Magpies Bakery — Restaurant in Knoxville

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I have raved about this bakery for many years and suggested them to many of my co-workers, friends and family. I'm disappointed in they way my cake order was handled. I notified the bakery of the situation by email. Please read their responses below. Read from the bottom up to understand the correspondence fully):

Ms. Hambright,

No one ever implied that your establishment were or was trying to be the Cake Boss in any way. I contacted you to let you know that my cake order was not satisfactory to our request. I asked for a hot pink base color and you did not deliver. I will perceive your email as the way you intended me to receive it. I will post it as a review for your establishment.

Good day,

La Tangela

From: Ryan Huddleston Sent: Monday, September 03, 2012 10:16 AM To: Underwood, LaTangela Cherick Cc: Stephanie Barthold; Maren Hilgert; Ryan Huddleston Subject: Re: Cake Order

LaTangela,

I'm am sorry (and baffled) that you were displeased with your cake. This is very confusing to me, as the person who picked up the cake expressed that they really liked the cake. I'm not sure who it was, but we made a point of showing the cake to them since it did have custom components to it.

Maren took your order last week, and was on vacation this week. She went over the details with me specifically, and I decorated the cake myself. We have printouts from the cake you sent above, and sketches that were made when you placed the order. The pink matched the printout perfectly. We did not have a picture of the cake topper you had made, so I had no reference to match that, unfortunately.

I took extra care with the decorating of your cake, and am sorry you found it "ugly". I followed the instructions that Maren gave me to the letter. Did you really think it was ugly?

These are the problems we run into with custom cake orders. You obviously had a specific idea of how you wanted the cake to look, and if we don't have a photograph of exactly what you want, it's difficult sometimes to read people's minds. Everyone perceives things differently, and everyone has a different idea of what "ugly" is. The only solution to this is to have an exact photograph of what you have in your mind. I'm sorry we're not the Cake Boss :)

If you had called when you saw the cake, I would have been more than happy to do what I could to fix it. I was here all day on Saturday.

I hope the party was a success despite it all, and that at least the the flavor of the cake was enjoyed.

Best to you,

Peggy Hambright

Owner, magpies bakery On Fri, Aug 31, 2012 at 3:06 PM, Underwood, LaTangela Cherick

Dear Bakery Owner,

We are very displeased with our cake order for the second time around. The first time we did not mention it because we came unprepared to make the order. This time around we came prepared with all the details. We asked for the color of the base frosting color to be hot pink. I even emailed pictures to you for your review as asked by the assistant taking our order. This cake I have to serve today to our guest is ugly and does not go with the cake topper I had custom made for the cake. If someone did not understand the order someone could have called for clarification. We have made many cake orders with your bakery and we are always very pleased. You guys let me down this time...

I was excited and nervous to order a custom cake for the first time over the phone. I even called one week before the pick up date to make sure that I ordered everything correctly.

I walked in on the scheduled date and I had a few people look up from their decorating stations without saying anything or smiling. I felt a bit awkward being there for the first time.

The lady that came up to the counter was friendly and asked if I could describe the cake since they had so many orders that sometimes the names aren't written down. I had ordered a fully green cake, the color of the emerald birthstone for a May Gemini birthday. I paid extra for the made from scratch vegan piping and paid extra for the made from scratch vegan brown "Happy 31st" writing to match the owl on a branch decoration.

The lady was only able to find the cake because it was a small 5 inch vegan devil's food cake, but the entire cake and piping was a brownish beige with 'gemini" written in green on the cake. It felt like I wasn't listened to when I placed and double checked my order. She asked if I had wanted it green all over? I said yes. She spoke to another lady about 5-8 feet from me but kept their backs towards me. It didn't feel welcoming. I had already felt awkward.

She said she was sorry about the mix up and offered to either give me 50% off or I could wait 20 minutes for the cake to be redecorated. The atmosphere felt tense as if they were preparing for me to be a difficult customer but I honestly felt hurt that it felt like I was being handled and I didn't matter. I was very excited about this order. The entire situation made me want to leave as soon as possible. I also didn't understand how the customer vegan made from scratch icing could be made and decorated within 20minutes.

When I asked if it needed to be refrigerated or if it would melt in a long car ride, she asked when the cake was supposed to be served. I said that I wasn't sure but it's a bit of a drive and it was pretty hot in the car. I was given a look that made me feel like I was being pressured to let them fix it because I "had time". I told her that I needed to get to the location to help set up and I had to leave now to get ready.

This was my first event since moving to TN and I was excited about finding a bakery that had a vegan option but I don't want to feel like I'm expected to be an issue because of a misunderstanding on their part .

I understand that it was graduation season, but I would have understood if I was told they were all booked up on orders instead of feeling disappointed, rushed and unwelcomed.

The cake itself was moist, it was my first time eating a devil's food cake. The icing was too sweet for me, it made my stomach hurt.

I hope my review helps to avoid this from happening again and hope that you triple check your order and feel excited when you leave from picking up your...

My "scores" for each of the categories that google provides above are really averages of pretty wide-ranging sub-scores, unfortunately. I think Magpies could actually be a very special place if all areas (or sub-genres within an area, if you'd rather) were brought up to the quality of their best efforts.

Food: Cakes are awesome. Best I've ever had. Well, maybe my wedding cake (in another town) was as good but for "special" all-purpose cakes here in Knoxville these are the ones to get. A to A+.

The cookies, pies, and special breads that I've had have all been good to very good. But, somehow, they just don't seem to have the punch of flavor I expect from a custom bakery. Lots of butter and sugar, which are the main requirements for sweets in my mind, but just not enough counter-flavor like citrus or spice, etc. I guess I would say these are usually a bit bland and in the B to B+ range.

As for cupcakes, generally, the flavors are wonderful but on occasion I'll get a cupcake that seems a bit dry. Actually, sometimes the cake is so dry I have to wonder if they are re-using the cakes after the icing has gone past date... not good practice, if so. These are, unfortunately, hit or miss in my opinion ranging from C- to A+.

Don't get any of the gluten-free cupcakes here. Just awful from the few I've tried. Magpies really shouldn't even offer these if they aren't going to try to make them as good as their standard batters are. D, at best.

Appeal: All the food is prepared and laid out very nicely visually and the interior design is beautiful. Just try to ignore the condition of the floors - even when your shoes stick to them and you're kicking crumbs around. The focus here is definitely on the baked goods rather than on wiping everything down and sweeping up.

Service: Everybody has been pretty nice and helpful although some days have been better (more chipper and friendly) than others. Avoid the tall dark-haired woman - obviously doesn't want to be there.

My last comment is that I wish the owner would add some all-organic items for sale. I see their cupcakes at Three Rivers on occasion but, well, I'm not even sure Magpies avoids artificial colors much less uses any organic...