Bittersweet Pastry Shop & Cafe — Restaurant in Lake View Township

I’ve had a horrible experience with this shop and do not recommend going there.

Bittersweet Bakery was supposed to provide our wedding cake through our venue, Mid-America Club, but have been difficult to work with and not at all accommodating.

My fiancée and I are Chicago suburban natives who now live on the west coast. We are coming home the week before Christmas to get as much wedding stuff done as possible, so I reached out to bittersweet bakery nearly 2 months in advance about setting up a cake tasting for the week we would be in town. I was informed by Kim that they only are doing carry-our cake tastings, and those can only be picked up from 8am to 2pm on Saturdays.

I explained to her that we were coming from out of town and our flight on Saturday Dec. 18th didn’t land until 4pm, I asked if there was any way we could pick it up first thing the next morning or any other day, I was old no they wouldn’t make any accommodations for us, even 6-7 weeks in advance.

So then I started working on finding someone who could go pick up the tasting, and I emailed Kim earlier this week that we found a cousin who would pick up our tasting on Saturday morning. Kim said since I didn’t confirm pickup prior, it’s now too late and they cannot have a tasting ready for us. Again I’ve been told they can’t help us out or be flexible at all. She suggested that we just pick our cake based on her recommendations.

We are extremely disappointed, we do not want to serve over 200 guests something we have never tried. We also want to make sure we like it, plus wedding cake tasting is supposed to be once in a lifetime experience that’s a fun part of the planning process. We are so disappointed by the lack of flexibility and customer service. We are meeting with most of our vendors next week and they all have bent over backwards to make it work. I’ve already called 2 other bakeries who’ve said they could set up a cake tasting for us next week, so it’s really frustrating bittersweet bakery couldnt do so. We’re now reaching out to the venue to get our money back so we can book...

Let me preface by saying I DID NOT ORDER THE CAKE OR DEAL WITH THE BAKERY AT ALL. However, my mom was told by another bakery that they wouldn’t be able to accommodate my cake for my birthday anymore this year due to being busy. My mom scrambled around panicked calling bakery after bakery until she stumbled across this gem of a shop. They let her order with less than a week of my party and the pricing was not so astronomical like the others. While this is all great I haven’t even told you about this AMAZING CAKE!!!! Yes it’s beautiful (we see the picture come on now)! BUT every person at my party said this was the best cake they have ever had. We usually end up throwing cake away that’s extra from parties….but this time we finished the entire cake! I mean I just found myself scraping my Tupperware to get the last bits of that delicious one-of-a-kind cake! I had originally requested white chocolate raspberry but my mom somehow ended up oedering a raspberry lemonade cake…I’ll admit at first I was like ughhh but wow this hands down is my favorite of all time and I will NEVER go back to the old bakery! I’m also a puzzle fanatic and my sister bought me an awesome puzzle right from the bakery! Come on we are 3/3 now….!!! I will say the one thing that wasn’t my favorite were the macarons but it may have been that they were a separate charge but I’m telling you people the buttercream is so silky soft and luxurious I thought it was whipped cream! Idk how they do it but my entire family was so impressed they all want that cake flavor now. This is our new bakery spot for that delicious cake! Call them and order the raspberry lemon cake - I didn’t even know that I liked that combo but it’s compelled me to spend at least 10 minutes writing this review. wishing I had more of that cake and sad it’s gone thank you bittersweet for making my birthday the best! Keep that pastry chef if you know what’s...

Usually I only give a business one try, and if it doesn't wow me the first time, I go elsewhere. I made a couple of exceptions for Bittersweet since it's literally down the street from my apartment. The first time, I thought the macarons were average and the cupcakes weren't as moist as I like. I figured I'd go back and try different items the next time.

The second time, I ordered a fudge cake with hazelnut filling for my friend's birthday. Everybody raved about the presentation, because I requested for fresh flowers and fruit to be added on top. If only the cake tasted as good as it looked though.

The third time, I went to pick up an angel food cake that I specified multiple times on the phone that I wanted strawberries and a glaze on top. What did I get when I went in to pick it up? No strawberries... Which could be, because they told me they only had raspberries and no strawberries, because my memory sucks... but then they told me they could do strawberries and that it would take 3 minutes. Which turned into a 10 minute wait, turning my total time in the bakery into a 17 minute debacle from the time it took them to prep the cake. I expected the most creative, beautiful strawberry display on the time it took them to slice 6 strawberries in half. Also, when the girl first brought out my strawberry less cake, she asked if I was going to eat it same day and that she had instructions for me on how to serve it. Well, she neglected to follow up with the instructions. I guess hand, cake, face. THANKS. But I do have to say, the presentation of the cake is beautiful.... so I don't absolutely hate this place. AND damn I really wanted to hate the angel food cake, but it was delicious and my coworkers...