Helen Bernhard Bakery

I just picked up 6 dozen doughnuts for my staff and they went WILD for them. These are the best doughnets in Portland, hands down! No gimmicks, just GREAT doughnuts. Also, I am shocked to see the negative customer service reviews on here, since I've been going to Helen's for years, and the staff has always been great. more

DO NOT RECOMMEND!!!! After doing a cake tasting with Helen Bernhard more

I ordered an anniversary cake from Helen?s. When I went to pick up my cake there was some sort of mix up and I had to come back 4 hours latter then scheduled to pick up the cake. This made my schedule for that day pretty hectic, but it was still doable. I picked up the cake latter and it was beautiful and delicious. I know that this is a simple mistake and it did end up working out but I thought since it was their mistake they should have offered some sort of concession. I asked for a discount but was refused. I love their cakes and so I will be back, but I wish they would be a little more customer friendly. more

We purchased a variety of items - cookies, cupcake, muffin, fritter, bread and petite four. They were all very bad. more

I fell in love with their cakes after having a piece of a co-worker's birthday carrot cake back in 2003. I loved their french cream frosting because it was't sweet like other cakes I've had so I started getting cakes there for any and all occasions. I even ordered by wedding cake from them in 2004 and the overall experience was good. A few months back, I got a cake from their display case for Mother's Day and that turned out okay (it was a white cake with french cream frosting). Last month, I got a chocolate cake from the display for a dinner and it was old and stale! I couldn't believe it because their cakes are usually so moist and delicious and for the price you pay, you just expect a lot more. I didn't try to take it back or anything but I'm going to avoid their chocolate cakes from now on. I will give their white cakes another try but if it's bad, I will probably find a new bakery. Their customer service is good. Pros: Parking, full bakery Cons: Cakes are not consistently good more

I had been looking for about a month for someplace local to get a custom cake for a shower, and originally didn't choose Helen Bernhard's due to all of the bad reviews on this website. When my chosen cake-maker cancelled on me less than 2 weeks before the shower, I decided to see if Helen Bernhard's was up to the challenge. I showed up without an appointment, and staff got me right in to look at pictures & take the description of the cake I wanted. The cake arrived on time on the day of the shower, and it was PERFECT! It came out so beautiful. All of the guests loved it and were standing around the table complimenting it. When it came time to eat it, no one was disappointed. So many people were asking ""where is this cake from?"" I am not the biggest cake fan myself, but even I loved the cake. Overall I had a great experience here and I hope that this review can counteract some of the negative ones below me. Pros: Delicious, quality product & design, reasonable pricing Cons: The staff acted very busy/stressed when we went in more

Worst place ever!! My wife & I got our wedding cake here and when the caterer went to cut it open it feel apart and about 1/4 of our guess got a piece of cake, not including the people who got cake got it served to them with an ice cream scoop because there was no way to touch it without crumbling apart!! After the wedding we wrapped the cake up and took it back to Helen Bernhards were they said they would fix everything for us but a manager was not on site so to call back the next day. We called the next day and the manger said to bring in the cake, the only problem was we left the cake with them the day before and an employee tossed it out. So i had to make a second trip down there and take them photos, then they said they had to get owner approval from (Nick Name for Richard) to give me a refund. The next day I called D*ck and lets just say his name proceeds him! He was crud, non-understanding of the severity of the situation and would only give me 1/2 my money back even though I returned more then 1/2 the cake! I agreed to get it done and over with then he said they would mail me a check that day. Well its been over 2 weeks and no check so I called back and got the same response its in the mail. I live less then 4 miles away and its taken over 2 weeks? I am finally so fed up I plan to go to the media and get my self an attorney. DO NOT BUT FROM THIS BAKERY!!! THERE CAKES LOOK GOOD BUT DON'T BE FOOLED THEY WILL NOT BACK THERE PRODUCT. DON'T LET YOUR BRIDE CRY ON HER WEDDING DAY LIKE MINE, STAY AWAY FROM HELEN BERNHARDS! Cons: EVERYTHING - Old Hags working there with no respect!! more

When my husband and I heard about HBB we were estatic. We had been having problems finding the right bakery. more

