Alexandria Pastry Shop — Restaurant in Alexandria

Their yelp page properly reflects their true rating. It wasn't an amazing experience like everybody else had. I'm sure everyone leaving reviews maybe had catering or something or maybe there was an extremely good day that these customers had.

Let's talk about the quality of the pastries. Cannoli was subpar. Not even filled in all the way, there was a huge gap where there was no filling. It definitely did not taste fresh, the shell tasted frozen. The macarons were not great either. They looked okay from a distance, only wish I had gotten closer before asking for them. The shells were bumpy/grainy looking. There was a very thin amount of filling. The shells looked full from the outside, but after biting into it, the shell cracked and fell to pieces in my hand, meaning the shell was hollow.

So time to explain the process of making macarons and where they went wrong, based on baking science (I've made a fair share of macarons). The bumpy skin of the macaron comes from the fact that they did not sieve the almond flour/powdered sugar well enough; it needs to be extremely fine. The hollow shells come from an improper merengue technique, being undercooked, or improper macaronage. The inside of the shell, despite being crackly on the outside, was very wet. Like the batter wasn't cooked enough. For that reason, I'm going to chalk up the hollow shell to being undercooked. Lastly... come on, put some more filling in those things. Macarons are expensive. Owners, if you only take one thing from my review, consider these tips on macarons. Maybe somebody new made them, but these were not good enough to have been put out on the shelf and should not have gone out on the shelf.

Finally, customer service was lacking. They all seemed very bored or maybe annoyed? You can clearly tell this is a family run business. I placed an order, I asked for 3 macarons and 2 cannolis. The person who got my stuff took a strangely long time, why? She kinda ducked down behind the counter and I was basically waiting for longer than it should've needed. All for her to just kind of place the treats in the box without much attention. Still not sure why it took so long. When she came back, she said "Sorry, I wasn't sure if you said 2 cannolis or one", I just said "Oh it's fine". When I got to the car, I opened to box to find only TWO macarons and ONE cannoli. Great.

All in all, a two star experience. One star would be too mean. I probably...

I normally don't write reviews but I have to do this one. I've been to this place several times and I really liked their sweets, cakes, and food in general. I referred this bakery to so many of my friends. I even had family members who worked there. Well, today all this appreciation I had for this establishment went downhill!! Let me give me the details…

I planned to go to Starbucks, next door, to grab some coffee and study a little bit for my CPA exam. Instead, I decided to go in there (to Alexandria Pastry). I looked around the displays, found a table, opened my laptop, and actually told one of the girls by the counter that I was going to wait a little before make an order. For me, it was too early for lunch (it was around 11:30 am). To my surprise, around 1:00 pm, when I was getting ready to go back to the cashier, and order my lunch, I was confronted by "Mr. Tom", the owner. He came straight to my table and gave me this speech about people sitting for many hours in his place without ordering any food. He was nice and everything and I took it in a good mood, because I did not want to create a scene. But I really wanted to scream at him!!! He continued saying that sometimes people come to the bakery, sit there for hours and hours and leave without consuming anything. At this moment I was really embarrassed and I told him that I had plans to "consume food”, and I had already communicated with some of his staff. Clearly, people on both tables close to me heard everything. What an embarrassment moment!! Of course, I ordered my food, as I pretended, ate my food, and stayed there until 2:00 PM. I really liked this place until today. Many times I left my house in Springfield to buy their mousse cakes. Expensive cakes, by the way, but I loved them. Not anymore!!! I understand his concerns that a lot of people use their free WI-FI and overall facilities for hours and don't consume anything, BUT THAT WAS NOT MY CASE!! And even if I was there for hours without consuming anything, he should have had another approach. YOU GUYS NEED SOME CUSTOMER SERVICE...

Unfortunately, we had a very bad experience. I ordered a small wedding cake to about 8 days before my small wedding. I arranged to pick up the cake by 1 pm -- 8 days later. First, when I arrived no one seemed to be able to find my cake as several people checked the display area many times. After about 10 minutes I was told it was being finished in the back...by now it after I pm. Someone asked me what color I wanted the writing on the cake, I asked for a recommendation and she recommended white. When the cake came out the icing was very thin white writing and I could barely see it. I sent it back to have the writing stand out a bit. I thought it was fine until I was at our little reception when one of my guests pointed out the our last name was spelled wrong. It became a running joke during the reception.

All of that would have not been that bad had the cake tasted good. It was very dry and no one liked the taste. I have never had that experience before...who does not like cake, but there was something wrong with this cake. Two of my guests said it seemed like there was a missing ingredient. I must say that this was a very disappointing experience.

My wife believes that someone forgot to make the cake and they quickly put something together as the cake tasted stale. For a cake that cost over $100, this was upsetting. Of course, we will never know for sure what happened. Needless to say, my new wife and those attending my wedding certainly do not recommend the Alexandria...