Chocolate Maven — Restaurant in Santa Fe

Returning an expensive birthday cake that turned to be insipid un edible, hard and old became such an issue that I was about to call the police due to the NEW owner's irrational, patronizing and insulting verbal abuse! Hubby picked up the cake brought it home and as soon as I saw it I thought it was a 'demo' cake, the density and decor of the cake were not the worst thing in comparison to the insipidness ( I hat to cut a sliver to make sure and had to use a thick knife too). We drove back and as soon as they saw us bearing a box they became defensive. The owner was on the phone profusely apologizing to yet another unhappy patron, for which seems to be the new trend since he became the owner. When we talked to the girl in front she looked at the cake and said... they have to be left out you know...and I can't sell this cake again, a part of it was cut!!! to what we simply responded... we had cake before and no amount of 'sitting time' will fix this one so why would you want to re-sell the same cake and how would we know is tasteless? WELL I got to take it to the cake maker and ask...she disappeared for a while, and we waited and waited. She came back cake in hand and said we we will need to wait for the manager, another girl came out and started asking the same questions in a different tone...BUT WHAT is wrong with the CAKE??. At this point My husband and I had been waiting at for about 15 min. He calmly said, we just want our money back, we already explained why. Then the owner gave us his attention after being flustered with the other patron on the phone and agreeing to give them a refund. The first thing he said, was ..why are YOU (YOU was used here as discrimination) people so angry??? To what we responded, excuse us, we are not angry, and we are here for a refund on this cake and would like this to be over, it is a simple transaction, we are not happy, so a refund is all we ask. He came from behind the counter and said to my husband...., sir can you step outside?? I thought he was going to punch my husband with the attitude he had, it was like a bar scene in a cake shop! He was trying to be passive aggressive with us and intimidate us..outside he told my husband, my daughter is the manager she is just 19! To what my husband responded..this has nothing to do with the issue here, why are you bringing me outside, we are here for a refund. He went back inside my husband following him and started to escalate the issue basically insulting me asking me IS THIS YOUR SON??? and for me to 'teach manners to MY SON'??? WHAT??? I started laughing and decided ok, is my birthday and he is really trying to get us going (and hubby and I are the same age and we look the same age) he just figured it would be a great and fun thing to say!! I responded keeping all my calm...why sir you flatter me! He repeated it again, louder this time, and my husband said and there you go again making an ass of yourself. The girls at the shop were quietly giggling... The owner could tell my husband was about to escalate things, he tried opening a cash register while continuing to insult us under his breath mumbling like a nut, looking at my husband saying there is no cash in this register...it was plain to see that there was plenty cash there...he was just looking for another reaction. My husband simply said, I had businesses before and when someone was not happy, they just got a refund, not a question asked, this is absurd.....He went to the second register and started counting the cash, while saying this is a FIRST refunding money for a cake.... So I told him with your attitude and quality of goods it would not be the last. We thought this is finally over, but the owner needed to have the last word...and while walking to the door he yelled...AND Oh HAPPY Birthday! What the heck?? we were asking ourselves. Talked to a few friends FORMER patrons themselves, and we all agreed this place is not worth it, since it is NOT run by the original owners anymore. Good luck to the new people and...

Today, we went into Chocolate Maven to eat in the restaurant portion. The service started out alright, although they kind of skimped on my toddler's pancake, which usually comes with fruit and is also listed as coming with butter and syrup and just came with a single pancake and nothing else at all. Just as we finished eating and they'd cleared two of the plates, the High Tea session started, and we were COMPLETELY forgotten. We had finished eating about 20 minutes after receiving the food, and waited, in this tiny room with not many other people to serve (she obviously saw us, and so did the owner/manager, some other guy who got to wear regular button-ups), for LITERALLY an hour and a half before she came and asked us if everything was going okay. We asked for the dessert menu (don't even ask why.. We should have done whatever we could to get out of there). We waited another half hour before my husband got up to go get someone just to tell them we no longer had a server, because she never came back. She stopped him because she was passing and told him she would bring the bill. She managed to do that after about 10 minutes, but I still wanted pie, figured like okay at this point, you can't just blatantly ignore us anymore. She never came back. Husband went up front to pay and get the pie and let them know we were forgotten about and we'd been there for over two hours at this point with basically no service. They just said, "Sorry, she got busy," gave us the pie to-do and had us pay the full price of the pricey meal. We don't like to complain, so we paid, didn't ask for a freebie or anything, but we had asked for the pie to be warmed up with ice cream, and when we tried it in the parking lot, it was cold. I asked him to take it back inside to have them warm it up because it was the very least they could do, so he did, and they insisted on warming it in the microwave in this thin plastic container with the ice cream, and I'm 9mo. pregnant, due in a week, so I can't really be eating melted plastic and neither can our two year old toddler who was with us. They got annoyed, finally took it out and microwaved it, literally DUMPED it back into the container and sent us on our way.

So, keep in mind, they didn't care at ALL that there was a very obviously 9 month pregnant lady in this like 90 degree tiny room as well as a 2 year old, who, normally extremely well behaved, was pacing around the table, sitting on the floor by our table, face completely red and exhausted from the heat in the room, my face was super red from the heat and I was getting sick, literally leaving over the table clutching my head trying not to puke, and while all these elderly, quite obviously wealthy women enjoyed their High Tea with very quick service. We wasted our entire day. I was literally praying for my water to break so we could leave that place. Also, the blueberry pie was bland and the black bean burger is good, except it tasted EXACTLY like the much cheaper one from Del Charro, except Del Charro uses fresh avocado, whereas the avocado they gave me on it was totally brown. The food was the least of the pain we went through with this place today, though. We literally felt worthless and physically sick. We are not wealthy, so this was a splurge for us. I literally want to cry because they made me feel so worthless. My husband expressed...

Currently sitting in this place now. I was expecting so much due to the reviews and that I’ve been to the bakery in the front a few times and enjoyed the food and experience. Took about 20 minutes in a non-busy environment to even be addressed To be seated. Tried to talk to one waitress (the one doing drinks) that came up to the desk and she completely ignored me. Got seated and waited 15 minutes for drinks to be ordered by her after watching her walk by on her phone 3 times. We asked if they had sweet tea and the lady said yes and brought us unsweetened. (Typically a waitress will let you know they have unsweetened and that they have sugar, lots of people don’t enjoy tea with sugar poured in after its been made because it’s hard to blend the two and just sits at the bottom)We tried to get her attention a few times but after she looked at us and kept walking twice, we just asked someone else. The gentlemen who’s attention we got said he’d bring them lemonade, after another 20 minutes Went by I had to flag him down and ask again. He then asked me if I needed ketchup, after I said yes he never came back with it and I didn’t Bother asking again. The food was ok I guess. The eggs were tasteless, the toast was a little to burnt around The edges but the potatoes were alright. My children enjoyed what they ate as it was a sweet type of food. It wasn’t worth the price or wait at all. As someone who’s be a waitress at a few high end restaurant this place is a far cry from it. I watched three people send back their food to begin to dry or over cooked. If you want friendly and attentive customer service, I’d go 100% elsewhere. I expressed we had not enjoyed our experience when the (something I’ve never done before) lady who I assume is the owner or manager asked how our dinner experience was. She Insisted on a discount to which I said I’d really rather not but thank you. She kept insisting regardless of me saying I’d rather not 4 times. She finally Said ok, I understand but ended up doing the damn discount anyway which was frustrating as I asked three times that she not. Horrible...