Super pumped that they offer not only VEGAN options, but Gluten Free too!?!?!? My mom got me a gf vegan cupcake today, I really enjoyed it! The "frosting" is whip cream style, so it's much lighter and less sweet, and waaaaay less heavy, than your typical cupcake. I don't think that Vegan has to mean compromising flavor/texture/quality, but often with GF and Vegan baked goods there is a LARGE compromise. So if you can eat regular gluten filled food don't get a GF baked item and expect it to be the same; IT"S NOT. BUT, it is wonderful in it's own way! Part of the greatness is that it's even an option! I often feel pretty damn left out when everyone else is enjoying all the great Vegan baked goods available, but not today! My mom raves about how nice they are! read more

Oh no! I don't feel that this place is a yelpy five star at all. I feel bad :(. My basis is on the coconut flavored cupcake. It was too sweet. The cupcakes here comes in two sizes. A mini one and a big one $3.50 that is twice the size of a regular cupcake. I opted for the big one and tried to brave it and finish it while all the time thinking geez-this is just too sweet and quit halfway! The presentation of the cupcakes were unique. I like it. Wrapped in paper like a flower. The decor is not much to write about either. I mean I really don't mind if the cupcakes were at least good. It was a dull environment to say the least. The lady behind the counter looked sad :( but helpful. She told us that they don't make their cupcakes on site but it comes from somewhere else and delivered there. Although the Kardashians and Jay Leno think that their cupcakes are the best! Their pictures are posted on the wall as you walk in. Having tried a similar flavored cupcake in Palo Alto recently this place fails in comparison big time. And sometimes size doesn't matter really. At least not here. *** I posted this review in the wrong location and fixed it today! Thx Leann E! read more

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My wedding's icing on the (cup)cake. In addition to our cake (from another vendor) we wanted cupcakes since I am a huge fan. These guys did not disappoint. We were able to get all of our cupcakes to be gluten free... the chocolate ones were also vegan. They were loved by our guests (we didn't get a chance to eat any) and wanted to say thank you! The delivery was on time and there were no issues. Pics to come once our photos are in... read more

DISSSGUSTING why she wanna do this to my stomach. This stand was at the first annual Garlic festival in Stockton, Ca. I was extremely hopeful to support my local businesses. I purchased the sampler which came with 6 cupcakes. There cupcakes were dense and dry and not of cupcake consistency. There was not one that could be raved about. I was utterly displeased. I was especially surprised by the pesto cupcake. Furthermore, I am not one to give bad reviews but please modify your recipes and let your consumers know exactly what they are eating. read more

Starz Cupcakes - Pesto something and garlic mush - Cupcakes Near Me

Possibly the worst cupcake I've ever had. Service was give or take, but at least she got off the phone while I was checking out the cupcake choices. The cupcake came with a prize, which was sadly the best part of the purchase as the icing was hard like it had been sitting overnight and the cake slightly stale and very dry. It even tasted somewhat off. I'm so used to the bakeries in SF which never keep their products for more than a day, that it was slightly shocking that one would do so. Ugh ick. I think the topping on the awful tasting cupcake was the slightly sad figure in the half cupcake costume waving a sign outside of the store. I tried to hide that I was throwing away more than half of the cupcake as the trashcan was right next to him. Bye bye cupcake, la la la. read more

This cupcake shop has great cupcakes! The cakes taste very homemade, unlike other "gourmetl" cupcake shops like Sprinkles or Kara's cupcakes. The flavors are different and familiar. They have the traditional birthday flavored cake, yellow cupcake with a strawberry on top, but they also have a twist on their cupcakes, i.e. a turquoise velvet cupcake instead of red velvet. They also have original flavors - my boyfriend got a Snickers-flavored cupcake. Cupcakes are $3 each, but they are huge! When you eat here, they put it in a cup, and you eat it with a spoon, so it's kind of treated like an ice cream. Another thing that I was very surprised about was the service. The lady who served me, who seemed like the owner although I am not sure, was extremely nice. She was very comfortable joking around with customers in a very friendly way, and was pleased with any feedback we had, although she was very modest. She told us that they had received a call from Food Network the other day, on being on the Cupcake Wars show. Also, Ellen Degeneres has ordered cupcakes through them at least twice. I would definitely recommend this cupcake shop and return if I were in the area! read more

