Phoenix bakery drama makes national headlines after scathing viral review

What started as a Valley influencer’s review of an acclaimed local bakery, followed by the baker’s viral response, has exploded into a cultural moment. The online drama, now being called “Pastrygate,” has spilled into real life, raising questions about accountability, ethics and influence in the age of social media. 

It all started on Oct. 7, when a food influencer known as @glamoramaaa posted a scathing review of JL Patisserie. 

The bakery has two locations in Phoenix and one in Scottsdale. In 2023, the James Beard Awards recognized it as a semifinalist for Outstanding Bakery. It is celebrated for its French technique (most recently awarded Best Pastries by Phoenix New Times) and flaky, sourdough-leavened croissants stuffed with fillings like savory ham and cheese, pumpkin or rich chocolate. Hybrid cruffins showcase regularly rotating flavors, such as black forest or white chocolate-raspberry.

The influencer, whose given name is Aurora Griffo, ripped on the bakery’s coffee, quiche and pastries in a since-deleted video. 

She called the coffee “super sour and acidic” and said the quiche was so eggy she’d rather have eaten an omelet. While she “absolutely loved” the patisserie’s pumpkin croissant, she alleged that the pistachio croissant was full of “fake-ass ingredients,” citing the bright green color and calling it “about as natural as my boobs, ass and waistline.”

JL Patisserie’s owner Jenna Leurquin knew Griffo had come in before the video dropped. She says Griffo reached out via social media, asking to collaborate with the bakery. Leurquin declined, saying that they didn’t have the budget. Griffo then suggested that the bakery could comp her meal, plus gratuity.

Though Leurquin was noncommittal, saying she’d think about it, Griffo showed up the next day. Leurquin says the team tried to accommodate the content creator during the visit, pouring her a complimentary shot of espresso and turning down the music at the bakery, but sensed a negative tone.

When Leurquin saw the resulting review video, she felt she needed to respond. The pastry chef is by no means a Luddite. She frequently posts and appears in videos that show how JL’s pastries are made or offer lighthearted takes on bakery life. In her response to Griffo’s review, posted on Oct. 9, Leurquin shared how things unfolded, adding screenshots of their exchange.

“She essentially tried to blackmail us by saying if we offer the food for free, she would then write a good review about us,” Leurquin said in the video.

The owner’s concern wasn’t about Griffo’s opinion, but about some of the statements about the bakery’s ingredients.

“While I maintain that you’re entitled to your opinion and your taste and not everything is for everyone – and I fully understand that and respect that – I felt some of the comments that were made on our products and our processes were false and it really misrepresented the business and what we do,” Leurquin told Phoenix New Times on Monday.

In the video, Leurquin walks through her kitchen, picking up a tub of Italian pistachio paste before walking over to a pallet of European flours to show the ingredients her team uses in their bakes. She rolls mounds of dough, and her staff shares a glimpse of how they work.

“The most valuable part of our product is the time we spend to make them,” Leurquin said in the video. “From our sourdough starter to our dough, every single thing is hand-made from scratch.”

Leurquin explains in the video that she’s seen this influencer post incendiary reviews about other restaurants and is worried about the impact.

“The problem is if the next generation is influenced by her to believe it’s OK to bully and disrespect the food industry,” she said.

Business booms at JL Patisserie

That sentiment struck a chord online, leading to a tsunami of backlash against Griffo and an outpouring of support for JL Patisserie. Leurquin’s response video has garnered more than 62 million views on TikTok and 2.2 million views on Instagram. 

“I stood up for small businesses, I stood up for influencers that do pay, I stood up for people that are honest and, primarily, I stood up for people who work in the food industry,” Leurquin said. “I think it spoke to a lot of people. I think it was something that needed to be said.”

Local media keyed in. As the posts went viral, national outlets, including People and Today, covered the drama. 

People from every corner of social media started chiming in with their own posts. A server shared her experience when Griffo visited her workplace. The team at Phoenix restaurant Chilte asked for compassion before customers or influencers rant about a restaurant, or any small business, online. Creators made parody videos about the drama. 

There has been so much online discussion that Meta AI now summarizes “pastrygate” for users. Fake AI-generated videos of Griffo have also proliferated. 

