Cakebuds Bakery and Ice Cream Shop — Restaurant in Johnson City

I wish I could give them a good review as I have always wanted to try this place! I have heard they were on a few tv shows, so had full faith they could produce a tasty prettty cake for my mother’s birthday! They got the pretty cake part right however the taste was just not for me; the icing tasted like whipped butter. I called the store and spoke with someone who explained the difference in icing to me. I understood I guess even though the icing tasted like it was missing ingredients. So I politely asked for a refund because in my opinion the cake was not edible and unfortunately the majority of the cake was icing. The lady I spoke to regarding a refund was rude and petty, said i needed my to bring the cake back (I live an hour away).she said that I had to bring the cake back and then I would get a full refund back to my original payment method. I let her know that I had already cut the cake to try it. She says “thats fine I don’t need you to regurgitate the cake ma’am”. I was in shock at the level of unprofessionalism. I I agreed to bring it back anyways. The next day I called to speak about the refund and make sure that everything was still going as planned. I asked if I could just throw the cake away to avoid having to make another trip. This is when the manager Angela got on the phone and was very rude, aggressive and asked me to bring the cake in so she could “evaluate” it.I explained to her that I had already spoke to an employee who promised me a refund. She explained that the refund was not promised and depended upon HER evaluation of the cake. I asked her what the evaluation entails as I had no issues with the presentation of the cake. She proceeded to say that she needed to taste the cake ( the cake my family and I had already cut into). I asked if this was usual policy she said yes. She proceeded to be rude and extremely unprofessional, saying it’s a 30 dollar cake that I’m arguing with her about. My intention was never to argue, I was treated poorly and could not understand why my issue needed to be handled the way it was. I wish I would have read the reviews before giving them my money and time. There seems to be a trend of unprofessionalism and defensive behavior. This is not about the money, however I will not stand to be treated poorly while trying to support a small business. The reviews speak...

Do you have a sweet tooth and sometimes just get a hankering for a fancy confectionery delight? Do you have a refined palate and are impressed by culinary artistry? OR........

Maybe you prefer the icing on your cakes to be flavorless and have the texture of molding clay that has been stored in Sahara-like conditions. Maybe you prefer for a cake to be wretchedly-devoid of moisture and flavor?

If the later is to your specifications, then CakeBuds is the spot for you. If you are unsure which of these categories will best suit your expectations, just ask the staff. They will be happy to spend an additional 20 minutes of your time telling you how wonderful they are and give you an unsolicited "education" about what cakes are supposed to be like and how hard, thick, icing is normal and how you CLEARLY are just stupid and have never had a quality cake before. Oh and don't forget, how their owner has won awards on national t.v. for creating edible sculptures (I had no idea about this until I bought the cake and cupcakes so it increased my expectations which was NOT a good thing.) So,

if you are looking for a cake that has the exact appearance of a hound dog, and tastes like one, too, you know where to go. OR.....

If you are a person who had a Mom or Grandmother who made homemade cakes from scratch that were so light, moist, and scrumptious that they still tease your memory from events long ago or maybe you just have eaten cake once or twice in your life and don't need anyone to explain the difference between dry and moist cake nor the difference between solid-to-the-touch and smooth, creamy icing (No, I didn't give the cake a test "feel" before I purchased it make sure the icing didn't have the consistency of clay.), then do not go to this establishment for your special event cakes.

P.S....Go read their reviews like we should have done before making a purchase. You will find that many customers have had the same experience of receiving a product of unacceptable quality and then being insulted by the staff when they bring this to...

I do not recommend the cupcakes. I hesitated to write a review since I did not pay for my product because I won them, but I felt people should know about my experience. Below is a my complaint and the response from Cakebuds.

I want to first say it was a wonderful opportunity to win 2 dozen cupcakes by guessing a prediction for this years Super Bowl and nailing it! If I were to be honest though my first time experience with Cakebuds was very disappointing. First the lack of communication. I left a phone number here and called the bakery and never received returned phone calls. I had to call a couple of times before actually reaching someone. I placed a simple order for a dozen of chocolate and a dozen of vanilla with buttercream icing to be picked up Saturday, March 4th at 10:00am. So most likely the cupcakes would have been baked on Friday the 3rd. The cupcakes were for a birthday party this past weekend and the cupcakes were so stale and not fresh at all and on top of that had whipped icing, not buttercream as ordered and expected. They were so bad we had over a dozen left and the ones that party goers got were taken a few bites and thrown away. Very disappointing!!! I know these were free but if you charge $24/dz and get it for those small cupcakes, I’m in the wrong business! 😉 I would not recommend your business to anyone and now seeing the google reviews we should have went to Sam’s Club or made them ourselves. I could have done a lot better job. So two dozen free cupcakes thrown away so did I really win, NO!!! Because this was a give-away and free I won’t leave a review but I did feel you need to know and understand my disappointment in your company and your product. You advertise and appear to have such high quality cakes and you can win all the Food Network challenges but it will not keep customers if you continue to serve and provide poor quality product to your actual customers. Signed- Karon Norris

Cakebuds response: I am so sorry you did not enjoy our product. I really appreciate...