I have to thank Groupon for getting me out here. I thought the store was cute. Prices I felt were a little high for these cupcakes, $3.25 each. They didn't have the same quality as Sibby's A+(San Mateo), Sprinkles B+ (Palo Alto) and Kara's B-(Santa Clara/SF). What do I mean by quality, as another Yelper had pointed out, the cake base in chocolate was the same, just different frosting. Example: Triple chocolate was the same as the Grasshopper. There needed to be a little bit more flavor options, besides for the frosting being different. I think they had Lemon, Red Velvet, White Cake, Carrot Cake and a bunch of chocolate cakes? Positives: The cake portion was very soft and moist. That was very impressive. It is hard to produce a moist cupcake. read more

WOW! These absolutely yummy cupcakes are now my newest addiction! I took my family there on a Saturday afternoon and the line was out the door! It was totally worth the wait! We had the Cookies and Cream and M&M cupcakes - they are to die for! Friendly service is hard to find these days and they have this covered! The lady behind the counter was so gracious and kind! Sparkles Cupcakes will be our Saturday afternoon tradition! I can't wait to go back! Kudos to Sparkles team! read more

I swear when they first opened, Starz had cupcakes that can rival Sprinkles and that can also save a trip to Stanford. It was under 3 bucks! It was just that good. I remember having their special cupcake for St Patty's day and it was sooo good that I brought my husband to the store. I went back there recently and found out that the prices now are 3.25 for each cupcake. Got two red velvets, black and white cupcake (chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting), and chocolate cupcakes. They weren't bad but I remembered the cupcakes being more rich and tasty. I guess I should try my luck again next time. read more

Starz Cupcakes - Cupcakes Near Me

Amazing cupcakes. They're very moist and the frosting is very good ,not overly sweet like most cupcakes. They also have sugarfree cupcakes and my kids couldn't tell they were sugarfree. read more

Came across there wonderful booth at Manteca Pumpkin street fair. Me, being a baker, absolutely loves it when I come across baked goods. The cupcakes were so yummy! Just the right amount of sweetness. Being told how many flavors they have makes me cant wait to see them again to try another one. Thanks for sweet treat in the middle of our walk through the fair! read more

Waste of money and calories. rude service, an dry stale cupcakes. I use to come here all the time an have off an on had some pretty bad stale cupcakes but have always gone back hoping for something better. A friend brought me some cupcakes from them and one was by far the worst cupcake I've ever had. It was completely dried out crusty and had stale shitty frosting. I can't believe they pulled it out of there case an thought hmm this looks alright to sell to someone... Being that I came in all the time I decided to write on their Facebook to let them know how disappointed I was and instead of writing me back or apologizing or anything they deleted what I had to say without a care in the world for a true customers thoughts on how there cupcakes have been lately. The only reason they are in business is because there the only cupcake shop in town. There cupcakes have no souls ;) read more

There are cupcakes and there are muffins. Starz seems to be a bit confused as what to sell. As a previous reviewer said, these are "muffins covered in frosting." Overtly sweet frosting at that. I am a cupcake fanatic. I make homemade cupcakes all the time and boy were these a let down. The cake is dense and flavorless. The frosting tastes like pure sugar. At the price they charge, I'll be staying home and making my own homemade cupcakes. read more

