Olexa's Catering, Cafe and Cakes — Restaurant in Mountain Brook

Wow! I hate to even have to write this review. It was a TERRIBLE experience. From the owner mispronouncing my name on multiple occasions, to the execution of the catering service. If you have a large party or special event, I DO NOT recommend at all. The food was mediocre at best, with little palette and a slightly excruciating sublingual flavor expression. Not only what everything bland, but the staff is charlatan- with regards to product knowledge, culinary expertise, and customer service. I booked two and one half weeks before my farewell/trunk party event for college. I have them the number of guests and asked what was included in the quote I was given. I was told it would include entrees and tea, since it was to be a tea party. I thought that it was uncharacteristically affordable for a tea party (which served as foreshadowing for the events to come), so I proceeded to verify. Everything was to be included in the prices I was quoted except desserts. The day before the event, I get a call from the lender saying they would have to add an extra $80 to the tab, because the person who quoted the price to me was a fill-in. What?! She told us the day before that they would honor the quoted price, then an hour and one half before my event, they called with this nonsense, saying there would be no way to honor it. She asked me “why would you expect a restaurant to pay for the tea?”. My mom and I proceeded to bring to the owner, Diana’s, attention that we shouldn’t be held responsible for their lack of proper training and communication. She lied to me and said that they’ve never done a tea party before, when I’ve had friends hold a tea party with them before. They asked my mother if she would get everyone to pay on one tab for them, so that they wouldn’t mess up the tabs. What?! They did in fact mix up the tabs the night of the event. I asked what would be served with the tea, and we were told milk, honey, lemon, and sugar. All that we were served were splenda packets and lemon wedges from our waters. They had no honey the night of the event The lights were flickering and a waitress had to bang it (right over our heads) for it to stop briefly, before it proceeded to flicker again. Furthermore, I had to ASK the staff when they would serve the tea and my TEA party. They said all the guests didn’t want any…when I had almost everyone ask for tea. The tea water they served was in a stained brown coffee pot. This honestly scratches the surface. Do not book for anything important to you or your family, especially if you’re of color, as that seemed to be the main...

This place would have been perfect for us but the management did not honor the agreement upon which we booked under.

My daughter got recommended to them from someone she knows that did a tea party with Olexa. We had this planned for two wks & the day before the assist mgr. Christen (probably wrong spelling) calls to basically dishonor what my daughter had agreed upon with another worker. Christen told my daughter & I that they typically don’t do tea parties & they were gonna do an upcharge for tea at $3.98 per person & a fee of $2.50 which would make the meal per person $16 & some odd cents from the original $13.98 per person from the original quote.

She informed me I would have to pay for the additional ppl ppl that wouldn’t show up out of the 20 quest we invited ( I had to ask this because I don’t like suprises)

Christen told me the lady that booked us was filling in helping out but I told her as a customer they should honor what was agreed upon because that’s not my fault. She then told us that she would make the young lady pay for the additional tea cost…still not a good look for management in my opinion🤷🏽‍♀️

I asked did if they had all the fixing for tea & I named honey, lemon, milk & when we get there asking for tea because they did not want to serve tea at a tea party. I asked for honey & she told me they didn’t have any…lol

I think if they have a big party all things need to be communicated or a contract set in place so there will be no miscommunication ‼️

It’s very unfortunate that we had a terrible experience because it was a really nice place, they had it decorated very nice but some ppl don’t need to be in business just because they have a skill or talent💯

Learn the business aspect of things & some ppl skills.

The entire time we were there only white ppl came in looking at us like we didn’t belong & I honestly feel like they didn’t want to provide service to us.

I did see one black girl on staff besides our party but that’s different in providing good customer service… they didn’t do it for me being fake nice & passive aggressive ‼️

We were not trying to get out of paying we just wanted them to honor what we had...

Olexa’s is such a quaint, beautiful restaurant and my husband and I truly enjoyed our time there for dinner last night. Brittany, Alicia, & Ellie (I hope I’m remembering their names correctly 😅) were an absolute delight to be around and were so sweet! I can’t talk more about how friendly and inviting the staff was.

Food wise, I truly don’t think you can go wrong. We shared the cheese appetizer and I almost licked the bowl. I had the seafood crepe and my husband got the daily trio. It was a perfect amount of food, the sandwiches and crepes were so good, we were almost sad we didn’t have left overs.

The CAKE! Listen, this bakery specializes in cake and I understand why. They don’t offer a lot of options, but the ones they do are to PERFECTION! Soft, slightly crumbly, sweet fillings and the slices are definitely shareable between 2, unless you really have a sweet tooth, then don’t share 🤣

I can’t recommended this place enough! They do lunch and dinner, the place feels like an outdoor European cafe and that is right up my alley in terms...