The Cake Lady Cafe

Food was nice (penance pie was amazing), staff lovely. The vibe is cute, and it’s very comfortable and feels very cozy. Had a little wait for food and drinks, understandable as it was busy and a small staff, no issues there. Should have been five stars. What brings my rating down is the gentleman that served us was not allergy aware/pass on allergy information fully and unfortunately did not check if something I asked for contained an allergen (coriander, yes it’s a weird allergy). My friend went first, explained no gluten, no dairy (then clarified no lactose) and no onions or garlic - no alliums all due to her allergies. She was specific in requesting no ice cream or cream. I then ordered and asked for my eggs to be well done (I have texture issues, that’s a me thing as I am neurodivergent so I know to ask for scrambled eggs over cooked), no lactose and no cream/ice cream with my cake, and asked could I get some avocado; they could not do avocado but had an avocado dip. I asked if it had coriander and he said no, without checking which made me assume he was aware of the ingredients and or it was store made. When our food arrived (cakes first) both my friend and I had cream on our plates (which we could not eat). They were polite and accommodating and quickly swapped my friends over and I just moved the cream to the side, no big issue, we understand they where busy and it was an accident. When our meals came, my friend had cheese on her steak sandwich (no biggie she just didn’t eat that piece of bread, she realised she should have been specific on no cheese) and was very grateful, no sauce or onions like she asked for. My meal came and the eggs were not well done, easy enough, I asked to just have them cooked a little longer. By now we are feeling awful because we really don’t like complaining, which is why we are very upfront about our allergies/preferences in the beginning when ordering so we can make everyone’s life as easy as possible, because we feel awful having to ask for changes. I took a mouthful of the avocado dip (delicious by the way if you have no allergies) and saw herb leaf pieces, I immediately sensed danger but hoped it was parsley. I had the lovely lady check, and she confirmed coriander was in the dip (in a small amount). I did explain I was allergic no matter how small, I got an apology, but that doesn’t change the allergic reaction. She also didn’t ask how bad the allergy was or if she needed to do anything or seem to register the seriousness of me stating that they had just served me a known allergen after being specific when ordering about the allergy. Some Zyrtec later, I hoped for the best. Unfortunately, I spent twenty minutes being sick in the bakery across the road, and have had to cut my girls day out short to go home because I am now in incredible intestinal distress. I am curled up in bed, my face a little swollen, my stomach in awful pain and hoping I do not end up at emergency because the swelling continues. Please, take allergies seriously. We do not share our allergy information to make your life hard or to make more work for you. It’s because we depend on your business to take us seriously so we don’t get unwell or in some cases, die. If you cannot meet a customers needs with their allergy, just politely state that it’s not possible. Im lucky I’m not anaphylactic (at least not previously), but I am in for a few rough days now. Our other friend also waited for a long time to get her coffee and a biscuit. She didn’t mean to be rude and not eat much or drink much, but the long wait time meant her morning sickness had came back and her body could no longer handle food/drink. What she did have she liked.

Late Sunday afternoon visit right on closing time. Could not have been more welcoming. Lovely gluten free apple and rhubarb crumble with cream and ice cream. Gave us a larger serving as we were sharing. Quirky shop to wander around, brought back memories of childhood.