Simply Sweets — Restaurant in Vancouver

So Thursday morning on the way to work I was going to pick up some treats for a meeting we were having. My boss usually picks up cookies and I thought it'd be nice to have something different. I'd heard a lot about the bakery in downtown Vancouver called Simply Sweets. So I decided why not give a local small business some of our corporate money? I pull up in front of the bakery—which surprisingly had a couple of parking spaces open right in front. I go in and there aren't any customers right then and there's a lady working in the back. She comes out and begrudgingly offers to help. She doesn't look thrilled to have a customer, but who does at 7 something in the morning?

I explained to her that I wanted to get three dozen cupcakes and asked if she had a box that kept them from sliding around because I didn’t want to schlep around downtown Portland and end up with expensive upside treats—at least not the kind that weren’t designed to be that way in the first place. At this point she gets an irritated look on her face and proceeds to chastise me by explaining to me that for these kinds of orders I really should call in advance. Uh…ok, but I didn’t. Now what?

Mind you, there were PLENTY of cupcakes in the display to fill my order and have plenty left over for other customers plus it looked like there were more in the back area, too. But as she is looking at me with her condescending, judgmental, and unhappy face, it is evident to me that she isn't really interested in selling me those three dozen cupcakes. So I said, "Okay maybe some other time," knowing full well that based on this experience I will never come back. I’m not a fan of mornings and I am not signing up for a similar experience another time. She watched me turn and start to walk away before trying to stop me and telling me that she had enough and that there actually were more in the back, but by this point she’d lost me. “Nope! I’ll pass.” Now why she didn't want to sell me 3 dozen cupcakes verses waiting around for 3 dozen people to buy one cupcake at a time I will never know, but I second my husband’s wish of her having dozens of cupcakes leftover at the end of the day so she could reflect on this missed opportunity.

We could’ve become a semi-regular customer and she could’ve nicely and politely helped me this time and when she was collecting payment she could’ve also politely suggested that it’d be super if next time I called ahead so she could have it all ready for me when I arrived. Maybe make me—the customer—feel as if I was potentially valued. Even if she was just faking it.

But clearly she isn’t like the “most women” that are described in that deli scene in “When Harry Met Sally.” She’s an exception. She doesn’t fake it. Her loss. The meeting went off without a hitch and the cookies...

My custom cake gal moved out of state and I was in need of a new one. I happened to be driving past this shop and decided to pop in to see whether or not they could help me out with my current custom cake need.

I didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted for my husband's birthday cake except that I knew I wanted it to be designer fashion themed. I chatted with Daisy for about 10 minutes and she came up with the concept for the cake. I opted for an 8" round white cake with vanilla buttercream frosting. Daisy said she'd need to do the outside design in fondant, which wasn't ideal, but was okay.

I provided a photo of my husband's actual Versace tie to use and suggested using a Burberry print (which she said could be printed out on paper and the cake displayed on it) and a Tiffany tie bar (which apparently never made it to the final cake). She showed me the rough sketch and I suggested adding grey pinstripes to the shirt to make it pop a bit more instead a huge expanse of white shirt.

I should have provided a budget. When she rung me up, the cost was $210! I've had several custom cakes made and some were far more elaborate than this one - but never for such a high price! I just hoped that the final product would be the best custom cake experience I'd ever had. It wasn't.

When we picked up the cake, I wasn't thrilled about the pinstripes being spaced so far apart - it simply isn't authentic looking. In addition, the Tiffany tie bar was missing completely from the design. While the wow factor was still present to a degree, I could only see the mistakes. I hoped when we dove into it the following day, it would at least taste great.

It didn't. The cake layers were over baked and were yellow rather than white - the flavor wasn't what was expected and my family kept asking what kind of cake I'd ordered as they knew my husband looked forward to his annual white cake with vanilla buttercream frosting - a classic combo that any baker worth their salt should be able to accomplish deliciously in their sleep. The buttercream frosting between the layers was so thin, you couldn't taste it due to the overpowering almond-y flavor of the dry and crumbly cake and fondant. Nobody finished their slices.

I will not be ordering another custom cake from this shop again. While pleasant enough to deal with and creative enough to come up with a great concept, the execution and (most importantly) flavor are lacking as well as being...

Simply Sweets Bakery - all I can say is WOW - about 3 weeks ago my daughter and her fiance decided they wanted to get married on July 10th, yes of this year. My husband and I along with our daughter started looking at bakeries that would be able to do a small wedding cake and cupcakes on a budget and at short notice. After trying several locations we found Simply Sweets doing a Google search. After taking my daughter to work my husband and I headed over to the bakery. Walking in we noticed several cakes artfully decorated. Jen was working on some fondant flowers for another cake. Jen, we later found out was the owner, took the time to talk with us asking questions and letting us know they would be happy to help us with such short notice. I asked how much they would charge for a tasting box, and was amazed that she told one of the other employees to get us a box of 6 cupcakes, the ones they currently had, when I asked how much she stated, “They are on the house, no charge.” Jen gave us several options that could be done on a budget, including their simple cake that runs about $30.00. We thanked Jen for her time and when my husband and I walked out we decided to suggest my daughter use Simply Sweets for her wedding. When she got home from work she tried the Chocolate Chip cupcake we were given as a sample and she said they were the bakery she wanted to use.

My daughter and I went the next Saturday and ordered her wedding cake and cupcakes. The designer who helped my daughter was helpful and patient and provided suggestions on what they could do. The cake turned out amazing and the cupcakes were a hit. They even designed the cake topper for her. She loves hedgehogs and her husband loves wolves. They made a cut out of a hedgehog and a wolf, out of fondant, so they stood up. She was almost in tears when she saw the cake. They change out the cupcake flavors every week, but there are three they always have - we have tried several kinds and have been impressed every time.

I can’t thank Simply Sweets for caring enough to help my daughter make her day special and...