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June 8, 2007
Sweet My Ass (Or It’s Just Cake, Or Why You Should Never, Under Any Circumstances, Spend Your Money at Sweet Lady Jane)
Our wedding is three months away. Yes, we should have figured out the cake bit sooner, but we’re having our wedding on a warehouse rooftop downtown, so we’re not exactly doing the traditional do. Our wedding is so offbeat that we recently decided we should probably do something that will give the family a sense of structure, of formality, of “weddingness” just so they don’t lose their way among the techno jazz, shredded chiffon dress (mine) and crazy striped suit (his). In short, give them cake so they feel like it is a wedding after all. And who doesn’t love cake?
In this town, if you’re going to do a proper wedding cake, the rule of thumb – the name on everyone’s tongue – is Sweet Lady Jane. I’ve been there for tea. I’ve nibbled a few scones. I’ve even tasted a tart or two. All quite good, all delivered with proper service. I expected the wedding cake experience to be just as good. I could not have been more wrong.
I called the wedding cake person at Sweet Lady Jane weeks in advance to setup the appointment. I then re-confirmed the appointment with her the day before. In each conversation, she told me to bring pictures of cakes I liked and reminded me that everything is custom – so they could create whatever I wanted. Fine. I already knew we weren’t interested in flowers and foofiness…more modern stripes and clean lines. We still weren't sure we even wanted to have a wedidng cake - so traditional and part of the crazy wedding industry we'd sworn we would avoid. I assembled my preferred cake pictures accordingly.
We arrived at 10:30am for our cake appointment. The handsome guy at the front said: “Great, take a seat, I’ll get the book!” Seconds later, he came out with the big white wedding cake book. My fiancé ordered some tea and we started flipping through the book. Lots of sugary flowers and girly girl cakes – nothing for us. But it didn’t matter right? Because I had my trusty “modern cake” pictures with me and the wedding cake lady said they could do “anything.”
We waited. We drank our tea. We waited. We ordered scones. We ate them. We waited some more.
At 11:10am, I went back up to the counter and said we had an appointment with the wedding cake lady. The woman said “That's me, are you here about a cake?” Um, yes, we are. She had us switch tables and then came over to meet with us.
She asked me to introduce myself. I did. No name recognition. No memory of having talked to me less than 24 hours before. She then looked at my finacé and said: “You could tell me your name, but I’m not going to remember it, so what's the point?” Hmmm. Not how you treat a customer. Ever. Especially when your cake prices start at $6.95/slice. But that is the tippy tip of the iceberg. It gets a hell of a lot worse…
She looked down at the packet of papers I was holding in my hand and said “So I see you have your pictures. Let’s have a look.” I handed her eight different pictures of very basic, very clean cakes. She quickly thumbed through them and for each one said something like “Nope. Nope. Won’t do it. Wouldn’t want to. This one is awful. We might do this one for you. Can’t do that one. This one isn’t even possible to make.”
Excuse me? You might do this one for me? It became very clear, very quickly that she had no intention of listening to us. She was on the hunt for portfolio cakes. If it didn't fit within their "aesthetic", it wasn't worth their time. One cake in particular (green striped one at right) was our favorite. I got the picture from a divine bakery in San Francisco. She looked at the picture and said “Impossible. This is not a real cake. It can’t be done.” Um. But. It is a real cake. When I told her it was a real cake from another bakery, she said, “Well, you’ll have to find out how they did it and then we might do it for you. But it will be $28/slice.”
Okay. We live downtown. We see homeless every day. Many of them are in desperate need of food and medical attention. It inconceivable to us that someone would spend $28 per slice to feed 80 people. For cake! It is just a cake! It does not cure blindness. Does not wipe out carbon emissions. Does not un-botch Iraq. It’s cake!
But it gets even worse.
