Honey Bear Bakery — Restaurant in Lake Forest Park

Someone on Facebook asked about good coffee shops in the Shoreline area where someone could write or study. I added myself to the comments so that I would get notified when people added comments. I got a nice list of places that I am working my way through to find the best place to hang out while writing my novel. See my other reviews for what I have found out so far. Several people suggested Honey Bear Bakery in LFP ( Local code for Lake Forest Park). I have an unhealthy relationship with pastry, so I put this “Bakery” low on my list. Last week, its turn finally came up. I packed up my computer, put my writer’s playlist on my phone and headed off. When Google Maps told me that my destination was on the right, I was surprised to see that I was outside Third Place Books. Like most writers, I love a good book store, so I was happy to be there. Like most foodies, I know that eateries in bookstores often leave something to be desired. Dang. Honey Bear Bakery is to the left as you come in the door. I must have passed it by many times on the way to browse the shelves or see an author give a talk, but I don’t remember noticing it. There is a big pastry case to the left of the order counter. I moved past it quickly at first, then I slowed down to note that the wares in the case were not all that tempting. I waited for someone to take my order, confident that I would be able to defeat my pastry addiction. It took a while for the girls behind the counter to wrap up their conversation and get my order. 16 oz latte, please. Making the order was easy for me to make and easy for the girl to take. I paid and stepped to the side to wait for my coffee to be made. While I waited, I looked around for tables with outlets. Most of the tables are cool wood slabs, but they are in the middle of the room far away from electricity. I ended up picking out a small table by the window where I would be able to plug in my computer. It didn’t take long for me to search the room and make my selection. It did take a long time for my coffee to be prepared. There was only one other customer in the place at the time, so maybe they were still getting things started up. When my coffee arrived, I took it over to my selected table. It was a mess. There was spilled coffee and pastry crumbs all over it and trash on the window sill and the floor nearby. I looked up to see that the two girls who worked there were standing around chatting to each other. I got some napkins and cleaned up the area. I sat down and turned on my computer. There were several options for Wifi that included “Honey Bear” in the name. I went up to the counter to get the password. The girl pointed to a sign that said I should use the open network provided by the library next door. Weird. Fortunately, the library network was fast. I sipped my coffee. It was not very hot, but the flavor was good. As I worked, more customers showed up. It did not take long for the line to stream past me all the way to the door. People were standing right behind me, so I was glad that I was not writing a steamy romance novel. Many of the people in line were little kids. They rushed up to the pastry case and came back with requests for cookies. I frowned, thinking about how disappointed those poor kids will be when they get the lame cookies. Some of the kids were very little and needed to cry. I like kids, so I don’t blame them, but it does make it hard to concentrate. I packed up early and got on with the rest of my day. I’ll be back to visit the bookstore, but I’ll get my coffee at...

One of my favorite places, the food is amazing, but had a terrible experience today. The issue is more with their disorganized communication & poor customer service. Came in around 1:30 initially. Ordered some sandwiches and a bag of pastries. At first, they didn’t fill the pastry order at all and we waited and waited until I finally said something. I should have checked the order but didn’t (was impatient) and when I got home I was missing items still. I called the bakery and spoke with a really nice apologetic girl and explained to her I didn’t receive the 2 specific items. She said she was putting them together right then and then they’d be waiting for pick up. I make it back 45 min later and there’s nothing out. I waited a while and then asked the barista if there was an order for me, she said yes one second. I watched her prepare multiple other orders, and have a full conversation (presumably about my order) with the front cashier (who had originally taken the order). The barista informed the items were out of stock (?) and then when I asked if I could sub it she said she would ask.. I waited even longer while they filled more orders, and finally went to say “excuse me” and the barista cut me off and said that her coworker (the cashier) would be over to talk to me. When she did finally come, she said “So what’s the problem?” sigh it was such a headache, I wished I hadn’t come back at all. She then proceeded to tell me how they thought I was claiming I hadn’t received the pastry order at all (instead of just the 2 items) and that’s why I had been waiting (?) okay.. well, in the end I got the cupcake and lemon bar! It just took a...

If I could give them a ZERO I would. TERRIBLE SERVICE. My wife and I each ordered a scramble, right after each other. Took about 5 minutes for her to receive her order. 15 minutes later nothing for me. I went to the counter and was told "oh, they're working on it". 5 minutes after that "oh, they're working on it". 5 minutes after that "oh, they're working on it". 5 minutes after that "oh, they're working on it". 5 minutes after that "oh, they're working on it". I am really pissed at this point. Then came the river of excuses... "we only have 2 burners" "blah" "blah" "blah". Then why were 8 other people who came in after us served already? Turns out the cooks hadn't even started on my order until after the 5th wait of 5 minutes, and the lame excuses. The cooks need to pay attention to what their jobs are instead of having their earbuds in spacing out on tunes, which both of the women were doing. They didn't even acknowledge the update requests of the people working at the counter. LAST TIME GOING HERE FOR A MEAL. WILL PASS THIS ALONG TO OTHERS I KNOW AS WELL. Oh, on a side note. There was a scroungy person sitting at a table near the door by the line waiting to order, and he was panhandling, asking everyone in line for money. None of the staff seemed to...