CAO Bakery & Cafe — Restaurant in Pinecrest

The good reviews are probably from people related to them. 1 Star is 1 too many to give these people. The Service is nonexistant/horrible. Went to try to avoid other area bakeries that were too crowded. They are empty for a reason. This is our 2nd visit to the people in the last month. First time they gave my mom a pastry she took home only to throw away because when she bit into it was old and bitter. Gave the benefit of the doubt to try it again sadly only to regret it. Almost everything we asked for they guy kept saying they had ran out of . It was almost dinner time & we had missed lunch due to busy day we had . Ordered 2 Cuban Burgers and many other things. They had us waiting over 30 mins for these burgers only to be told after the 30 plus mins wait the person that did the burgers had just come in and be asked if we still wanted them. Were given the Cuban Cafe con leche who got cold eventually waiting on these fritas/burgers. My husband asked for the restroom key so we could wash our hands and use it , only to be told the restroom was not operational for customers. When we asked why his reasoning was it was clogged up and not working. We asked for cup of ice with water that was an issue. They gave us a cup full of ice and said if we wanted tap drinking water it was only available in bottles for purchase. My husband told him to at least let us wash our hands in the restroom and with attitude the guy said no. So my husband responded asking for the manager only to be told Manager was not there. So the guy that goes by the name of Kevin said he would call the manager which 2 min after going to the back he comes back telling us manager said the restroom could be used but toilet was not clogged now but not to put papers in the toilet but rather in the hamper. We said ok at least let us wash our hands. He opened the door with a plastic knife and both my parent and my husband witnessed he used the same knife he was using to put butter on the toast to open the locked door of the bathroom . He has long nasty dirty fingernails and touches things without gloves. While in the bathroom I tried the toilet flush and it was not clogged like this attendant said . I proceeded to use the bathroom and asked my husband to watch the door as I was concern this guy would open the door with the butter knife. I took a couple of min. so my husband walked in to check up on me and as both of us are there and Im finishing up another lady employee walked in very rudely asking us if everything was ok. The girl at the Restaurant was the only nice one and told us it was the first day on the job and this guy was dumping everything on her to do. The re was a guy sitting on a stool that told my husband when my husband insisted on the bathroom use and to talk to the manager. That guy at the stool told my husband he was that new employee cashier called Alexas father. The whole experience was horrible and something out of twilight movie. We felt like we were in a terrible 3rd world place with no rules or ethics as to their cleanliness and service. Last time we visited there was a group of cops there eating pastries and coffee and this staff seemed to very nice to them , but extremely careless and rude with us . I will never return to this place even if free would be given. These people have no ethics, no manners and no cleanliness & safety to serve the food they sell. When I asked the new Cashier when I went to pay and leave this horrible bakery she told me the Manager that was not there her name was Beatriz , the Rude guy sales attendant with long nasty dirty fingernails was named Kevin and her name was Alexa. People will may try them once or twice but eventually they will see the no return of bussn. with their poor terrible service & bad products . They are lucky last time I did not report them for selling and old rotten bitter sweet pastry they sold my 81 year old mother . Thank goodness as soon as she bit the pastry she felt the bitterness of the old pastry and did not fully eat it. Shame on them they sell old stuff they...

Gorgeous new bakery that must have just opened at this location. There is a large billboard advertising it off to the southern direction of 826 as you reach US-1, but it had some sort of “inside bakery industry” joke and NO information about WHERE to find it, or if it’s even in Pinecrest or Coral Gables (or in both — or neither — places). Apparently, everything is Cuban pastries (who would have guessed?!). It seems that Cuban pastries are the new “in thing” in strip mall retail, as we’ve seen an explosion of these kinds of concepts all over US-1 and on the major east-west through streets. Pinecrest Bakery, etc First, it was “Big Chain Pharmacies”, then “Outpatient Medical”, then “Urgent Care”, then “Pediatric Urgent Care”, then “upscale burger concepts”, then “Tex-Mex concepts”, now its “Artisinal Bakeries”, some even offering “24-hour Cafe Leleche” (alas, Vicky isn’t brewing Cuban java in the middle of the night for Pinecrest PD officers!). We’ll see how long this new “niche” will last and just how many bakeries this part of Miami can...

Really wanted to try this bakery after so many nice reviews. We went inside to stock up for a huge family reunion, we wanted to grab about 30 or 40 desserts for everyone and were excited about what was in the cases.

Three of us waited about 15 minutes while employees did nothing to serve us. They sat and watched us, talking amongst each other, never addressing us, totally ignoring us to the point we felt it was intentional and insulting.

We made eye contact a few times and finally I asked if we may place an order with someone, and I was told the lady was not done helping a customer. A lady on her phone was sitting behind us, not ordering or doing anything, so we didn’t get what she was saying.

When the guy working there came back, he took one glance at us and went straight to the back to avoid serving us. Too bad - we would have bought a bunch of stuff for a lot of people who could have become local regular customers - but never again. ...