Margaret T.
Yelp
A caveat: I placed an order for a sample box and did receive a full refund. I struggled with this rating because it is a small family-run business, but I also didn't think it was fair to rate them 5 stars based on the quality and how things transpired.
I read such amazing reviews about Minia's and was really optimistic about the cakes, especially since they offered more novelty flavors such as guava, mango, and ube that most bakeries don't have.
I reached out to order a sample box and was told they provide 6 different flavors for $25, but they offer the cake samples in the form of cupcakes. Setting up the order was fairly easy and they were communicative via email. They also accommodated my request to swap out one flavor for another.
When I first received the box, I was astounded by how big the samples were. For $25, I thought it was such a steal. I've been to a few tastings now and they range from a completely free tasting to $50 on the higher end, so I felt like Minia's pricing was pretty fair. To be clear, I don't have an issue paying a fee to sample an assortment of cakes. I understand that putting together these samples take time and money from the business, and free tastings are probably a thing of the past since people seem to take advantage of companies....but I do have an issue paying for cakes that are unpalatable and not worth my calories. It went all downhill after this.
Of the 6 samples I received, all of them were dry and some the flavors were not very pronounced. Even my father, who is not a cake connoisseur by any means and doesn't really have a good palate noted that the cakes were dry. We took a couple bites, but ultimately trashed the box and we rendered the cakes inedible (technically, you could still eat them, but it would not be enjoyable). I reached out to Minia's with my comments and was offered a 50% refund and was also told that they've received feedback that the cupcakes can dry.
I was taken aback by that comment because in my mind, if you know that the cakes you're providing as samples are a first impression of your business and that there is a known issue with the dryness, wouldn't you remedy that and give out samples that are more reflective of your quality? I was concerned that if I had gone through with this, the actual cake would be terrible and I would be wasting my money.
I did ask for a full refund after they only offered half back, and they complied moments after by just sending a receipt with the updated invoice and no further comments.
