Hopkins Street Bakery — Restaurant in Berkeley

My family and I have been customers of Hopkins Street Bakery for many years. Unfortunately we had such a bad experience with their cupcakes for our daughter’s birthday that we have to leave this feedback so other people can avoid the same mistake.

Long story short, we ordered 20 cupcakes on Friday for a Sunday AM pickup because all the cupcake specific bakeries would not open early enough for our party Sunday AM and we wanted fresh treats. Great news is that Hopkins opens on Sundays at 7:30 in the morning and we have always loved their fresh birthday cakes with fresh fruit so we figured the cupcakes would be tasty also.

Unfortunately, we were very wrong. When we placed the order Friday afternoon, the person taking our order was hesitant to commit, which should have been a solid warning sign. At first, he said he might not be able to do it but when I told him we only needed 20 and we were fine with half chocolate and half vanilla rather than any more complicated orders like red velvet or strawberry. He said it would probably work, but if, for some reason they weren’t able to make the order they would call me on Saturday. I was grateful.

Fast forward to Sunday, the pick up went fine, but these cupcakes were incredibly dry cake, and the frosting was so dense and gummy that the cupcakes were inedible. The frosting was so gummy that we could not get the birthday candle out of one without the ganache lump pulling off the top as well. You can tell a cupcake is not very good when none of the kids are able to eat their first let alone ask for a second. Not to mention, these cupcakes were not particularly cheap at four dollars each.

Before posting this review, I relayed my feedback to the shop manager directly and and he instead of listening, he focused on debating with me about the quality of the cupcake, their 30 year-old unchanged recipe, and how his baker stayed over time to make my order. I told him that if the order was problematic, we had expected to receive a phone call Saturday with a cancellation but we never got a call so we assumed it wasn’t a problem. He offered to “throw in a couple cookies” next time I buy something at the shop. Pretty disappointing.

Frankly, we would have been better off with mass produced Whole Foods cupcakes. We always want to always support local businesses but after this experience, I do not intend to come back to Hopkins. Many other options out there that would have tasted better even one-day old compared to these.

At least the cupcakes look nice. I’m including a photo of all of the untouched ones. Not pictured are the cupcakes that were thrown out at the party after a...

When the wife asks you to bring a cupcake home, you find the closest cupcake. I Google searched and found this place. It's a quaint little bakery that reminds you of the old mom and pop bake shops. But that's about where the nicety ends for me. When I walked in I asked what he had for cupcakes. He says we have chocolate, that's all we ever have. Now I'm no genius but when you have baked goods for sale you really want to talk them up so your customers would really want to buy them from you. This guy seem like he was bothered that I was there to buy his stuff. I saw a lemon tart, I love lemon tarts. I said is that lemon? He says yes. That's it nothing else, doesn't talk up his baked goods or anything. In fact the guy was so unfriendly that I had an inkling to leave while he was boxing up my cupcakes. Now while I'm paying for this stuff, he doesn't even say thank you for the purchase! I don't normally make negative reviews based on customer service alone, I have two boxes of baked goods sitting next to me that I haven't even tasted yet. But I'll be honest, I was tempted to turn around and throw the two boxes at the guy as I left the place.

All I know is these pastries have better be f** phenomenal because I will never ever step foot in that place again based upon that poor excuse for customer service. If the pastries are bad this two-star review is going to be knocked down to a...

Many really fine offerings at Hopkins Street Bakery. My favorite is the eclair - filled with very tasty vanilla creme patissiere, and covered with a high-quality chocolate icing. Also love their Coconut Pineapple cake - moist, unctuous, bright - a...