When Michele Heart posted to a Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, and Bensonhurst community Facebook group complaining that La Bella Marketplace, one of the neighborhood’s few independent supermarkets, had sold her a bad onion, she probably didn’t expect to go viral.
But in a corner of Brooklyn where loyalty to local businesses runs deep, the onion uproar quickly spiraled into meme-worthy chaos.
Heart claimed that after purchasing the offending onion from La Bella — an Italian supermarket on 13th Avenue known for its fresh produce and family-owned charm — she returned to the store seeking a refund and was turned away. She wanted to air her frustrations through the Facebook post. The internet, however, had other plans.
Within hours, dozens of comments flooded in. While some sympathized with her plight, most roasted her for what they saw as an overreaction to a common produce mishap.
“Cheap, miserable people, only looking to suck out as much money as possible from the neighborhood,” one commenter wrote.
Others poked fun at the situation: “I ordered a 10 piece chicken nugget. Only got 9,” posted one user.
“My cat is filing a class action suit against La Bella Market. He claims the Fancy Feast Salmon canned food they sold him for the last 4 years was farm-raised and not wild-caught. All frustrated felines are welcomed to join,” wrote another.
In perhaps the ultimate show of solidarity with La Bella, some users changed their profile pictures to images of onions where even unrelated posts became targets for onion-themed jokes.
Even the local media couldn’t resist. Radio Free Bay Ridge slyly referenced the saga on their website, creating an onion-themed server error page.
Despite the online roasting, Heart (who could not be reached for further comment) herself seems to be taking the backlash in stride. She posted a follow-up video of herself cutting open a fresh La Bella onion, proving its quality. She also confirmed she would continue shopping at the store — but would not buy produce.
And what does the store make of all this?
La Bella’s produce manager, who says everyone calls him “Dee,” found out about the Facebook frenzy through one of his customers. He said it’s business as usual — and he’s even seen some new faces in the past couple of weeks.
“People have come up to me, telling me about the post, saying they ‘wrote her back’ or ‘yelled at her on Facebook’,” said Dee.
Aside from all the online drama, he insists that he told Heart what he tells all of his customers: if there is ever a problem, come to him.
“Come to me, I’ll help you out — always. No need to go on Facebook and say the store is bad,” Dee told Brooklyn Paper. “You know what they say, one bad apple doesn’t spoil the whole bunch.”
While the onion drama proved entertaining for some, it also highlighted how strongly Brooklynites feel about preserving neighborhood staples like La Bella, in business in Dyker Heights since 1975.
Debbie Montelbano, a local customer, walked out of La Bella last week, bags in hand.
“Dee is great! This place is great. I shop here everyday,” said Montelbano. “The onion, you know, how are they supposed to know the middle of it is rotten when the outside looks good — they have no idea.”
