Katella Bakery, Deli & Restaurant — Restaurant in Los Alamitos

BAKERY REVIEW - 2 Tier Wedding Cake

I usually don't leave reviews but this one was a huge disappointment. Not sure what went wrong here considering I was recommended this place through word of mouth and reviews have been great.

I worked with Chelsea 2 months before my wedding and showed her my inspiration wedding cake. Colors, style, tier, decoration was all communicated and date was set up to pick up the cake. She was great to work with.

On the wedding day, we went to pick up the cake and they gave us the wrong wedding cake. We kept insisting that it wasn't ours but the lady at the counter kept pushing back saying that "if you ordered a custom cake then this is yours." (we didn't order a naked cake with pink raspberry filling). Spent 30 minutes letting them know what our order was. At the end we had to go, so we signed the papers for the transfer of the cake and left.

One hour later, they called me and told me they gave us the wrong wedding cake. We were already an hour away and had to pull some strings to get our actual wedding cake which was stressful enough as it was. We got our actual wedding cake and it looked NOTHING like our inspiration photo, it looked messy and tacky. See photos below. Since we were running late on time we had to take it and go.

On top of that, the cake was given to us on a cardboard box as shown in the photo below. There was absolutely no protection. The 2 tier cake slips and slides in the car so you have to drive slowly. The manager said "I always get complaints from customers that their cake has fallen in the car, but guess what? They signed the papers so that's their responsibility now and there's nothing we can do."

After the wedding, I called Katella bakery and spoke to the manager, Jason. I explained our experience as politely as possible. He was extremely rude and defensive and said there was nothing he could do. He said if we had a problem with the cake then we should have asked them to fix it on the spot. Considering they gave us the wrong cake before and we were short on time, that was not an option. He said since you signed the papers for the cake, you took all responsibility for your cake and we cannot offer you any refund. (We had full confidence in Katella that they would deliver us a great cake. It's not like we could go to another bakery that same day and ask them to make us a wedding cake)

The manager said the right side of our cake in the photo had fallen and that's why it looks like that. I asked, 'then what about the left side? Why does it look messy?' He said "It's supposed to look messy." I said 'It's supposed to look clean with horizontal lines wrapped around.' He said he personally saw it completed and it looked completely fine to him before it was sent out of the bakery. I honesty don't know how this cake was acceptable to him.

The worst part was that instead of being empathic and understanding of their 2 mess ups, he was unacknowledging and defensive, blaming it on us that we took the first cake which we kept insisting wasn't ours. If there was some understanding on his part and acknowledgment of the mistakes made, I wouldn't be writing this review! The most he offered was a 1 year anniversary cake, which is free anyways...

Highly recommend future brides take this into account when...

Don't visit during the weekends or busy hours.

The place looks newly renovated.

There is free parking in their own lot but it can get full. You might need to park on the street.

There's basically 2 areas to the resto. A bakery on the right side and another dine-in area on the left.

The patio area infront used to be a place to eat at but does turn into a waiting area for people waiting to dine-in.

As you enter, you talk to a host to get seated. Didn't wait for a table but once we left, the whole patio area was filled with people. Waiting.

There is a coffee line on the left side, a bar seating infront of it. The seating area is basically on the back left. Kitchen is behind the hostess table / take out counter / single - diners counter.

Dishes are generally priced $22 and above. + tax + tip. Drinks are around $5-12 ... depending on your poison. So budget around $40 per person.

Breakfast menu is available until 2pm but even if you're early, you can order from the all-day menu.

Once seated, waited another 10-15 minutes for a staff to get our orders. It took more than 40 minutes for our meal to arrive after. Noting that there are only 2 of us. Yes it was that long.... and no our orders weren't something out of the blue and special. Yes, there were a couple of tables that got theirs earlier.

I get it, they try to time it that they serve all at the same time but, more than 40 minutes is just weird.... would have followed up, but we couldn't find our server..... / busy maybe?

Which was another thing. Our server changed 3-4x.... it was good though that they introduced themselves but ... other than that we couldn't flag them to follow up our food...

Pastrami is usually the go to order, but it seemed underwhelming. Pricey... and yet it seems I could have gotten more from other places for the price, quality, and wait time. It was served with mac salad. The sandwich was kinda cold.

We also tried one of their focaccia sandwiches. It too was cold.

The cheese blintzes were warm and done well. We had a side order of fries that was hot and cooked right.

Overall, I will Not recommend going on a busy timeslot/ day.

Would probably go back but will just order to-go. And if I'm in the area.

Their bakery, offered a lot of goodies and sweet treats. You get a number then say your order. You can also pre order a cake if you want.

They offer a number of cookies, pastries, other breads.

They offer happy hour in the afternoon during weekdays but you gotta sit at the bar.

Wifi is free but you need to put in an email and zipcode.

Dishes are basically priced x2 - x 1.5x of the same in other...

The server Julia and another server were rude to me tonight. Today was my Mom's birthday and she has been in heaven for about 3.5 years now. My boyfriend and I decided to go to my Mom's absolute favorite restaurant, Katela Deli, and get all of her favorite meals and take home what we couldn't finish. The restaurant only had 3 other tables filled in the back room so it wasn't too busy or packed at all. The server didn't ask us if we wanted refills. Another server brought our check to us and just placed it on the table without looking at us and walked away. When she was 3 tables away she turned around and asked us if we wanted anything else after I had a confused look on my face. I just ordered soup and an appetizer that I shared with my boyfriend and was ready to order a dinner that my Mom loved. I didn't have a chance to request a refill on my coke zero until I received what I ordered/dinner after I received my first check. I then received another check without the server asking if I wanted anything else. I wanted to take 2 dinners and a dessert to go but didn't have the chance to. I felt like we were being rushed out. So I took the hint and we left. We both spent over $88.00 and I do not make a lot of money so I saved up for this. I was expecting to just go to the restaurant and have a nice relaxing time and a leisurely meal with some food to go as well. I miss my mom so much and thought this would be a great experience but it only left me sad. The manager Mia said that she would speak to and retrain the servers and that she hopes this will not interfere with me coming back to the restaurant. Well my Mom is no longer here so I don't feel like I want to experience that again. The restaurant missed out on doubling our check and the tip even after I explained to the second server about what happened. I have to use a cane and am handicapped so I didn't want to wait in line at the bakery but I had to since I wanted to buy a cream puff and was never asked if I wanted anything else. I'm gonna miss Katella Deli, it is expensive and a long way for me to drive but I wanted to honor my late mother on her birthday since I miss her so much. I am overweight and this is not the first time I was rudely rushed out of a restaurant but I never expected this from Katella Deli. I fit perfectly fine in the booth. I feel like the servers were new but there is no excuse for this. I just wanted to have a fun time since I was crying all day. Good bye...