Sweet Arleen's Westlake Village, CA

Terrible customer service even worse cakes stay away from this

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

1 Star

I rarely leave negative reviews, but after spending $540 on a custom birthday cake, I feel people deserve to know about my experience.

A few days before pickup, I specifically called and made one simple request: please do not make the cake mostly frosting. I wanted more cake and less cream. I was assured my request would be noted. It wasn't.

When I picked up the cake, I was honestly shocked. It looked rushed and unprofessional, especially considering the price. The airplane decoration looked nothing like the reference I provided, and the overall cake looked more like something made for a child's birthday than a luxury custom cake.

The biggest disappointment was cutting into it. It was overwhelmingly frosting with very little actual cake—the exact opposite of what I specifically requested. On top of that, the cake tasted generic and nowhere near what I expected from a bakery charging premium prices.

To make matters worse, I called afterward hoping to resolve the issue professionally. Instead of receiving customer service, I was met with someone who was rude, dismissive, and disrespectful. Rather than listening to my concerns or attempting to make things right, I felt completely brushed off.

For $540, I expected exceptional craftsmanship, quality ingredients, attention to detail, and customer service that matched the price. Unfortunately, I received none of those.

This was my birthday cake, and instead of making the celebration special, it was an embarrassing disappointment. The cake was so hideous.

I cannot recommend Sweet Arleen's based on my experience.

Food: 1

Service: 1

Terrible customer service. Terrible people. stay away from this bakery. TERRIBLE CUPCAKES. TERRIBLE CAKES. WOW. such a disappointing experience.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Terrible cupcakes. Dry and inedible. I am a baker and there is no way these bakers are professional. Save your money

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 2

Terrible customer service

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Charged me 400 for a custom cake of a plane and when I got it looked like a bus. They were so embarrassed of their own work they didn’t even posit it on their socials. Will never come back to this place again I urge others not to do anything custom with this shop ever again.

BOYCOTT SWEET ARLEEN’S

A shadow of what it used to be.

The customers who built this business remember when quality came first, when standards mattered, and when pride showed in every product.

WHY change the formula that got you here?

WHY abandon the values that earned people’s trust?

WHY sacrifice your dignity for short term gain?

Loyalty is not owed. It is earned.

Until Sweet Arleen’s returns to the quality and standards that made it successful, I encourage customers to spend their money elsewhere.

Support businesses that respect their customers.

The solution is simple. We don't want dry cupcakes, we don't want this new product you are pushing.

No Quality, No Loyalty!

Not the same! Not our money!

Same name! Less care! We won’t buy there!

Sweet Arleen’s, what went wrong?! Loyal customers won’t stay long!

The more hearts and reactions this review receives, the more ownership will have to acknowledge that customers have noticed the decline!

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

The cupcakes were awful. Dry and flavorless and they all have a weird taste. The cupcakes were not sweet enough yet the frosting was overly sweet. The best one was the red velvet. White chocolate raspberry was awful, banana cake was edible but the frosting just tasted like salted butter, strawberry cake was good the frosting was bad however the red velvet was good just very dry but the frosting was delicious on that. The service I will say was exceptional and I had the kindest person working.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 5

Oh my goodness gracious! I am entertaining a friend next week and cannot wait to turn her on to these delicious orange buttercream cupcakes! You can tell these are made with love! ❤️ 💕 💗 I am looking forward to trying the praline bread pudding too! 🧡🧡🙏🙏

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Strawberry Cream Cupcake

The vanilla frosting is very light and not very sweet- more like a chantilly cream. The chocolate cupcake is a bit dry. The cupcakes have also gone up quite a bit in price and are now $6-$7!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 4

I ordered a cake for my son’s first birthday and shared reference photos beforehand. The finished cake did not resemble what I requested, and the texture was very dense. Overall, I was disappointed and will not be ordering again.

Food: 1

Service: 3

The cupcakes were very good. Great variety. The lady behind the counter was really sweet and friendly, and went above and beyond for my son’s birthday.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Hands down the best cupcake I’ve ever eaten! From the cake to the frosting, every bite had the perfect ratio of sweet to buttery goodness. Plus, they’re a decent size, so one alone is filling.

Recommended dishes: Cupcake, Chocolate Marshmallow

Tasteless cakes and endless mistakes!
Frosting tasted like crisco and sugar.
I trusted them with our baby’s baptism cake and it was a complete disaster.
I gave them the order weeks prior - when I called the week of the baptism, they said they didn’t have our order.
After re-ordering they then gave us a cake that broke into half right after pick up. The owner admitted it was not baked correctly.
The cake they replaced it with had the parchment paper baked right into the center of the cakes layers.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the cake was tasteless. It tasted like crisco and sugar! It was so bad that even the kids at the baptism wouldn’t eat it.
I’m saddened that we had no cake to serve at the baptism party.
This was such a special occasion.
When I messaged the owner about it, she never responded or offered me a refund for my $84
I spent on a cake that not one person ate - not one!
I have yet to mention the part where the first cake that broke into half - they actually wrote the wrong name on it, and put designs on it that were not supposed to be there! There were crystal clear instructions in an email to the bakery.
First they lost my order, 2nd they had to re-do the entire outside of the very first cake because it was completely wrong, 3rd it broke in half, 4th we got a tasteless cake with parchment paper baked into the center.
I used to get all of my cakes here; unfortunately the new ownership isn’t running it professionally and has hired incompetent bakers & staff.
There’s no way these are professional bakers.
Do not trust this bakery with a special occasion.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 1

Service: 1

I’ve been buying cupcakes from Sweet Arleen’s for 15 years and am sad to say I won’t be any longer. The last few times I’ve purchased them, they’ve been dry, overly sweet, and sloppy. Aside from the quality of cupcakes, the store hasn’t been well-stocked or inviting as of late and feels more like an industrial kitchen than a cupcakery. In prior years, it was well-decorated and overflowing with cupcakes, cake pops, and bread puddings. The sweets were meticulously prepared. Everything used to be well-labeled, tidy, and consistently good. I gave this new ownerships quite a few tries over the last 6 months but won’t be any more.

Atmosphere: 1