Sweet Garden Japanese Cheesecake — Restaurant in Spring Valley

I have been coming to this bakery for over 3 years. They have always had great desserts and always treated me well until recently, especially Ping, he’s very nice and of course I am always respectful to the employees. I drive 35 minutes round trip to this bakery. I positively comment on their Instagram and I’m always recommending them. Today I went in and was helped by a young, Hispanic? girl. When I walked up to the register to register my arrival, the screen showed that I had a $5 reward. But then the cashier young girl wanted to charge the previous customer for their order so I stepped aside and waited. When it was my turn again it did not show my reward, so I asked the young girl cashier about it and she said that she didn’t know but that for sure my reward didn’t go to the previous customer. I asked her to please ask the manager. She went to the back and spoke to a man and then she came out and said that my $5 reward DID go to the previous customer and if I could wait until I came back next time to gain more rewards so I can redeem then, and I told her that I couldn’t do that. So the man she spoke to came out and helped me take the $5 off my bill, which I thanked them for. I paid and tipped them. When she went to the back to get my teas they were laughing. When she came out I realized I had $3 extra on my bill and asked the young girl about the extra charge and with an attitude she said it was for the extra jam I asked for in my two passion fruit teas. I understand charging extra, but she never told me how much extra I was being charged and it should also be stated on the menu. $1.50 extra for additional jam is a little much but that’s not a big deal. The customer has a right to ask about what is on the bill. Then she gave me a look and put the teas on the counter without saying a word and I had to ask her to please bag up the teas. As I said, Sweet Garden usually has great service but this time it was uncomfortable. It only takes one time to lose a loyal customer. People do not want to go where they think the employees will act like that. Thank you for the past great service but today (4/1/25) whoever that young lady was will cost you...

Excellent. Foodie approved.

This is a place that is passionate about delivering an authentic high quality cheesecake.

Service: one person in particular impressed me with his knowledge and passion for the cakes: Kevin. He patiently explained every single option as well as answering all my questions. I can get the very new gritty about the details, ingredients, processes and differences between options (I’m a foodie).

And Kelvin not only answered my questions, but he recommended exactly the right type of products for me.

What I ordered: Fromage cheesecake: this cheesecake has three things going on: vanilla sponge cake base, baked cheesecake, non-baked (rare) cheesecake on top, baked cheesecake middle. It’s incredible, an absolute home run. You have three different varieties of cakes, working together in harmony. The densest layer is in the style of American Philadelphia cheesecake but lighter 11/10 Basque cheesecake: this is a high temperature baked cheesecake. Not my favorite type of style, but I enjoyed their rendition 9/10. Individual cups of passion fruit/mango cake: this is more of a mousse type cheesecake. 7/10

My rating system: 5 stars: Special - as good as it gets for this niche. 4 stars: Great, I'm happy - I'll be back. 3 stars: Ok/average, I've had much better 2 stars: Something was off. 1 stars: Avoid/danger/regret, or I want my time...

4.5 stars. I was recommended this place by a friend. I got there shortly after they opened and the place was very busy. I love the interior. It's very warm and inviting with lots of comfortable seating. I ordered the classic Japanese cheesecake and a strawberry shortcake. Apparently the classic Japanese cheesecake can be eaten warm or cold. When warm it's supposedly very creamy and has somewhat of a custard consistency. I refrigerated mine and ate it with some fresh berries later that night. It's not very sweet but still has that wonderful cheesecake flavor, that I love. It's a delicious lighter version of a classic New York cheesecake. The star of the show was the Strawberry Shortcake. It's a four-inch cake but it is amazing. I hate overly sweet desserts and luckily this is not one of them. It has just the right amount of sweetness. It is light and creamy and may be the best Strawberry Shortcake I have ever had. I will definitely be back for it again. They also make a Mango Shortcake that caught my eye. The only thing I'm taking a half point off is the price. $16 for the Shortcake seems a tad on the expensive side, but the quality and execution are worth it. Definitely check...