Lianne K.
Yelp
My recommendation is not to go later in the day. Dear Hubby and I stopped in after visiting Top This Chocolate. I was saving my chocolate bar for later, and was interested in a baked good dessert after the dinner we were about to have at On The Alley.
It was about 4:30 when we dropped by, and they were mostly cleaned out in the bakery case. On a positive note for those that are gluten-free eaters - they do feature a number of GF items, from cupcakes, to muffins, to cookies. As our neighbor requires GF foods, we were able to pick her up a treat as they had more items available for her at that hour than they did for those that don't have that restriction.
The cupcakes are on the small side, and are loaded with buttercream frosting. Since I can't have dairy, real buttercream would be a no-no for me. DH ordered the ube cupcake with ube buttercream frosting. I chose a snickerdoodle cookie. I found the cookie to be slightly under-baked. DH let me try a bite of the cupcake, skipping the frosting. It was flavorful, moist, and not too sugary.
Macarons are also an item they feature. A little pricey at $3 a piece, since they are so small. I am okay with paying that at Bottega Louie in DTLA, but not so much at Ventura Harbor. At Louie you get elegant atmosphere and gorgeous packaging. Sugar Lab is more basic.
We don't have a dog, but if we did, we'd likely treat them to their dog treat cookies. Decorated with colorful, fanciful frosting, they were a visual high point in an otherwise mostly-empty display case.
Service-wise, there were three staff members working, and they seemed to be more interested in talking with each other than with greeting us when we walked into the empty shop. Finally, one of them noticed us and offered assistance. Let's say, I didn't get a warm fuzzy feeling during our visit.
I would visit them again, and I've enjoyed their pre-wrapped cookies at other events and enjoyed them in that setting. My first visit to their brick and mortar location wasn't a big hit, though.