As our mouths hung open (sticker shock), she then said “So do you want to taste some cake?” This sounds innocent. Nice, even. Especially in writing. But it was delivered more like “you’ve already wasted this much of my time so you are damn well going to try some of my cake.” We looked at each other. It was now close to noon. We both had meetings, places to be. Nicer people to talk to. I asked my fiancé if he had time to taste a few cakes. He said sure, if we make it quick.
That was the precise moment when she lost it. She replied: “Oh, I see, so this is just a 'pretend' cake meeting for you? You’re not really interested in working with us? You don’t have the time to taste our cakes?” I then reminded her that we had been patiently waiting since 10:30am and that while we’d love to taste some cake, we did not expect a cake meeting to take an hour and a half. She was surprised.
“You mean to tell me that you’ve been here since 10:30am? How come no one told me about this?”
Well. Um… We stared at the table cloth. At the pictures of the cakes she had said no to.
She then shouted across the bakery counter to her staff: “Excuse me, I would like to know why nobody told me these people were here at 10:30am for a meeting with me. Can anyone explain that? Can you tell me why this happened? We need to revisit the notification system around here.”
We were mortified. Slinking down in our chairs, trying to figure out how to leave without her noticing. We couldn't. She had us trapped, standing over us, blocking our exit.
The handsome young guy who seated us and who did (I saw him!) go back and tell her we were waiting, came over and said: “Yes, we should revisit the notification policy. Because I did tell you they were here and you never came out.”
Cake Lady: No you didn’t.
Handsome Worker Guy: Yes, I did. I told you your 10:30am appointment was here, you gave me the book and said you’d be right out.
We were silent. Truly, truly, unbelievably shocked. It was so bad it was getting kind of funny. But not.
Cake Lady: I was on the phone. You can’t expect me to remember to come out. You need to physically drag me out of the office and over to the table.
Handsome Worker Guy: Um, okayyyy…..
We were still silent, but trying to convey to handsome worker guy via non-verbal cues that we were so, so, so sorry to have turned the wrath of Cake Lady on him. (Yet, I must say, that when employees are that willing to yell at their boss in front of customers, you know they have had it with her. You also know this is not the first time she’s behaved this way.)
Cake Lady (shouting): Lame, lame, lame, lame, lame. I’m so sorry that you received such terrible service from my LAME staff.
This seems outlandish, so wild it cannot be true. But it is! We will never – ever – buy anything from Sweet Lady Jane again. Most certainly not a wedding cake. It seems we are not the only ones.
We’ve got three months to go and we need a non-traditional cake. We’ll be visiting bakeries all over Los Angeles to find a cake that is yummy and moist and service that is, well, service. Nice, friendly and – sweet. (It’s cake after all!) Where should we go? What Los Angeles bakery do you swear by?
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This story is infuriating. Not like they'll care but I emailed the story to Sweet Lady Jane's and told them I wasn't going to eat there any more. Solidarity.
Check out Paris Pastry in Westwood. They did our wedding cake and they didn't give us a hard time or yell at the staff, at least in front of us. They have a website. www.parispastry.com
We bought a couple of princess cakes for our wedding from Berolina's bakery in Glendale. We tasted Sweet Lady Jane's princess cake and it wasn't very authentic or very good.
I know it's not exactly local, but I've NEVER had a bad experience with the Bread Basket in Camarillo. breadbasketcake.com
Look at their wedding cakes and specialties. They'll pretty much do anything (in my experience) and their cakes are ALWAYS amazing! I brought one in for a birthday last year to my office in Universal City and everyone here completely flipped over it, a few have even driven out there for their own treats since then! They're also very friendly so that's nice! Good luck!
I think their cake is good, but when I went there years ago for cake tasting for my sister's wedding, they were so unbelievably bitchy to us I swore I'd never go there again. They were even bitchy to my mom, which I can not tolerate.
Phoenix Bakery
969 N Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 628-4642
Family owned and operated forever. They just did my friends wedding cake and it was amazing. Famous for their strawberry cake (yum fresh strawberries), people line up around the block for this place.
