Crushcakes and Cafe

I hate to leave a 1 star review, but here we go. Before I continue this review, I have to give them credit for backing their staff. After working in multiple industries where clients are involved with great feedback as well as complaints, they truly will back their staff and see what went wrong instead of taking my word and reprimanding them. My situation on how things were handled and the quality of a product I got was not up to par for what I know these guys can do. I’ve been into CrushCakes Goleta before and ordered food and cupcakes and EVERYTHING WAS AMAZING, but that doesn’t change the recent experience. I recently got married and ordered a DAIRY FREE (not vegan. Not GF. And for clarification DF needs to be lactose free and can have eggs where vegan cake cannot) 2 tiered cake. We took the cake out 1 hr prior before cutting and serving per guidance of the staff. As soon as my husband and I went to go cut into the cake, it was hard as a brick and already starting to fall apart. The cake was inedible, and everyone probably took 1-2 bites before putting it down and not continuing to eat. We didn’t even cut into the bottom tier and it was thrown away. I couldn’t even save a piece to save for our 1 year anniversary. There is $500+ down the toilet. We reached out to Goleta store prior to posting this review in hopes to resolve this situation, but not really. No apology. They kept reiterating that they were a small business and that this is never happened before. They were going to meet with baking staff earlier this week, I requested the outcome, and no response. I understand that they are a small business and for a fact that I personally have worked for small businesses before and that stuff happens. They have reviews with similar stories to mine where cakes or cupcakes were dry and/or inedible. We wanted to make them aware of the situation so this doesn’t happen again to anyone in the future. We did not receive exactly what I ordered and only received a $100 refund. I asked for ingredient list which was sent over and following in the email was “For Clarity this is what we follow when someone mentions they are Vegan / No Dairy.” So they make the same cake regardless if you’re vegan or DF. Technically since the cake was vegan, there was no dairy in it at all, BUT since I stated while ordering DF, we were expecting to have eggs in the ingredient list, which there wasn’t. Being DF and vegan are similar but totally different. Just because someone is dairy free, does not mean they are vegan and gluten free, and same goes for across the board. We weren’t told by time of placing the order that the cake would be made vegan and GF. In my personal opinion, they should be able to adjust their recipes accordingly to what people as for. I’ve stated multiple times on how upsetting it was for the outcome of said cake. Hot take: I should’ve been refunded MINIMUM 50% of what the cake cost, not $100. I did not receive the cake I asked for. I understand food costs and cost of labor, but come on. Do better to make this right. I want to keep supporting, but after all of this, I won’t be returning. Photos taken are from an iPhone and from a distance, but figure they capture what I’m talking about.

Amazing! Of course, their gluten-free cupcakes and baked goods are phenomenal, but their breakfast sandwiches, eggs, bacon, and all that stuff is just as good and worth getting. Staff is really friendly and there to help. We use them for catering. Every time we have a party or celebration, they can make cakes, custom, however you want. The food is delicious as well as healthy and you feel great after.