Tampa Bay Cake Company — Restaurant in Riverview

If I could give zero stars, I would. I initially called to ask how to submit a quote request for a children’s birthday cake. I made it very clear that my event was still 2.5 weeks away, and the girl I spoke with assured me they had plenty of availability. She even mentioned that some people place orders just days before their event and they still try to accommodate them. No mention whatsoever of being fully booked or overwhelmed.

I emailed my quote request on 10/1. By 10/3, I still hadn’t received a single acknowledgment that my request was even received, so I called to follow up. This time Emily answered, and her tone was immediately dismissive. She abruptly told me they were completely booked because of wedding season. Interesting, because that’s not what I was told when I first called (only the week before). If that were actually the case, it should’ve been disclosed upfront. Instead, I was told the exact opposite.

I then asked if I could at least order one of their “specialty cakes” through their online portal, and Emily said yes, but added that she would “probably close the portal tonight or tomorrow” due to how busy she was. That statement alone sounded off, but with limited time to pivot to another bakery, I placed the specialty cake order anyway.

Over the next several days, while browsing their gallery for design ideas, I repeatedly checked their website, and guess what? The portal was NEVER closed. Not once. Which only confirmed what I suspected from the moment Emily started talking: she simply did not want to take the order and chose to hide behind the “wedding season” excuse. If you don’t want to do the cake, then say that. Don’t lie and pretend you’re booked solid while your order system stays wide open. It’s childish, unprofessional, and shows zero respect for customers’ time.

The cake I ended up with was disappointing, but frankly, the dishonesty and attitude were even worse. This experience made it very clear: it’s not that they can’t take your order — it’s that they won’t, and they won’t have the integrity to just say so.

Update: Response to Owner

Emily, thanks for responding. Just to be clear, my review was not about the icing or design details. That was a passing comment. The issue was the misleading communication and dismissive tone I received.

I was first told you had plenty of availability. A week later, after no acknowledgement of my quote request, I called and was suddenly told you were fully booked due to wedding season. Then I was told the portal would likely be shut down that night or the next day, which clearly wasn’t true since it stayed open for days. That made it feel less like you were "overwhelmed" and more like you simply didn’t want to take the order and didn’t want to say it directly.

Being busy or "human" doesn’t excuse inconsistent information and deflecting instead of being straightforward. A simple honest response upfront would have been respectful. Instead, it came across as dishonest and dismissive, and that is exactly what I called out.

I don’t need anything "made right". I just expected accountability, not excuses.

2nd Update (Owner Revised Their Response)

This response is textbook gaslighting. You told me I could order through your specialty cake portal and said you’d "probably close it tonight or tomorrow". There was never any mention of a separate "custom" form — that explanation appeared only after my review.

Changing your story after the fact isn’t clarification; it’s gaslighting. First there was plenty of availability, then you were booked, then the portal was "closing", and now it "never actually closes". That’s not transparency — you just keep changing the narrative.

A simple, honest "we can’t take this order right now" would’ve been enough. Rewriting events to save face only reinforces the very issue I pointed out.

If this is how you operate your business, I am shocked you're managing to keep your head above water. Maybe consider hiring someone who actually has management experience — because it's...

Hired TBCC to make two cakes for our wedding. The examples of what were wanted were presented from the very first email. Nothing changed from this point to time of event. 1.5 hours before the ceremony began, the cake was delivered. It was nothing like what was ordered. It was unacceptable. Thanks to the quick actions of the wedding coordinator, Emily was requested to come back to the venue and do what was possible to salvage the situation. 48 hours after the event, so as to not have emotions on high level, I reached out to Emily to ask where the breakdown was/the lack of understanding of what the wedding cake was to look like. Instead of just admitting that she did not fill the order successfully, she conjured up a story that I had “happy tears” at the end result. Nobody in the venue told her such a thing. The venue knew what the cake was suppose to look like and knew the we the family were very upset. Emily then tried to say that she did the cake as the proposal was drawn. But this was not the case either. She then said she had yellow and green on the invoice, but nobody ever talked of yellow and green. She was provided exact pictures of what was wanted so it really didn’t matter what notes she wrote. She offered her apology for not being able to please us and an anniversary cake. We asked for nothing. We just wanted to know why she didn’t provide the cake we purchased. Finally she offered up that she had designed the cake with a popular palette technique that others had never complained about. Yet, there are no other reviews that ever showed this Palette technique. Simply, Emily made the cake she wanted to make, not the cake we hired her to make. Photos and all email correspondence are available to show what was purchased, what showed up to the venue and what the end result was after attempting to fix the cake after leaving the venue as if the cake was great before being requested to turn around. Emily said she returned to make changes because she is a woman of integrity. If she was a woman of integrity and truly cared about making the cakes of the bride’s wishes, she would have never showed up with the cakes designed wrong. The workmanship, corners of the icing, “thumb prints” do not resemble anything like the example we provided or of a baker that really cared about the product she created. Let me repeat, we asked for no type of compensation, just an explanation before Emily finally admitted to doing what she wanted instead of what WE wanted. There is another review in December 2021 where another bride did not get the product she ordered. There are a lot of quality bakers out there who can create the cake of your dreams. Don’t risk hiring someone that lets you down on your wedding day by bringing a cake you did not pick. And one additional note: we were complimented by every vendor as being the easiest to please and work with. We also graciously tipped and purchased thank you gifts for our vendors. This is the only vendor that did not hold up their end for the wedding. It was a magical day that could have been ruined if it weren’t for an ice cake to take the attention away from the extremely poor quality cakes that were delivered. This owner wants to be a successful small business owner. It starts by providing a quality product that was selected by your...

From the very beginning Emily was quick to respond and very friendly. We picked up our cake samples and had the toughest time choosing the flavor for our cake. They were all SOOOO good. We decided on salted caramel. I’m usually a vanilla or funfetti gal. But the salted caramel was surprisingly light and decadent. With cake being my favorite dessert I knew I had to have the best of the best. That’s why we went with Emily. We are so happy that we had Emily create our cake and desserts for our special day. We had a tropical theme wedding and we had the idea of edible flamingo toppers and she really outdid herself!! The cake was only for bride and groom and we ate a third of it after the wedding LOL. It was just that good. So moist, delicious and FRESH!!!! She baked over 100 cupcakes for our guests and every single one looked and tasted like she took her time and really put love into her creations. She showed up on time at the venue and it was all set up just as perfectly as we’d hoped. Now that the wedding is over, we are looking forward to more events where we can have more of Emily’s cake...