I THINK EVERYONE WHO GAVE THIS PLACE MORE THAN TWO STARS HAD TO HAVE BEEN SUPER STONED. the prolific amount of "munchies" in the area must be the only thing keeping this place open. WOOOWWWW this place SUCKS! TERRIBLE FROSTING!!! like worse than grocery store cupcakes!!! I buy a lot of cupcakes, i have lived in NYC for a while and been to bakeries up and down Manhattan and Brooklyn. lived in san jose for most of my life with all the delicious bakeries there, and los gatos, and willow glen. then i went to school near walnut creek for a bit and they have two excellent cupcakeries up there. and i have NEVER in my life, had a cupcake so bad as this place serves. first of all i thought they were a bit pricey, $3.50 is kinda pushin it, then i was hesitant about getting the vanilla one because i am a vanilla lover through and through i don't like chocolate hardly at all so when it comes to vanilla it has to be GOOD for me to be impressed and mediocre for me to even like it. IT WAS AWFUL, the frosting was that gritty, sugary, overload! and then the actual cupcake coulldn't stay together! i stabbed it with my fork and it was almost like stepping on a sandcastle! it just crumbled into tiny pieces all over the place! the lady reassured me that these recipes were award winning (by who?!) and honestly, they should get an award for having multiple stores and tasting so bad! because to me, that is impressive. my BF got the peanut butter chocolate, he didn't finish his either (we both threw them away after two bites) he said he couldn't even imagine eating that without a gallon of milk to help wash it down it was so dry and the peanut butter so salty it just made it WORSE! to top it off i almost felt as if the saleswoman was mocking my bf and i because of how she was talking to her coworker, out loud, facing me, about 3 feet away, about couples who oddly do the same things that my bf and i were doing in there.... we were the only people standing in the shop. i wanted to ask her if she was serious with what she was saying??? BOOOOOOO TEN THUMBS DOWN! BOYCOTT THIS JOKE OF A CUPCAKERY! read more

FIRST TIME EVER I THREW A CUPCAKE AWAY:-( My cupcake was unbearably sweet and tasted cheap. One of my favorite combo flavors are chocolate and peanut butter. The cupcake looked fantastic but the taste was BAD. I am shocked to read from their site that these are homemade recipes passed down from her grandmother?! I would have bet a lot of money these cupcakes came from a mix, with an added personal twist. In fact, I said to my boyfriend it tasted like Betty Crocker! My boyfriend had the blueberry cupcake and he too thought it was boring and came out of a box. Huge disappointment and will not go back. read more

When Starz Cupcakes first opened, being a fan of the Snickers bar I tried a Snickers cupcake, which didn't jive with me. After awhile I completely forgot about this place, then recently got excited about giving them another try after buying a Groupon. I went with my sister and it appeared that many of the good cupcake choices were already sold out. When we asked the front counter person how much an Italian soda was she didn't know. This wouldn't have seemed like a big deal except all they sell are cupcakes and soda. Really you don't know? Then there were no lids for the size of soda we bought... We ended up picking three cupcakes. To my surprise only the vegan one vaguely tasted anything like a (homemade/gourmet) cupcake. The other two had a muffin texture not a soft moist cake texture, as others have stated, and a hard candy frosting on top. I had one bite of each and threw both of them away. I tried Starz I tried... I wanted very bad to like you. read more

OMG Delicious!!! As I left MaxMuscle today, I noticed a little place called STARZ cupcakes, I was a little intrigued as I have never been to a exclusive cupcake store. When I went in the place was fairly plain, one woman stood behind the counter, I overheard her speaking to her customer, and saying " you must eat this cupcake with a fork, as it has a gooey caramel center..hmm...I thought sounds like something I must indulge myself with. I stand here in front of my laptop having just finished my caramel cupcake, and let me tell ya, I have a smile ear to ear. It was by far the best cupcake I have ever had, it was so fresh and perfectly baked, the caramel was so sweet and delicious... If you come to Capitola and dont try STARZ cupcakes, you really have missed out on this little jewel we have in our city. read more

