Thomasa S.
Yelp
After my coworker made me try a delicious Napoleon Russian cake, I was eager to get one to enjoy with my husband and daughter. So I googled the nearest Russian store near me, and I found "friendly food" store. I always read reviews, so with 4.7 stars, I felt like I was going to be just as satisfied as the rest of the customers that took their time to write these reviews.
I went in and quickly noticed that the store was smaller than I expected, almost like a mom and pop store, but that was not the problem. We were in the store for a few minutes and no one was there to assist us. My daughter said, "Hello", and still no one came out. Then I saw a little bell on the corner, so I rang it. Finally, a man walked out and he was friendly. I started asking him about the cakes they had on display and he couldn't even readily identify them, so he told me that he would get the "chef"- who turns out to be his wife. So I figured she was probably the one baking all the cakes and pastries in the store. I asked her if she had the Napoleon cake and she looked confused. She even repeated the name of the cake back to me, and after I confirmed that I named the cake correctly, she still looked confused. And then she started talking to her husband in Russian and then he steps in and says, "we have the last piece of Napoleon cake, do you want it?". I looked at the cake and it didn't even look close to the cake I had tried prior AND I really doubt that it was even Napoleon cake to begin with. I think they were just trying to sell it to me, since I walked in completely lacking the knowledge of Russian cakes. So I settled for 2 different cakes that "did not look too bad". I paid $19.18 for these 2 medium size pieces of cakes. Not a problem! As I was told by my coworker that their cakes can be costly, so I was ready to spend some money to get some delicious desserts. I live 12 minutes from this store, so I was home in no time. I grabbed my fork, opened the boxes of cakes and as I stabbed my fork in the cake to grab a piece- IT WAS ALMOST ROCK HARD SOLID!!!!! Not only was it hard, but it wasn't even cold. Any normal minded person, let alone a woman that runs her own bakery in the back, would know that cakes are stored in refrigeration to preserve it. These cakes were room temperature! I was so disappointed. I closed the boxes, bagged them back up and headed straight back to the store.
I arrived at the store, no one was there again to help their customers. I rang the bell again and here comes the same lady that sold me these ridiculous awful cakes. I opened the boxes of cakes, took my plastic fork and started tapping on the frosting of the cakes and told her these were not fresh and that they were really hard. She looked at me and started to tell me that that was how Russian cakes were made, like "hard marshmallow". WHATTTTTTT!!!!?? So Russians like to eat sweet rocks for dessert?? I don't think so lady. No one eats desserts like this!!!! And then I began to tell her that the temperature for her cakes were completely off from what they should be, and then she proceeded to return my money! RED FLAGGGGGG!!! Im sure she didn't want to have health inspectors at her store, shutting her down and citing her for a health violation. Because those were exactly the people I was ready to call.
I am sure that there are other products in her store that are fine, but I would strongly advise you not to buy her cakes and pastries if you don't want to become strongly ill from eating them! They have no date as to when they were made and they certainly do not have expiration dates. That, in itself, is a health code violation!
I will never return to this store.
