I was referred to Das Meyer from my future sister in law, as she has purchased a wedding cake there before. I am getting married in July of this year and was in need of a bakery to provide our cake. My future husband and I had already determined that we wanted almond cake, but weren't sure on the filling or design. I saw on the website that Das Meyer had an open tasting every Saturday. Because my fiance works on Saturdays, he was unable to attend, but our 8 year old daughter is very involved in the wedding planning and wanted to go with me.\r
I arrived to discover that it was an absolute zoo at this tasting. There was a line out the door, there was no seating, and there was no organization whatsoever. Once we made it inside of the building, I noticed that there were consultants sitting with parties at tables...so I assumed that by the time made it through the line and was able to be seated, I would have someone assist me. I made it to the cake tasting part, but this was my firsdt tasting and I wasn't sure of the process. I asked the gentleman serving how it worked and he told me to choose up to 6 flavors from the list to try. I told him we were interested in Almond cake and he told me they don't do almond. I asked about Almond Poppyseed or even Cherry Almond and his response was ""NO ALMOND, PERIOD."" To my dismay, I decided to sample 4 of the choices including chocolate, triple white, lemon poppyseed and strawberry and champagne. My daughter suggested to me to sample the Cookies and Cream cake and I told her that I wasn't interested in it. At that point the man serving cake became indignant and defensive and said, ""And WHY NOT?"" I explained to him that it was my wedding and I wasn't interested in a cookies and cream cake at my wedding.\r
I then took my child and my cake to find a place to sit, but that was an impossibility. There was a small table that had no chairs at it and we went and stood next to it. We began tasting the cake and a consultant stopped by to see if we had been helped. I told her no and she grabbed a pricing sheet for me. She told me that a cake of our size (based on the number of guests I told her) would be X amount and that the delivery would be another $90. She then left and I never heard from her or anyone who worked there again. There were brides who brought 6+ guests with them, taking much of the space provided...there were brides there with 3 different plates of cake in front of them...who had been there for a LONG time. SOME people there were receiving excellent customer service, as I saw it first hand. There was a man in gym shorts and a chef coat (who I assume to be the owner) who was wandering about and addressing customers' questions.\r
As I thought about what was happening, I realized that I was being treated differently because my child is of a different ethnic background than I am. It hit me like a ton of bricks and I rapidly made my way to the door.\r
I have already shared my experiences here with my friends who are planning their weddings, and I will not patronize Das Meyer bakery. It is very unfortunate that they are confident enough in their book of business that they feel they can hand select who gets good treatment. Shame on you Das Meyers.\r
I went to another tasting the next day, where they are not afraid to make almond cake, nor were they afraid to be kind to a family that looks different than their own.
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