J's Bakery and Cafe — Restaurant in Pensacola

My main complaint is the customer service and lack of organization in this business. I wanted a strawberry cake with strawberry icing for a birthday. Initially I called to get a price estimate for a typical style birthday cake. The man who answered said for an 8" three layer cake with 2 layers of filling and a message would be $40.00. I asked if I could have it for Saturday morning (2 days in advanced)he said yes. I called around to compare price and availability. Less than 30 mins later I called back. This time a different man answered and I stated I'd like to place an order for pick up for Saturday morning. He began gathering the details of my order and things immediately got complicated. I explained I'd previously spoken to an associate who told me I could get an 8" 3 layer cake in strawberry with strawberry icing for $40. He explained that the 8" cakes start at $45. Isn't too much more but I began to get an uneasy feeling. I gave him the message I wanted on top he then said the cake decorator would need to see my order to give me a price. I explained I just needed a Birthday Cake with icing and cake only! He told me the filing is a jelly filling with icing on the outside which I didn't want a jelly filled cake again I just wanted a simple cake with icing?! He then proceeded to tell me that they were full for Saturday morning and he couldn't fill my order till 3 pm that afternoon! I asked for a manager to straighten things out but was told there was NO manager and the man who answered the first time probably didn't look at pricing or scheduling? He told me I could call back the next day for a manager. I gave my debit card info to pay the deposit for the cake. Thought it would be ok. Got a phone call the next day from the manager Tonia. She said she found my order ticket and it didn't make any sense it just said "strawberry, strawberry". I explained what I ordered for the second time and she explained that strawberry was a custom made icing and it had to have jelly to stick together .I asked why they are unable to make a cake with just cake and icing and she explained the layers would slide. Now im not a pastry chef, but I've seen MANY cakes with icing separating the layers. If it weren't an entire inch of icing it wouldn't slide. I insisted on not having jelly and she accepted. I began to explain the confusion with ordering the previous day and the pricing difference. The manager of the store y'all! Told me both men who answered the phone the previous day had "no authority" to give me a price on my order. That there were no cakes for $40. Made me feel like it was my fault because I didn't speak to the decorator myself. I asked why people are answering the phone if they can't help the customer? I asked for a manager they didn't have one there. I can understand if I was getting a custom built cake but I just wanted a birthday cake and strawberry icing. Again the price has gone up. Because I'm ordering a custom flavor they have to blend fresh fruit into the icing and Im being charged for the produce at this rate. Now $50.00, I charge the entire cake to my card. The next day I headed that way around 4 pm. Never being in Js before I'll say it has a cute storefront but the inside itself was empty and felt unkept. The girl at the counter was nice but the associate in the back was wearing headphones and had her phone out while wearing gloves and preparing food. Outdated display cases in the front so I'd imagine lack of quality equipment is what caused the layers of the cake to be uneven. The cake was beautiful but icing tasted spicy. I saw strawberry pieces in the icing and became hopeful. After cutting it open I can see they made me a cake with white icing and covered it in a thin layer of strawberry icing. I was able to scrape the pink off my piece and was left with a cake with plain white icing(. The layers inside were not cooked or cut even. The corners were crunchy and the center was cold and thick. The cut in the layers were butchered and the icing was thicker than an entire inch in some places. Im so...

New management SUCKS! As a longtime J's cake conasuer, I was skeptical about ordering my daughters 1st birthday cake from there since they recently underwent new management. Against my better judgment I thought I'd give it a try anyway, hoping to get the same delicious cake I grew up on. The cake was beautiful, but very deceiving because it was raw on the inside! Once I cut into the cake, it was dry, yet the center of it was like dough. I called to the bakery to inform them of the undone cake and was basically called a liar by the owner Erica and cake decorator Shanelle. I was told there was no way the cake was raw. And to think, this is only the second issue that made me regret my decision. The first was when I ordered the cake on a Monday before the party, well in advance and was asked when I needed it ready by. I informed the baker I wanted the cake ready at noon that Saturday. She messages me the day of the party asking again what time I need the cake, that the time was "smudged" on the receipt. 😏 I again told her 12. We show up at 12 to get the cake and it's no where near ready!! We had to wait an hour to get the cake! Which of course made us late for our baby's first party. You would think the owner would be sympathetic and accommodating after they dropped the ball so many times....nope! Wasn't offered an apology, but was insulted and made out to be a liar. They did offer a measly 10% off, but when u spend $100 for a cake for a special ocassion u kinda want it to be perfect. That's not enough to make up for ruining her cake and causing us to be late or the sucky customer service we received. NEVER will I ever spend my money at J's bakery again and will discourage everyone I know from doing so.

