Chestnut Hill Bakery — Restaurant in Lynchburg

I needed a special cake for my daughter's baby shower. My husband found the perfect cake on Chestnut hill bakery's website of Bob Ross painting a picture. The baby's name is Sedona, named after the town in Arizona which is where we are from. We went to the bakery and told the lady working that we wanted a picture of Bob Ross painting the red rocks of Sedona, with pastel ruffles and traditional mexican flowers around the sides. She assured us that they could do as we asked, she took plenty of notes, and she even took some screen shots of the ruffles and flowers. We left the bakery thinking that we were going to have an epic cake! My excitement was quickly destroyed, as I got a message from Glenda 2 days before the event informing me that Bob Ross was copywrited and could not be used. Why would you post a picture of a Bob Ross cake on your website if you are not able to make it? And why wait till the last minute to inform me? She said that she didn't even remember that cake being on her website. She said that a gentleman had ordered that cake years ago, using a picture of Bob Ross that he owned, but that the cost of his his cake was 4 times the normal price. I don't know if she was trying to milk me for more money, or just giving me a lame excuse. Since she wasn't using Bob, I asked her what she had put on the cake and her response was "a rock". I was In full panic mode by now, and having images of Flintstones Bedrock boulders floating around in my head. I asked her if she could please use the picture of Sedona that I sent her along with some mexican flowers and the ruffles, and asked if she could add a few saguaro cactus 🌵 on the front since we couldn't use Bob, she ignored my request. I tried to call the bakery repeatedly, but they wouldn't answer their phone, I couldn't even leave a message, because their voice-mail was full, so all of the communication was done via email, so unprofessional! When my daughter picked up the cake the day before the event we were horrified. The colors were not pastel, the ruffle was crooked and piped horribly, the "flowers" were blobs of frosting that didn't even resemble flowers, and the picture of Sedona had wrinkles all over it. I was embarrassed to serve it! This cake was hands down the Worst cake I have ever tasted! We had ordered a half sheet Lemon cake with pastel buttercream frosting. The cake had a tiny hint of lemon, but you could barely taste it. The buttercream was absolutely disgusting and tasted like powdered sugar and lard and was sickeningly sweet and slightly gritty. The cake itself was so dry that it literally crumbled apart when I tried to serve it. I watched as guests took a big bite, then grimaced at the taste and put their forks down. Nobody finished their serving, and more cake was thrown away than eaten. I couldn't even give the cake away! There was plenty left because the employee at the bakery told me that I needed a half sheet to serve the amount of people attending the event, which was not true, she over sold me on the cake size. When I offered it to guests to take home, they all politely declined. I have purchased numerous cakes at big box retail stores that were 100 times better than this monstrosity, and at a much lower price! Unless you want your stress level through the roof with a complete lack of communication, professionalism, and caring, I would advise you NOT to purchase a cake from...

The guy working there this morning was very unprofessional and rude. I drove up from Roanoke with a friend as I had had your honeybuns a couple of weeks ago and fell in love with them. I couldn't wait to get here to get more. We walked in, there were two other people in the store. The guy asked us to stand on the black x's on the floor. I did for a second, but because my friend and I had come down together, I knew being next to her was no problem. One customer exited the store, the other lady approached the counter. I then started walking around looking at the items to see what all I wanted because there was only the one lady at the counter and the two of us in the store. The guy behind the counter then said to me, "I told you once, I'm not gonna tell you again to stand on the x on the floor"! Well that immediately set wrong with me as I am a 59 yr old grandmother and not his child! I said excuse me and told him that we have been social distancing since March and knew the guidelines. He said these were the CDC rules and not his. All the while he was chastising me....and mind you, I never got close to the lady he was waiting on....but while running down the rules to me, he was not wearing gloves! He had waited on the previous customer, with no gloves...handled the customer cash money, then without washing his hands proceeded to wait on the next lady!! My friend had already decided to leave because of the unsanitary and unprofessional manner in which he was waiting on customers.

He then said he was refusing to serve us! I asked him about wearing gloves and he never responded. I asked him for the owners name and he said he was the owner and did not have to give us his name.

A simple Google search and found that he was also a liar as the info on the BBB website identified the actual owner. I do not appreciate being treated like that as I am a responsible adult who takes this pandemic very seriously due to my husband having several comorbidities.

I would appreciate you speaking to him regarding his attitude and to let him know he needs to watch how he speaks to people. I was prepared to purchase quite a few pastries today, instead I will never go back. Reading these reviews from over the years, there are several accounts of rudeness and unprofessionalism at this establishment. Maybe a refresher course in customer service as well as ALL CDC...

Everything I've had at Chestnut Hill bakery has been on a scale of very good to delicious. They make their products fresh daily and it all tastes wonderful. They made my son's birthday cake and I had to pick it up on Friday for a Monday party. It was still moist and delicious even after the weekend, (all I did was keep it refrigerated). Their donuts are awesome, in fact they sell out of them and the donut holes on a regular basis, so if you want some, you need to get there early. We love the long johns, the Bavarian cream filled donuts and yes, their cream puffs are also delicious and sell out regularly. Their honey buns are hand made and also delectable. I don't hesitate to take my out of town guests to Chestnut Hill or at least pick up some goodies from there to serve, and I've introduced a newcomer to the area friend of mine to Chestnut Hill. She is addicted to the donut holes and always asks if we have time to stop in when we are having a girls day out. Their pies have been on my Thanksgiving table and I do a lot of baking myself. They are so good, I don't even feel guilty for serving their pies to my best company, and that says a lot.

I don't know what that person's beef is who gave them a bad review, but I know one thing, they aren't being completely honest. I have never ever seen any of the employees be rude to anyone and I've seen some rude people. I HAVE, however, seen them bend over backwards to give great customer service! Please tell me why a small business owner would cuss a customer out...yeah, they can really afford to lose customers in this economy. A business relies on their reputation and sometimes there are disgruntled people who try to take advantage of that and smear honest businesses. More likely the person was rude to them or wanted something free and the bakery called them on it. That is speculation, but it seems a lot more likely to me that's what happened rather than the owner cussed them out for no reason and they got bad products. I challenge anyone to go into Chestnut Hill bakery and find dry cake...they sell out of things, it's not around long enough to dry out! Go buy some great cake and see for yourself :) You won't be...