My reason for one star is based purely on customer service and business etiquette, or lack there of, I should say.... A friend of mine took my 6 year old son to Starz tonight. While there he was trying to climb onto one of the higher chairs by leaning on the table and it collapsed. He hurt his mouth and was bleeding. They did not help him AT ALL. They scurried in to take the table away and then avoided my friend while people outside helped my son! Then when I arrived, they tried to blame my son for their faulty table. Luckily my son was not hurt. But this is beyond poor service. Regardless of who's fault it is, my son was hurt and THAT should have been priority. But obviously they don't care about their customers, just that their table got broken. So this, on top of the fact that a lot of times their products are mediocre, makes me rate them a 1 star. I will never go there again and will tell everyone I know to do the same. read more

Ugh. NOT a good experience. I wish I'd written the review closer to when I had the cupcakes so it was fresher in my mind, but there's a groupon for them right now and if I can save 1 person money, time & disappointment then it's totally worth it! I bought their groupon the last time and was really excited to try them because of their apparently world famous gluten-free cupcakes (according to their website). But man what a huge disappointment! They only had 1 gluten-free flavor - chocolate - which was fine because I really like chocolate cake. When it's rich, super dark chocolaty goodness, which this was not. This was... lame. Dense, anemic "chocolate" cupcakes with flavorless whipped topping. I could've made them 100x better at home, with a blindfold on. Seriously. I was upset that we had been so excited, drove 45 min and, spent a good chunk of change on such worthless cupcakes. At least we didn't pay full price!! Gawd, what a disaster that would've been. Gluten free baking is difficult, but if you advertise that you make amazing GF cakes that people drive hundreds of miles for, then they better be at least *good*. Right? I should've been tipped off by the statement proudly featured on their site - "what's the difference between muffins and cupcakes? Dude it's the frosting!" Seriously? SERIOUSLY? read more

Yesterday was my boyfriend's birthday. I gave him the option of picking up a cake at Gayles, or since we were in the neighborhood on 41st, to get a cupcake. We picked up 5, as he wanted several to taste. I forget the actual names of some...But we had 2 Chocolate w/ Salted Caramel, Lemon, Moulten Chocolate, & Snickers. Without exception, every single one was dry. We went in around lunch time, and they should have still been fresh if baked that morning. I really feel these were leftovers from a day or so ago.. We've had cupcakes from here before and I enjoyed them. I have no recollection of them being this dry. It seemed the filled ones were drier than the non-filled, which seems whacky to me.. This is the first time I can remember throwing out cake of any sort... what a waste! I would have also liked it if they had the minis on hand.. When you have a lot of flavors that you'd like to try, it's hard justifying all those calories in a regular sized cupcake.. But I can see, if they're having trouble keeping regular sized cupcakes fresh, that the minis would go stale faster due to their size. Overall, very disappointing, given that we've had so much better there in the past. Probably will go to Gayle's next time, where I've never had a complaint about the freshness of a product. read more

Oh my freaking goodness, the cupcakes from Starz are DELICIOUS! My favorite one is the chocolate and salted caramel with caramel filling, but you really can't go wrong. VEGAN OPTIONS AVAILABLE!!! read more

Wow!! At $3.50 each these cupcakes were a rip off. Got a Redvelvet only thing semi good about it was the frosting but even that is stretching it. Cake has no taste. Got a cinnamon toast which was the better tasting of the 6 we got but still not that great. The Snicker one seemed like the cake was burnt and hard. I don't even wanna judge the next ones. What a rip off I wouldn't recommend this play to anyone. All the cupcakes were dry and tasted as if they had been sitting there for a few days. That's too bad because we were all so excited to try this place when we seen it. I was so disappointed I didn't even Finish any of them and went next door and got an ice cream instead. read more

WOW. I can't say enough about this GEM of a cupcake bakery! I've tasted all the "uppity" cupcakes from San Diego to Sacramento and I can say without a DOUBT that Starz Cupcakes are THEEE BEST EVER! The owners and staff are always friendly and helpful and have even made custom cupcakes at our request! You MUST try their velvet cupcakes (they come in all colors, not just red), pumpkin, white chocolate macadamia, blueberry, and so many more! There is a family recipe cupcake that is AH-MAY-ZING! So good that another cupcake shop has stolen this family recipe! Sad! Their prices are great and their recipes are handed down from many generations ago! My boyfriend and I can't get enough of Starz Cupcakes! read more