In response to Ryan....whoever "Ryan" is....because you definitely weren't represented as the owner. The arrogance in your response only solidifies the unprofessionalism I talked about! Check your facts before you try to reply about something you have absolutely no knowledge about! If you had inquired about this situation you would know I had no problem with the way the cake looked, I even mentioned that in my review "Einstein". The cake was truly beautiful....but like it said...it was dry AND undone in parts, so it is possible because I witnessed it with my own eyes! So that just shows how crappy of a cake you guys make or how low quality the ovens are you use....idk, not for me to figure out why, maybe you should spend your time trying to improve on the quality of your cakes and less time replying blindly to reviews and telling even more lies! Furthermore.....the undone part of the cake couldn't be seen unless it was cut into....so how is that something that can be checked by you!?!?! And again......I prefer the cake on MONDAY to be ready on SATURDAY @ NOON! If you could read you would know that's what I put in my original review. I showed at the time the cake was SUPPOSE to be ready and had to wait an additional hour for the cake! So by any sane person's interpretation.....that's considered late!Furthermore.....I did call the bakery to discuss this issue with Shanelle, the cake decorator AND Erica, the real owner. She was right to offer me a discount even though it wasn't enough for the terrible service I received. And you must truly be crazy if you think I'm gonna leave my child's party and be inconvienced anymore to drive back the bakery where I had to wait an hour....to show proof of the undone cake I had to serve my guest?!?!? Plus I live out of town so that was NOT gonna happen regardless. You really are delusional and to call your self an "owner" you should probably take a business management course first! The only thing misrepresented here is you Ryan....if that's your real name! I have better things to do than to get online and leave false reviews, so the fact that I did take time out my day to do so proves that every word I wrote was true! I was gonna just leave it at a review, but now I think I'll take things a little further and spread the word more about how whack this bakery is and how...

I had the worst experience with J’s bakery. The owner is so rude. We hired J’s bakery to bake my daughter’s wedding cake for our destination wedding. The delivery guy called me because he couldn’t get up to the venue, he needed the elevator code. I saw he called as he was leaving the voicemail. I immediately called him back. (Also all the other vendors we used never had to ask for the code. They all knew what the venue usually uses as the code there. J’s is an established bakery and should have also) He then tells me he has to go back to the bakery because the cake fell over. I thought it was a joke. The only apology I got was a rude “sorry ma’am accidents happen. That is why you pay us to deliver, because if something happens we will fix it.” He was back 3 hours later. After the ceremony and cocktail hour, just as we were about to have dinner. No other apology to my husband who I sent down to help him up. I didn’t pay attention to the wedding cake that day. Only that it looked pretty. I tried a small piece of the cookies and cream. The cake didn’t taste as good as we tried in January when we came to have a cake tasting. Then when we got home 2 days later I went to cut the cake to give to my daughter when she got home from her honeymoon. One cake was incorrect, the one I didn’t try. So I thought I’m going to get ahold of the owner, I had his business card from January. I then listened to voicemail the delivery guy left when he needed the code to get in, it was so rude. He basically said if you want your cake you better call me back. The delivery guy, is the owner Ryan Thomas. And he “delivered” the cake out of the trunk of his orange bmw. I have texts to prove that. Why didn’t he use the delivery truck? It was a big enough cake. Why put it in your vehicles trunk? I’ve contacted him a few times. He first called me back and was so rude and asked what I wanted from him because he provided a cake and he had money in it. I asked for refund of the incorrect cake or refund of the $175 delivery fee. Then told him the cake didn’t taste as good like the tasting. He didn’t care. He said it was good because he tried some of the broken pieces of the cake. So when I then just moved on to the incorrect cake, he said I’ll have to talk to my baker and hung up on me. He then proceeded to send me a text with the order form trying to prove me wrong. He said didn’t you have a problem with the cookie pieces. I said not in the cookies and cream cake it was supposed to. I said the white cake had it in the icing inside. He said I understand. Then never replied to my 2 texts I sent 2 other days. Finally I sent 1 more. I said I guess if you don’t want to resolve this with us, we will let our reviews do the talking. He then came at me with a text saying that the person cutting the cake probably used the same knife to cut the white cake after the chocolate and that is why there is cookie pieces in it. The cake was cut at home by me with a different knife. And you can definitely see cookie pieces in the icing. Not because of a knife. He told me to prove it. And that I just had a story and was expecting him to pay me. So I explained when I found the cookie pieces and sent the pics. Also told him the caterer was careful cutting the cake because we had guests with food allergies and I saw her being careful with things. He never replied after I sent the pics. And then I texted him the next to see if he got the pictures and he is now ignoring me. I get accidents happen. And if he would have been apologetic the day of the wedding, I probably would have looked over the incorrect cake. I even thanked him for supplying a cake for our guests even though it was 3 hours late. Ryan has been so rude to deal with, doesn’t care that it caused so much stress on the wedding day. Or that the cake I paid good money for had one cake that was wrong. I would not recommend this bakery to anyone. It’s sad that this will forever be stuck in my head about the most beautiful wedding we had for...