It's not an actual storefront, but rather a stand alone kiosk located in the Food Pavilion...
it's right next to the Otay Ranch library branch and across from Tokyo Grill...
The displays were cute, cupcakes displayed on pedestals and such...
I just wasn't sure how "old" these cupcakes were. And where the heck where they?
Turns out the cupcakes were preboxed in the shelves below (not pictured).
I sure hoped I wouldn't be served the display cupcakes! I read online that they had mini sizes, but I didn't see any today...
They have a rotating menu. Yesterday they had coconut chocolate. Unfortunately, they only had three flavors left and it was only 3:30 in the afternoon. Bummers!
I bought two, the red velvet and the chocolate hazelnut.
See that card? It says, Buy 9 and get the next one free, right? I bought two and the girl initially only stamped ONE. I pointed it out to her attention and she sheepishly said, "Oh, it's one stamp for each purchase!", to which I replied, "Well then, your cards are misleading. It clearly says, nine cupcakes and I bought two."
Mind you, I was very polite but firm. She said she would stamp my card and I strongly suggested that they change the wording on their cards and until then, honor one stamp per each cupcake purchase.
Geez, if that is the case and I buy more than one in the future, I will have to ask for SEPARATE PURCHASES. Otherwise, going by their reasoning, whether it's one cupcake purchase or eight, you will get one measly stamp. That is really lame and shitty.
Each cupcake was encased in these pretty white boxes. Nice looking but do they taste any good?
We would find out later that evening as we would be going out to dinner first. This was just the initial photoshoot at the far end of the Food Pavilion.
The cupcakes were priced about the same as other places - $3 - $3.50.
The Chocolate Hazelnut - I liked the look of the nut topping, which turned out to be candied!
You can see the real flecks of Madagascar vanilla bean in the cream cheese frosting for the Red Velvet...
Bert would later precisely divide these into thirds for us to share. He's exact like that.
The verdict? Both TC and Bert liked the red velvet better but he enjoyed the candied hazelnut topping more.
I didn't think the chocolate flavor was as pronounced in the chocolate hazelnut cupcake. It had a moist filling and the frosting tasted a littled dried out, but overall, on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 being shitty and 5 beings OMFG-This is awesome!), this was a 2.5. It would have been lower if the nut topping wasn't so good.
Bella & Ava Sweets Boutique
Food Pavilion @ Otay Ranch Town Center
2015 Birch Road, #5518
Chula Vista, CA 91915
(619) 988-5320
www.bellaandavasweets.com
Despite my initial gripe about the girl's lack of customer service, I might give this place another chance, if only to try their other flavors, but in mini size so I don't have to commit to a larger size. I wonder how they expect to stay in business here. I wonder where their cupcakes get made and how fresh they really are. Their little cart doesn't seem to have much space for cupcakes either. I didn't see any bigger boxes, only the single boxes during my visit. So, if you want to buy a half dozen (remember, do it separately, haha, if you want to get your #$%@ card stamped), you will end up with six boxes!!! (pulls hair in frustration)...
5 comments:
I hate it when they only stamp the card one time! I have that issue at other places too (I think Santanas/MXN does the same thing). They should give you two stamps OR stamp a second card with another stamp. Good for you for being firm.
I'm not a fan of frosting but the ones here look really fluffy and yums.
I'm glad you stood firm! it's ridiculous for it to be one stamp per purchase.
hi faye - yeah, i've never really encountered anything like this before actually. like if i buy 3 entrees at MJ's, they actually stamp "3" for the items I bought, not "1" because it was one purchase.
kirbie - me too. gosh, i couldn't believe it either! please note that I was not being a $#@%! about it, but adhering to the "letter of the law", as stated on their card.
I'm sure they do the "per purchase" thing to try and slide by on the free cupcake... but that's totally shady! At the price per cupcake, you better be getting two stamps! Seems like a weird setup for a cupcake shop, maybe they're "testing the waters" to see if they can open a real shop later. Who knows! They look good anyway, but looking good and tasting good are not the same thing haha.
hi mary - i don't get their reasoning. fk.
as for the setup, i did go again the next day (that post is forthcoming) and yes, this kiosk is a 'test run' for a possible future shop.
the otay ranch area already has a cupcake place near in-n-out, love cupcake cafe. do they really need another one?
stay tuned for part 2!
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