Nova Era Bakery — Restaurant in Kitchener

I would give this a zero if I could. It takes me an IMMENSE amount of frustration to even begin to leave a somewhat negative review, let alone suggest a zero star. ... but that’s how bad this experience was. Between Skip and this restaurant they completely dropped the ball. I put in an almost $100 order at 5:30 am Central time, scheduling the delivery for 8:30 am - 9 am. As it was a slightly bigger order, I wanted to ensure the restaurant had ample time to prepare, and not run out of stock for their other customers.As I’m out of province, I thought it would be nice to support local and send an Easter gift using Skip. Terrible idea. They processed the order in Central time rather than eastern time— 2 hours difference. This makes no sense, because that means I could schedule an order that would occur after closing. This rationalization fell on deaf ears.(FYI- there is no time zone option). Absolutely no remorse, apology, or regret here. I called the restaurant before even calling Skip— no one would answer. Called Skip, had to have the order canceled. They were zero help and I was forced to redo the whole order. They would not help adjust, remedy, or do anything to be of assistance except cancel the order. Now, when Skip cancels an order it takes 3-5 business days to refund. So rather than help me, they made me give them another $100, and because of the long weekend pro a lot won’t be back in my account until next Friday. Luckily, I can swing that— no problem. But what about the people that can’t? Moving on, as I am placing my forced reorder, of course, by then some items were sold out. Fine. Happens. The second order indicates that the estimated time to do this order is15 minutes. Perfect! This could be salvageable!Right? Wrong. Within 30 seconds of placing my second $100 order, the order a message pops up that they need 45 minutes. I call the restaurant a third time- this time they pick up. ...yea! This is fixable! Right? Wrong. For a province about to go implement a “Covid brake” ( not a typo) it sounded like a nightclub in there. I’m so glad I wasn’t there in person because judging by the multiple other voices yelling almost right into the phone, I’d say the whole six feet thing was out the window. Either way, I tell the girl what has happened. She can’t hear me. I repeat it. It goes on. No apology, no reaction, and no ownership on the restaurant’s end. Being extremely polite still, despite their lack of care, I asked really nicely if there’s any way to try to do what they could to make it faster at all.. being that there’s already been a 2 hour time zone “mix up” and now an additional 45 minute wait.Their response was that they’re just really busy and something along the lines of they need time to make it. My order did not have one thing that needed to be made! My goodness. No sandwiches. No cooking. Just donuts and muffins. If you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking “ but you ordered 100 bucks in donuts and muffins! That’s a lot.” This isn’t Tim’s. the average price of the pastries I ordered was like $2.50 a piece. So after tax and tip and delivery fee, this wasn’t a massive order whatsoever.That being said, all they had to do was put the order in a box and press the page button for the courtier. However, it basically was made out that they would get to it when they could. Meaning everyone who was coming in person was still going to get precedence over my order until they found the time to box it.They did assure me however that they would make it. Whatever that means. I hope you would make a $100 order for a customer who’s gone out of their way to support local... and gone through an hour of complete ridiculousness to ensure the order was being delivered. At the very least, yes, I hope you would make it. Do they often cancel orders there? I have no idea, but it was the strangest response to all of this. Delivery driver was amazing and should probably be a manager for either team. Only person who did their job correctly. Went above & beyond. As for the food? No idea. Don’t care. Got there....

I went to Nova Era on May 11th to order a cake for my son's first birthday. I ordered the cake I wanted and also bought another cake for Mother's Day. The day to pick up the cake was May 17th at 5 pm. I went a little early and my husband and I had coffee. After we finished our coffee, I waited in line and told the girl who came to help me that I had placed an order last week and I gave her the receipt with the order number. I was looking and told the husband that something was wrong. I think there is a problem with the cake, maybe it wasn't made. The manager called me and put me through to the owner who insisted that I had placed the order online and had not finished it or on another website while I explained that I had placed it in person and the person who took my order was there. The owner was trying to make me feel guilty for not ordering from their website. When I told her that I have a photo of the cake order along with the order number, she tried to excuse herself by telling me that she didn't know what had happened. Once saying that the cake was made but the driver sent it somewhere else, no the order was not made. In 1 min 3-4 different versions. She was also telling me that she would give me the money for the cake (of course I would get the money because it wasn't my fault and I didn't get the order). She spoke to me in a way as if the issue was about money. I wasn't complaining if the cake wasn't good or wasn't made as I asked for and I wanted the money.(it’s not about the money, because for my daughter’s bday i was paying over $150 for 15 ) . Not to mention the staff who turn bad, but when something is wrong on their side they act like they don't speak or understand English well. They offered me to get a cake from the store. I regretted not ordering from the store that I always order from but I thought I would try it since I bought cakes there when I needed them at the last minute. They ruined my party and I had to buy new decorations. Also, my daughter who chose it for her brother was very upset that I didn't buy the cake she wanted. I don't go there anymore but also my friends and acquaintances decided not to go there anymore. This wasn't the first incident for me and them, but it will...

$25 PARKING TICKET!!!!

This is an establishment I have been going to for a couple years, primarily because of its location......my daughter's doctor's office is directly across the street. When I take her to an appointment I wait in the SUV and when she gets back we go in and have a coffee and a dessert.

Although the desserts look amazing in the counter, I've yet to taste anything that was worth what I paid. Most of the pastries are dry and lack filling. Extremely slow ordering process and staff can be quite rude.

Yesterday will be my final visit to this establishment. As usual I waited for my daughter to come from her doctor appointment. We went inside and had our coffee and pastry as usual. When we came outside since my daughter wanted to vape before driving home, we crossed the street to the convenience store and cashed in our winning bingo tickets.

We came back to get into the SUV to find a $25.00 parking ticket on my windshield.

I called the number on the back of the ticket today to find out that I can request a screening, but highly unlikely I will get the ticket reversed even though I have proof I was in the bakery.

I told the officer that wrote the ticket that I spoke to on the phone that I crossed the road after coming out to cash in lottery tickets and he said that was the problem. Really?

After paying an overpriced fee for a disappointing pastry, you can't even have 5 minutes to cross the road and pop in a convenience store???

Don't give this business any of your money. They don't appreciate their customers and don't deserve to even...