Manna Dew — Restaurant in London

The staff here are abusive. They have a pattern of this behaviour, will blacklist customers for having any concerns, and use fake Al generated reviews to hide negative ones. It is genuinely shameful to have an establishment in the gluten free community. Avoid.

I received a Basque cheesecake from Manna Dew for my birthday (I’m celiac) and what arrived was essentially uncooked batter. The center was unset and liquid, and it was impossible to slice or plate because it completely collapsed. The top was pale and barely brown. It looked nothing like their own website or Instagram photos, and nothing like their written description of a “custard-like center” and a “deeply caramelised top”.

I sent over a message reasonably explaining our concerns along with photos. In response, I was told to “please research” Basque cheesecake multiple times. Putting aside how passive aggressive this is…every example, including their own marketing, will show you a set, sliceable cake. Custardy center, yes; liquid, no. Regardless, I’ve made them myself. I’ve eaten many. I ordered it because I LOVE Basque cheesecake…a properly baked one, not underbaked slop!

What followed were clearly AI-generated replies that repeated the same vague statements without addressing my specific evidence. The director then personally messaged to say this was “perfectly baked", that maybe I was “after something else", and, once again, to "please research" Basque cheesecake. Patronising, defensive, and quite frankly embarrassing customer service. No refund, replacement, or any other reasonable resolution offered, just smug dismissal.

Without any prior discussion over email, Manna Dew located the original order (a gift from a family member) and sent her an unsolicited email reiterating their position. In that email, they cited being “multi-award-winning” as evidence the cake could not have been faulty, and informed us they would not accept any future orders from us.

I have no issue with a business taking pride in its reputation, but even the best bakeries can have an off day, especially with a bake as temperamental as cheesecake. What matters is how you look after the customer when that happens. In this case, Manna Dew chose to double down on a passive aggressive stance rather than acknowledge the problem or offer a reasonable resolution.

I used to recommend Manna Dew in gluten free circles in London. I’ll be telling everyone to avoid them, both for their poor quality and unprofessional, condescending attitude when approached for a resolution.

Edit: The response from the bakery below is essentially the same message I received privately, just with different wording (first it was slightly runny, then molten). It still doesn't address the fact that the cake was visibly different from what is advertised by the bakery as well as characteristic of a properly baked...

Goods not delivered to me, refund & redelivery refused. Really rude owner who has stolen my money.

Manna Dew told their delivery company they could “leave in a safe space” but I did not select this when I ordered from Manna Dew. Despite the contracts between me and Manna, and Manna and DPD being separate contracts entirely, they are refusing to accept their portion of blame in not making sure the delivery contract was back to back with my contract with them.

They have breached CRA 2015 and told me they will “never give me a refund” and have blacklisted me because they don’t understand the law around consumer rights. They also are incredibly rude and have blacklisted me purely for stating to them my legal rights.

In summary, they’ve now stolen around £45 from me by not delivering the hood to me, and refusing to arrange a redelivery or refund. So I am having to complain formally and legally about them.

My experience with the customer services is extremely poor and they need to educate themselves. I will update this review when the official ombudsman and trading standards review is complete.

I think they will respond to this review by suggesting they have proof it was delivered - customers be warned - this was only delivered to a “safe place” which I did not agree to, for the very reason things go missing I have to legally have agreed to the “safe space” for this to be valid, so their rebuttals are nonsensical.

My review: Manna Dew is terrible, money taken, no goods delivered to me as was our contract, contract...

Amazing pastries, great products, shame about the unprofessional management. I ordered some pastries that never arrived so I contacted Manna Dew about two weeks later on Shop App to see where my order was (it's not cheap!! so you definitely can't let that go!) and turns out it was a mistake on their end. They eventually sent the pastries and again, they weren't delivered so I asked where they were and they checked with their delivery service - turns out they were disposed of. THIRD TIME LUCKY and about 6 weeks later I got my pastries. Prior to this they promised to refund me for the ordeal. I would have happily kept ordering from them but today I got a very childish passive agressive message from their Director on Instagram saying I am banned from ordering for life and they will 'fight the refund on shopify and win'. They also blocked me on all instagram accounts. So unnecessary. I'm sorry but if they are this petty over £40 worth of pastries that was a saga in itself to materilaise then, as much as I would've kept ordering despite this hiccup, I'm not giving my money to, or recommending this place to anyone. Blocking me on instagram is really...