WHISK — Restaurant in Richmond

I had the pleasure of visiting the establishment after I was at a nearby park with my toddler. The establishment is cute, intimate and the staff are pleasant.

I wanted to try some items for later like the desserts but would have loved for the front clerk to offer me the ability to warm up the ham and cheese croissant. I visited the location at 11am and so I wasn't shocked to know that the pastries were cold. However, eating a just warmed up croissant would have made the experience a bit better. The croissant was amazingly browned, flaky and had a great taste of butter. The ham overpowered the cheese if there was any left in there. It looks like the cheese had oozed out on the initial bake and so re heating it wasn't going to help it.

Next was the chocolate chip cookie which we all enjoyed in my house. It was soft; had the right chocolate chip to cookie ration and had hints of salt that we enjoyed. The macarons (salty caramel and red velvet) they weren't all cracked up to be. The salty caramel had no taste of caramel and it was extremely salty plus the butter cream left an unappreciated film on my tongue that unbalanced everything for me. The red velvet was way better; the macaroon cookie itself is great, though, at some parts you are hit with a burst of salt. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not but I didn't mind it. The red velvet had this strong flavor of extract; I wasn't sure if it was vanilla or something else but the filling tasted so artificial. The filling really messed up allowing me to enjoy the full cookie. The red velvet cookie wasn't bad; it has a good bite of crunch and chew just like it should. All in all we quite enjoyed the cookie part of the macaroon and there is some area of improvement on the filling.

Lastly, we tried the oatmeal cream pie sandwich and the confetti cookie sandwich. The cookie to icing ration would appear to be a lot but it's actually not. It does make for a sweet tooth night but there are some things that don't quite hit it for us. The oatmeal cookie had this baked with some raw oats and having that crunch with a less than sweet buttercream doesn't really make you want to continue to eat it. The funfetti cookie sandwich was a smashing hit; we love the cookie and the crunch to it. The pink frosting is a great fun compliment and we just wished it wasn't sweet and had a flavor to it. Just to bring a different flavor to the funfetti cookie.

All in all Whisk was pretty decent. I will go by again earlier to try some more of their baked good and get a...

The croissants looked amazing, however we were hungrier and wanted a good sandwich. The bakery items were sparse and not very appealing. The BLT with Duke’s Mayo was a good option- crispy bacon, fresh lettuce, okay tomato and Dukes. The honey wheat had a hard time keeping it together. Stale? Our other sandwich- the Richmonder, was a huge disappointment mainly because of what they’re called aïoli spread, thickly on both side sides of the bread. It was flavorless and loosened the bread so much that the sandwich fell apart. It smelled and tasted old, and had more of the consistency of cold, stale bacon grease. The sandwich would have been 100% better if you substituted Dukes mayonnaise. Or were able to add salt and pepper, which they claimed not to have. I peeled off the bread and anything touching the aïoli to enjoy the turkey and cheese. Not a good sandwich. I do know what aïoli is and what it is supposed to taste like. This one made me wonder if it was old or rancid or bottom of the barrel? Yucky. The place was busy, they had already run out of breakfast sandwiches by 10:30 AM. It was a holiday Monday, so not many other places were open which probably explained the huge crowd. The service was pretty good with the steady crowd, but I’m not sure why they don’t take names or give you a number for your order? Also, I saw a baby carriage, not be able to fit through the front door, but that’s...

I just had the most unprofessional and immature customer experience I have had in Richmond. I’m giving a two stars for nostalgia’s sake because I used to live down the block from whisk and would go here all the time. I ordered a cinnamon roll to go and they put it in a bag with the icing all gone and smeared in the bag. After I had commented that I do not want the pastry since all the icing is now ruined, they were incredibly cold and unwelcoming. Which is ironic because the sign at the front says “all are welcome”—apparently not those with standards. I’m not really sure how it’s too much to ask to receive the pastry as I paid for it. Furthermore, if I pay $5 for a roll, then I would like to have the courtesy of entrusting that experience to the workers. I would hope after working at a bakery one would figure out how to pack a pastry. After being told I was “rude”, not a word after was spoken to me—after their mistake; no apology—and then a passive aggressive remark as I left. I will never be returning. I will also make sure to tell people to go to other bakeries in Richmond. I am a French teacher and have to recommended students and families to go in the past, even conducting extra credit for visits there as it’s a French patisserie. Not anymore. There is no shortage of better serving bakeries in Richmond, and this is nothing short of juvenile and...