Over the weekend, people got off their phones and started showing up at JL Patisserie’s three locations. Curious customers and influencers alike lined up to taste the bakery’s goods for themselves. Regulars who don’t use social media were surprised to see the long lines and got clued into what happened while they waited.

“The response is blowing my mind,” Leurquin said. “The sense of community from people has blown my mind, and they all have shown up and they’re all here to support us.”

Her staff have come in on their days off to lend a hand amid the surging demand.

“We’ve been here for three days nonstop,”  Leurquin said.

While the last week has been chaotic, it’s also been one of the best for business since the patisserie opened in 2019. JL Patisserie often sells out of its goods, but in the last few days, “we sold out so quick,” Leurquin said. The pistachio pastry that Griffo panned has been “by far” the bestseller.

Meanwhile, the patisserie’s social media pages have been flooded with new followers and supportive DMs. Leurquin is catching up on responses. 

Food influencer Keith Lee responds

The drama also caught the attention of one of social media’s most recognizable food influencers. Keith Lee has built a following of 17.2 million users thanks to quick videos of himself demurely tasting food, usually while seated in a car. He ranks each item on a scale of 1 to 10. His reviews can exponentially boost or bust a business – a phenomenon referred to as the “Keith Lee Effect.” During a visit to Arizona in 2024, Lee made surprise visits to eight places around the Valley.

The social media heavyweight weighed in on the drama with a video posted on Oct. 13. He commended Leurquin for her response and quickly noted that his intention isn’t to dogpile.

“I think there’s accountability that should be taken. When I say accountability, I mean on behalf of the food reviewer, not because she was honest and said she didn’t like the food,” Lee said. “I think when you start allowing money to dictate what your opinion is, or to dictate or sway anything that has to do with your opinion, I think that’s when you’re wrong.”

Calling himself a “bread connoisseur,” Lee also shared his interest in visiting the bakery.

Leurquin responded with a comment from the patisserie’s account: “All this time and all you needed was an invite ?? 😱 we could have saved a lot of time here Keith! 😄”

The pastry chef admits she didn’t know who Lee was before all of this, but she noticed him getting tagged throughout the online comments. Whether he’ll visit the bakery remains to be seen, but Leurquin hopes he does. 

Influencer faces wave of backlash

As the JL Patisserie team adjusts to this brighter spotlight, the backlash against Griffo has been swift. She did not respond to messages from Phoenix New Times seeking comment, but told The Arizona Republic that she’s received “rape and death” threats. She was doxed and her tires were slashed. Now, she plans to move out of state, she told The Republic.

Griffo initially posted a video in response to Leurquin’s. But in the days since, that video and all of her reviews have been deleted. She has made her Instagram account private. The @glamoramaaa TikTok account has added several text posts, but Griffo says they aren’t from her.

“Any posts or comments from glamoramaaa from 10/12/25 and onward is not me. It is a fake account using my identity. *My REVIEW videos have been deleted,” her profile bio reads.

On that account, one text post from Oct. 11 is visible.

“My review was not revenge for being turned down for a collaboration,” the post said. “I had already planned to visit, paid or not. But I understand with how things unfolded, it might have looked like I did it out of spite. That’s not who I am, and that was never my intention.

“For those who’ve followed me for a while, you know I always give honest reviews good or bad. But I also understand now that honesty without compassion can come across the wrong way,” the post continued.

In the post, Griffo noted her visit was as a paying customer. She acknowledged how her videos could be perceived and issued an apology.

“To the bakery, I’m sincerely sorry for any harm my words have caused. I respect the time, effort and heart that goes into running a small business, and I genuinely wish you nothing but success moving forward,” the post said. “At the end of the day, we’re all human. Sometimes we mess up publicly and all we can do is take accountability, learn and grow from it.”

Leurquin does not condone the hateful response that Griffo has received. 

“We never meant for hate to be directed at her. We didn’t mention her name, we cropped it out. We were just trying to represent the situation,” she says.

Influencers have visited the bakery in the past, Leurquin says, noting that she’s never paid them. Often, she and her team are unaware they’ve visited until a video pops up online. The recent experience hasn’t soured her on the possibility of doing collaborations in the future, and she’s hopeful people will be more thoughtful about the impact their online actions have.

“I want people to really understand that (no matter) how big or small of an influencer you are, you need to be mindful of the impact of your influence,” she said. “While our opinions might be different, you could really try to influence people to be good people and to be respectful.”