Doki Doki - Japanese Dessert Café — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

We ordered our wedding cake from Doki-Doki after a tasting in spring 2025. We chose our flavors and were told it would be delivered from the Orem location since our wedding was in American Fork.

On our wedding day, the cake arrived at 2:40 p.m. — during our ceremony that started at 2 p.m. My husband has texts confirming it was scheduled for noon, though the owner later claimed she told her staff between 12–2. Regardless, there was no communication leading up to this delay. We were left stressed, calling repeatedly, and not knowing whether our wedding cake would arrive at all.

We later learned that the staff member originally scheduled to make our cake tiers had an accident the night before. When the cake was delivered, the staff member told us he had been called in on his day off and had to make it from scratch that morning. The owner later denied this, but regardless of the exact details, there was no communication with us about the delay.

The one bright spot was Brandon, the baker who rescued the situation. He was kind, apologetic, and clearly went above and beyond to get the cake made and delivered straight from Salt Lake. Unfortunately, his work was overshadowed by the last-minute scramble. You can tell by the posted photos that the frosting had to be rushed and doesn't compare to what their website advertised.

The follow-up only made things worse. It took over a month before we could even discuss resolution, since only one manager handles these issues and she was out of town. During that time, my husband went into the store not to “thank the staff,” as the owner later claimed, but specifically to ask about a refund — only to find out she was on vacation and no one else could help us. That left us without support or answers for weeks, which is unprofessional and only added to our frustration.

When we finally spoke with the owner, she insisted we had agreed to a contract. But when we asked to see it, she did not provide any signed agreement. Instead, she gave us our invoice and claimed our “contract” was simply what we discussed after our tasting — something we were never told at the time.

She also told us that if we had wanted a full refund, we should have refused the cake at the time of delivery. But the cake arrived in the middle of our ceremony. What were we supposed to do — stop the wedding to refuse our cake? That reasoning was unrealistic and dismissive.

We originally asked for a 50% refund, but were told only 15% plus a $100 gift card was “standard.” The owner argued this was because she had to buy extra ingredients and pay staff more for the rushed cake. But the flavors we chose are already on their regular menu, and staffing costs are a management responsibility — not the customer’s problem. On top of that, we booked our cake months in advance, so there was plenty of time to plan and budget. After back-and-forth, we settled on a $200 refund because we did not want store credit.

The owner also argued that because “all of our guests enjoyed the cake,” a larger refund wasn’t justified. But she wasn’t at our wedding and had no way of knowing what every guest thought. Besides, the issue was never the flavor — it was the fact that the cake arrived late, during our ceremony, with no communication, causing unnecessary stress. Guest enjoyment after the fact does not erase poor service.

Finally, we were told that if we followed their Instagram, we would have known about the Orem location closure and other changes. But we don’t use social media, and as paying customers who booked months in advance, it was the bakery’s responsibility to communicate those changes directly. A business cannot rely on customers to “just check Instagram” for critical updates. We don’t fault Brandon who did his best under difficult circumstances, but we do hold management accountable for repeated failures in communication and professionalism.

While we appreciate finally receiving some refund, the way this situation was handled fell far short of professional standards and left us feeling let down on our...

If you like their food, I'm happy for you and the store. However, I just want people to know that this is NOT A JAPANESE CAFE. I am from Japan, born and raised. This is a store using Japanese brand/image to up-sell their sweets. There are many stores like this in Utah, so I am not singling out this place, but I really wish they stop misusing Japanese brand/name. I don't want people to be left with wrong impressions about Japanese food. Why not just stick to your real culture/background and promote your business with pride? At the least, if you are going to claim to be a Japanese cafe, then do your due diligence and train to make real Japanese sweets so that you don't end up misrepresenting Japanese food and deceiving customers. Sadly, most people in Utah don't know real Japanese food, so restaurants like this get away with it all the time. Sigh.

P.S. See the ugly response from the restaurant. It proves what some other reviewers said, that they are rude and lack manners. The fact that they said "I'm Asian" as a defense further proves how untrustworthy this business is. Being Asian doesn't give you the right to assume an identity of any Asian countries or their traditions that greatly vary. It's quite offensive. Also, they accused me for demeaning(?) restaurants lol. Wow. So, you attack a customer for leaving honest reviews? Unbelievable. FYI, I don't demean restaurant. I speak the truth. For example, Hamachi is not run by Japanese people, but they make authentic Japanese food that tastes right. They don't mislead or misrepresent Japanese food, so they got a positive review from me. If this restaurant actually served true Japanese food that met the Japanese standard, I could have given them a positive review as well. In any case, this business shows its true color in the utterly ridiculous and defensive response. It's unfortunate because while their food is nowhere near the true Japanese quality, they are still better than typical American sweets, which tend to be too sweet with too much sugar. But, seeing how unethical this business clearly is, now I'd rather that my money go to American pastry stores even if this restaurant's sweets were better. Nobody wants to support a deceitful business that is quite rude and attacks...

You can't trust most of the reviews. They incentivize reviews. There is a sign taped on the wall at every table stating that if you leave a review and show it to the staff, you get a free waffle. I wouldn't trust most of the reviews that have pictures of inside the place to not be bribed reviews. This is an honest review.

When you enter this cafe there is a glass case of desserts and cashier in front of you. To the left is a small stage like area if you want to sit on a mat on the floor with a couple small tables. The mats are dusty and dirty, not sure the last time they were laundered. Your other sitting option are some tables down a hallway created to separate the kitchen. There are also some game machines with toys. An additional cheap partition I have seen on Amazon with cherry blossoms is up to stop folks from accidentally walking behind the glass case. There is a small table with very small cups and water for guests. I had to fill my cup 5 times while there due to the very small cups. There were a few tables with dirty dishes on them.

You must order at the front case, so, with a large group it was difficult for me and the employees. We felt bad for blocking the doorway while ordering and felt we needed to rush.

After we ordered and paid we found a clean table and sat to wait. Items started arriving, it takes over 20 minutes to get the pancakes they had warned us, and we received them about 25 minutes in. Strangely we got drinks after the food.

One drink was left off the order and another they didn't add the boba we ordered to it. The employees said there was just 3 of them, and only 1 seemed dedicated to the kitchen. So, I was charged for boba we didn't get and wasn't charged and didn't receive another drink ordered.

It was my daughters birthday and she had spent time in Japan so I thought it would be fun. But, I should have just bought a birthday cake and stayed home. The dessert were cute but mostly very low on flavor. It also didn't have a fun atmosphere at all. Maybe take food to go if you like kitty cups for your kids, but otherwise I would skip going here. It felt...