I have to admit that I haven't been to the bakery itself, but just happened to score one of the cupcakes that were at the office for a celebration. With that being said, perhaps I would've awarded more stars based on a review of their cupcakes and customer service as this one is purely on the cupcake. Let me just start by saying that my friends and I are frequent customers at Sprinkles Palo Alto and will gladly drive the hour and a half each way for a delicious cupcake, so it's hard for another bakery to live up to my expectations. Starz cupcakes weren't bad, but they definitely weren't close to the quality of a Sprinkles cupcake. At first glance, the cupcakes that my co-worker had picked up this afternoon all looked very pretty. The sugar star on the top of each one was a nice little touch. I had a chocolate cupcake with white frosting and it was pretty good, but nothing remarkable. The cake was a little dense and not as flavorful as I had expected. While I could tell they were homemade because of the texture, the flavor was comparable to some of the boxed mixes I've had. The frosting was probably the most flavorful part of the cupcake and just a little on the sweet side. The vanilla flavoring in the frosting definitely over powered the chocolate cake so I found myself removing about half of the frosting in order to help balance things out a little. All in all, it wasn't a bad cupcake, but I wouldn't make a special trip to Santa Cruz for them. read more

OMG 5 stars is not enough for this place! The ladies are fabulous, the cupcakes are delicious and they even have yummy pupcakes that my 3 dachshunds go crazy for. I love that they even serve cold milk which just makes a Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcake more than perfection. Fave flavors are: White Chocolate Raspberry, White Choc Peanut Butter, Big Guy Cappuccino, Triton's Daughter, White Choc Caramel, Choc Peanut Butter....okay, there are just too many to name. Definitely try this place...my mom is even insisting that I can't go home to Texas to visit this summer if I don't bring Starz Cupcakes with me. :-) read more

If I could give this bakery 10 stars I would. I called Starz in a complete panic at 6pm and needed 100 cupcakes in 30 minutes for someone's wedding and they did it without hesitation. They literally saved the day and I will be forever grateful. Their cupcakes look sublime and I would think it's people like this that deserve the most praise. A million thanks. read more

I'm being generous by giving them 2 stars. 1 star is for their customer service, they were very friendly. The other star is for their cupcakes. After a friend brought me Starz Cupcakes version of the red velvet, I thought it wasn't bad so I decided to wander in & check out what else they had! I really wanted to like their cupcakes. I love lemon *everything* so of course I went straight for their lemon cupcake. I didn't like it. I love lemon curd but their cupcake was much too rich for my taste. It didn't taste light & fresh like you would expect anything lemon to be...it was heavy & there wasn't that lemony tart bite to it. I also tried their pumpkin cupcake. It was really light & the whipped cream type frosting was weird with it. It just didn't go. I know they were probably going for the pumpkin pie with whipped cream thats served on Thanksgiving but...maybe it was the strong spices that overpowered the cupcake? I don't know, it tasted weird. Again, it was not very good. Their red velvet was alright but not enough to make me go back for just that. read more

Pros: not overly sweet frosting, great fluffy cake consistency but they still weigh enough you're getting your money's worth (about $3.50), try the blueberry with white chocolate frosting. Cons: small selection daily and they run out easily: 10 left total at 12:45 today, the lady loves pets almost seemingly too much as there is lots of pet hair tumbleweeding around. read more

Whoever said that Starz Cupcakes cupcakes were muffins is an absolute moron. I loved their big cupcakes, it actually make it worth spending $3.25 per cake. Now they're about half the size and the same price. The cakes are still awesome though they are a tad bit smaller. The chocolate cakes are an old family recipe and they're vegan! Not that dry horrible kind of vegan cake either. Moist and rich. The customer service is amazing when you get the owner (Lisa) but her daughter is not as kind. Before I would've given Starz 5 stars, now with the size difference and same price I give it a 3. Edit: I visited Starz recently and I'm happy to say that their cupcakes are back to the wonderfully big cakes they use to be. 5 stars for Starz! read more

