CAO Bakery & Cafe — Restaurant in Hollywood

I buy breakfast every day from CAO. The food is awesome and fresh. The service is very slow. I am giving CAO 3 stars due to the fact that EVERYDAY, I place my order over the phone and lately the ladies just ignore my phone calls to place my order. Today I dialed and dialed and the phone rang and rang, so I decided to go straight to CAO and dial while waiting in line...to my surprise...the ladies were staring at the phone and not picking up. One was making toast and the other walked by the phone, looked at the caller ID and kept on walking. I am assuming, because I order EVERY DAY, via phone...they recognized my number, ignored the call and decided not to pick up the phone. I asked the ladies as to why that was happening. They claimed it was a busy day...This is not the first time these actions has transpired and I am told "we are busy"...Not only I buy breakfast everyday...I leave a tip and I am super cordial and respectful to them. As a regular-well known customer, I feel I should not be treated like in that matter. I understand CAO can be busy at times, that is why I place my order over the phone for pick up. I also understand that CAO needs more personnel and a better service system to expedite the service to the customers. Perhaps CAO should have a designated person to make coffee, another to take order, etc. Miramar Bakery has a nice system in place. Perhaps CAO can visit them and implement a better system. Editing my review!!! I can't believe after years, the management continues to be so rude and unprofessional! I ordered last night from Grubhub and my food arrived cold and salty. I contacted the store to express my concern. A young lady Carolina, told me to come the next day in the morning to pick up a new order. When I arrived, I provided my receipt. Carolina went to the back of the kitchen to get the manager. This manager was rude and condescending and had the nerves to tell me that the never had any issues with the food, nor anyone has complained as she walked back into the kitchen. I waited by the counter, thinking I was going to get my food...and nope! I was told by Carolina that the manager said to get a refund from Gruphub! I am a firm believer that the manager needs some serious training in customer service. This is the main reason as to why I drive all the way to 441 to Miramar Bakery! The outstanding service WE THE CUSTOMERS get from Miramar Bakery can't compare to the low caliber service from CAO Bakery!

Please address this...

CAO Bakery and Cafe is a new Cuban bakery having just opened last Friday in Hollywood. In case you were wondering,the name is pronounced cow. CAO is from one of the owners of the popular Vicky Bakery in Miami. Owner Tony Cao's grandparents, Antonio and Gelasia Cao, opened the first Vicky Bakery in 1972. Tony Cao was raised in Miami and he wanted to fuse American and Cuban food in a new concept like taking the American sloppy Joe and turning it into a Sloppy José, stuffed with picadillo beef while Arroz con pollo is turned into fritters. Vicky's didn't want to make the changes so Tony ended up giving up his stake in the family company, bought out his stores, and created a new concept: Cao Bakery & Cafe. He has now converted his seven Vicky bakeries into CAO's with more to come soon in Doral, Homestead, Miami Shores, Hallandale Beach, and now Hollywood. In order to appeal to more American tastes, Cao has hired Food Networks Jeremiah Bullfrog to create the recipes for Cuban American sandwiches, pastries, and snacks. With this location CAO aims to bring the flavors of Miami to Broward. They want to be the first place you come when you think of Cuban pastries.

When I saw this brand new location in Hollywood I had to stop. This location is spacious and designed in a black and white minimalist style with the bakery counter front and center. If you have a sweet tooth like I do you will be immediately drawn to the beautiful pastries but they also serve breakfast and lunch sandwiches. I agree with other reviewers that it would be helpful if they labeled the pastries. Jeanie helped me and she was more than happy to answer my questions. I ended up choosing a slice of opera cake and a guava pastelito. The Cuban resource officer at my school brings pastelitos to me as a kind of payment for helping move the safety cones for him after school and now I am hooked. The ones here were as good as the ones he brings me and the cake was also amazing. Their prices are inexpensive too. The cake slice which would easily sell for 6 to 8 dollars at a restaurant is only $3 here. The guava pastelito and cake came to $4 and change with tax. If you are not familiar with Cuban pastries don't worry. Everything here is delicious and the friendly staff will help guide you. Just be careful because those pastelito's...

First off, their empanadas are amazing. Love the food here.

The reason I am choosing to write the review is because of the customer service. They will say "yes" to anything you ask, but they will NEVER do it. I've eaten here over 15 times in the past year as it is directly down the street from where I work.

For example...

When going to the store in person, if you ask for red sauce for your empanadas they will only give you one. Even if you ordered 6+ empanadas. You have to get aggressive to get more and keep asking.

When ordering online through Uber Eats you can't leave a not that says "please include sauce and napkins" on the specific product. But you can leave comments at the end of checkout for the store and driver. I always do my best to write a note asking for sauce and napkins. I even take it a step further by calling after my order is approved by Uber and they still do not include the sauce.

Today when ordering on Uber Eats I ordered 4 empanadas and waited until the app showed the order was confirmed. I then called and spoke to a women who confirmed my name "Blake" and my order from Uber Eats, she said "yes, I will include the sauce in the bag" and simply hung up, no "goodbye," it was kind of rude how she addressed that. Just because they always forget I chose to call again to hopefully get a different person just to confirm, but the same lady picked up. I asked again to please included the sauce in the order so she confirmed my name and order again to make sure it was the right bag. Food just showed up without sauce and napkins.

Rant over. Lame to complain about bad customer service and lack of listening to the customer. I don't write reviews when things happen once or twice, that's a simple mistake so I get it. But when it happens over 10 times, it should be addressed.

Love the empanadas CAO, but please work on your customer service.

Update for this review 1/20/2022: Ordered some empanadas again, even called to confirm two sauces in the bag. Food shows up with no sauce. Not the end of the world, just hilarious...