I got married a tad more than a month ago. We got our wedding cake from Torrance Bakery. They were super nice, did exactly what we wanted and the cake was delicious. They let us sample every single cake them make with the frosting and packed up the leftovers. Oh man, yum!
And they only need two weeks notice, though I recommend getting in there earlier. I superduper recommend them extra. Good luck.
Susina at La Brea and Beverly is hands down the best bakery I've ever been too. Maybe a little pricey, but everything tastes amazing and the service is positively top-notch. Its worth a try if nothing else (I'd go for the molten cake, chocolately but not too rich).
Wow, that's awful. I hear Sweet Lady Jane's store is vermin infested too, and that they mostly hire criminals.
JOKING! but still, this sounds lame and unprofessional.
Porto's Bakery
Reasonably priced and good cakes. While your there, try the potato balls, cheese rolls and fruit tart.
Glendale Location
315 North Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91203
tel. (818) 956-5996
fax (818) 956-0696
Burbank Location
3614 W Magnolia Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91505
(818) 846-9100
Massimo's, in West LA.
Go to LA Baking Company. Talk to Ron, the owner or his wife. They are awesome. They did the cakes for my wedding and did a great job. Also they're across the river from DT on North Broadway in Lincoln Heights so very close to you.
holy cow, i would rather go to dunkin' donuts instead of ever go somewhere with such rude, unprofessional and messed up customer service. wtf gives someone the right to yell at staff in front of customers - oh yeah, people with money *duh*
sorry for your unfortunate experience (and I'm not talking about getting married! Congratulations on that!) I'll be sure to avoid the cake lady since I've had nothing but good experiences there.
Go to LIDO BAKERY in Manhattan Beach. Rumor has it, the baker is a defector from SWEET LADY JANE. We got our wedding cake there and it rocked! 3001 N Sepulveda Blvd, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 310-406-8702
Mrs. Beasley's Bakery customized a birthday cake for me - awesome!! taste & look; seems like they could do the cakes pictured in your article. They're in BH, south of Wilshire.
I second Susina on Beverly.
And, by the way, I've always been underwhelmed by Sweet Lady Jane's.
Rossmoor Pastries
(562) 498-2253
rossmoorpastries.com
2325 Redondo Ave
Signal Hill, CA 90755
Good cakes, nice people. We go back every year for a smaller version of the original.
I second the Porto's post. Porto's is the greatest. I drive to Glendale from Santa Monica sometimes just for a little cake. They have these little cakes that are to die for (my favorite is the Pina Colada). If you are going the non-traditional wedding route, go the non tradditional cake route. Get a lot of little cakes. They are like $2.50 per cake and they are SOOOOOO good.
Good luck with the cake hunt.
Try the Cake Divas. They also whip up a new top layer for your one year, so you have fresh lovely goodness instead of kept in the freezer staleness. Much better metaphor. ;0)
cakedivas dot com
This is deja vu all over again. For my mom's 80th bday - same scenario as far as making appointment and then waiting and waiting. Got shown a book as well while I cooled my heels. I wanted Mom's fave - a chocolate cake with marshmallow icing. Was told couldn't be done and when I stood up to leave, was then told it could be done - for a ridiculous price and an attitude to boot. I was so infuriated, I wrote a letter to the owner - never heard back.
I ended up going where you may want to think about -
Joan's on Third - and maybe go for their delish fantastic cupcakes! People there are as yummy as their desserts, which explains why they keep expanding! Free plug for them!
323.655.2285
8350 W Third between LaCienega and Fairfax - they have a black and white cow outside.
Good luck and congrats!
what do you expect when they have the olsen twins as investors. you'd have an easier time gettin a carton of marlboro's from them. i'm sure they have them stashed in the back when ever the little bitches come in.
