Masse's Pastries — Restaurant in Berkeley

Hubby and I had a few moments to steal before we had to go pick up our kids. We decide to stop for tea and a treat at Masse's. The tea is weak as water, and not steeping at all. We are running out of time. After putting all our tea leaves from both pots in one pot, I finally stick my finger in the pot. Finding only bathwater-level warm water inside (way too cold to steep tea), I trot inside to see if we can try again with getting hotter water. It's a common problem, and easily remedied. So I tell the lady behind the counter that the water is not hot enough, and before I can ask for a re-do of hotter water, she launches into this weird lecture about the shop being a bakery, and not a tea shop, and that they are trying to provide a little extra with having tea, and that they can't make the water any hotter, so here's a refund. Gobsmacked, I remind her that there were two pots (I had put all our tea leaves in the one pot) and she refunded me for both. I went back out to our table, and we began eating our lonely pastry, and she comes running out of the shop to scoop up the other pot and cup (lest we decide to get a "free" pot of "tea", I think. No worries. It was just warmed milky water. No chance we were going to drink it). She then launches on another lecture that they are just a bakery, and that if we wanted tea, we should go down to Peet's, and they might have some hot water. At this point, I had had enough an asked her why she was so angry. We had 10 more minutes before we had to go to get the kids, and I just wanted to at least have our pastry and an adult moment in peace. THAT was a mistake, as then she proceeded to regale us with how happy and calm she was. Finally she left us,and I managed a few bites of my almond pear pastry before she comes out AGAIN to toss a few more bills on our table to refund us for the pastry because we had not gotten the experience we had come for. Happily she did not lecture us on anything else. Let's say that we will never, ever go to Masse's again. The pastry is nice, but it's absolutely not worth having to deal with the counter help. There are plenty of other places that can offer nice pastry, and tea with water hot enough to steep it--none of which include Peet's, in anyway shape or form. Hello La Farine, Sweet...

Taste: 5 Value: 4 Service: 5

My gf and I came here to grab some cake since I've wanted to try this place for quite some time. We started off with the Mango Mirror and Caramelia with a salted caramel macaroon and iced coffee for her, and grabbed a seat inside.

Mango Mirror: absolutely delicious. juicy mango in every single bite Caramelia: amazing. the caramel mixed perfectly with the dark chocolate and poached pears Salted caramel macaroon: also very delicious, salt made the macaroon not too sweet Iced coffee: pretty good

After we devoured our cakes, we were so tempted by the other flavors that we decided to order another two. This time, we got the Passion Fruit Torte and the Ricotta and Guava Cheesecake.

Passion Fruit Torte: too sweet, kind of hurt my teeth. definitely was the least impressive cake out of the 4 we ordered. Ricotta and Guava Cheesecake: absolutely delicious. The guava glaze was soo good, and the ricotta cheesecake was really good.

FYI, here are the descriptions: Mango Mirror: mango mousse, fresh mangos, and golden sponge cake with fresh mango glaze. Caramelia: Dark chocolate cake filled with vanilla Bavarian, poached pears, and caramel mousse. Our most popular cake! Passion Fruit Torte: Light golden sponge cake filled with passion fruit curd and white chocolate mousse, white chocolate band. Ricotta and Guava Cheesecake: A light italian style ricotta cheesecake, hazelnut crust with a guava glaze. A perfect pairing!

We washed down the cake with some water, but we regretted getting the passion fruit since three cakes would have been plenty.

A couple next to us was deciding on their wedding cake, and I think they decided on the Spring Charlotte. I heard it was $510 ($6/person, $30 delivery fee, and $65 flowers). They were quite happy with it since they were quoted $600-700 elsewhere.

Tip: if they don't have the cake you want in the display, just ask if they have any in the back. They ran out of the Mango Mirror and the Ricotta and Guava Cheesecake, but they grabbed some from the back and...

I've loved this place for about 15 years and have been a very good customer, so I'm not going to give them a bad rating. (They would have a 5 rating, if I had done this any day before today.) I've bought over a dozen guava cheesecakes and lots of other beautiful, yummy treats there. So it makes me very sad that I will never go there again. I made a mistake because of a hectic schedule, out of town guests, and on top of it all, a medical emergency. ( I injured my eye with a toxic substance on the day I was supposed to pick up the gluten free cake I needed.) I called the next morning ready to apologize, and say I would pick it up as soon as I could. But I never had a chance to apologize. I was treated rudely and told that the cake had been thrown out because I had not picked it up. (It had writing on it, and could not be sold to someone else.). My friend had travelled from Rhode Island for her California birthday party. I really needed that gluten free cake! I understand the anger of the owner, but their actions helped no one. If she had just hung on to the cake for another half a day, I would have been grateful and continue to be a very good customer for a long, long time. I feel that the cake was thrown out solely so that the owner could then have the satisfaction of telling me that they had done so. I cannot subject myself again to someone who would act...