Viktor Benes Bakeries — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I used to absolutely LOVE this bakery. It was something I went out of my way for before the weekend -

I'd enjoy all the gorgeous pastries in the case, admire the fancy cakes, nibble on a cookie sample, and purchase a bunch of various pastries for my family to enjoy throughout the weekend.

NO MAS.

Went by here during 'prime time' on a busy Thursday around 6 pm - this is when shopping is at its highest - and there was a lone, bored young Hispanic gal at the counter.

The case was SOOOOO depressing - at least HALF of the pastries, and none of them all that fancy and appealing. I finally asked pricing of cupcakes (which were about 1/3 SMALLER than last year's...) -

$3.75 for a tiny, plain, vanilla cupcake with hardly ANY FROSTING, no cute adorable decor like they used to have and - worse - some white vanilla cheap frosting to HOLD THE 'BUTTERCREAM' in place - it looked about as Ralph's cheap supermarket as you can get - AWFUL.

Whenever I asked pricing of any of the other 'french' pastries, the bored gal had to pick up a list, scan the items, consult with another bored lady 'back stage' and finally give me the astonishing prices (a SLICE - small slice - of a cheap version of a Strawberry Shortcake - $7.00??!) I didn't look worth $5 dollars.)

The cookie side of the whole bakery was equally depressing - 1/3 of the cookies they'd had 2 years ago - business must be BAD.

Finally settled on the small chocolate chip 'chocolate drop cookie' that - at Art's Deli is 3X as large - this was tiny - and paid $4 bucks for it. It was so lacking in flavor and texture - like a poor man's version of a bakery cookie.

Whomever owns this location - y'all are heading for closing if you keep overcharging, undersizing, and using cheaper ingredients to 'get by'. We can tell, us formerly-loyal customers. And PLEASE fire your 'customer service' - they clearly are bored, disinterested, and were more of a deterent.

DO...

Wow, what a terrible customer service experience from Crystal

I live in the neighborhood and I’ve been a patron of Gelson’s for years, and I stumbled upon this bakery here and have been giving them an immense amount of business over the past 10 years

I always choose them for my son’s birthday cakes

Today I came in to get pricing to have a cake made, and she seemed very put off and bothered that I even ask for help on pricing or anything

I ordered four shots of espresso with a touch of cream and they charge me two dollars for the cream. The drink itself ended up being almost $10. I get the same drink everywhere in Sherman Oaks and it’s always around five bucks maybe six bucks max

The whole experience was pretty god-awful I mean absolutely no customer service level experience at all

I asked to have the croissant heated because it’s ham and cheese and she seemed very put out by that even though I asked her twice she said well you didn’t ask me

I’ll tell you what if I was the owner of this place I would have a stern talk with her. I’m a family man that’s very involved in Sherman Oaks and I have been promoting this brand left and right and you guys lost my boat entirely. I will not be coming back here at all. That was a horrible experience and she should be notified ASAP if you’re in this business , especially with inflation then at least have a smile on your face and quit...

Well well well... Wanna give yourself a little treat or wanna buy somebody a cake go on into gelsen's and shop at their bakery. This Baker not only bakes the scariest looking cakes at Halloween time but they are delicious and I don't care what you choose from their rack or if you just get an individual piece or a dozen cookies they are not cheap but they are worth it so treat yourself some time and go on in. One of the most beautiful wedding cakes I ever saw while I was a photographer came from this bakery it was gorgeous and so delicious there was not 1 little crumb left once the...