Lovin Oven Cakery — Restaurant in Antioch

I ordered a cake a month prior to when I needed it and spent over 30 minutes with the person taking my order to make sure we were on the same page of what could be done. I even included a picture to represent what I wanted. When I went to pick up my cake I was disappointed to see the only part of the cake that met one of my requests was the shape. When I spoke to one of the managers, he agreed that the cake looked nothing like the picture. He offered my cake to get fixed and spoke with the owner but because it was a Sunday, there were no decorators to fix it. He then offered to refund me about 13% of my payment. I asked if he believed my cake looks like something worth what I paid for it and he agreed that it didn’t. I asked to speak with someone higher up and was given another manager and the owner’s name. I spoke with the manager and expressed my frustrations to which she responded “for the record, the cake did come out beautiful”, “ there are hr problems in hiring like most places and the person who took the order has only been there for 4 months” “if you don’t tell your guests that it’s not what you wanted, they’ll never know”. 1. I didn’t call my cake ugly, it just was not what I wanted. 2. Although my guests would not have to know, I knew what I wanted at the party and I paid for it knowing it wouldn’t come out exactly like the picture but very similar. The manager I spoke to then offered to refund an additional $8 (because only the design was incorrect, not the shape or size of the actual cake) or a $40 gift card to give them another chance. My family and I have been using Lovin Oven for over 17 years for our occasions and more recently our cakes have not come out as expected. With the response I got of basically don’t tell your guests, I now understand why. The only positive part of my experience was that the shape, size, and type of cake (the 87% of my payment) was correct, Also because the first manager I encountered at the Round Lake location did not beat around the bush with ridiculous response and agreed that at the end of the day my order was wrong/not worth what I paid for and did everything he...

I'm generally not one to vent online, but today I'm frustrated and disappointed.

I'd like to start by saying I've been purchasing cakes from their stores for over 15 years - they have been my go to for every birthday, special moment and random craving.

Back in February, I ordered custom cupcakes for my son's 6th birthday. When I arrived to pick them up, I was told they had mistakenly given my order to someone else. Thankfully, they were able to pull enough from the bakery shelves to patch something together so I didn't show up empty-handed. We made it work and my son was none-the-wiser.

Last week, I placed another order for my boyfriend's birthday: two dozen gourmet cookies, a dozen donuts, and a custom cake with a printed photo. When I showed up today, the cookies and donuts were there--but no cake.

After speaking with the staff at the RL location (she was wonderful and understanding of my frustration) I got mixed answers. First I was told the order was missing information and therefore not made (they have all my contact info in the system from multiple orders over the years), then after a follow up question I was told the ticket didn't print and was missed. Regardless of what actually happened, the bottom line is the same: the cake wasn't made.

They did refund the cake and gave me two smaller cakes with similar flavors, which I appreciate--but this is now the second time I've had a major issue with a birthday order.

I'm not sure how half the order got fulfilled and no one noticed the main item was missing before sending it out.

I get that it's just a cake, but for me, it's the principle. These moments matter. And when you're planning something special for someone you love, you want it to be right.

Still waiting on a call back (it's been 5 days), but regardless of how it's resolved, I'm feeling...

Disappointing experience. I ordered my son's birthday cake from here and I was so upset I practically left in tears. I ordered the cake a week and a half in advance and it wasn't done when I got there.

I had to wait in line for 20 minutes just to pick the cake up. When I got to the counter, they hadn't put the inscription on it and asked what color I wanted it, I had originally chosen white because the cake was supposed to be half red, half blue. It was just white, so they said the white inscription wouldn't look good on the white frosting. I was running late, I had gone in a few days prior to pay off the cake so I could just pick it up and leave. I said I didn't have time because the wait had put me behind so I left with a cake with no inscription. They take a phone number, I don't understand why someone couldn't even call to ask. They then directed me to the register where I had to wait in line an additional 5 minutes for the cashier to tell me I was good to go because it was already paid for. 25 minutes of waiting just to pick up a cake.

It seems dumb but It's upsetting when your drop $75 on a cake that you're not satisfied with. I didn't even get a cake server, had to cut it with a plastic knife.

UPDATE: I talked to a "manager" there and the response I received was that the only thing they saw wrong with my cake was the inscription was missing, which they were trying to put on before I walked out the door, "but if you didn't have time to wait..." because it shouldn't take 25 minutes to pick up a cake that I ordered almost two weeks ago and the cake should have been done? Then proceeded to turn away and busy herself on the computer. In more words, said it was my fault, horrible...