Tout Suite — Restaurant in Houston

This review is based on ordering a cake for a birthday party. I have been going to Tout Suite for over 10 years now and generally enjoy the food including their cakes, but the service with this transaction was so awful that I had to write a review.

While I received a prompt email response from the director of catering after my initial inquiry, there was complete radio silence after I gave her what details I wanted in the cake. No suggestions on design or quotes on pricing.

After not hearing back for 5 days and with my husband’s birthday party approaching, I finally called the catering service directly. I was able to place my order and was told I would receive a follow up invoice email.

Again, NO COMMUNICATION for another 2 days. No email confirmation of my design or how much the cake would cost. I had to call multiple times during business hours since the phone line was busy, and the voicemail system was not set up. When I finally reached someone, I was told that “your email was written down incorrectly” (even though I had already been communicating with them for nearly a week at this point).

I finally received the invoice and reiterated over the phone that I needed this cake to be ready for pickup at 10:30 AM on a Sunday. The earliest time available was 12 PM but catering offered to make the cake Saturday night so it would be ready at 10:30 AM instead. I had no problems with that and gave the go ahead.

Sunday rolls around and my friend is at Tout Suite to pick up the cake and is told the kitchen is running behind and it’s going to be an extra 20 minutes. Clearly this cake was not made Saturday night like they had promised. She had to wait over 30 minutes before it was ready.

Furthermore, it was very clear this was a slap dash effort as the cake I received was nowhere near the quality of the inspiration photo. I had asked for the cake to be in red and white without the rice paper decoration, but it was missing splattered gold accents and additional decoration on the side. I have attached both the inspiration photo and the cake I received for comparison as well as the invoice itemizing the details.

The only saving grace was the cake still tasted great but for the price that I paid, this subpar quality is unacceptable. The delay in the cake pickup also really affected my event which was scheduled at a batting cage and thus time sensitive.

I cannot in good conscience recommend this bakery to anyone else since their customer service was downright horrendous and made every step of the process painfully stressful.

UPDATE 11/28/24 I called a couple days after the event to complain about the cake order and was given a full refund back in the form of a gift card to their bakery (which I don't ever intend on going back). They could only return 25% of the purchase to my credit card which I agreed to.

Another month goes by without any refund to my credit card. I had to involve Chase Bank to formally dispute the claim another 35 days before I saw any money. Terrible communication and they have yet again failed to deliver. 0 out of 5 stars...

I came around 5:14 PM on Sunday, April 13th. I ordered a Classic Açaí Smoothie Bowl with Nutella, and looking at the menu, it does not state that it has peanuts. When the male staff brought my bowl out to me, I noticed it had nuts, so I went up to him to ask him if the bowl contained nuts because I have a severe peanut allergy. He stated that he would go in the back to ask the kitchen staff to see if it contains nuts because usually, packages will tell you the ingredients.

The manager at the time, which is a lady with glasses and two pigtail buns with the red scrunchies, came out and stated that she wouldn’t remake the bowl and that I should have stated I had an allergy. I never asked them to remake the bowl; I asked if they could check if it had peanuts in it. Her tone was very rude, and I myself overheard her state that cross contamination happens all over the kitchen and there is a 95 percent chance there is a cross contamination with peanuts. She then stated that she would not change her gloves just to make my bowl and that she wouldn’t give me a refund.

I told the male staff that her tone is rude, and he stated that she’s just intense. That is not intense, that is poor customer service. I told the lady at the front that it’s not okay if she stated that there is a 95 percent chance there is cross contamination with peanuts and I’m highly allergic, and looking at the menu, it doesn’t state there are peanuts, and I was brought a mix of nuts on my bowl. She was nice enough to contact her manager and tried to give me a refund, and the male staff was nice enough to help me with the situation as well.

I will say the manager at the time needs to rethink the way she handles situations with guests, especially since the menu does not clearly state if anything contains an allergy, and I have an allergy that requires an EpiPen. I’m not saying they should have catered to me, but if the menu doesn’t state that there are peanuts in something and you tell me it does and that there is a 95 percent chance peanuts came in contact with the bowl, and you don’t want to change gloves, that is concerning. That bowl was $14, so yes, I would...

Here’s the honest truth about this place I go here for coffee mostly sometimes the pastries I used to go here for the elixirs that they made. I’ve been going to tout suite for about six years now and to me had glory days years ago. I still do love this place however There needs to be some changes that are made. There’s no way that with all the traffic of customers that Come through there, that these guys aren’t millionaires by now. So in my opinion, it’s time to put into the restaurant mainly I’m referring to the location’s upgrades, which is great, and adds to the experience of the inside of the restaurant, but at this point, I feel like it’s more of a nuisance. I went by today for the first time in a while and the concrete is just shimmering with shattered glass from all the remnants of car theft/vandelism around. This isn’t too sweet’s fault, but it should definitely be a factor into whether people dine in at this place or even visit. Which overall should affect the business. This is by far the biggest moneymaker around that area and they should at this point be able to afford security to watch the grounds, especially with the amount of traffic that comes through here. People really trust this place for somewhat safe environment. Sure you can get your car broken into anywhere but I’m disappointed that after this long there’s nothing in place. I myself would not stay here longer than 20 minutes and I definitely wouldn’t come at night but people still do. The business is well deserved here, the service is outstanding food the products are one of the best in Houston, but I think that if I’m gonna tell the truth this business needs to focus on its customers and keeping them in their property a little bit...