Dao Café — Restaurant in Ottawa

I am writing to express my deep dissatisfaction with the service I received during my recent visit to your Merivale location. As a loyal customer who pre-ordered a cake for my wife's birthday, my experience was far from satisfactory, and I believe it's important to bring this matter to your attention.

On 26th October, I placed an online pre-order for a cake through your website, anticipating a wonderful birthday celebration for my wife. However, upon arriving at your Merivale location, I was met with a series of disappointing experiences.

First, I was informed that I needed to wait for an additional 20 minutes to receive the cake I had pre-ordered a day in advance. This delay was already inconvenient, but the situation worsened when I was asked to travel to your Orleans location, which is nearly 20 kilometers away from Merivale and 30 kilometers from my home. Despite the inconvenience, I complied, as I wanted to ensure that my wife's birthday would be celebrated as planned.

Upon my arrival at the Orleans location, I was asked to wait for an additional 15 minutes. This extended waiting time further tested my patience and increased my frustration. Finally, when I received the cake, it was handed to me without proper packaging. To my dismay, the cake was completely exposed, with only a cardboard flat base to support it. This lack of packaging not only jeopardized the cake's hygiene but also created an unappealing presentation.

I had pre-ordered this cake with high expectations, spending $93.50, but the service I received was far from what I had anticipated. The entire experience has left me extremely dissatisfied and frustrated.

As a loyal customer, I expect better service and value for the money I spent. I kindly request that you investigate this matter thoroughly and take the necessary steps to address the issues I have raised. Additionally, I believe it is only fair to offer compensation for the inconvenience and disappointment I experienced during this visit.

I hope that my feedback will help you improve your service quality and customer satisfaction. I look forward to a prompt resolution to this matter and a response...

Came across this place searching for cakes on a Sunday evening when many others were closed. Prices are pretty high, aesthetics are also high - both the sweets and the establishment are very nicely presented. I did find that the pastries I picked up were a little bit forgettable though.

The strawberry croissant was pretty good, and the popular items seemed to be anything with croissant. We got the Biscoff flattened croissant and the cookie as well, my partner really enjoyed the cookie but it’s not something I would normally go for.

I wasn’t a fan of the Pablo cheesecake or whatever it is, I found the texture quite grainy and I didn’t finish my slice. Really didn’t do anything for me and I love cheese cake. I had tried to ask questions about it but the sweet girl working wasn’t really understanding and there was a bit of a communication barrier. A lot of items are behind a glass wall as well which strained communication further. It was also fairly busy which added to the sort of chaotic feeling.

I got some kind of cream puff bread cake thing that was also interesting but maybe not to my tastes. It was very fluffy and light and buttery-creamy, not super sweet. Again, I think a half cake was something like $10 so I found it pretty pricey for the humble looking item that it was. You can probably find this at T&T or similar for a better price and comparable quality

In the end due to the communication barriers and chaotic ordering process they forgot an item on my order and had to charge me again. It’s not the end of the world but this place is just ok for me and looks better than...

Used to be amazing when they first opened. They had a great selection of desserts brought in from great brands in Toronto and their own creations that were great. Lots of focus on Asian businesses and flavors and were often adding new, consistently good, menu items.

As time has gone on, their prices have increased a lot, they dropped a ton of great items they brought in from Toronto (reduced the Daango flavors and dropped their cakes, dropped Hattendo altogether, dropped the Social Blend dacquoise and don't seem to have any of their new macaron flavors, dropped the Pablo ice cream and some of their cakes) and several of their own items they've made in the past that were great just to replace them with mediocre quality items with extremely lazy presentation and often flavor profiles that don't seem to suite the concept of a Euro Asian fusion cafe. I've also had several stale items over the last year.

Otherwise, their coffee is overpriced, their matcha is too weak (especially for a Japanese inspired cafe, like come on) and the service is also usually slow and orders are often packaged poorly.

The only positives I can give them is that they fixed their croissants (which have been abysmal for the last year) and they're actually very nice now and I'm happy to see that they've brought back some of their mille crepe cakes.

Really hope they end up bringing back some of the things they've dropped or replacing them with equivalents that are actually worthwhile because I used to go almost weekly and try a lot of stuff and now I barely bother going and when I do, I'm often just...