In February 2010 I was looking for a cupcake place for my wedding this was one of the local shops I tried. Their cupcakes are beautiful and the customer service is top notch! The reason for the bad review is the taste, Muffin-like is actually a really good description. I got 6 flavors and tried all of them in hopes of finding one I liked because they were so pretty and the people were so nice. I was unable to find a flavor I liked and my wedding party was more then a little ticked at having to try so many of them. I left defeated with a monster sugar headache. read more

I love dessert but I also like to consider myself a dessert snob. I am calorie aware and have to have a dessert that is worth the calories. Starz cupcakes are worth the calories! I was introduced to Starz by a friend of mine who is local to Santa Cruz. The first day I ate one cupcake I was addicted. In fact, I can't give you my favorite flavor because there are so many! Recently, I was with the friend who introduced me to Starz. She had a box of the lemon cupcakes, I ate one and I was in absolute heaven! One of my many favorites. Yesterday, once again, I went to Starz to get more cupcakes after a beach day. Lisa, the owner, was there and I always enjoy talking to her. She is very passionate and it shows in the quality of the cupcakes. I mentioned the lemon cupcakes I just ate over the weekend and she said they were being made again this weekend. Needless to say, I will be heading to Starz Cupcakes in Capitola from San Jose this weekend for those lemon cupcakes. Thank you to the staff at Starz Cupcakes for always satisfying my sweet tooth. :) read more

Starzs cupcakes is no Sprinkles but their cupcakes are pretty good. They have a great selection of different flavored cupcakes including -Blue velvet -Double dark chocolate -Pumpkin -Peanut butter My favorite part of the cupcake is the cake itself, which is really dense and moist. The icing is a little too much for me to handle but it's still pretty delicious. My only suggestion is to not go there close to their closing hour because the cupcakes are really not fresh at that time. read more

The cupcake was alright. I was neither disappointed, nor wowed by the whole experience... They primarily had chocolate bar themed cupcakes, like snickers, musketeers, oreo (I know, it's a cookie), reeses, butterfinger, and milkyway... Then a few plain chocolate and vanilla. All of the candy-themes were very similar -- milk chocolate, caramel, peanuts. I didn't see any kind of creativity there. I wish they had at least explored different types of candy like skittles, taffy, gummy bears, jelly bellies, and so forth. Really, anyone can unwrap a bite-sized candy and drop it on the frosting of a regular chocolate cupcake...that doesn't make it an interesting flavor (maybe to a child). When I go out for a cupcake, I want flavors that I would not think of at home. Since I get pretty wild with flavor pairings, I like bakeries that can take risks with spices, citrus, or floral flavors...Even different takes on chocolate (milk, dark, white). But Starz didn't show me anything innovative. At the base of everything, even though I ordered a snicker something or another, I got a plain chocolate cupcake (it was too light, but perfectly moist) with decent frosting and a bite size snicker on top.... But I was hoping for a whole snicker experience: with peanuts and caramel playing inside the cupcake... Maybe I'm too harsh. read more

Some hits and some misses but overall YUMMY!!! So far I like the grasshopper and the ying-yang cupcake. (peanut butter is okay, valentine candy heart is super sweet.) Looking forward to more trips for more flavor varieties!!! read more

Starz Cupcakes - Ying yang cupcake, grasshopper cupcake & peppermint bark cupcake - Cupcakes Near Me

Wow. Was this place ever disappointing. I absolutely adore cupcakes and I've tried most of the designer cupcake shoppes around the Bay Area. I was excited to try Sparkles in Capitola. Big letdown. There is *so* much icing, you can barely get to the cake. And the cupcake itself was incredibly dense, and absolutely flavorless. I swear, I couldn't even make out one ingredient. I'm giving 2 stars because the gal that waited on us was super-sweet. But not as sweet as that icing (gag!!). Speaking of Stars... Sparkles recently changed their name to "Starz Cupcakes"... hmmm... wonder if they were forced to do so because it so closely resembled Sprinkles? I can't imagine changing your entire brand for any other reason. Anywho. Won't be buying any more of these cupcakes. I'll stick to Kara's and Sprinkles. They have the corner market on upscale cupcakes as far as I'm concerned. read more

