Zoë's Bakery & coffee shop — Restaurant in Biloxi

I've been here MULTIPLE times now. I really really wanted to like this place because I LOVE local coffee shops and bakeries, and I'd much prefer to support a small business over a corporatation like Starbucks any day. But no matter how many of their menu items I've tried, I consistently find myself immensely disappointed each time. Their pastries usually look so much better than they taste

I've tried a large variety of their items, and on separate occasions, like their chocolate mousse cake, white chocolate strawberry shortcake, cinnamon roll, pumpkin pie, red velvet cake, starberry cream cheese danish, mocha torte, and several other cakes and confections that I've forgotten the name of. Like I said, I've given this place many tries because I wanted to like them, so my review certainly isn't unfounded.

Below is a list of issues and the reasons for my low review.

The pastries aren't made in-house, and they taste OLD. If I'm not mistaken they're sent from the main shop in Covington, LA. That wouldn't be a problem on it's own, but the oldness has been consistently apparent with every pastry I've had; they're always dry and stale. What really made me give up was the cinnamon roll I had, which had a texture adjacent to very stale french bread, and the bite had a very leathery feel. The icing was sparse, and tasted more like marscapone than cream cheese, but that's just a stylistic choice so no issue there. If there was an option to have it warmed, I wasn't made aware. EVERYTHING I've had from here has been dry and stale. Stale, dry cake is incredibly disappointing.

You can taste refrigerator. The pastries are housed openly in their front end refrigerator, with nothing separating the pastries from the fridge air. One thing I absolutely hate aside from stale cake is cake that tastes like how a fridge smells. The taste clings to both dry and wet, so every bite from the crumb to the icing is laced with the taste of fridge.

The employees have very limited knowledge of what theyre selling. This is to absolutely no fault of the employees who work there, who are absolutely wonderful and kind every time I go in. They are very warm and welcoming and always provide super friendly service. But their overheads have failed to train them on what they are selling, which again is truly the fault of the management, not the staff. It's common that when I go they aren't sure of what their products are, and they often incorrectly name something. They are wonderful staff but I get the vibe they're probably thrown to the wolves without adequately getting familiarized with their products. I truly think employees should be allowed to sample one of every product to better learn what they are (and because employees deserve free food).

Also this review wasn't aimed at the drinks, as I've only tried a few, but their lemonade was very lackluster, as it tasted like lemomade powder packets. Not the worst thing ever but if you enjoy legitimate lemomade I wouldn't...

Mixed review here—first three times I’ve gone, outstanding coffee and pastries—very fresh and delicious, perhaps to do with going in the morning and actually walking into the store. I’d usually get an iced latte with some syrup and a fruit tart or croissant. However, the fourth time I went was this afternoon (first time not going in the morning) and just the drive through (also first time in the drive through)—my lavender iced latte tasted spicy(?) with barely any hint of lavender…like the espresso had gone wrong or something. And the lemon tart? Smelled strange—tasted fine until I got to the whipped cream at the top—that was what smelled strange AND tasted sour and salty; it had gone bad. Maybe it had been sitting out for too long(?)

I definitely won’t stop coming here as 3/4 times I’ve had amazing drinks and pastries that were 100% perfect, but perhaps I’ll have to only come in the morning. So for all the afternoon goers, be wary! It seems the quality control is lacking by that time…but hopefully it can...

I stopped here because I had been seeing this coffee shop and wanted to try it out. I wanted a frap which I did get. The young ladies were very nice but I pulled up at 7:30 and I pulled out of the drive through at 7:50. I waited 20 minutes for one item, there was somebody in front of me, and it took a while for them to get their order which I seen was a cup holder full of maybe 3-4 coffees. So that person pulls away after already waiting for a good minute. I wait another 10-12 minutes for my one item. Like I said, the staff were pretty nice from our interaction of ordering but the wait was ridiculous . And the frappe I order is honestly not good . I hate this was the first time experience I got and it makes me not want to go back to even try their pastries and everything...