Danish Pastry House — Restaurant in Toronto

As pretty as it looks and as tasty as the items are, it cannot compare to the frustration and confusion from this store. I cannot imagine what it is like when it's actually busy on a Saturday. The Danish Pastry House opened up in Sherway and also Union Station recently. It seems the Downtown store is getting quite a great reaction with it's 4 and 5 stars awarded. This location is bit of an exercise... and we're not talking about getting ready to work off those pastry calories. You need a certain amount patience as their service and store flow is just ... subpar.

The store is in the bright new hallway leading to Nordstrom. With it's huge glass windows, it lets the sun shine brightly upon the many dozens of folded butter dough dripped and drenched in chocolate or icing. The store itself it not too big with zero spots for seating inside. You can easily find spots to sit outside though with it's many shared tables with Nordstrom EBar... at least 20 tables to let you indulge in the newly purchased pastries.

If the eye candy in the window calls and beckons you... here's the drill. Stick right by the door and dont head towards the cashier to line up. Order from the person that looks like only offering samples ... she actually takes your order WHILE offering samples. So getting to her is a chore cause half the people in the store just wants samples. Once you get her attention, she'll take your order even though you have no idea what the names are cause they're facing out to the hallway and you can't see them. You just point and guess. THEN you wade through the mess of people who are equally confused on how to order and try to get to the cashier with no clear lines to pay. Got it? No? Good... no one else did while I was there.

The other frustrating thing, is the lack of care in the staff. There were 5 people behind the counter but only 2 providing service while 1 was helping stack new items and the last 2 were just talking about their personal family matters. Not once did anyone actually cared about people lining up in the wrong lines, people getting frustrated and leaving because they can't get an order, or that they were confused on where to go.

Crown pastry - The crown pastry has a custard and creamy marzipan (sweet almond) paste that sits perfectly between the four points of a crown. It has a chunk of milk chocolate that sits inside as well. The marzipan and custard kept it's rich creamy texture and you can taste quite a bit of marzipan which made it quite nice. The bun itself was crisped on the edges which shattered nicely and messily as you ate it. Bring a napkin! I would say I felt the chocolate a little... unnecessary in the whole bit. It didn't add to the depth of it 4/5

Chocolate cinnamon snail (Kanel Snegl) - This was definitely close tot he ones I remember in Copenhagen. The dough was flakier and crisp on the outer edges. The swirl of the snail collapsed which was unusual... all the ones in Copenhagen was intact but much lower. I think the bun was filled with more air? Anyhow, the flavour with the cinnamon was very nice... prominent without being overwhelming. I think the addition of the chocolate here was a better fit. I would have liked to have more bun instead of air in the middle but definitely closer to the real deal. The other missing piece was the lack of butter note... I actually didnt taste too much of any butter. 4/5

Flodeboller - This was my afternoon snack with a good coffee in Copenhagen. It is a tall and swirly meringue sitting pretty on top of a buttery shortbread like cookie and then drenched in a chocolate shell. As someone commented to me, it looks like the poop emoji. RIIIGHT. Well normally this 'poop' cookie is just awesome in Copenhagen. This one had the meringue very creamy instead of springy light a freshly made marshmallow and the taste predominantly came from the chocolate shell. 3.5/5

Pricewise, these are not a cheap affair BUT I would say their taste do lend themselves to be above most mall outlets...

Yesterday I went with my toddler to get 1 butter croissant Asked the server to heat it up I paid then when I looked at butter croissant it was mini croissant very small size not soft and extremely oily for $3.25 something and I was so suprised if my toddler didn’t insist eating that I would take a picture to post here and also it was not fresh at all I don’t know server put it in microwave so much or it was just old crossaint And when I complained to 1 Indian girl in the Sherway garden location she was extremely rude and gave me attitude and didn’t say anything and I understood they don’t care about their customers but they don’t understand word of mouth is very strong! No wonder they had plenty of croissants left and when you go to aroma or Starbucks or second cup sometimes they are sold out Very poor customer service And obviously cutting from their products and charging the same amount of money like other places I will never go to any locations of danish pastry anymore and I will tell whoever I know to pay somewhere else to get better quality with the same...

Had a decent day shopping at CF Sherway Gardens, but my experience at the Danish Pastry House was a letdown. I bought a loaf, but just before leaving the store my 2-year-old said she wants something else. The cashier initially agreed to an exchange since we even haven’t opened the plastic bag, but the manager's involvement changed everything.

Her demeanor was surprisingly off-putting. She made me feel really awkward in front of other customers with her strange facial expressions. Things escalated when she abruptly said we don’t usually accept exchanges. To avoid further discomfort, I decided to keep my original purchase.

I understand that there might be policies in place, but she could have just mentioned it in the first place and I would have definitely respected their policies. However, the way it was handled lacked basic courtesy. The manager's approach was anything but professional. It's a shame because this experience has put me off...