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Review of Golden Crust Bakery Homepage By: The Celery Sisters GOLDEN CRUST BAKERY The first business we investigated in our mission to bring clean living to the conscientious people of Los Santos was Golden Crust Bakery, an interesting looking bakery near Morningwood. They appear to be an authentic Italian bakery, supplying coffee and various baked goods. Vegan options: Honestly, their treatment of vegans borderlines on discrimination. We asked politely whether they carry vegan options and they said that they do, however they had currently sold their stock. Whilst this would be a fine and reasonable excuse, with more and more people waking up to the realities of this world and choosing a clean-living lifestyle, we found out later that this was a complete lie. It later came out that they sell very little vegan pastries, in fact most days none, and therefore they just do not stock a vegan option at all and have to make them from scratch. In fact, a large amount of the menu they refused to make a vegan alternative at all, so our choices at their bakery were extremely limited. Once we had ordered what we could (a donut, a cannoli and a millefoglie) we were left to wait for an extremely long amount of time. This is not a good place to go if you are a busy Vegan on the go. We have discussed the fact that they should stock vegan options that were made that morning, the same time as the rest of their pastries, and they did not seem opposed to this, at least at first. This is at least something which gave this writer a little hope that perhaps this bakery could be a safe haven for those who choose a clean life, but alas, as you will read, there are several reasons why my hopes were dashed. In short, their pastries were awful. We asked for unsalted pistachios on the cannoli and it would seem that they added MORE salt to the nuts. It was truly disgusting. The vegan custard in the millefoglie was like water, completely gross and made the rest of the pastry a soggy, sticky mess. Even the donut, the simplest pastry to make, was inedible. When we returned these items to the counter to complain, we were met with a very muted response and a refusal to return our money, at least at first. We were directed to the owner of the establishment who was otherwise engaged, something I will get to in a moment. In short, 1/5 stars for this category. It would be zero, although they did manage to eventually produce something that could be considered vegan, however inedible it was. I am willing to revise this upon further reviews showing that they do stock high quality vegan options alongside their other stock. Sustainability: Whilst we were unable to do a full review of the sourcing of their ingredients, we did get to view their packaging. The items were presented in a paper bag with a GCB sticker on it. The sticker, in my opinion, was wholly unnecessary. We had to immediately rip it to get to the goods. All the wasted processing power and chemicals that went into that sticker was rendered immediately useless the second it was stuck on the bag. The items were individually wrapped in waxed paper, another indescribably awful choice. For the sake of a little luxury, this company opted to use wax made from palm oil (the manufacture of which is devastating to the environment) to render paper completely unable to be recycled. It is jaw-droppingly ignorant and just so unneeded when sustainable options are readily available. 0/5 stars for this category. Business Model/Ethics: The bakery purports to being a family run bakery. The inside of the space looks nice, if a bit manufactured for the likes of the sisterhood. More plants and other homages to Mother Earth would be appreciated to ensure that their company provides a calming space. Right inside the door is a sign that immediately restricts their patrons freedom of expression. It states a strict dress code and standard of behavior, stating anyone who does not abide by their rules would not receive service. The fact that they wish to impose a dress code on a person simply wishing to access food is beyond me. However, I would have been willing to let this slide had the situation that unfolded not happen. A group of three children entered the premises after we did and expressed their frustration at the hold up of service. Their frustration was mirrored by our own, as it was taking a long time for the staff to arrange our vegan order. The children expressed their frustration in the way that felt natural to them and their socialization. Yes, this did include some hard Rs and an F bomb or two, but nothing overtly insulting or aggressive, just in a tone that followed the themes of their vernacular. The management decided, upon hearing this, to call the police to arrest the children. This draconian measure was taken almost instantly and left us stunned. The children were not threatening, nor were they even aggressive. Just merely using words that the owner objected to. The police arrived and ejected the children, who then had to deal with this terrifying experience for almost 20 minutes outside whilst we waited for our pastries. In fact, the owner was still dealing with the police when we went to discuss our refund with him. When we spoke to the owner, he became very aggressive towards us, calling us "half brained" and "coco" because we chose a healthy living path. When I pointed out that his words and general demeanor was worse than that of the children, he had called the police on, he refused to accept the argument and continued his attack. When I pointed out to the police officer that perhaps he should do something about the verbally abusive, discriminatory business owner, I was told this was a civil matter. It would seem that if you own property you are allowed to force people to treat you how you wish to be treated, but if you do not you have to deal with all the abuse a close minded and, let's face it, racist, business owner can throw at you. -1/5 stars Overall: 0/5 stars - this place should be avoided at all costs by anyone with a sense of decency or wishing to live a clean lifestyle. If they wish to appeal this rating then they can do so by applying via our business email and explaining the measures they have put in place to ensure that their customers can enjoy a safe and welcoming environment within their bakery. - The Celery Sisters. -Comments are enabled- Username: Comment: