Candle Light Bakery — Restaurant in Norwalk

I've been a loyal customer for over 30+ years and it only takes one mistake to lose a customer. If the option to give 0 stars I would give them 0 for the way Eric (manager's son) handled Cristina's mistake (their employee). On 7/26/25 I paid $75 for a special-order CHOCOLATE cake with straberries&whip filling + edible image. Found out (the night of) that my special-order cake was a VANILLA cake. I reached out to the store the following day and they said the manager would call me back because, after reviewing the receipt, the employee marked Vanilla on it. I waited but no call back. I called again the day after so the manager son's, Eric, called me back. He insisted that I signed for a vanilla cake but he could go back and review their video and recording for that day, which would take another call back and I agreed to because I was 100% certain of what was said and happened that day. He called me back today and said to me that he listened to the video and was able to clearly hear Cristina read back my order. He confirmed she read back "Vanilla cake, etc etc" so he couldn't do much or issue a refund. I asked him if he had listened to the entire conversation, but he conveniently replied that the conversation was "choppy and it was too loud" so he wasn't able to confirm that I ordered a chocolate cake. I told him I wasn't expecting a full refund but some type of compensation or accountability for their employee's mistake would be enough. He said he would go back and listen in on the conversation again and call me back but at this point it was clear he didn't want to or was going to do anything. I told him it was strange he only heard his employee repeating the order back and none of my conversation with her. He interrupted me and said that I "don't really have to do business with them anymore". That was enough for me so I said "Okay, thank you!" and hung up on him. No more business from me or friend/family referrals. If this is the way you, Eric, run your business, and from what I see I'm not the only one this has happened to this year, I hope you go down with negative ratings and reviews.

Good luck to those who trust your...

To start off, I live in Chicago, Illinois or mathematically 2000 miles away from Candle Light Bakery. My boyfriend however, resides in California. We were both waiting to hear about a last-minute promotion for his job and when he got it, I wanted to surprise him with some sort of congratulatory sweet. Living so far away makes it harder though because 1. I'm not familiar with the area, 2. same-day shipping can be incredibly costly, and 3. many businesses are closed due to the stay-at-home orders. After vigorously searching all over Yelp, I came across Candle Light. Their phone line remained busy for about an hour, but being desperate I decided to keep attempting. After a little while though I was able to get through (this was also during, what I'm assuming, high peak hours 5-6 pm). I explained my situation to Marissa and asked if I could possibly place an order for a cake.

Now, I haven't had the pleasure to speak with other Candle Light Bakery employees, but if they're sweet as Marissa, they're for sure getting my business. She was incredibly patient with me and gave me a rundown of each individual cake I could purchase over the phone (there was a specified $ limit). I was able to purchase a chocolate ganache cake with custom writing for such a reasonable price! Not only was it such a pleasant phone call and experience with them, but they also allowed me to gift a beautiful cake that both my boyfriend and I gushed over in two separate states.

My boyfriend and I have not been able to see each other for four months because of COVID-19 and this surprise was everything we needed to celebrate. For that reason, once I'm able to safely fly out to California, Candle Light Bakery will be the first business I visit. Thank you Candle Light for again, such a pleasant experience and a big hug to Marissa for making my surprise a good one! The cake exceeded my expectations entirely and the writing on it was beautiful. Boyfriend also said the cake was delicious!

A week and a half later, I'm still over the moon with how amazing this whole experience was because of Candle Light. Thank you...

This review is based on Customer Service only. Their cakes and pastries have always been delicious. With that being said, we walked in today to order a very plain and simple birthday cake, fresh strawberries inside and on top. Well, we walked in and went to stand in line to order a cake. Luckily, a customer told us that we had to give someone at the counter our name, and then someone would help us. Ok, no problem. We went up to the counter with the first girl, and she said that someone would take our name, why she couldn't take our name I have no idea. No problem. We waited and waited, then a young guy asked if he could help us and we explained again we just wanted to order a very simple cake, he then asked if someone took our name down, we replied no, and told him the first girl told us to wait. He took our name down and was really nice, he explained that he was new and wasn't experienced at cake consulting, ok again, no problem. The 2 consultants were both busy helping customers. The 1 consultant at the very left of the bakery had been with the same person when we originally walked in. The consultant at the right of the entrance was helping one lady, and when she was done, she took off and we never saw her again. We waited and waited and waited over 25 minutes and not 1 person bothered to try to help us and there was a constant flow of employees from the front to the back. We eventually just walked out. We were disappointed because we love their cakes, but their systems and customer service need major work. Had someone told us they were short staffed, or just backed up and it would take some time, we probably would have waited. The fact that not one person even bothered to say anything after they saw us standing there and waiting for awhile, is super disappointing. We have noticed changes in their customer service over the years, but this was a little much. It's just too bad because they do have great cakes and pastries, and we won't be back. Hopefully they get...