ROYAL CAKERY: NOT SO ROYAL

BRIANNAT711 · December 2011

I am curious if anyone had a similar experience to mine with Royal Cakery, I hope for their sake that this was an isolated incident becuase if not, they will have no more business. If it was isolated then it sucks that it had to happen to me. I made an appoinment with Sharelle Royal on October 5th at 3pm. When I arrived at the bake shop and told them I was here for my cake consultation, I was told to wait as the ladies in the back commenced to yell across the bakery "you got a consult today, cuz' I ain't got one?" After much ruckus amongst themselves I was shown to a table where my FI, my MOH, groomsman and myself were asked to sit. After about 10 minutes one of the ladies came to bring us water and napkins and began to veraciously flirt with my groomsman, telling him how he shoudl leave his wife for her because what he needs is an older woman in his life and she could cook and clean for him etc. She continued to call me the wrong name and I am sure she never even asked my fiance's name but she continued to call my groomsman's name and flirt even more. After waiting for an hour I discovered that she was still baking the cakes for our tasting which means that she was completely unprepared for the consultation. After not listening to what I asked for in the cake sketch and creating the wrong design, then quoting me over $2000 for the cake not including tax or cake stand rental fee, cake stand delievry fee, and cake stand pickup fee which was to amount to another $350, we were preparing to leave. (Maybe i'm crazy but if you have to deliver the cake anyways why would you charge me extra to deliver the stand with the cake??) She continued to call me many different wrong names and still awkwardly and unabashedly flirt with my groomsman. This experience was horrible, Royal Cakery presnted themselves to be completely unprofessional and overpriced considering the kind of service I received. And if this is how unprofessional you are for the consultation, what could I expect on my wedding day? I have since had very pleasant and successful consultations with The Sweet Life bakery and Melissa's Fine Pastries, I was just wondering if anyone else had a similar experience? Needless to say I was shocked considering they are so highly reccommended!

meganb1977 · December 2011

I had a sample of one of Melissa's cakes at a bridal show and it was tasty. One of the highlights of that particular show actually.

Queen Jane · December 2011

We used Royal Cakery and were completely satisfied with the entire experience. Shirelle was kind and very accommodating at our tasting. She did bake the cakes for the tasting while we were there, but really who would complain about fresh cake? They probably do that to wait until you pick which ones you want to taste, so they don't need to keep all those flavors on hand. As for that lady's behavior, hopefully it was either distasteful joking, an isolated incident, or a problem with that particular employee. Did you contact Shirelle about it? I'm sure she would want to know.

RYLZ · December 2011

I wish Haydel's had freshly baked the cake for our tasting-- it was sooo dry!

We had a tasting with Shirelle at Royal Cakery a few months ago and it went fine. Maybe this was just an off day.

Personally, I bought my own cake stand so I could avoid feeling aggravated by all the costs involved in using one from any of the bakeries. I'm sure it will be easy to sell afterwards and it cost less than their combined rental and delivery charges.

courtneyclare103 · December 2011

I also had a bad experience at my tasting with Royal Cakery. I thought I would be meeting with Shirelle, but instead it was with one of the cake bakers. The customer service was not good at all, and I have to say, neither was the cake.

louisianablue · December 2011

I tried to set up a tasting with the Royal Cakery, but they were impossible to get a hold of. When they finally emailed me to set up a time, I replied back with a time and the flavors I wanted to try. They didn't return any of my phone calls or emails after that. I decided to go with Flour Power instead.

cmwinbush · December 2011

I agree about Haydel's the cake was so dry and the customer service was even drier. As far as Royal they are extremely overpriced. I've worked with them in the past for different occasions and neither the service nor the product was consistent.

raven541 · December 2011

I had a terrible experience as well. The woman was over 30 minutes late. When she did show up she was rude, and didnt seem to listen to what I wanted. On top of that, they were double the price of all the other bakeries I went too.

