Sugar Vault Desserts & Bakery — Restaurant in Maryland

Deserts are tasty, creative and plentiful no qualms about that. However, the service model during the pandemic hasn't been consumer friendly. I didnt start trying this bakery until they began preorders- simply because Im not the type to get in my car, drive and then stand in line for a long period of time to purchase an item that might not be available by the time I reach the front. It's not very customer friendly. I understand the concept of unique and small batch but still - if im spending my money it should be consumer friendly. that being said, once their website switched to square I happily purchased EVERY week and shared with friends and family. pickup was safe and easy.

now that they've resorted to their pre pandemic business model things haven't been so good. despite my personal thoughts of standing in a long line with people waiting during a pandemic (and the CDC now saying small gatherings are risky) I wanted a good desert for my bday and I ventured out. id checked the ig post - saw what they had left and this time was close enough in the area to take a chance. the thing about the location is that unless you live in very close in proximity, walking distance essentially, the chances are by time you arrive the deserts will be gone. and then you've came there for nothing and wasted time (not consumer friendly) versus a guaranteed pre order pickup. Im not sure if theyre catering to the residents in the neighborhood which may be their most frequent customers but for those of us who live 10-20 minutes or more - not consumer friendly. nonetheless I headed over there - first the IG listed the deserts wrong, so i get to the door and theyre confused on what im asking for and im confused till i pull out my phone and show them the posting. so theyre apologizing. i order pay. THEN, they're out of 2 of the items. that ive already paid for.... if the pre-order was still in place then this wouldn't have happened. simply because it would've allowed them to prepare and plan properly and assist with the communication from inside operations to outside. i asked why they took preorder away and the response was "this is just easier for us." im not sure how its easier if you're selling items that you dont have and then a customer has to wait to be refunded. Compared to - preorder knowing how many quantities you have and already determining what you want your sales to be that day to make for the business to hit desired profit margins that day you sell. i also understand some people were preordering and not picking up their deserts - either way THEY PAID FOR THE DESERT ALREADY so the sale was made. and sometime Sugarvaults would resell deserts that weren't picked up - I've gotten a few extra deserts from not picked up preorders. so that was double the sale off one item...if the goal is be a profitable business and consumer friendly. i also think some of the preorder deserts weren't selling as fast - and i admit after awhile the menu has become a bit stale. we havent had brownie cookies or macaroon cookies in months. No more 5 layer (rainbow cakes), just the same walnut chocolate chip cookies and same infused cakes and crazy cupcakes on Saturdays. if again the goals be profitable, put the items for sell that all out fast (which of course the POS system can run that data at any time). Or even do a mix of preorder and popup to meet all your customers needs.

i love "our" businesses. but sometimes we miss the mark and dont have the foresight compared to the others. i will pay for convenience and great customer service versus standing in line...

Waited over an hour in line this afternoon with my mother. Looks like it's only two people running the operation. Either they're understaffed and/or need help. They don't take advanced orders because everything is first come first serve. They need to fix that part about their business ops. Our fingers were frozen upon waiting. The line wasn't wrapped around the building or superlong; it just moves at a snails pace. Not sure if lines at the door are the norm, but only visit when it's less than 10ppl waiting upon opening. However, just like the two people in front of me today, we are one and done customers. I was only able to go today because I don't work on Mondays and usually work on the days they are regularly open for business.

I sent a friend of mines back in the summer to grab food for me and he told me never again. The location is HORRIBLE! You'll be lucky to get street parking, but there is limited parking. Had to pay for parking a few blocks away. I always love to support small businesses but this is difficult place to get accessible parking.

The strawberry shortcake cheesecake I got during the summer was delicious! They're pricey, but they give big portions. Got the strawberry rum cake today and it was okay. Big portions again with that but not worth the price IMO. My mom did not like the banana pudding. She said there wasn't any banana chunks or much cream in her container. However, I did like the chocolate chip cookie and the walnut cookie. They were good!

Also, beware if you're paying cash. They do not give cash/change back. The person in front of me paid with cash and was told he wouldn't get any change back. Thereafter, He asked if he could get a soda and the lady told him it was too late because she processed his order. I was shocked at how stingy they were because that gentleman's change should have covered the price of the soda can. He waited over an hour just like we did and some appreciation of our patience would have been nice.

That's why they're getting 1 star from me. First impressions are everything and this one was not that good. Hope they get themselves together and do better!

2/16/22 - Just tried the banana pudding and it is delicious! Guess my mom wanted banana chunks but it is good the way it is! Everyone has different...

I was excited to visit Sugar Vault after coming across it online and seeing the wonderful reviews and the amazing looking cupcakes, etc on their social media; finally I was off on a Friday and decided to take the 30 minute trip over. Based on the reviews and posts about limited selection and crowds, I was worried I might get caught up in a lunch rush when I arrived almost at noon, but surprisingly there were no other customers in the store. Exactly how limited the selections were considering it was still early in the day and that there weren’t customers was also a bit surprising. I was honestly a little confused, I was expecting a Georgetown Cupcakes type crowd based on the hype. I bought 6 cupcakes and 2 cookie dough brownies and spent a little over $50. So, I don’t know if it’s just me, but I didn’t like 2 out of the 3 cupcakes I tried. Again, it’s weird because I see many reviews calling the cupcakes flavorful, but the turtle and strawberry churro cupcakes for the most part just tasted generically sweet, without much distinguishable flavor. The exception was the cinnamon roll cupcake which was pretty good. None of them were good enough for me to want to eat even half the cupcake. My husband tasted the strawberry churro cupcake and didn’t even care to try the other 2 I had gotten for him. Since we only had a few days to get through them and I wasn’t thrilled with them, we ended up tossing out 2 entire cupcakes and large portions of the rest of them. It was a little disappointing for the amount of $$ spent and time devoted, plus I really wanted to like them! The cookie dough brownies however are a whole other story. They’re the bomb and they were totally worth it! Probably wouldn’t go back unless I happened to be in the area when they’re open and only for the brownie or to try out something else. My experience doesn’t seem to be...