Adrienne & Co Confectioners

I have had their cakes at a few parties, and at Derby Dinner. I am not sure what exactly is going on with the cake, if it is a gfcf at the parties I have been to, or the cakes always taste this way, but they aren't my favorite. The cake-if it is the healthier option, has a texture like it is mixed with glue substance. The outside is very sugary. Now, the decorations are amazing, and I think that is what makes them stand out. I just haven't been pleased with the ones I have tried at a few occasions-horrible. My kids wouldn't even eat the cake, so what does that tell ya? My kids tried a few once, and had to spit them out. The Derby Dinner was better, but still had an odd texture. I have heard the other desserts are great, so I don't want to complain too much.

Ok. What I did not expect was the prices...even on the food.  The food was iffy at best, the cakes and confectionaries were...well lets just say my daughter and I were lucky we parked close! :p lol .  Otherwise we woulda had to have ((rolled)) ourselves outta there. Hahaaha!  

The specific down points to this place was the customer service, the on-street, no handicap parking, and well...the food was extremely over priced.  There wasn't anything really, really special about their baked goods except maybe a cheese cake wrapped in a brownie and choclolate cake that blew my diet outta of the water like an atom bomb!  It was horrible, but omgsh - mouthwatering all at the same time.  Moderation though - it took us a few bites here - and there - and here again - and within a few days, between the two of us we had a gynormous piece of chocolate on chocolate on chocolate devoured.  Trust me - it was tough.  :p lol. (just keep in mind what made it horrible was it was probably 100k calories a bite...this is what I tend to call lard in a box...but man sometimes that lard covered in chocolate, cheesecake, brownies, icing chocolate cake - tastes hmmm - just like what I just said all rolled into one lol :p)

We went on a mission to get my sister's birthday cake...we were called by new boyfriend no one had cake yet... and unfortunately, unlike other bakeries like Heizman's I've dealt with in the past - which also has horrible customer service but wonderful german pasteries (aka..more lard in a box Lol. I digress but if I don't keep telling myself this - not only will I have stock in these companies, but I'll look like Varuca from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory :p rotl.) - Adrienne's doesn't have cakes readily available.  So they gave us the choice of buying individual cupcakes for x number of people which would have been sold separately at about 2 bucks a piece or went with a round cake that had already been cut into and pieced it back together with different flavors and paid separately for each piece bringing the total of that round to about 40 or 50 bucks for one round and I believe 15 for the other round! :o

I know I should have called head more than a few hours...that I get.  However I didn't expect there to be that big of an issue when I wasn't ordering like a cake in the shape of a couch or something. Just a plain cake - nothing too fancy.  So while we made our decision we sat down and had some lunch.  This really irriatated the front counter woman that I obviously did not talk with over the phone.  That lady was really nice and said she had two rounds in the freezer ready to write on - or had a lot of interesting ideas that would make for a fun party for my sister for about the same price - I stress about not 90 dollars more.   That all disappeared when I got there...around 10 minutes later. ,:-/

So let them have lunch! It was a speghetti special day - my daughter went with that - and it came with a TON of food.  As for quality - it was - ehh - ok she said.  Comparing it with the likes of Jason's Deli or even Olive Garden - around the same range if not a bit lower. Yet we had a TON of food leftover.  

NOW I on the other hand, got a veggie version of the Gnocchi.  It was supposed to be a potato dumpling thing, that came with different sauces.  I had told the person doing the order taking - the same one helping with the cakes - that I wanted a light sauce and asked her what she recommended.  She recommended the garlic sauce.

Was she trying to instill some sort of karmic payback because I was being so indecisive on the cake or what!?  Omgsh all this was was dough soaked in garlic butter!! I didn't even know there were potatoes in it, and the spinach I paid extra for was limp and calling out for help as it drowned in a sea of garlic mostly, but also a soup of butter. I think it would have put Paula Dean to shame.  It was so aweful I smelled like garlic for like a week!  I couldn't bring myself to eat it.  I tagged and bagged it and brought it home to throw it away.  It was horrible.   I took my small round and my daughter wanted the triple cheesecake brownie cake thing and came home.  

Last downside:  Apparently only (vague reference to Rocky to all those over the age of 30-ish) ADDDRRIENNNEE can write on the cakes - only one.  She had left for the weekend.  So we stopped at the grocery store bought some icing in a can and my daughter doctored the cake better than they had.  (shakes head).  

The only reason I give them a three - we had their cake for my sister's birthday.  It was so moist and the icing was not really wipped but wasn't thick either.  It was just right.  It was a bakery cake.  Just  what I was looking for without spending a whole bunch of time tearing apart my kitchen doing it myself.  

Fair warning though - if you do decide to venture to Adrienne's come loaded and KNOW HOW TO PARALLEL PARK!! :p

Finding ourselves on the wrong side of the river, we decided to visit this place on a friend's recommendation. The frontage is a little dingy, but that's no bad thing; less attention to the decor often means great food. There was plenty of parking in the back.

Desserts are out front, and you have to pass them to order your food. A little bass-ackwards, but not a complaint by any means. The decor is spartan; reminded me of the Irish Rover - good enough, though.

They were offering a spaghetti special, but Her Ladyship decided on a chicken salad sandwich. I was going to going to order another sandwich for myself, but decided to wait and see.

I am glad I did, When they bought out her sandwich, it was enormous. With the pasta salad side it was just enough for both of us

Unpretentious and highly enjoyable; I shall return.