This was mind-blowing to me, and not in a good way.
Came here thinking we could pick up some cookies as dessert for Thanksgiving. Arrived, and not seeing many options in the display case, I asked if everything from the laminated menu was available. Was told two were out of stock, along with the last row of four cookies which apparently were "online only." Honestly not a big deal, but if that is truly the case, why even add it to the in-store menu? So I picked six, paid, and was told it would be about 25 minutes. Thought in my mind that's pretty long, but ok -- we were in no rush.
Noticed maybe one other small order after we placed ours, so definitely not busy during the middle of the day on a weekday. Still, it took over 30 minutes before we got our order. But again, no big deal because we're not in a rush.
Sat down eager to try the cookies fresh onsite. Oh, boy. Here's where things get bad. The cookies, quite frankly, were barely above average. And that may be fine, but these were $6 a cookie! I could probably go to Whole Foods, Central Market or even HEB, buy cookies from the bakery section, go home and reheat it in the oven, and basically get the same thing for a fraction of the price.
Each one came in individual sealed packages like an envelope. I can understand if this was a shipped order, but this doesn't seem like best practice for onsite or takeout orders. When we opened it, the cookies were too soft to maintain its shape. We'd pick it up and it would fall apart. We thought maybe it needed to cool down, considering it's sealed and the heat is trapped, so we left to try it later in the car. Let it rest for 20 minutes, and nope, still soggy and falling apart.
We sampled a piece of 5 different cookies at that point and couldn't help but laugh at having just paid $6 each for this while waiting half an hour. On top of that, the cookies were small. Just look at the pictures and you'd have an idea. I actually said, when we get to Costco, I'm going to buy a cookie for less than half the price and let you compare (spoiler: it's bigger and actually better, though only available in chocolate chip).
Got home and had other family members try it. Quickly reheated in the oven and, strangely, the cookie still could not maintain its shape. It must be how the cookie is made.
I'm not immune to paying an exorbitant amount (by most people's standard) for cookies. I've been to Levain Bakery and it's almost the same price. The differences are Levain's are full size and clearly much, much better tasting. It's arguably worth the price, and the lines that form suggest many people agree. And when I've ordered something that wasn't immediately available from the racks, they said it would take less than 10 minutes for the new batch to come out of the oven.
Honest constructive criticism: don't worry about your pretty, expensive packaging. The pink bag is nice, but we're not buying a luxury purse from the mall. Most people in the POST looking for dessert after their meal do not care enough. They just want it to taste good.
Secondly, it took over half an hour, which is pretty crazy when I can order meals with multiple entrees for takeout and receive it within 10 to 15 minutes. I ordered six, not 20. I get that you don't have enough turnover to pre-bake cookies. Letting it sit will go stale, and the last thing you want to do is toss out old cookies. But your employee was also having to stand there and wrap each one into a fancy triangular fold, place each flimsy piece in an envelope, and seal it one by one. Is it even optimal to leave it sealed off without room to breathe? The cookie, as mentioned, fell apart as I picked it up. It was actually a hassle to remove the folded paper because the cookie would simply break apart so easily. Put it in a small box, separate by paper, and be done with it.
So, yeah, mind-blowing -- that this place can charge this much for their small, average cookies. The only positive I could draw from this was the worker was nice enough, and the cookies didn't outright taste like Chips Ahoy.
This review might seem harsh, but hopefully this is taken as constructive criticism to improve. read more