I really dislike them and should not be given business for their dry overly sweet cakes. i ordered a cake once form my husbands b-day and had questions for them since i never ordered a cake from them before. they gave me attitude over the phone and yelled at me telling me all the info was on the website. well, i was driving and told them i wouldnt be at a computer until later that night and i needed to order it at that moment so i give them enough time. when i went to pick up the cake the next day they were very mean. i kept asking myself "what did i do wrong?" made me very sad. ordering a cake should be a happy experience not the bad one i experienced.
I keep hearing terrible things about this place and I'm now gladder than ever that I've never been there.
another vote for portos!
What a terrible experience! I've never liked Sweet Lady Jane, after we spent $60 for a birthday cake for my sister that turned out to be just a prettified version of something I can bake myself. I second other people's votes for Susina and Phoenix Bakery, and I've never encountered anyone at Porto's who wasn't nice. There's also a lovely bakery in West LA, on Olympic at Sawtelle, called Cake House, that does that whole Western-cakes-made-by-Asian-bakers thing really well, though I don't know if they do wedding cakes.
We got married a year ago, in the Bay Area, and also had a nontraditional wedding that included cake. We waited even later than you to order ours, because our baker of choice had taken down the date (several times) and then assured us he only needed a few weeks' notice. We were living in LA then too so we didn't want to be flying back all the time. So a month before the date we start calling him, and he is ON VACATION, and no one knows when he'll be back. We call again the next week and it's the same deal. We start calling other bakeries and of course they're mocking us for waiting until a few weeks' notice. Finally I think to look up a bakery I remembered seeing years ago (I have a good food memory), and everything falls into place: a serendipitous cancellation on the day we can go for a tasting, AND she's already doing the cake for another wedding on the same date in our same venue so she'll do ours AND waive the delivery fee. She was so nice and real and comforting, and assured us, "You can stop worrying now. I'll make sure you get your cake." And she did, and people are still talking about how delicious it was. Here's wishing you the same good luck in your quest for wedding yummies!
i second the cake divas... they did our wedding and the cake looked and tasted great... and the new layer for the one year anniversary is a nice bonus... prices arent crazy either...
This is another vote for Susina Bakery (http://susinabakery.com/). I think they're, hands-down, the best bakery in LA. My friend is a wedding planner, and she swears by them.
PORTO'S (it's worth repeating)
Best wishes on your wedding!
Sorry about your awful experience. I used to work down the street from this place, and I'm sad to say - I'm not surprised at all by this post. Incredible inattentive service at best - rude (to horrifying) at worst. FYI, the owner is rude to local shop workers, too. I'm planning my wedding right now and Sweet Lady Jane is nowhere near on my list of potential cake places - but the comments here just gave me a lot of great referrals. Thanks for posting - knowledge is power.
I've never been to Sweet Lady Jane but I'm certainly not going now. I'm a stickler for good customer service.
By the way, those striped cakes are cool! I think they're a great choice.
Have you checked out Pastries by Edie in San Fernando Valley - near Sherman Way and Topanga;
Mani's at the Farmers Market 3rd and Fairfax has pretty good reviews.
And if you know someone who would like to make it for you go to Kake Kreations also near Sherman Way and Topanga. By the way Congratulations and Best Wishes for many years to come.
Amy's Babycakes made our delish wedding cake last year and it didn't cost an arm and a leg...and she was great to work with. Check her out at...
www.amysbabycakes.com
Good luck.
You know, I had thought Porto's wedding cakes would be too old-fashioned for your style, but I never thought about getting a bunch of the pretty ones with orchids on them, and the tiramisu cakes etc and putting them on cake stands of different heights - that could be really cool.
Old faithful.. Hansen's on Fairfax
or you can come to the hood and try "Kreme Krop" on Manchester and 4th Ave.
Susina has wonderful wedding cakes, see Jenna the owner. Because they use mousse and fresh whipped cream instead of butter cream and fondant, they give extra care and personal service through the whole process.
Their cakes are visually more casual looking, they will probably not be able to do the kind of cakes you have pictures of. But it will be the best damned tasting cake any wedding guests will ever have.
