Bennison's Bakery — Restaurant in Evanston Township

TLDR: Buyer beware. Never, ever, ever order from this bakery. Bakery screwed up birthday cake order, and then didn't care enough to make things right.

I am disappointed in the poor customer service I received today. I ordered a birthday cake over the phone. Paid for the product in full. When I arrived, the birthday boys name had been spelled wrong on the cake. On a birthday cake?!?! That's unacceptable.

Sure, I was irritated, anyone would be given the situation. However, I could have left a somewhat satisfied customer if the bakery had done their due diligence to make things right. After all, they were the ones the royally screwed up. Unfortunately, that it not what happened.

What made me go from irritated to angry was the poor customer service I received in response to their failure.

I asked what my options were to fix this situation. The person, I'm assuming the manager (I to assume because he lacked the basic level of decency and professionalism to introduce himself, so I have no idea what his name and position at the bakery were), said I only had two options. My two options:

1. Kicks rocks. - Take the cake as is.
2. He would "try to fix it himself." Mind you, he is not a baker, or a cake decorator.

It never occurred to him to even attempt to make the situation right. No offer of free candles (it was a birthday cake after all), a discount, additional items to make up for their screw up. Nothing.

I am both disgusted and disappointed. Everyone knows that a birthday is a big deal. A bakery should especially know that.

To top things off, the unnamed, poor excuse for a manager, kept talking over my cake. I closed the box while we were talking, and he had the audacity and lack of basic common sense and hygiene to open it up again mid conversation. Why?!?! Why exactly? Why would he do that?!?! To remind me of the screw up. I already saw it. Why do you need to compound the insult by talking over my cake. Thus spreading your unwanted germs.

While the unnamed "person in charge" was in the back, one of the employees whispered to me, "I would not let him try to fix the letters if I were you. He's probably going to make it worse."

I am still angry. No, I am livid. I guess my business meant nothing to the incompetent "manager" on duty that day. Why should he care? The bakery already had my money. No need to make things right with a customer you failed in every way.

I will never order from this bakery again. I advise that you don't either. Unless you want to be insulted, disappointed, and have your...

I’ve been a regular client for the past three years and I’ve always considered that they have one of the best pastries and bakes in Chicago/Evanston area. However, their customer service hasn’t always been great. I made an order a few days ago for an apricot tart and I was supposed to pick it up today at 7am. When I got there the tart wasn’t even made. I would have completely understood if they missed the order because mistakes happen, don’t get me wrong I would still be upset about it but I can get over it. They told me that there is a shortage of apricots so they couldn’t make it and that they can offer me an apple tart at no additional cost and I can pick it up in an hour. First: I never ordered an apple tart nor I want an apple tart so why would I have ven get charged for it? Second: they waited until I was there instead of calling me beforehand at least a day earlier (I mean they had days knowing about this “apricot shortage”). At this point I have no clue if it was a lame excuse to say they missed the order of there was really a shortage but what I consider unacceptable is the fact that they didn’t call me but waited until I was there. Now I’ll go to my friend’s birthday without the tart (yes, he loves apricots and I promised the most delicious apricot tart) and I also lost my morning going to Evanston and will definitely be late for work at Chicago today! They have definitely lost a regular...

Unfortunately I’ve had a negative experience with pre-ordering at Bennison’s worth sharing. I made sure to call on Monday to place an order for Thursday (after being told the particular pastry I wanted takes 2-3 days to prepare). I expressed that this was a birthday order, and was told no problem. I received a missed call and voicemail on Wednesday requesting that the pick up time be changed from our decided on 11am to 2pm Thursday to give then more time, and that I should call back at 6pm to confirm. I received the voicemail after returning home from a long day at 8pm and did not confirm that this was okay — we had made family plans around 11am. I made sure to call first thing in the morning to check in, and was told that my order was indeed on the roster for an 11am pick up, in spite of the voicemail. Well folks— it was not ready. AND, we were told it wouldn’t be ready until 3pm (ended up being closer to 3:30pm and my family was waiting for pick up). With all of this, the only thing offered was a “1/8 discount” on an order I had already paid for, which amounts to $4.50, the cost for one of the pastries. This delay ruined our family’s birthday gathering — and ultimately the pastries were not ready, the custard was not set and had clearly been made in a rush. It’s been a very discouraging first experience at Bennison’s and I doubt we will trust them enough with another...