Tullio's Bakery — Restaurant in Duck

Before I share my experience, a few things to note. I wasn’t going to waste my time leaving details of my experience, but after seeing the owner respond to any negative review with some sort of nasty defensive comments became interesting to me. I am willing to bet she will respond to this as well. A common thread is her sarcastic “Have a Sweet Day!” remark. Additionally, anytime someone shares details of THEIR experience, she wants to argue it. My experience is identical to a woman who posted hers two days before I did!! That tells me that we must not be in the wrong if they are truly similar experiences. I will also say, I don’t always believe the customer is ALWAYS right, but what I believe in after working in customer service for over a decade, is that a good business always is willing to work with the customer to find the best solution in a kind manner. That was not my experience. I am from NY and was visiting the area for a family wedding (we didn’t share this with the bakery because it was just immediate family and had no set time frame, therefore we were flexible). I did some research and Tullio's looked like it had a good product. We ordered our cakes two weeks in advance and everything was fine. The day of, I called and there was a busy tone twice. Upon arrival the morning of at Tullio's, I asked about our cakes, we asked to pick them up. The young lady told us our cakes were not ready yet and we would get a call when they were ready. I was a bit concerned but we still had plenty of time so it would be fine to make another time work. I asked for a time frame so I could plan around it. I was then scolded by who I presume to be the owner that "that is not how we do business. The cases get filled first because they sell out, then they work on customer orders. Everyone thinks they can just show up for their order but I have trained my staff to tell you that we will call you when it's ready. That's how we operate here!" I can totally understand operating your business in whatever way works best for you, but I can assure you that I was not told that I would get a call when it is ready, otherwise I wouldn't have showed up early on purpose. Why would I waste my time? And if even I made the mistake and showed up early, a simple kind explanation would’ve done the job. Tell us a time to come back and we would’ve happily done so. I was also scolded for not telling Tullio's when I needed a cake by a specific time. I was not asked for a time that the cake was needed when placing the order. I was then scolded in front of the employee when the owner demanded an answer from her employee on if she told me that they would call when the cake was ready. If I was the employee, I wouldn’t have said anything but what the owner wanted to hear! In NY, the cake is ready the morning the cake is needed. I also would have happily come back later if they could tell me a ballpark time in a kind manner. I was really stunned by how we were treated when we were being very calm and quiet and just trying to find out when we could pick up our cakes. As I was walking out the door after paying $100 for two cakes, the owner yells, HAVE A SWEET DAY! I didn't appreciate being chastised when I wasn't putting pressure on anyone or being demanding. I was simply just trying to follow how they "do business" since I have never been here before. I would rather get my cake at Publix if I will be treated nicer. My aunt went back to pick up the cakes and let the owner know LOUDLY that she should never treat a customer the way she treated me. She...

I ordered a birthday cake from Tullio’s. They gave me a family memory.

It was my wife’s birthday and the cake was Dawn’s “Ocean Birthday”. I knew something different was happening as soon as the candle was blown out: everyone had to have their own picture of the cake. Not just sharing the FB pic. Their own pic to show around later. It was a gorgeous cake and the decoration spectacular. Lots of, “Wow”, “Beautiful”, “It’s so pretty”, “It’s perfect for the beach”.

Then came the Eureka moment when the decorations were found to be made of white chocolate. And GOOD chocolate too! There were many eyes-closed “Mmmmmmmssss” as the chocolate was savored.

Finally, the first serving. “Oh-My-God this is good!” (Yes, people still say that.) It got real quiet for a bit as each of the family had a moment with their own serving. Quiet? That NEVER happens.

My wife has a life-long thing about wedding/almond cake. In 45 years we’ve never left a wedding without her having a piece of the cake. To find one for a birthday is normally a quest but she’s always appreciative. But she, and everyone else, judged that cake to be hands-down the best she has ever had. Holy Cow. This was turning into quite the birthday cake.

That night I saw something truly unusual: adults asking for seconds of birthday cake. You know the deal. Its usually people having a “polite” piece and moving on. Not that cake. No way buddy! People honestly craved more.

The final high note of the whole cake experience was leftovers. Normally we send as much leftover cake home with anyone we can foist it off on. Nope. No way. Not gonna happen. I swear my wife got hard-of-hearing all of a sudden when people asked to take some cake home. She was kinda stingy with it too! Finally, she carefully bestowed to those who asked for it. Of course, my wife saved some (the biggest) for herself.

She stretched that cake out for three days. Clearly the meals before her dessert were merely ‘carriers’ to the main event of the evening. And each night she had to exclaim how good it was and then call my daughter to compare notes about how hers had been.

So folks, this is not a normal review. That was not a normal cake! I’m trying to share the memories and the goodness so you know what an event a Tullio’s cake can be. Have at it y’all!

PS - Funny how all the family now wants to have their birthday with us up in Corolla ... as long as we have Ocean Birthday cake from Tullio’s. :)

PPS - It’s been 3 weeks now. Yesterday we were at my grandson’s lacrosse game. Out of the blue my wife says, “I wish I had some of that birthday cake for tonight.” ...

Customer service from the owners is not their strength.

I come into Tullio's looking for lunch with the family and ordered a chicken salad, BLT and two Caprese - mozzarella, tomato and pesto sandwiches. I also ordered one double chocolate cookie, one peanut butter cookie and a 'key lime pie'.

Leave the store and double check the order in the car. The two Caprese sandwiches were actually the avocado, tomato and pesto sandwiches. So I go back to say to them, 'I'm sorry but the order isn't right.' The young woman who took my order seeks the direction from Dawn, one of the owners.

In a direct tone Dawn turns to the woman to ask what I ordered, to which the woman replied that I ordered the avocado. You can tell the woman is like 'I'm about to get in trouble'. Dawn explains to me that the woman writes down what I have ordered and therefore I ordered wrong. The thing is I said 'caprese' in an Italian accent (because it's fun), and that's how I'm certain that that's what I ordered. I said there was a miscommunication; I didn't say the woman who took the order was wrong nor did I say I was right. Dawn explains it 2-3 more times, pretty much telling me I'm wrong. There was something else she had said that really took me aback where I actually said to her 'I don't know where you're going with this...'

Dawn says 'well what am I supposed to do with these sandwiches?' That is for you as the owner to decide, not me. She says 'what do you want me to do?' to which I replied that it's up to her and what she does with her establishment, but that I hope she would be willing to correct the error.

The woman by now is saying that there was just a miscommunication and she is sent back to make the new sandwiches. If you look at the menu posted, each sandwich has the ingredients listed. I'm sorry, but I thought Caprese was a fourth ingredient, not the type of mozzarella. So when I check the replacement sandwiches and think a fourth ingredient is missing I go back in. Well, once I'm taught by Dawn that Caprese is a type of mozzarella Dawn says to me 'see, you don't even know what you want.'

All in all, the sandwiches were a 1-star. And that 'key lime pie'? It's a muffin with green food colouring and stale whipped cream. All of this for the fine price of $72 USD (tip included).

I actually hope that the business does not respond to this review because they'll just say how I was wrong. The tone from Dawn that I describe in this experience is what you read in their responses to other 1-star reviews. I hope that other customers have a much more...