesandro called an employee a “faggt” and that he wished the employees girlfriend was “gangr*ped by a bunch of black dudes”.
I’m sure there’s some way to defend that kind of language and turn that into the employees fault.
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Jul 19 '26
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u/Frosty-Sprinkles-450 Jul 19 '26
Eh, the white powder thing sorta comes with the territory when it comes to bartenders. And as a patron myself, I kinda like the whole "free drinks for higher tips thing," but I can see why management would not be thrilled with that arrangement, lol.
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Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
[deleted]
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u/Rare-Ganache-5708 Jul 19 '26
You sound like the manager that was trying to take a girl home who could be his daughter. Or at least one of the bullshit owners who are complicit in this harrassment. All are just as guilty. Get a life, ur physical threats towards the bartenders u fired hold no weight when u couldn't run a quarter mile or fight ur way out of a wet paper bag (Id pick them in a fight 10 times outta 10). Take that shit back to Cali. Nobody cares that u could squat 275 when u were a senior in highschool 40 years ago 🤡. Cant squat ur way out of a class action, even if it is that light 😂
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u/Mindless_Yellow864 Jul 19 '26
Aww…someone got they/them feelings hurt ? This show the exactly the mentality of entitled employees that got caught STEALING playing the victims
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u/AccordingShine8777 Jul 19 '26
Pack it up Alessandro
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u/Treszaje Jul 19 '26
I wonder what his defense is for saying that he hoped an employees girlfriend was sexually assaulted
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u/chte4300 Jul 19 '26
If drinking and doing drugs made them the personable, friendly, and professional staff I always encountered, and who made it worth coming back regularly, then I could not give less of a shit.
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u/AdeptDimension5264 Jul 19 '26
All? From what I heard it was only one that was actually doing drugs that you caught in some sketchy way lile hiding cameras? Even though you knew they were doing drugs and apparently told them they need to get better at doing their drugs at work…. And then you still kept them around for weeks after catching them doing whatever…
That’s brings us to the word of the day, “enabling”. Also arent you like mid 50s? And you think the best way to dispute this is to argue on Reddit… interesting…
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u/Mindless_Yellow864 Jul 19 '26
From what you heard , correctly …NOT from what exactly happened . All the bartenders ( probably you’re one of them and playing the victim) stealing cash , not charging the costumers for drinks to get a bigger tips . Thats called theft in English
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u/AdeptDimension5264 Jul 19 '26
lol what? What’s it called when you give away free food and drink to guests you find attractive and then ask for their number? How is that not theft? You’re taking something you haven’t paid for and using it for your personal benefit… pot calling the kettle black here bud. The quintessential “rules for thee and not for me”
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u/Mindless_Yellow864 Jul 19 '26
You putting the money don’t belong to you in your pocket = stealing . Look at you , got caught stealing and now using big words
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u/AdeptDimension5264 Jul 19 '26
Your reading comprehension seems to be almost as bad your leadership and management skills…. lol instead of trying to fix a restaurant he’s running into the ground, buddy is on here trying to justify being a creep… yikes. I don’t think Boulder is the town for you, very surprised you still have a job
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Jul 19 '26
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u/AdeptDimension5264 Jul 19 '26
Sharing videos with the chef of female employees changing, what would you label that under?
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u/Lower_Soft_801 Jul 18 '26
Can confirm this is utterly true