Here's a link to their pages:
www.susinabakery.com/wedding_cakes.shtml#
The Italian Wedding Cake (St. Honore) is especially good and has a unique look: www.susinabakery.com/images/wc4.jpg
wow. congrats on your wedding, callie. and vendors need to be kissing your ass. not this. i used to like the cakes at SLJ, but no more! boycott.
Susina for sure is a great bakery and Jenna is sooo nice.
If you are not having a traditional wedding, why have a traditional cake at all? When I got married 5 years ago, we ordered cake from Sweet Lady Jane but NEVER said the word "wedding" we just ordered 2 of the regular sized three-berry cakes (our favorite cakes) for the regular price. As you said, it's just cake and we were happy.
We also ordered 2 regular cakes from Red Ribbon Bakery on Gower -- purple yam cake. Ooooh, it is delicious, light and sweet and purple inside! Again, we didn't say "wedding".
If you are going non-traditional, I say go all the way. Everyone will remember it so much better.
Another vote for Portos. I've gotten several custom made cakes done there that have been absolutely delicious and creatively decorated. Plus, the staff there is very friendly. Honestly, bad service can make the best food taste like sawdust. After one awful visit to SLJ's, I'll never return.
Sweet Lady Janes used to be my fave bakery, but I haven't been in at least a year. The first time I went, the staff was wonderful! Then, they really started getting popular and well, I started not recognzing the staff members.
Perhaps it's just the wedding cake lady?
Either way, it disappoints me to read this review. Now I know not to deal with SLJ for a wedding cake! Pffft!
I also met with Sweet Lady Jane to make my wedding cake and was told that the picture I had brought in wasn't a real cake either. They were kind of rude and expensive.
Luckily, my next appointment was with Joan at Cake Divas. They were awesome. She drew the perfect cake for me while my mom and I were talking with her. My wedding cake was perfect (and tasted good) and they were a pleasure to deal with. I highly recommend them.
Delilah Bakery
1665 Echo Park
I dont think they do wedding cakes, but their cakes and cupcakes are absolutely out of this world. you mentioned you were going less traditional, why not try cupcakes? because you probably won't get a better one than at Delilah. plus, the service is outstanding, and i Love their very wide array of baked goods. and mac and cheese,
mmmm
Patticakes Dessert Company
1900 N. Allen Ave.
Altadena, Ca. 91001
626-794-1128
www.patticakesdesserts.com
who the hell says "lame" anymore anyway? 5th graders?
Sweet Lady Jane is full of it. Have been for some time now. Not like it matters. They've been getting reviews like these for years and people keep flocking back. Maybe Susina can put a dent in some of their business.
i'm sorry to hear your story:
we got our wedding cake from sweet lady jane's - back in 2002 - we had the same sitdown with the cakelady. for us, she couldn't have been nicer, was helpful, gave suggestions, gave us sample after sample, agreed to make us an extra sheet cake to save some money on the overall cake. yes, agreed, they're pricey. welcome to the world of weddings period, right? i still enjoy a piece of cake from there - every now and then.
I second the Delilah Bakery mention - the woman who owns the bakery is incredibly sweet and very accomodating!
My own wedding cake (from almost 5 years ago, wow time flies!) came from Mayer's Bakery in Palos Verdes. They're kind of far, but the cake was delicious - so many people commented on it. I did a non-traditional color (brown) and they were very helpful and professional!
LAYERS in Sherman Oaks
13944 Ventura Blvd
(818) 784-3918
Delicious cake, nice owner (Janelle), very creative.
Porto's cakes are delicious, but they do very traditional styling. Hansen's is very traditional as well.
I'm not surprised by this. I've only ever been treated badly by this bakery (since the day it opened) and never understood why it had such a following. The story of the workers yelling at each other is not only funny, but pretty much sums up how they've always acted every time I've been in there. Very ba