Stein's Bakery — Restaurant in Dallas

I am HORRIFIED at how bad the customer service was in the process of getting a custom birthday cake for my daughter. I originally called the bakery to ask about the process of ordering. The lady I spoke to was clearly not happy to be at work and was minimally helpful. She directed me to start the process through email. So I did. It took days to hear back and when I responded with follow-up questions, I did not get a response. Ever. I even sent two check-in emails. No response. I should have just given up and gone with another bakery but my family has been going to Stein’s for petit fours since I was a kid, so I wanted to try a cake for my own kid. Anyway, I called the bakery again and spoke to another unhappy woman. She put me on hold and then hung up on me. I called back, only getting dial tones two times. Finally, a man answered and told me “call back tomorrow morning, all the cake ladies left.” I called back the next morning and this time spoke with someone kinder and more helpful. I placed the order, originally noting that I would pick up at 4pm on a Friday afternoon. Once the week came, I called to check in on the Tuesday before pickup and to change the pickup time to lunch time between 12 and 1. I asked the lady who I spoke to what I needed to do, and she said she was writing it on my ticket as we spoke and that it wouldn’t be an issue. Well, today is Friday, my husband went to get the cake during lunch and it wasn’t ready. I called and talked to them myself, explaining the story and my husband said one lady was literally mocking me in front of him and complaining about the issue. This is so unprofessional. After I spoke to two different women, they told my husband the best they could do was for him to wait around for 45 minutes. We live far away, and so he did. No discount was offered. No apology. No kindness. So rude and so unprofessional. The mistake was on their end and no one is owning up to it. The cake did turn out absolutely beautifully and I am sure it will be delicious - hoping those things end up making this worth the headache that it’s been. I feel a little conflicted as I write this review because I feel like my family will always return to Stein’s - even if just for the nostalgic petit fours. Our experience this time with the horrendous customer service is just so disheartening and if it had been our first experience, we truly would never walk through the doors again. My hope is that someone in charge sees this and it somehow makes a difference moving forward in how customers...

I hate to leave this review, but I think it's warranted. I used to drop in at steins frequently when passing by to grab a coffee cake or cheese pocket or especially fix a craving for a wedding cake cupcake. I stopped by a few years back and my items tasted dry and old, and almost like cigarettes- it was terrible. It kept me from coming in and today my kids begged be to stop by when we were in the shopping center. I walked in and a sweet employee brought my kids some cookies. I asked if there were wedding cake cupcakes and she said yes. So I grabbed 1 of those and 2 chocolate for the kids. I was really looking forward to prove my last visit wrong, but I was really disappointed. They were dry and flavorless and tasted old. It certainly wasn't wedding cake, just vanilla cake...so i was irritated she said it was. It honestly was on par with a walmart cake. There was barely any frosting (and im not a frosting lover, but it definitely needed more). My boys ate their cupcake and came back to tell me that they tasted disappointing because there wasn't much flavor and didn't seem fresh. We frequent a lot of bakeries and while these were inexpensive, I would much rather pay double for a cake with flavor that is baked that day. I wanted to buy more and support them, but by looking at the ingredients in their bread, even the burger buns had food dye in them (buns don't need yellow, they need egg yolks for color. So sad!) and ingredients that don't seem like good bakery quality-not any better than the grocery store with dough conditioners and preservatives and food dye- Such a shame because I really want to support this well-established business as I used to enjoy them but I can't. Also, all the cookie selections- do people really eat tons of thumbprint and the various small cookies that much anymore? While the cases were full, the items seem underwhelming and nothing looks amazing or fresh. The gingerbread men looked like they were decorated by a kid. It seems like Steins needs to change with the times and focus on quality ingredients and flavor/freshness or get back to the basics of how they used to be. Not sure if ingredients have been compromised due to covid setbacks and rising costs of ingredients, but this poor place is not what it used to be and today will be my last visit. I'm sorry, Stein's, I want to support you but I can't...

While most of the time when an establishment has a smell that extends past its doors it's usually not a good thing (ie the smell is more like a rotten stench), Stein's makes the whole shopping center smell like baked goods heaven. The atmosphere is admittedly unassuming -- I don't think they've renovated much since they opened in like the 1940s -- but don't like appearances scare you off. These people KNOW how to bake.

Look no further than Stein's for all your cake and petit four needs (and what red blooded American doesn't NEED a petit four now and then, really?). I do agree with the people who say the vanilla ones are way better and also that the cookies are kind of dry (but cookies are for amateurs anyway).

My personal favorite would be for yellow cake with chocolate icing, but really you can't go wrong with any of the flavors. This probably goes without saying, but they use the legit sugary good icing aka not the whipped creamy crap that you will find in the bakery section of a grocery store. Stein's also has an expansive catalog of cake decoration offerings to make for a true edible masterpiece.

One time, my dad did get his cake with Happy Birthday Mick written on it (his name is Mike ... we're not in the UK here), but since he was the only one eating it (the fat kid apple clearly didn't fall far from the tree) it ended up not mattering and even better we got an extra free cake! Kudos to Stein's for being so helpful after the mishap.

Probably best for my waistline's sake that I no longer live in Dallas to enjoy Stein's more often, but I would be remiss not to spread the good word about them to yelp readers in the Metroplex. They are always professional and have the cakes...