Winkler Bakery — Restaurant in Winston-Salem

Went in there for the first time with my partner in Feb. We picked out the Apple Strudel, but couldn't find any dates on anything. Overheard a couple asking the same "there's no dates...?" in the apple strudel section. I started wondering how they handle their inventory without any dates on the packages.

Got home and had some bites, but we both noticed there were some odd looking bits inside. They have a bit of a growth pattern to them. We stopped eating it, put it in the fridge, and I called Winkler Bakery just to see if maybe we got a bad one. No one picked up.

There's no email, just that phone number. We ended up contacting their instagram account on Feb 24th (the date of purchase) explaining it (with pics) asking if it was ok to eat. April 2nd we got a reply apologizing for the delay, and saying they checked with their director of retail and head of their bakery and they said it's not mold, it's cinnamon, and it'd grow from the outside first, not the inside.

So I looked up moldy apple pie/strudel pics and found it can happen from the inside first.

We replied back and asked if it was possible to get a replacement since our instincts were telling us not to eat that strudel and we had to throw it out way before they got back to us.

They just left us on read. No reply. It's a $10.15 strudel, so you can understand it's a little frustrating.

In my mind, if we got a replacement and it still had those same odd patterns, well then I guess we're wrong and it's just some purple cinnamon that spread out in a growth-like pattern. But after reading a review from just a week ago complaining they sell old, rotten food, I don't want to eat anything from there, I'd just want our $10.15 back.

Don't take my word for it, though, here's pictures of it for you to be the judge.

Mold or not, their customer service ain't great however...

I have not visited the bakery to buy baked goods for 10 years. I purchased today - 1 Sugar cake, package of pumpkin muffins & Ginger Cakes. First of all, I remember very clearly how delicious EVERYTHING was there 10 even 20 years ago. I grew up visiting Old Salem. The sugar cake I purchased yesterday was not the same. Half the cake was just bread. I went to break off a piece and saw some piece of string sticking out of the top. I pulled it and it was like a fishing line. I took a picture and immediately closed it! I hoped the pumpkin muffins might be better. They switched the delicious raisins for walnuts. Do not like at all! Then decided to try a “ginger cake” I almost needed a cap on my front tooth - it was so hard I gave up and closed the entire bag up! This small bag cost me $30.00. If that wasn’t bad enough! I proceeded to call the “bakery” and tell them what ALL I had tried to eat. She was very nice and said I could get a full refund. I turned my car around and headed back down to the “Winkler”. The lady was very pleasant and refunded the entire purchase without any explanation for all the mishaps. I left feeling very sad that the Old Salem I knew and loved just didn’t care. I hope these products didn’t taste like this daily. No one seemed to even care to see what in the world the foreign object was cooked into the sugar cake. I guess the Old Salem I knew is gone. I hope it was just an off day and maybe this post will help wake up whoever is responsible for the taste and safety of what’s being sold at a very high price at Old Salem...

The staff could not be less knowledgeable. The hours stated that everything closed at 4pm and we arrived at approximately 215pm. We wanted tickets and information about the advertised Easter egg hunt, we were told that everything was closing and that buying tickets would be pointless. We inquired about the Easter egg hunt advertised and then for whatever reason were lectured about leaving our children alone? Why? I was forced to interrupt them and explain firmly that I had not indicated that I would leave my children alone and that as a good parent would never. I needed two things: tickets to the Easter egg hunt since the tickets to tour were what they referred to as "pointless" and to know exactly where the Easter egg hunt was located. They had a difficult time managing even that. After purchasing "two-stop" tickets we walked down early to the egg hunt location and were encouraged to wait elsewhere since there were still 25 minutes left. Fortunately we didn't go far because they decided to open the hunt 15 minutes early, any children who arrived on time were disappointed because there was hardly anything left. This entire operation appears very poorly managed, we brought family from out of town here and we couldn't be more disappointed. Please provide appropriate training...