O Bread & Cake — Restaurant in Annandale

Unacceptable Experience - Avoid This Racist Bakery!

I had a truly terrible experience at this bakery, and I will never return. It started off as a nice day, and I walked into the bakery, everything seemed fine. When it was time to pay, I noticed there was a discount for paying with cash, so I handed the cashier $100. She took my money, but didn’t tell me how much change I should receive or give me a receipt. She just handed me some change. My hands were full, so I asked my friend to count it, and he thought it seemed about right. At that point, the cashier asked me, “No receipt?” I nodded absentmindedly because I was busy packing everything away.

As we left and got into the car, we realized the change I received was significantly less than it should have been. I went back to the store alone and politely explained the situation, saying “I’m sorry, but there seems to be an issue with my change.” The cashier didn’t understand English, so I used a translation app on my phone, specifically choosing respectful language in Korean to communicate with her. Despite this, she still acted like she didn’t understand and I overheard her talking to the other staff in Korean, saying something about a “Chinese person.”

As I discussed the issue with her, she kept rudely asking, “You understand?” I nodded again because I assumed she genuinely didn’t understand English. She was extremely arrogant, unhelpful, and discriminatory. Even when another staff member translated into Korean for her, she kept pretending not to understand. Then she had the audacity to ask, “Where is your boyfriend?” What does that even mean? Why assume anything about someone’s relationship status, and why would a woman need a man to handle getting the correct change? Although I responded in the moment, I later realized just how rude and inappropriate her question was.

In the end, they gave me the missing money back, saying it was on the manager’s orders and that they would check the CCTV. They said if there was no mistake, they would call me and ask me to return the money. I told them there was no need; they could check the footage and contact me if they found something wrong. Despite their insistence, I took the money and left my contact details. It’s been a week, and I haven’t received any calls or apologies.

Avoid this place at all costs. They will talk behind your back in Korean and make racist assumptions about you!

P.S.: They shortchanged me by $6, and I didn’t even have that amount in cash in my wallet. They had the audacity to ask, “Can I check your wallet?” 😓😓 I couldn’t believe it! I handed them my wallet, which only had a few dollar bills and my cards inside. I thought maybe they were just bad at English, but I was already feeling very offended.

Then, the Korean lady took out the three $1 bills from my wallet and laid them next to the change they gave me, implying that if there was a mistake, it was only $3 short. Seriously? I repeatedly asked for my money back, and she reluctantly returned the three $1 bills to me, while another employee was still checking my wallet (???). By the way, they even found the remaining Korean won I hadn’t spent and told me to put it away. How could they dare to cheat me like this after going...

UPDATE: I have changed my opinion about this business. They reached out and made things right.

OLD REVIEW: First, let me say that I have enjoyed my experiences and the bread at O Bread Bakery. I had been preferring them over the other Korean bakeries in the NOVA area.

This review is about what we have gone through since the Holiday season of last winter. As a holiday gift, we decided to gift our family and friends roll cakes from O Bread since we had enjoyed them. We picked up 12 roll cakes in total (10 mocha and 2 strawberry) and gave them out before Christmas. After having given them out, we opened up a strawberry roll cake only to see that it was mango. My dad is allergic to mango and obviously could have ended in a bad situation but luckily, he was not the one to open it (we were tasting it to figure out what it was because it didn't look like strawberry). We opened up the other one which was mocha. Both roll cakes were poorly made. The sheet cake was only half as thick as normal and because of this, the shape was not of a roll cake either, there were no swirls and the cake had been broken and just looked unappetizing. We felt so, so bad that we had given out these sad roll cakes as Christmas gifts. We were all really angry but after having called and spoken to Linda (manager?) we felt much better. She apologized and told us it was because of the rush of the holiday season (still not an excuse) and that we could go at any time and she would make us new roll cakes. Now we live in the neighboring state so we cannot make the trip often. Linda told us that it didn't have to be us, that we could have a friend stop by and ask for and talk to Linda, and she would allow this friend to pick up our new roll cakes.

Fast forward a couple of months (honestly, it took us this long to want O Bread roll cakes again) and we have a friend go to O Bread and ask for Linda and she tells my friend that I need to be there in person to get my new roll cakes. Infuriated, I called Linda and she pretended not to remember what happened with all of our very, very poor roll cakes back at the end of December. This really leaves a bad taste in my mouth and thinking of having gifted those ugly cakes embarrasses me to no end.

I would avoid this bakery. POOR...

I have tried many Korean-owned bakeries in this area. This bakery is the best by far by the high quality pastries, breads, and cakes. I love that they use only organic flour and natural ingredients and they sell fresh bakery items. I do not get the unexplainable stomach discomfort that i often experience from eating pastries after eating their items, which is wonderful. I also feed my young toddler with the breads (whole grain, zero or low sugar) and my son loves it!

All the items are priced very reasonably compared to other famous organic stores. Plus, you get discounted prices on items after 7pm (if they ever have anything that has not been sold out already): they sell pretty quickly!

The bakery is not as spacious, but the staff are friendly and helpful. They also offer coffee drinks and teas. Do not forget to start their rewards card :)

I strongly recommend this place to anyone who loves...