The Sweet Art of Cake — Restaurant in Hayward

I just had the worst experience with the owner, Lia! My husband tried to place an online order for a cake for my birthday. When they reached out to him via email, they messed up the pick up day and time. He corrected them and the owner said she would send a new invoice. She never did. I called the store on the scheduled day to see if I could pick up the cake instead of my husband since I was out doing errands. They put me on hold for more than 15 minutes, and at one point took me off hold, leaving me to listen to someone else’s order issue. They didn’t pick the phone back up after several minutes, so I called again. This time, they put me on hold for 10 minutes to look up my invoice. When they finally got back on the line, they said my order had been cancelled. They tried to tell me that they cancelled the order because the invoice wasn’t paid. My husband lives in his email box for work, and he said he NEVER received a follow-up email with the corrected day and time. Lia told me I could come to the store and purchase whatever cakes they had in the case, but that was all they could do. They happened to have the cake my husband requested, but when I walked in, Lia berated me with printouts of paperwork, arguing that the fault wasn’t hers. She was in no way apologetic and was more determined to prove she was right than to try and resolve the situation in a positive way. At her insistence, I showed her the email thread from my husband, but denied that she didn’t follow through. She was so mean and made me cry in the store. She messily wrote the description that my husband requested, forcefully put the cake in the box, and told me what I owed her. She didn’t offer a gesture of a small discount, or maybe the macaron that my son wanted, to apologize for their mistake, or any sort of kind word or appreciation for our business. When I said that I was disappointed that she didn’t seem to care, she took the cake away and told me to get out of her store. I have worked in customer service and I have NEVER nor would EVER treat another person like that. Please do not give this store your business. They will not treat your special occasion as special or make you feel valued. I would hope after the last few years we have all been through, especially when we are trying to give our business to a small, local business like this…that it would matter more. I guess I will never know if they have mastered the sweet art of cake, but they definitely have not mastered the art of sweet...

I ordered a custom cake to resemble a chess board and also provided a reference photo . When I went to pick it up, I noticed that they added designs that I had not requested and the chess pieces ( fondant ) was cracked and bent. I informed ( I think marlon) about this and that if it they couldn’t make the chess pieces , they should have just said so and I could have made it myself . For which Lia - the owner came rushing towards us , attempted to straighten the chess pieces and said you go home and make it yourself . She screamed at me saying she was not a 5 year old . If you think making a chess board makes you feel like a 5 year old, then don’t make custom cakes. The guy I was talking to ( I think marlon) was polite enough to agree that the chess pieces look bad and gave me a refund for the chess pieces and rush order fee. It’s not about the money , I would have paid anything if the cake was good. I was just disappointed with the owners behavior . You work in a business that deals with customers expectation , and should be more prepared to handle if a customer is disappointed and meet them halfway . Not throw tantrums and scream at them . I will never go...

Hello guys just wanted to share with u all I had a bad experience with this cake store... I knw i placed the order 2 days before my child’s birthday...and my order was cancelled before I could pay for it.. I mean before they use to do it over the phone and I guess probably recently they started doing “the email”thing. Which most people hardly have time during the day to check emails so anyways...the day off my child’s birthday they’re telling me it’s too late and can’t do the cake.just cuz I didn’t respond in a timely fashion..but actually agreed to do a diff cake. I had no choice but to accept it..But it wasn’t all that what I had told my child.. it was very disappointing...and above all when I email them they reply with attitude... saying ... that it will be a lesson for my child to respect other people’s time and well..! I mean really.. what can you expect out of a 4 yr old.?. they were really rude to say this to my child...! Sorry to say but they lost another good...