Homestead Baking Co. — Restaurant in City of Corning

Di, Raven, Nicole, Daz, and Kira are AMAZING! The cookies and scones are great, the cookie butter cinnamon rolls are INSANE and an entire experience, and the coffee and service are usually really really good.

However, let me preface this by saying I worked in the device industry for years and have experienced the best and worst customer service in general, and absolutely amazing customer service at Homestead. That has never once come from Christy.

Christy is an issue. I have never gotten good coffee from her, customer service is ok at best and has been borderline antagonistic at times, I’ve seen her be very sharp with other people working in the bakery in ways to at felt very inappropriate in front of house in front of customers, and I actively avoid Homestead now if I see Christy is working. Earlier this week I went with a friend and Christy was the barista. The cold brew was watery, the cold foam practically liquid, and the sweater weather latte I ordered (my favorite and absolute perfection when Di or Raven makes it) tasted like nothing. Christy offered to add more syrup but when the only bad coffee I’ve ever gotten at Homestead is consistently made by Christy, I feel like there’s a problem that can’t be fixed by adding more syrup. Three times I’ve gone in the evening and there has been absolutely no one in the bakery AT ALL for at least 3-5 minutes. I timed it. Twice I just left, the third time Christy came in from the back, I don’t know where she was because the person I was with had called out “hello?” pretty loudly multiple times and she didn’t come in like “sorry for the wait, I was in the back!” but seemed actively surprised we were there.

I don’t normally leave reviews, and I love a lot about this business and the entire rest of the team, but if I’m actively avoiding the business during certain hours because of Christy, I feel like there may be other people who avoid Homestead similarly, or never went back because they didn’t realize that Christy is the exception, not the standard. I don’t want anyone else wasting $15 on coffee they will probably throw out when they could go at a different time and get one of the best coffee of their life. If Di or Raven is on barista, it is worth every penny! And any day there are cookie butter cinnamon rolls or their rice crispy treats is a very good day.

To sum up: Great business, great food, bad employee...

What a wonderful spot with great itemsa Service was great - the staff were very helpful in describing the options on the menu. Food and drink were incredible - I had a sesame bagel with garden cream cheese, a chocolate pistachio scone, and the caramelized pineapple cold brew. The garden cream cheese was the right choice - I would typically not get something like that, but the nice worker at the register sold me on it with their great description. The vegetables in the cream cheese are fresh (they still snap) and there's a bit of dill that's just perfect! Pastries are delicious, well portioned! Finally, the caramelized pineapple cold brew is out of this world. It's silky and soft, not overwhelming. Perfectly balanced! My meal with tip was less than $20! I'm excited to come...

I really enjoyed my coffee and cookie that I had got. All of the desserts and menu options are wonderful! However, the service was disappointing. I’m not one to leave a bad review but it’s very rare that I walk into a small business and feel so unwelcome and uncomfortable. The older lady that was working I believe named Kristy was very condescending and rude to the other workers and saying things openly in front of customers that came across as extremely unprofessional. All of the employees seemed tense and uncomfortable. Everything else was great but maybe some work needs to be done...