Saint Germain Bakery — Restaurant in Burnaby

A reputable bakery with inconsistent promotion and questionable practice.

We have been a repeat customer for cakes and pastry as St. Germain bakery is simply the tastiest in the neighborhood. Today we tried to order a birthday cake online, taking advantage of the Air Canada voucher offers. Somehow the website did not allow us to order any cake for the following day. Emails to the website support yielded no response. So we took the time to head into the store to order the cake, foregoing the much advertised promotion.

We were advised to purchase $30+dollars on the order to qualify for the VIP card, so we did. After the order was paid for, we got a call from the bakery about 20 mins later. The staff conveyed that the cake we had order was out of stock and we would have to switch to a bigger size which has been on display at our cost.

This confused us. The whole point of us ordering a day earlier was so St. Germain could make the cake on the day, and not use stale stock that's been on display for who knows how long. The request for us to move up a size at 10% discount seemed like a bait-n-switch when the order had been paid in full. We did not comply since we did not want the person picking up the cake to pay on the spot.

I called in and politely asked for management to explain what exactly the reasoning was behind this unprofessional request, obviously violating our verbal and written agreement. All of the sudden, the staff queried if I could push the pick up 30 mins later and that everything will be alright.

This confused me again. It would appear that they did not want to make the cake fresh for whatever reason and tried to peddle us the one that's been on display.

While I believe the cake will still be yummy as always, this was extremely unprofessional and unbecoming of a celebrated bakery such as...

湯種蘋果芝士🙆🏽‍♀️(really really like enjoy the 湯種 dough, it’s soft and chewy. But this apple flavour is not my thing. Hope they will have other flavour in the future Banana walnut pond cake 😐(little walnut. dry loose texture, not a fan. Prefer moist, dense ones

Danish toast 🙆🏽‍♀️🙆🏽‍♀️(decent croissant soft chewy texture. Coconut buttery milk bread 🙆🏽‍♀️(the crust is amazing. The bread has great texture, soft, chewy. But lack in flavour. Used it to make bread pudding, turns out great

walnut cookies 😐

Germain bun(ensaymada)🙆🏽‍♀️(enjoy parts with the paste

0318 Coconut bun 😐(the coconut filling is too sweet for me and the flavour & texture are just not my type. But the bread the dough is super good, chewy, soft Danish salt cheese pineapple bun 😐(despite several elements in its name, none of them stands out. It is just an average I-don’t-know-how-to-categorize bun. Again the dough itself is amazing Triple cheese toast🙆🏽‍♀️🙆🏽‍♀️🙆🏽‍♀️🙆🏽‍♀️(amazing. Like the previous ones, their dough is consistently good and this one even bounces when you bite it, like Q彈？. Also like how the cheese is a creamy, salty Pecan tart🙆🏽‍♀️(okay. Not too sweet. The bottom is a bit burnt which is yeah! for me Hk style napoleon 🙆🏽‍♀️(overall bland and heavy. But parts with walnuts are delicious. Wish they put more Chocolate Swiss roll 🙅🏽‍♀️(the texture is too dense for me, chokingly dry. Bland taste. Too little cream. The choco flavour is cheap.

0404 Almond Danish toast🙆🏽‍♀️(the size has shrunk a lot. Way better than t&t’s. Fluffy, consistent, soft, buttery, moist texture. The top crust is also nice. Overall decent, what you’d expect from a Danish toast

0427 Coconut cream bun🙅🏽‍♀️(too heavy and greasy for me. Average bun Yudane cranberry cheese 😐(while I love the yudane dough, the cheese and cranberry flavour is...

Today, I went to order a 6-inch Tiramisu cake for a colleague's birthday tomorrow. After waiting in line, I told the cashier I wanted to order the cake.

During the process, the cashier had no conversation or any friendly interaction, and her attitude was very stiff. After that, she directly told me the price after tax and charged my card.

Then I moved to the fridge area to wait. While waiting, a staff member at the counter asked if I wanted anything written on the cake, and I told them the name for the celebration. I reminded them that I would pick it up tomorrow. However, the staff member scolded me, saying I should have mentioned it earlier.

I replied that they hadn't asked me. The cashier then raised her voice and insisted that I hadn’t mentioned it earlier. I found this very strange. Shouldn’t it be the cashier’s responsibility to ask whether the cake is for same-day pickup or for a later date, and confirm this with the customer before processing the payment?

Overall, the service attitude was appalling. Every time I go to buy bread or cakes there, it feels like the customer owes the shop money. Regardless of whether the products are good or not, or how much they cost, my shopping experience was extremely unpleasant. I would rate this...