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A New Jersey singer-songwriter was left outraged when an upscale restaurant served her birthday dessert with an offensive message highlighting her wheelchair.

Antonia Sinbaldi was celebrating her 29th birthday dinner with friends and family at Blu on the Hudson in Weehawken, NJ, in June when she ordered an Apple Tart Tatin for dessert.

“Happy Wheel Chair Birthday,” the plate read while the message and note were written in sauce.

Sinbaldi had posted a video from the outing with loved ones while she received the sweet treat, described as a puff pastry with vanilla ice cream and salted caramel — and the cruel note.

“Not to complain about a fairly new restaurant in my town, but why would you make my dessert say this? she questioned on Instagram. “What was written on my plate probably set my employee off more than me. I would never expect that in my town.”

Sinbaldi has used a motorized wheelchair and has needed a ventilator after she suffered a cervical spinal injury when a drunk driver struck the car she was in at the age of 2.

She was baffled by the message, and her body reacted faster than her brain.

“Body started shaking, body started spasming. My body reacted faster than my mouth or my mind,” she told WNBC on Tuesday.

After the initial shock, Sinbaldi’s party confronted the management of the Weehawken establishment — which opened in 2023 — and questioned the message.

The party was offered complimentary drinks, she claimed.

“It offended me. This whole thing doesn’t sound real,” Sinbaldi told the outlet.

The restaurant said the message was a misunderstanding between staffers after the order was placed, indicating the birthday dessert was for Sinbaldi, the diner with the wheelchair.

“We sincerely apologize to the guest and to everyone who was hurt or offended by this incident which took place on June 20, 2026. Treating every guest with dignity, respect, and care is fundamental to who we are as a company,” the restaurant said in a statement to WCBS.

“Our standard operating procedure is to use table and seat numbers on tickets to identify where each dish should be delivered. In this instance, the word ‘wheelchair’ was used as a reference to identify where a birthday dessert with a candle should be delivered,” the management said. “Unfortunately, that notation was misunderstood and was written on the plate itself. There was absolutely no malicious or disrespectful intent behind the notation. However, we fully understand how seeing that word written on a plate could be deeply hurtful and upsetting.”

Sinbaldi didn’t fully agree with the restaurant’s sentiment, calling it a “bs response.”

“My chair is not my identity, Sinbaldi wrote on Instagram. “Like I said, my body was reacting faster than my mind so I couldn’t leave that fast.”

Sinbaldi, an advocate for disability rights, asked for people to learn from the birthday mishap.

“Don’t bring my disability [up] in every sentence, is what people, they should know,” she told the outlet.

A woman who has used a wheelchair since she was 2 says a birthday celebration with friends and family took a disturbing turn when their Hudson waterfront restaurant in New Jersey dropped off dessert.

Antonia Sinibaldi was celebrating her 29th birthday at Blu on the Hudson in Weehawken when she says she and her cousin ordered the same apple cinnamon treat.

The message on hers -- "Happy Birthday Wheelchair" -- made her body start to spasm, Sinbaldi says.

"Body started shaking, body started spasming. My body reacted faster than my mouth or my mind," she said.

Sinbaldi says her group spoke to a manager at the restaurant and got a complimentary drinks offer but no apology. Blu on the Hudson later said it was deeply saddened by the June 20 incident and apologized.

The Weehawken eatery explained in a statement that the word "wheelchair" was used to identify the table receiving the cake, and was inadvertently written on the plate.

"The word 'wheelchair was used as a reference to identify where a birthday dessert with a candle should be delivered," Blue on the Hudson said in a statement. "Unfortunately, that notation was misunderstood and was written on the plate itself."

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"There was absolutely no malicious or disrespectful intent behind the notation," it continued. "However, we fully understand how seeing that word written on a plate could be deeply hurtful and upsetting."

The restaurant says it has taken steps to avoid such incidents in the future.

Still, Sinibaldi, an artist and musician, believes someone should have known better.

"It offended me. This whole thing doesn't sound real," she said.

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC New York. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC New York journalist edited the article for publication.

WEEHAWKEN, N.J. (WCBS/CBS NEWSPATH/WKRC) - A New Jersey restaurant is apologizing after a woman who uses a wheelchair was served a birthday dessert with the words “Happy Birthday Wheelchair” written on the plate.

Antonia Sinibaldi, a singer-songwriter, was celebrating her 29th birthday with family and friends at Blu on the Hudson in Weehawken on June 20 when the dessert arrived.

“My family's angry, my friends are angrier, but me, I'm just baffled by it,” Sinibaldi said.

A New Jersey restaurant is apologizing after a woman who uses a wheelchair was served a birthday dessert with the words “Happy Birthday Wheelchair” written on the plate. (WCBS/CBS NEWSPATH)

Sinibaldi was diagnosed with a cervical spinal injury following a car crash involving a drunk driver when she was 2 years old. She has relied on a motorized wheelchair and ventilator for most of her life.

When dessert was served, Sinibaldi said she and others at the table were stunned by the message written on the plate.

“Just took me by surprise,” she said. “I shouldn't be reminded of something that I already know.”

Sinibaldi said her group asked restaurant management for an explanation and was initially offered additional drinks.

Blu on the Hudson later apologized and said the message resulted from a misunderstanding.

According to the restaurant, the word “wheelchair” had been entered as a reference to help employees identify where the birthday dessert with a candle needed to be delivered. The restaurant said the notation was mistakenly interpreted as part of the message that should be written on the plate.

“There was absolutely no malicious or disrespectful intent behind that notation,” a restaurant spokesperson said.

Management described what happened as an “unfortunate mistake” and said the restaurant was deeply saddened by the incident.

Sinibaldi said she hopes what happened can serve as a lesson about how people interact with those who have disabilities.

“Don't bring my disability in every sentence,” she said. “That's what people, they should know.”

The restaurant said management has attempted to contact Sinibaldi directly to apologize but has been unsuccessful.

Sinibaldi said she does not plan to return to the restaurant.