Plaza Bakery — Restaurant in Virginia Beach

It’s taken a few days for me to write this post because the events that took place at Plaza Bakery last Saturday are so disheartening for me. My family has been purchasing from this bakery for generations. My Nanny (Grandmother) got their signature cookies with the small dot of icing in the middle of them for my mother when she was a child and then for me before she passed away when I was a small child. My mother continued the tradition for my sister and I as we grew up. I have had these cookies every Christmas for 31 years as well as other special occasions in between. When she picked them up Friday for me as soon as I opened the box I knew something was wrong. The color wasn’t the typical light baked brown color they usually are. After I bit into one there was no doubt that something went wrong in the baking of these usually so soft cookies they could crumble just from you picking one out of the box. When we arrived back to the bakery Saturday morning to talk to the NEW owner Crystal Spellman she was abrupt, dismissive, cold, and quite uncaring. I simply just wanted her to replace the 3 pounds of cookies we purchased because really they tasted terrible but I was trying to be polite. I tried to explain that I’ve had these cookies for years and I know how they are supposed to taste and she just kept saying that nothing had changed with the recipe. Which could be true but even the best bakers and chefs know not every time they make something it turns out the way it was supposed to and that’s what I was trying to convey. Crystal looked at me and said well I’m not replacing them so what do you want me to do? I then shocked with how abrasive she was being said a refund. She refused to refund the inedible cookies so I requested a refund for the other 3 pounds of cookies my mom placed to pick up a few days later. The new management style here is not what it was in the past. I left this establishment in tears. Which I know seems dramatic because I didn’t get the cookies I wanted. But Crystal took something from me that day, she tarnished all the happy memories those cookies brought my family. If you are a local and have been purchasing from Plaza for years like I have know that it is not the same and for...

Sad to be saying this

Called up and ordered a birthday cake for a family birthday party a few weeks ago and was shocked to pay $70 for a half sheet. But then I realize well I always spend a lot on birthdays and cakes because they always do an amazing.job. Everyone In my family is fond of Plaza bakery or at least we were and when everyone including myself tasted the cake we said "where did this come from?" The icing tasted store-bought And the cake was very flat and not like full I can’t really explain it just not any volume to it. I was very disappointed and my mom told me that they had been bought and under new ownership and all I kept thinking was they are not going to make it. I have bought so many cakes and Petit for and desserts from them over the years and Everything has always been reasonable and delicious. The place is very bare not much in the display cabinets and the prices have definitely got up on petit fores too/ everything it seems too. seems they raise their prices and change their products and it’s not for the better. I hope they improve and take these reviews seriously and go back to old recipes or wherever they use to order from and takw the constructive criticism seriously. After 12 years of personally buying from there myself and many years before that my family bought there I will be going elsewhere for our cakes. sad and...

We went a week ago and as soon as we walked up we knew something was different. After asking, it is under new ownership. There wasn’t a large selection on display. However, they had a few more petit fours in the back they brought out. We went to see if we could custom order a strawberry shortcake for a family birthday. We ordered an 8 inch double layer strawberry shortcake with whipped cream and it was $46! Our total for the cake and a few small treats was $75. We were shocked at how expensive it was! I went back to pickup the cake and they still had a very limited selection but also had been busy for Valentine’s treats. We ate the cake and it was to die for and everyone enjoyed it! Was it worth $46? While it was delicious it was slightly over priced. I appreciate that they are still trying to continue the traditional treats while adding their own spin on things and want to give them a chance. However, it is more expensive than the original bakery and just not quite the same as the original iconic Plaza Bakery. They have big shoes to fill if they want to live up to the name and they just...