No thank you.

egammo3 · December 2011

I just recently went to a wedding and the cake was done by Royal. The presentation/design of the cake was great, but it was so gummy like the cake was not done. I did not like the cake at all!

andreaa2288 · December 2011

Royal Cakery did my cake and my groom's cake for my recent wedding so I feel the need to stick up for them. We were absolutely pleased with our cakes. They were delicious and beautiful. I have been to events recently where haydel's and swiss cakes were served and I thought they both tasted ok, but were very dry. That's where royal did a great job, even after a week in the fridge our cakes still tasted great and so moist! The cake looked exactly like the pictures I went over with Shirelle in the store. I will say that the cake was much more than I expected to pay for a wedding cake but I was so afraid I would end up with a dry or frozen cake from somewhere else that we decided to spend the extra money. We had read some terrible reviews of cakes showing up really dry or frozen from other local bakeries. I will agree that I do not think they had the most professional customer service, I just felt like I was dealing with a local family run business.They had a great reputation with my other vendors and vendors I had talked to at bridal shows so I wasn't worried. We loved both of our cakes and would choose royal again for other events if we ever need to. I hope they were just having an off time because I think they are really talented at wedding cakes!

BRIANNAT711 · December 2011

So it seems as though they are a bit inconsistent, I spoke to a few other people and some have had good experiences and some bad, across the board it seems as though Shirelle Royal is the only professional person working there. I don't think a business being "family run" or "local" is an excuse for being unprofessional. And as far as waiting for them to bake the cakes, I appreciate freshness, but I received the same amount of freshness from Melissa's Fine Pastries and The Sweet Life bakery and I didn't have to wait an hour+ for them to bake it. I wish Royal Cakery had asked me my flavor preferences in an e-mail so that they were ready for my tasting like all the other bakeries I tried but then again that would imply that they were operating with a certain amount of professionalism which seems as though is in short supply at this place.And they gave me the highest quote of all the bakeries I tried and with the least amount of detail. It is wonder that they are still coming so "highly recommended". Thanks but no thanks! My recommendation and my money will go elsewhere. Thanks to all you brides who shared your opinions! I am glad some of you did have good experinces because I would hate for them to have ruined your cake or not brought it at all on your wedding day, I wouldn't wish that nightmare on anyone! And to the brides who went elsewhere, I hope other bakeries were able to provide you with the professional, top knotch experience all brides deserve.

LSULacey · December 2011

I had a similar experience- we didn't meet with Shirelle as we thought, rather some unpleasant lady with a mustache. The tasting took 3 hours because they don't do anything til you get there. I must say that the cakes and fillings were delicious and I've head good things about the day of cake. But - the prices were way higher than anywhere else. And an additional note - they're in an extremely bad area. There was a murder around the corner from them not even 3 hours after our tasting. So glad we went to our final tasting with Flour Power instead of settling.

CMB3912 · December 2011

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience. We've hired Royal Cakery and I've been very pleased with them so far. Shirelle has been very accomodating with us - she had a scheduling conflict come up with our wedding date before we even signed the contract, but offered to work around it to make sure she can honor everything we had already discussed. She really didn't have to do that for us, especially since we hadn't even put down our deposit yet when this came up.

We came in town for the cake tasting, which I also thought would be with Shirelle, but ended up being with one of the bakers, Renetter. I didn't really think that was a big deal, and I did not find her unpleasant at all. She was really friendly and even threw in some extra samples when we weren't quite sure what to go with. They were finishing up baking the samples when we walked in, so we selected the flavors we wanted to try and they prepared it right away. We didn't have to wait more than 15 minutes or so. I was even on the phone with my mom at one point, who wanted to come to the tasting but was caught up at work, and Ms. Renetter boxed up some pieces of cake so I could take them to her! Everyone we've encountered there so far has been very sweet and accomodating, not to mention their cakes were all DELICIOUS!! I would definitely recommend them.

ROYAL CAKERY: NOT SO ROYAL

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