2146 north wrote:I read all these comments about stale food, clueless staff, a mean owner who yells at you, over priced food, and a good chance that what you get will not be fresh and well........... I think the next time I am in the area I will stop in. It makes no sense at all, and I wonder if others have the same feeling, but I just wonder how a place could be that bad, and people still go. Its like being told not to touch a hot stove, I just gotta do it.

This thread confuses me a little. It's safe to assume that the commenters who have had negative experiences with the staff and/or the pastry are being truthful, but I've only had delicious treats and pleasant interactions with the staff and owner...so I wonder why that is? I actually visited BHB today to make sure my previous impressions were still accurate (I used to be a frequent customer when my commute took me by the store) and indeed, the counterperson was kind and helpful, and the lemon bar was fresh and wonderful.

I typically order cookies or cupcakes, perhaps those items are fresher than cake slices or other things? And maybe I actually look really, really cool and the counterpeople want to impress me?

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:

2146 north wrote:I read all these comments about stale food, clueless staff, a mean owner who yells at you, over priced food, and a good chance that what you get will not be fresh and well........... I think the next time I am in the area I will stop in. It makes no sense at all, and I wonder if others have the same feeling, but I just wonder how a place could be that bad, and people still go. Its like being told not to touch a hot stove, I just gotta do it.

This thread confuses me a little. It's safe to assume that the commenters who have had negative experiences with the staff and/or the pastry are being truthful, but I've only had delicious treats and pleasant interactions with the staff and owner...so I wonder why that is? I actually visited BHB today to make sure my previous impressions were still accurate (I used to be a frequent customer when my commute took me by the store) and indeed, the counterperson was kind and helpful, and the lemon bar was fresh and wonderful.

I typically order cookies or cupcakes, perhaps those items are fresher than cake slices or other things? And maybe I actually look really, really cool and the counterpeople want to impress me?

I think it depends largely on what you order, and your luck in avoiding stale items. The lemon bar I got there was indeed great. Everything else though? ...

I stop by BHB (the Damen location) every so often, as it is on my way to work.

I really do like their scones. They have a nice crunch to the outside, but are still moist enough on the indide. The ginger cream variety, with the big hunks of candied ginger, is my favorite.

I also have found they have pretty decent coffee. Who can eat a scone without coffee, I mean really?

I've also had their cake balls, which I just sort of bought on a lark. They were a pretty good, albeit quirky item.

I agree that the staff is utterly useless. Every person I have run into seems nice enough (not really nice, but close enough) but knows almost nothing about what is in the case, other than the labels on the front of each shelf. Heaven forbid if there is a stack of items with a mix of flavors and no signage! I'm not vegan, but I imagine questions about which items are vegan friendly would also be met with problems.

I think I probably get the best BHB has to offer, as I only go to their central location, but I find them to be a decent offering for the neighborhood, which I guess is probably pretty good since I have no interest whatsoever in eating vegan baked goods.

BHB had some really cool-looking donuts out last weekend, so I was going to take a picture and show the internets how great their food is. Then the lady behind the counter said "Excuse me, are you taking a picture? We can't let you take pictures of the food, because people have been posting them online as their own." I guess she meant that people were claiming that they, and not BHB, made the desserts they took pictures of? I don't know. But it was rather lame. I don't really understand why it's such a big deal.

more than likely, they wound up on cakewrecks.

i<3pizza wrote:BHB had some really cool-looking donuts out last weekend, so I was going to take a picture and show the internets how great their food is. Then the lady behind the counter said "Excuse me, are you taking a picture? We can't let you take pictures of the food, because people have been posting them online as their own." I guess she meant that people were claiming that they, and not BHB, made the desserts they took pictures of? I don't know. But it was rather lame. I don't really understand why it's such a big deal.

You were going to take a picture of something that you didn't own, that was behind the counter, without asking permission?

Darren72 wrote:You were going to take a picture of something that you didn't own, that was behind the counter, without asking permission?

Not sure if you're being tongue-in-cheek, Darren (where's that sarcasm emoticon when we need it?), but my wife takes pictures of architecture all the time, involving buildings in the Loop she doesn't own, and she doesn't ask the building owners' permission.

riddlemay wrote:

Darren72 wrote:You were going to take a picture of something that you didn't own, that was behind the counter, without asking permission?

Not sure if you're being tongue-in-cheek, Darren (where's that sarcasm emoticon when we need it?), but my wife takes pictures of architecture all the time, involving buildings in the Loop she doesn't own, and she doesn't ask the building owners' permission.

