Taste of Scandinavia Bakery & Cafe

"We usually get the Scandinavian Strawberry Torte to-go. It has always been a celebration staple in our family. I remember my mom getting this for my grandpa’s big birthday celebration. The taste and texture of the cake recently has changed in the last 2-3 years. The cake is more dry and not as good; I’m not sure how else to describe the taste. It taste more plain. I’m going to blame the pandemic and say maybe they aren’t using the same ingredients anymore or maybe the same company. I’ve started to see new reviews stating the same thing. It’s sad, but maybe we’ll stop buying the cake for future celebrations. I also would like to comment on the customer service. Granted I came in 45 mins before closing time, but it was some high school kids helping me. It took some nudging from a gal who was sweeping to the guy behind the counter to notice me standing there for 3 mins. The guy wasn’t doing anything behind the counter. Maybe he had a bad day. I get it, you want to leave work too, but I also wanted to get out of there with my cake too!"

"Decided to check this place out for brunch today and I would highly recommend. Good selection of breakfast, lunch, coffee drinks, and pastries. We had the Lingonberry Lemon Pancakes and the Swedish Pancakes. Both were delicious, but many things on the menu looked great. Looking forward to going back!"

"I came here with my mother as a means of exploring new places to eat at. However to my disappointment there is little to compliment about the food that I received at a price of $11.99, which was the Old Fashioned Pot Roast. I’m only giving them a little slack since as a bakery something like a pot roast wouldn’t be their speciality compared to other menu items such as pancakes, toasts, and pastries. With an order total at $32 combined with coffee, I thought it was a bit pricey. The cashier also attempted to force my mother into paying a tip, saying that there were only button options 1, 2, and 3(pre-determined tip amounts in %) on the kiosk. When in reality, option 4(custom tipping) was also a thing that she didn’t mention. Overall service was minimal to none, but I understand since the place was filled with people when we were there. It took a bit long for our food to come out and when it did it initially looked good- the gravy on top of the “pot roast” made it seem as if it would be nice and hot, having the same effect for the mashed potatoes, which I noticed that it was scooped to look like vanilla ice scream scoops of three. It was a telltale sign for me that the mashed potatoes on my plate were likely not made in house but rather pre-made somewhere else and frozen, or was simply instant mashed potatoes. Most importantly, some parts of it were also cold even with the gravy on top. When looking at it from a customer’s perspective, that is equivalent to that of a slap on the face after paying a higher than average price for a simple meal. The only plausible part of it was the gravy which I enjoyed tasting. It had a hint of saltiness and still retained the richness of a brown beef gravy. Next, the beef portion of the pot roast. It was rather dry, and chewy in texture. It was also not hot whatsoever, and felt like someone had microwaved it a few seconds short. Some pieces of the beef felt overcooked and came apart like wood chips out of a playground. There were no dense pieces of meat like a fresh pot roast would be made out of, and no cooked vegetable in sight(like carrots, celery, onion), apart from the half-steamed broccolis that came with the order. The broccoli was barely cleaned properly/not trimmed to be presentable. My final deduction of this review is that even if the food I got that time wasn’t up to expectation, I wouldn’t mind coming here again since the pastries still caught my eye. However if you are planning to come here for meat-based meals I wouldn’t recommend. Next time I am here I will try the breakfast items instead."

"A pleasant restaurant/bakery with a large selection of sweet and savory foods! It was quite busy when we went on the weekend; despite limited seating, we were able to get a table. The Eggs Benedict and the Lefsa breakfast were quite tasty. We were surprised how quickly they were prepared (~6-7 minutes). The pastries tasted fresh. I wasn’t a huge fan of the coffee, however, and the bathroom wasn’t very clean. Otherwise, service and food was quite good!"