Sadly I didn't have a good experience with this bakery. It all started when I decided that I wanted to order a unicorn cake for my birthday. After scouring the internet I came across Rose Bakery's instagram page, and immediately fell in love with the adorable unicorn cakes on display. One even had size and pricing information listed in the comments, so I called the bakery up to place an order for that cake.
A week later I stopped by the bakery to pick up my order, and it was everything I hoped for, absolutely adorable. I made small talk with the woman at the counter, and then drove home Very Carefully, eventually placing my prize on the kitchen counter, where it was to stay until my birthday celebration the next day.
Unfortunately, my plans were dashed the following morning when I woke up to discover that my beautiful unicorn cake had completely fallen apart. You know that Dali painting with the melting clocks? Picture that, but with rainbow frosting instead. Devastated, I immediately called the bakery, and was met with annoyed indifference by the gal on the phone. She told me that this type of cake needed to be refrigerated, something that the woman I picked it up from never once mentioned. When I informed her of that her reply was "Well, usually people *ask* what they need to do" as if I was some colossal idiot for not intuitively knowing to ask a question about something that I didn't know was going to be a problem. She also mentioned that *of course* they store all of the cakes that they make in refrigerators in the back; I'm not sure how that comment was supposed to help, as being a customer I never saw the back room of the store? Finally, I got lectured for daring to pick the cake up a day earlier than I was planning on eating it. "If you didn't need it until Sunday why didn't you pick it up then?" Um, because I couldn't get it that day, and I've never had a problem with leaving a cake out before? (And, yes, the interior of my apartment is a perfectly lovely, non-melting point temperature.)
During the course of our conversation the employee asked what I wanted them (the bakery) to do. I asked if I could speak to a manager and was informed that the manager wasn't in that day, and that was pretty much it. They didn't take down my name and number for a follow up call for when the manager was back. There was also no talk of a refund, even partially; in fact, the only solution presented to me was to come in and buy another cake from their display rack (at full price). Hardly a resolution to the situation at hand.
I proceeded to check with friends, family, and coworkers on their own cake storage techniques. Every single person I spoke with confirmed that they would never think to refrigerate a cake overnight (unless it was crazy hot inside, which it wasn't). I then spoke to two different people with professional cake making experience, and both agreed independently of each other that the problem was not refrigeration at all, but that the cake was not built with enough support (no dowels holding the layers together, frosting between the layers not strong enough to keep things stationary) to hold up the heavy exterior frosting and topper, which caused the layers to slide of out place under all of that weight.
I called the bakery back a few days later and asked again to speak to the manager. I was told that the manager was currently with a customer, but the lady on the phone (who was much nicer than the previous person I spoke with) pretty much gave me the same song and dance. "We expect that everyone would refrigerate a food item" she told me, ignoring the fact that there are a ton of baked goods (bread, cookies, muffins, cupcakes, etc.) that one doesn't. I asked her to please have the manager call me back; over a week has passed since then and I haven't heard a peep.
So now I'm out $45, and while I'm not so overly dramatic as to cry about how a collapsed cake ruined my day (it didn't) it still was a less than awesome way to start a birthday. Between a subpar product and their disappointing customer service I definitely don't recommend buying your cakes from Rose Bakery. read more