Ryke's Bakery Catering & Cafe — Restaurant in Muskegon

I hate to leave a negative review, but honestly I’m still feeling pretty disappointed from the experience I had for my wedding in July of 2021. Due to covid I already had to change my entire wedding and just have something intimate with my family. I ordered a small cake from Rykes that would accommodate. I am not from Muskegon, and not too familiar with the area. I ordered my cake a couple months in advance, and had no contact with them. When I looked at the form they emailed me, they did have my wedding date correct. The day of my wedding we went to pick up the cake, and they were closed. I understand this is on me, I should have checked the time, but my bridesmaid got there at 3:30 and they had closed at 3. The bakery never called and asked if I was picking up. I had no contact with them since I ordered, and since I am not from the area I was not aware of their closing time - again I do know this is on me as well.

I did not have a wedding cake at my wedding. When I called the bakery the next day, the person on the phone had no empathy for the situation and actually sounded mad at me. I live two hours from the bakery, and they said a refund was out of question - but they could make me a new cake to pick up. I drove two hours to get the cake, and I did not get the cupcakes I ordered either.

Honestly I blamed myself completely for the situation, but after talking to a lot of friends and family, they said they were shocked at how the bakery handled the situation (especially those who lived in the area and had gone to the bakery). I already had to change my whole wedding due to covid, and then we didn’t even get to have a cake.

I give 2 stars since part of the issue was my fault not knowing the time they closed... however I feel as though there was very poor communication, and how the situation was solved was...

I visit Rykes frequently and am/was a VIP customer. Recently My hubby and I fell in love with the single peices of cake. We have been stooping into the Muskegon location 2-4 times per week, buying 2 to 6 peices of cake at $5 per slice each visit. (plus deli chicken salad, donuts, and $18 cherry pies). Up until today we have always had a wonderful experience and were treated with upmost respect. However, last week during one of our visits the cake display fridge was full of water. It had soaked the labels on the cake slice containers end they were stuck to the bottom of the container from the condensation.. (skinny red haired manager with nose jewlery) came out from doing her job in the back, cleaned it up, and offered us 1/2 off the slices and said (theyd have pitched em anyway had we asked for others)! We thankfully accepted and went home well taken care of. We went back once before today since that well handled encounter. The cooler both times since that day had the condensation that had pooled up. Today though, we went to select our cake slices, the container labels were wet from the condensation again. We selected our 4 peices and went to check out. The owner Mr. Kim was there today. My hubby said to the waitress "Robin" that the cake was soaked again. (Nicely explaining our last couple visits) She loudly and bluntly stated " you must be lieing because we NEVER would have discounted the cake for that reason!!" and stormed into the back room. After being blatantly called LIARS my hubby was very UPSET with the accusation. He handed me $10 dollars, stating that he knew I wouldn't be happy leaving without ANY cake, so just to get my 2 peices because he suddenly didn't want any more. I am mostly dissapointed that this horrible encounter was witnessed fully...

So I got married this past weekend and had the joy of Rykes catering it. A couple things to note:

1.) I had received all sorts of recommendations to order from here and good golly they were right. Right off the bat our tasting was superb and they made up about 10× more options for food pairings than I had expected and it was wonderful working with the head chef.

2.) We knew we wanted a smaller afternoon wedding but that did not limit their involvement or attention to our needs. They were fabulous throughout the whole process.

3.) Come the day of the event, I was struggling to stay upright in my dress and hold my plate and drink and the waitstaff noticed, came over, and offered to hold my plate and continued to help as I dished up. I wish I would have caught her name but if you were the lovely server at the May 18th wedding, you are fantastic.

4.) Their day to day pastries and other food is fantastic as well. We got a couple dozen donuts for our shop on mothers day and I know for sure it's what kept us going. (It's a flower shop so you can imagine the chaos)

To summarize, the food, staff, and experience was fantastic. It's no suprise this place has been a staple in the area for decades now and I can't wait to do more business with them over the years to come.

May even have to order a duplicate wedding cake cuz lord knows that little beauty is going to...