I wasn't being tongue-in-cheek. I wanted to make sure I understood the situation. To me, it is not appropriate to walk into someone's business and take pictures of "merchandise" without asking permission. Taking pictures of the outside of a building is not an analogous situation.

Well it was on top of the counter, but yeah! I'd done it before with no problems. I don't think of taking a picture of the merchandise as anything objectionable, compared to taking the merchandise. I like collecting pictures of food on display -- candies, pastries, etc.

Morning,

I've taken thousands of pictures in shops and restaurants. Always ask permission before taking a picture of a person, usually do in a small shop with a counter person to ask on hand, almost never if I am taking pictures of food I am served in a restaurant.

I'll point out, though it is obvious, every restaurant, bar, shop and grocery is different. Some love having pictures taken and others will chop off your arm at the very suggestion. I have noticed a change for the positive in the last couple of years of the 10-years I've been obsessively taking pictures of food.

Enjoy,
Gary

Yeah, I just took for granted that it was no big deal. Now I know better, to ask first.

I see that Michelle Garcia has joined the class action lawsuit against Yelp accusing it of extortion. I find it interesting that she is suing Yelp considering that her former employees claim that she forced them to write positive reviews of her business and post them on the Yelp website.

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/ ... suit-.html

YourPalWill wrote:I see that Michelle Garcia has joined the class action lawsuit against Yelp accusing it of extortion. I find it interesting that she is suing Yelp considering that her former employees claim that she forced them to write positive reviews of her business and post them on the Yelp website.

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/ ... suit-.html

Will, I just spent about 10 minutes searching for comments by former BHB employees claiming they were forced to write positive reviews for Yelp. Couldn't find them. Could you indicate where this allegation is made?

Thanks.

YourPalWill wrote:I see that Michelle Garcia has joined the class action lawsuit against Yelp accusing it of extortion. I find it interesting that she is suing Yelp considering that her former employees claim that she forced them to write positive reviews of her business and post them on the Yelp website.

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/ ... suit-.html

To me, the most interesting thing in that Comments thread is the final comment by Monica Eng, where she defends against the criticism that her article was poorly written by saying, "it is not meant to be an article, but rather a news update on a blog." Monica is not alone, and I really wish she and several other journalists around town who write for serious publications would stop fooling themselves in this way. If it's on the Chicago Tribune website, it's a Chicago Tribune article. The phony distinction between "article" and "blog" is an all-too-commonly used cop out.

Re the photographing of a Bleeding Heart pastry one has not purchased yet: I guess it's a gray area, but I'd call it reporting. If someone wrote 150 words describing said pastry, words poetic and precise enough so that one could absolutely picture the pastry correctly in one's mind, no one would judge anybody's property rights to have been violated. A photograph is just another way of describing the item, using pixels instead of words.

There are a number of places that don't allow you to take pictures on their property: when I worked at Starbucks (admittedly aeons ago) it was corporate policy not to allow any photographs to be taken inside the store, allegedly so that nobody could "steal" their business model. While it may not be the best policy, or the most reasonable policy, or a policy anyone likes, I'm pretty sure that stores have the right to make you leave their premises with their product to take a picture.

I hope none of them do, my life would be significantly less fun.

David Hammond wrote:

YourPalWill wrote:I see that Michelle Garcia has joined the class action lawsuit against Yelp accusing it of extortion. I find it interesting that she is suing Yelp considering that her former employees claim that she forced them to write positive reviews of her business and post them on the Yelp website.

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/ ... suit-.html

Will, I just spent about 10 minutes searching for comments by former BHB employees claiming they were forced to write positive reviews for Yelp. Couldn't find them. Could you indicate where this allegation is made?

Thanks.

Hammond,

The review that I was referring to was quite prominent on the Yelp review page of the Bakery several years ago. It may have been removed as so many Yelp reviews seem to be over time. There are some threads referencing other questionable marketing tactics on the part of the owner in this thread.

http://www.yelp.com/topic/chicago-bleed ... Tcp5FGJnUw

Perhaps if Ms. Garcia spent less time litigating, sending nasty PM's to negative reviewers and defending here bakery on online forums she could actually spend some time in the kitchen supervising her bakers...and then she might pass her health inspections on the first go and her product woudn't taste like sh*t.

