Tropicana Bakery & Cuban Cafe — Restaurant in Downey

I ordered two cakes, both chocolate bread with chocolate filling. I noticed at the time that the guy who took my order was not the friendliest but I didn’t think much of it. He charged me for both cakes and then gave me my receipt stapled to the copy of the order forms which were the third pages of each individual form. I was shocked at how expensive it was- $264 for two half sheets- but I thought, “Must be really, really good cake” and left.

The first party arrived and we went to pick up the first cake. As it was being brought out, I immediately noticed how oddly the guy carried the cake out but figured they’re professionals. They know how to carry a cake and not ruin it. As soon as I saw the cake, I saw that a chunk of the frosting was missing and I looked at the guy and told him this. He seemed to quickly want to blame me for it, that is until I literally point to his apron and told him that he had the missing frosting on himself. He looked down and just raised his hand and said something like, “Oh no” and walked away. We were just there looking at this messed up cake wondering, how in the world was this okay? Moments later, one of the workers approached us and said he would fix it. I was certainly appreciative and after he fixed it, I even told him it looked a thousand times better, thanked him and left.

Again, I didn’t think much of it until it was time to cut the cake, mind you it’s late in the day, but as soon as we cut into it, we noticed it was not the cake we had ordered. I was told by multiple guests to call and let the bakery know it was not our order, more for informational purposes. So I called and an employee told me to call back the next day because he didn’t have access to any information and the manager was out, but to make sure to call after 9 because she was always late. In the same conversation, he told me that my form was marked marble as the bread type. I thought that was weird since I had ordered two cakes of the same kind so I looked at my order form and the cake type wasn’t marked at all on my end but the second cake was marked chocolate.

I called back the next day and the manager already seemed angry but I continued to explain to her that I had ordered a chocolate cake and I received marble and that we were disappointed because everyone at the party expected chocolate, especially the birthday boy, as it was his choice. She asked me what the form said and I told her that the copy I have does not indicate the type of cake and I assumed it’s because the guy who took my order wrote too lightly for it to transfer. I continued to say that I ordered two cakes and the one for the following week does have chocolate as the bread type and that it should have been the same for both. She hastily tells me to write an email and include a picture of the cake. I said okay and asked her when could I expect a call as I’m at work and she rudely told me she didn’t know but she would discuss with the owner as it is not up to her. I said okay and then I started to feel guilty about even calling so I figured I’d share how I appreciated when they fixed my cake during pick up. So I start telling her this and she immediately cut me off mid-sentence and began to yell at me telling me that she knows, that the cake I ordered was chocolate and I got marble and continued to speak over me, re-telling me what I had just told her in the most condescending tone while I try to tell her that I was trying to say something else. She finally stopped and I told her that I was trying to say that I had picked up my cake with a chunk of frosting missing but before I could even finish, she interrupted me again and said "that’s the nature of working in a bakery and working with frosting" and that it WILL get damaged.

I was in utter shock, are they not professionals? A cake getting damaged in my possession is different from an employee ruining the cake before it even gets to me, but for her to say that I should just deal with it because that’s the nature of cake, is appalling. No accountability, no apologies, and...

I'm not sure where to start. Let's go with the positive first! The food is always delicious 😋 I've tried almost everything. The cakes are delicious, the baked goods, the desserts, their plates and sandwiches, the coffee have all been good. I would probably go every chance I got if the service wasn't so bad :/ Every time I've gone, and I've been going for years, the employees are snappy and sometimes just straight out rude. The manager isn't welcoming, replies are given with a bit of attitude. I don't usually write negative reviews because I like to give ppl the benefit of doubt. The food business is hard! And especially with the amount of traffic they get but even on slow days the service has been bad. And what got me to write this essay on here 😅 is the awful service that i got today. I ordered online and had to wait 50mins total. 35 was my estimated wait time. Got there on time but they had ran out of the bread they used for an item i ordered. The manager let me know and gave me a choice between two breads. Cool. He said it would take 5mins. I waited 15min. He was busy with an angry party of 8 people... Understandable, but what about all the other workers walking by ignoring both me and another young lady who was waiting for her order? The order had been waiting on a table. If someone would have came up to her or I and asked why we were waiting, to help us in any way... We would have been sent our way with warm food. I didn't even enjoy my food because I was so upset. My order was missing items as well. My bad for not checking before leaving. I was upset and wanted to leave as fast as I could. El que se enoja pierde :/ But there shouldn't have been missing items in the first place. I'll probably return and keep being disappointed by the service cuz the foods so good and there isn't another one nearby 😭 i just hope they do something about it. It's upsetting and not cool guys! Bueno ya que se me pase lo enojada!...

Received a trigger notification of my reply from Restaurant and was appalled on the lack of disrespect from the replied party, it is evident they do not care about customer feed back nor convey any sincere apology for our experience, management or owner (now researched) clearly stated this in their response but more importantly now I understand why the poor food quality received (4 Cooks not Chefs working 7 Days a Week that explains it all folks)! Will take to other social Media to show response and lack of disrespect to a Customer, clearly has no Managerial Experience! It amazes me how the respondent marginalizes my patronage to this restaurant after disclosing the years I had provided visits to the location, WOW!!! CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT LIKE IT OR NOT! Submitted 04/14/25 as seen below: Through the years i always make time to stop in at this location when traveling through S.Cal. only to find disappointment on my visit there on evening of 04/10/25. The food was horribly prepared and preheated and old, the Cuban sandwich was twice the size it normally was and was down to one slice of ham, one small size of pork, and 1 1/2 slice of cheese and served cold!! the remainder of the family equally disappointed with steak/palomilla dish cold and filled with more fat than meat, the Cuban cracker bags bought from bakery side, were old and overly greasy and were not the same flavor along with their pastelitos with meat/carne & guava all old and overly greasy, prices do not warrant the varied dishes we all had served with a party of 6 people; server was very apologetic and very hands on unfortunately the back end in kitchen did not meet the standards this restaurant has had through the years, will not...