I'm a cupcake fan. And recently heard about this place, so I had to try it. I LOVE Red Velvet cakes/cupcakes. They had an orange velvet cake, and it was just odd tasting, nothing I could actually put my finger on, and I like to think I have a pretty well trained palate. Its wasn't great, it wasn't awful. The size of the cupcake was anything but generous, was quite small, and that wasn't even a "mini". The cake itself was moist, but again...odd flavor. I'll try them again, just to see if it was off that day. But wasn't overly impressed. read more

The whole experience is a bit awkward in store. Service is kind of slow, and there are only a very limited number of each cupcakes, so the good ones go away quickly. The cupcakes themselves are alright. I really enjoyed the yellow cake with chocolate frosting ones I had for my birthday (which had to be specially ordered, since they don't carry that in general...). Meanwhile, the Funfetti one I had today was only so-so...as was the red velvet cake my friend ordered. My friends went gaga over the Snicker's ones, but I wasn't so impressed. I'm intrigued to try the Snickerdoodle ones... All in all, I can't say that I'm really a fan of any store bought cupcake, be it Starz, Sprinkles, or Safeway... read more

The WORST cupcake I've ever had. The frosting was hard, the "white cake" had the consistency and taste of week old corn muffins. I took a bite, and immediately spit it into my napkin. My kids got the Snickers cupcake, it was a little moister, but the frosting was just as hard and the cake itself was just as tasteless. Even my husband, who usually eats ANYthing, said they were gross. If you want a cupcake, you'd be better off getting a box mix than spending $3.25 for one of their doorstop cupcakes. Horrible, horrible, horrible. read more

It is really too bad that there are people writing reviews for a place they have not been to. Anyone who says there is tax on the cupcakes is lying. And shame on the local bakery owner who had their employees do this! I know who you are. The cupcakes at Starz are very moist and yummy, with recipes that go back generations. $2.95 for a cupcakes is very reasonable. The Italian sodas are yummy, and the people that work there are very happy and it shows. read more

I first had Starz Cupcakes when they were served at a friend's party. They did a beautiful display for the event, and I remember the cupcakes being absolutely delicious, so I was very excited to visit their storefront on a recent shopping trip to the nearby Capitola Mall. My memory must be deceiving me, because these cupcakes definitely did not live up to expectations... The store itself is cute, but honestly, it did little to set itself apart. I feel like almost every cupcake shop I got to I could (and do) make that statement about. There was nothing drastically different about the decor than every other place out there, nor was there anything necessarily bad about it. It just...was. My sister and I selected a sampling of cupcakes to try. We were the only ones in the store, but I have to say the woman working the counter was as close to rude as I've ever encountered at a cupcake shop. She honestly seemed like she couldn't have cared less about the fact that there were customers in the store, as though we were an inconvenience to her. We ordered a lemon cupcake, a vanilla, a red velvet and a carrot. I can't remember ever having a cupcake that tasted drier than any one of these cupcakes. The frosting was so-so, not overly sweet but nothing spectacular. It was the texture of the cupcakes that we just couldn't get past. It made them practically inedible - in fact, this is one of only two times that I can ever remember taking a cupcake I'd paid good money for (because, let's face it, no matter how good, cupcakes are almost always overpriced) and dumping it in the trash. I'm sorry I wasted the calories eating these cupcakes, and I'm sorry I wasted the money buying them. The only reason Starz is getting a second star from me is because of how good I remember the cupcakes being at my friend's party. Unfortunately, it's one thing to do good cupcakes in small batches for events. It's another thing entirely to be able to put out a good product in the quantities needed to sustain a storefront, and at Starz, something was definitely lost in the translation. read more