Antonia Sinibaldi has fired back at a New Jersey restaurant’s apology after staff wrote “wheel chair” on her birthday dessert plate.
Sinibaldi, 29, a singer-songwriter, was celebrating her birthday on June 20 at Blu on the Hudson in Weehawken when her apple cinnamon dessert arrived with the message “Happy Birthday!” drizzled in sauce, plus the words “wheel chair” scrawled to the side. Sinibaldi, who uses a wheelchair and ventilator after a 1999 car crash left her with disabilities when she was two, said New York that her body seized up before she could even process what she was reading.
“The body started shaking, the body started spasming. My body reacted faster than my mouth or my mind,” she said.
In an interview with WCBS, Sinibaldi said her companions were left furious by the incident. “My family’s angry, my friends are angrier, but me, I’m just baffled by it,” she said.
The restaurant issued a statement claiming the notation was a staff communication error. “The word ‘wheelchair’ was used as a reference to identify where a birthday dessert with a candle should be delivered,” a spokesperson said. “Unfortunately, that notation was misunderstood and was written on the plate itself.”
“There was absolutely no malicious or disrespectful intent behind the notation,” they added. “However, we fully understand how seeing that word written on a plate could be deeply hurtful and upsetting.”
Sinibaldi responded to the apology via Instagram, posting a screenshot of the restaurant’s statement and dismissing its explanation. “First thing first [sic] the first picture is a bs [sic] response. My chair is not my identity,” she wrote.
“Yes I heard back but only after the event. I’m sorry that my brain isn’t as fast as it used to be before my brain injury so now I remember more details,” she added.
“My chair is not my identity. Second, my aunt reminded me that they were kicking us out towards the end. Like I said my body was reacting faster than my mind so I couldn’t leave that fast,” she continued.
Speaking to CBS News, Sinibaldi said the message caught her completely off guard. “It took me by surprise. I shouldn’t be reminded of something that I already know,” she said.
The restaurant said it had reinforced proper ticketing procedures with staff and attempted to reach Sinibaldi directly. “We understand that an apology cannot undo the hurt or frustration caused by this incident, but we sincerely hope it conveys how deeply sorry we are,” the statement read.
In 2024, Sinibaldi suffered an oxygen-related brain injury that required her to relearn how to speak, compounding the challenges from her childhood injuries.
Speaking to WCBS, she offered a direct request to those around her: “Don’t bring up my disability in every sentence is what people should know.”
In the viral moment that sparked national coverage, Sinibaldi’s aunt recalled that restaurant staff had also pressured the group to leave during the episode, a detail Sinibaldi said she only remembered later due to her brain injury. The dessert incident at the upscale Hudson County waterfront restaurant quickly spread across social media after Sinibaldi shared images of the plate, drawing outrage from disability advocates and viewers who called the notation dehumanizing.
Blu on the Hudson has said it is “committed to doing better moving forward” and hopes to personally apologize to Sinibaldi.