I just read the Yelp link about suspicious posts from a possible employee and thought it was relevant and cast a bad light on the bakery...and then I noticed that it all took place in September of 2006. That's quite a long time ago. Thoughts?

grace21 wrote:I just read the Yelp link about suspicious posts from a possible employee and thought it was relevant and cast a bad light on the bakery...and then I noticed that it all took place in September of 2006. That's quite a long time ago. Thoughts?

I think people might be willing to look at it as water under the bridge if people liked their products better. I'm batting no better than .333 with them. Had a peppery chocolate cupcake that was moist and tasty, a large party cake that was very expensive and unforgivably dry and tasteless especially considering how expensive it was (I shouldn't have paid $10 for it, let alone the $50 I did pay), and from their Oak Park location a dry and tasteless pastry-to-go of some sort (can't remember what anymore).

Mhays wrote:I hope none of them do, my life would be significantly less fun.

That was my attitude about it -- I understand why they might want to prohibit it, but I'm harmless!

I've always enjoyed their scones.

grace21 wrote:I just read the Yelp link about suspicious posts from a possible employee and thought it was relevant and cast a bad light on the bakery...and then I noticed that it all took place in September of 2006. That's quite a long time ago. Thoughts?

I am always a little cautious about accepting the testimony of disgruntled employees and others with axes to grind.

Once again, Michelle Garcia paints herself as a victim of people who just hate her because she's who she is.

I can assure you that despite her claims in this article, she never apologized to me for her public display of hostility when I returned a product to her bakery several years ago.

She's treated the way she is because of the way she conducts herself. She's a life troll, pure and simple.

http://312diningdiva.blogspot.com/2010/ ... -back.html

YourPalWill wrote:Once again, Michelle Garcia paints herself as a victim of people who just hate her because she's who she is.

I can assure you that despite her claims in this article, she never apologized to me for her public display of hostility when I returned a product to her bakery several years ago.

She's treated the way she is because of the way she conducts herself. She's a life troll, pure and simple.

http://312diningdiva.blogspot.com/2010/ ... -back.html

The number of "this is the last time I will comment" statements from her that are followed almost immediately by more comments is amusing.

I spent some time with Michelle last year and she seemed like a decent enough sort (and has interesting bio), but whatever we might think of her, the fact that she may be a "life troll" (not sure what that means, but it sounds bad) or whatever should not cloud how we interpret the validity of her suit against Yelp.

what is a life troll??? does defending your business and taking abuse from haters make a person a life troll? i don't understand.

Getting back to the food and service issue, I recently bought the Groupon for an assorted basket of goods, and thought the food was very good. There were scones, cake balls, lemon bars, caramel bars, cupcakes, and possibly something I'm forgetting, and there were no quality issues. Nothing stale and the scones were exceptional. No service issues either. I just thought I'd mention it, in the interest of balancing out the reviews here.

Hey folks,

A customer brought it to my attention tonight that there has been quite a bit of activity on this board recently.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to reach out to the LTHForum community. I am currently The Bleeding Heart Bakery's official order taker, manager, and longest running employee. I want you all to know that I take customer complaints seriously and personally strive to make our customer's feel cared for and taken care of. I have been working in the service industry for about 14 years and have worked exclusively for small, owner-operated businesses for the past decade.

Should any one reading this post have concerns about our store, please, reach out to me. I would be happy to address questions via e-mail or sit down with you personally. No one has to shop with us, like us personally, or enjoy our products. However, I do believe that no one should be carrying around baggage from interactions or experiences that may be several years old (if I'm understanding some comments correctly). If you have received inferior product or poor service, let me know and I will personally work with you to fix the problem.

Furthermore, in the past year I have seen this bakery constantly strive for and achieve advancement. We currently have a great staff and some wonderful products. Let me know if you would like to stop by and get a one-on-one walk through of our store, or have a chat about concerns over coffee.

Aaron Blecher
Aaron@thebleedingheartbakery.com

Deleted Yelp reviews of Bleeding Heart Bakery, and others, revealed:

http://www3.timeoutny.com/chicago/blog/ ... d-reviews/

David Hammond wrote:Deleted Yelp reviews of Bleeding Heart Bakery, and others, revealed:

http://www3.timeoutny.com/chicago/blog/ ... d-reviews/

Interesting. A large number of those reviews appear to people from people with an axe to grind. Lucky for BHB that Yelp's algorithm picked those out. Without the algorithm, BHB's overall Yelp star rating would be lower. And they didn't even purchase advertising!