Disappointment at Dinkel's
Living in Andersonville, Sam and I are quite partial to the Swedish Bakery--but they were very upfront with us that they were not interested in doing any custom work on a wedding cake for us. Fair enough--they aren't a huge operation and they stick to doing what they do.
So after seeing Dinkel's on Food Network described as a bakery that can do "anything" and receiving favorable reviews from friends, we decided to give them a try. We were quite encouraged by the wide array of wedding cake styles on their website and the invitation to bring in our own designs.
So we were utterly shocked at the horrid treatment that we received from Mr. Dinkel himself.
We went in Monday and spoke with a representative and picked out a basic wedding cake design from their album and were told that they could do custom design work, but if it was extravagant we'd have to pay extra.
What we wanted was a basic cake design with the Buddhist eight treasures piped in icing along the bottom tier, and a lotus in lieu of roses on the top tier along with some simple color changes--colors that we saw available at the bakery.
But when we went in today, after talking with an extremely helpful and thorough representative for half an hour, Mr. Dinkel came out and told us that he would not do our cake.
He fed us some line about how our perception of what the cake should look like would differ from the artists, and that he didn't want to create false expectations and have us get angry with him when the cake didn't turn out right. Furthermore, their bakery only does certain "simple and elegant" designs.
First of all, I find it bad business practice to say "We're incompetent and furthermore I think your ideas are ugly."
Second of all, we told him that we had heard great things about Dinkels and we were confident that we'd be happy with the end result and were completely willing to indemnify the baker for how the cake might turn out because we knew it was unorthodox--but we were quite sure we'd be pleased.
Finally he just said he wouldn't do our wedding cake. He didn't invite us to order a different cake from the album. Just said he wouldn't do it.
And my only conjecture is that Mr. Dinkel was not willing to make a wedding cake for an interracial couple with heathen Buddhist symbols on it.
His behavior towards us was so rude and completely irrational.
We were extremely disappointed after hearing such wonderful things about that bakery and plan to write reviews about it wherever we can.
But in the end, all I have to say is "Thank you, Mr. Dinkel for being an asshole and telling us in advance that you are unaccomodating and incompetent--we'll be sure to spread the word."
So after seeing Dinkel's on Food Network described as a bakery that can do "anything" and receiving favorable reviews from friends, we decided to give them a try. We were quite encouraged by the wide array of wedding cake styles on their website and the invitation to bring in our own designs.
So we were utterly shocked at the horrid treatment that we received from Mr. Dinkel himself.
We went in Monday and spoke with a representative and picked out a basic wedding cake design from their album and were told that they could do custom design work, but if it was extravagant we'd have to pay extra.
What we wanted was a basic cake design with the Buddhist eight treasures piped in icing along the bottom tier, and a lotus in lieu of roses on the top tier along with some simple color changes--colors that we saw available at the bakery.
But when we went in today, after talking with an extremely helpful and thorough representative for half an hour, Mr. Dinkel came out and told us that he would not do our cake.
He fed us some line about how our perception of what the cake should look like would differ from the artists, and that he didn't want to create false expectations and have us get angry with him when the cake didn't turn out right. Furthermore, their bakery only does certain "simple and elegant" designs.
First of all, I find it bad business practice to say "We're incompetent and furthermore I think your ideas are ugly."
Second of all, we told him that we had heard great things about Dinkels and we were confident that we'd be happy with the end result and were completely willing to indemnify the baker for how the cake might turn out because we knew it was unorthodox--but we were quite sure we'd be pleased.
Finally he just said he wouldn't do our wedding cake. He didn't invite us to order a different cake from the album. Just said he wouldn't do it.
And my only conjecture is that Mr. Dinkel was not willing to make a wedding cake for an interracial couple with heathen Buddhist symbols on it.
His behavior towards us was so rude and completely irrational.
We were extremely disappointed after hearing such wonderful things about that bakery and plan to write reviews about it wherever we can.
But in the end, all I have to say is "Thank you, Mr. Dinkel for being an asshole and telling us in advance that you are unaccomodating and incompetent--we'll be sure to spread the word."