Beyond The Batter Bakery — Restaurant in Hamilton

I want to give this "bakery" 0 stars but google doesn't allow you to do that. Their cupcakes are ok, nothing special but I was in the area and wanted a snack so I figured why not. The incredibly rude lady who I can only assume is the owner of the bakery (because if she isn't, how has she not been fired yet?) was too busy taking a complicated order over the phone, a smart and well-run business would've realized the 4 people waiting to place an order and put the person on the phone on hold and helped the people right in front of her.. After almost 15 minutes of waiting, Ms. Grouchy finally took our order. I told her waiting that long was unacceptable, especially for it being a phoned in cake order, it wasn't like we were waiting for her to help other customers ahead of us in line. She gave me a lot of attitude and when I called her out on "why are you giving me so much attitude" she replied with "my day is great." Clearly your day is not great if you're taking out your grouchiness on customers.

This isn't even the tip of the iceberg with this bakery. One time I found a piece of gingery-brown hair in the icing. Neither my boyfriend or I have reddish hair. This was 2 days after we had bought the half dozen, and we were trying to finish them off. We were eating them for dessert after dinner, beyond the batter has incredibly short hours so we didn't bother driving all the way out there to return it as we figured they'd be closed (they were), we just threw it out and hoped that it was a one time mistake. This same time we went and got 6, we looked on the website's weekly menu to see the flavours, we decided what we wanted and drove to the bakery only to find nothing but vanilla cake flavours because "some of the bakers were unavailable today," don't advertise so many flavours if you're only going to make vanilla ones. Gross.

Finally, I know social media can be a huuuge benefit to small businesses, but they don't even reply to their comments on instagram. They just post pictures of cupcakes without even saying the flavour, sometimes I wonder if they just take these images from actual good bakeries online.

Avoid beyond the batter at all costs if you want proper customer service, hairless cupcakes and fair prices.

EDIT/UPDATE: As a response to their ever so unprofessional business’s comment back. I work customer service, I was incredibly nice to the server, waited over 15 minutes only to be mocked for waiting. She was incredibly rude. Of course if you’re going to be rude to me first, I won’t shower you in kindness? She said “how was your day” and I simply replied “it could be going better” which she mocked. This business likes to bully customers which is disgusting behaviour. The fact that they can’t even handle criticism without cyber bullying and name calling is disgraceful. Maybe work on customer service and keeping the hair out of...

Reply: When I called before I offered to pay over the phone for four cupcakes, but you declined my request. I had my credit card ready! When we arrived, you apologized and told us that if we had mentioned it was us, you would have accommodated us. In any other store, there would be a sign indicating if there’s a limit on items. If there are ongoing issues with the cupcakes, perhaps you should consider making more.

I've been to your store over thirty times and have always been polite; I haven't sworn or yelled. The other customer in the store didn’t comment on your statements; he just wanted to get his cupcakes. Many of my family members and friends have experienced the same issue, and while one staff member has been rude, the rest of your team has been wonderful!

Orginal: This place has amazing gluten-free cupcakes, but the "rules" seem to change every day! A couple of weeks ago, I called to inquire about gluten-free options and was told there were four available. I expressed my interest and offered to pay over the phone with my credit card, but the lady insisted it was first come, first served. When I went in, I was limited to buying just four.

Fast forward to today—I called again and was told there were five or six cupcakes available, and it was still first come, first served. I was just around the corner, so I rushed over. When I arrived, I spotted seven cupcakes and asked my dad which one he wanted. Suddenly, the lady yelled that someone had already called in and paid for four of them! I reminded her that she had said it was first come, first served, but she replied that the person was coming from Brantford. At that point, I was really frustrated. It felt like she was changing the rules on a whim. She kept insisting that we should pre-order, but we don't want to do that—we come when we're in the area. I looked at my dad and said, "Let's go." I won't be coming back! The way she argues and changes her policies daily is...

The variety!!! Absolutely love getting cupcakes from Beyond the Batter. There are so many flavours to choose from on any given day. I've called in ahead of time to order a dozen, and I've gone in person to the shop to pick and choose from what's on display. They have rotating flavours, so make sure to check out their social media account or their website to see what flavours are on for the week. Their cupcakes are moist and not too sweet. The icing is a little on the sweet side, but that's what cupcakes are - dessert! They do have vegan an gluten-free cupcake options as well, though the flavour selection isn't as great. I have yet to try their other selection of sweets: cheesecake in a jar, sandwich cookies, brownies, etc. I look forward to trying these soon! It does get quite busy at the storefront, so be patient. The staff are very patient and friendly to help you make your selections and boxing, which is something I appreciate very much, especially when I have to make so...