My fiance and I went in there today to sample cakes for our wedding. After rushing to make our appointment, the staff is utterly confused as to why we are there. They kept insisting for us to sit down when we were just looking around. Finally when someone comes to help, she has no idea how to move the process along; she just stared at us. After getting a clue, she offered us samples. My fiance and I went through the entire process, chose the cake, and were about to begin the purchasing process when she told us that our day was not available; we had already been there for about half an hour. Please realize that I had called earlier this week to make my appointment and the person I spoke to never said anything about my day being booked. What makes matters worse is the fact our wedding is on a Thursday. The bakery we ended up going to said there are never problems with weekday weddings. The person ""helping"" us really did not seem to care that she just waited half an hour of our busy Saturday morning. Pros: Wouldn't know! Cons: Staff! more

This is absolutely the place for any cake aficionado. Pros: Delicious cakes Cons: n/a more

Our experience with Helen Bernhard was interesting to say the least. It started when we called 9 months before our wedding to see if we could make an appointment for cake tasting. They said the didn't do that anymore which seems odd considering all other local bakeries who sell wedding cakes offer sampling - seems like a logical thing when you're spending $300-$500 on a cake! Several months later we called again and they told us to come in anytime for a sampling. Conflicting information is never good. They advertise making your ""dream cake"" a reality. Well, not so true. Our custom color turned out to be nearly white and nobody even noticed the cake when it was supposed to be a dramatic eye catching color. I called the bakery afterwards and the ""manager"" said they could only offer a free anniversary cake worth $19 as an apology. Sorry, this doesn't make me feel any better! more

I have lived in Portland my whole life and used to hear about HBB in glowing terms. Lately.... not so much. I have had cakes from there several times and for a friends birthday I wanted to order up something special. So I called on over to HB and was shocked at the experience. I called and said I was looking to special order a birthday cake where the actual cake was vanilla flavored (a request of my friends), and was promptly told no. I was very curtly informed that it was something they couldn't/wouldn't do. I even asked if they could do it if I paid extra for the special order.... no. The attitude I got made it seem like I was stupid for even asking. My money when to another bakery and I won't be bothering the HB staff anymore. more

I have bought my cakes at HBB for over 7 years. My wife calls and requests some samples to try out to pick the perfect combination. Guess what? No more samples! Say a few 1x2 inch sample would probably amount a tiny slice of cake. Considering I would be dropping 60 to 120 dollars on a large cake, it's a nice perk to able to give your taste buds a test run. Their combination prowess will go to waste if you somehow put the wrong flavors together and decided not to buy your next cake here. I talked to the manager, and they stated that the ""current owner"" has made the decision not to do samples anymore. I hope he/she is reading my disappointment. It's so hard to see good place go bad. ""Piece of Cake"" makes good cakes too. Pros: good cake, good baked goods, fast service Cons: ""no more samples"" policy for cakes more

My fiancee and I have begun the preparations for our wedding so we chose the Helen Bernhard Bakery to try their selection of cakes. Keep in mind that we had made an appointment, so we were expecting to be greeted and for someone to provide us with a selection of products from which to sample. We hadn't tried many of the types of cakes on the menu so we didn't have a clue what we thought would be good for what is supposed to be one of the most joyous days in two people's lives. What happened was anything but a good experience. The bakery staff couldn't have been less accommodating if they had put forth more effort. We weren't asking for a red carpet treatment, just to sample their product and decide how several hundred dollars were going to be spent. What we did get was a member of the staff who stood over us as we looked at the cake selection and simply asked us what we wanted. As if we knew off the top of our head how their product tasted and whether or not it would meet the standard of our wedding. Long story short, we sampled three cakes. We followed up with a call to the manager who couldn't have cared less about the service of his employees. Afterwards we reached the same conclusion that the customer service was horrible and they obviously didn't need our business. We will be more than happy to spend our money elsewhere with an establishment that is worthy of doing business with. more

I fell in love with their cakes about 10 years ago, and I knew I had to have one as my wedding cake. Even my fiance (now husband), who DOES NOT eat sweets, fell in love. The people there are so incredibly nice...very accommodating. The cake was GORGEOUS, simple, elegant, and DELICIOUS!! Try their other goodies too, the breads, tortes, pies, and, yum...tarts...you cannot go wrong. But their wedding cakes are truly amazing, and at a very reasonable price for the $ you spend. Pros: Friendly service, variety Cons: Parking can be challenging at times. more

Helen B's offers a good selection for when you feel like pigging out. The sweets taste a little too lardy, but hey isn't that what you are there for? Pros: Great selection Cons: A little high priced and a little to fatty tasting more

I came in with a last minute request for a cake but these guys took my order like it was no problem. They even let me pick my own time to pick it up. I had my cake the same day and in it turned out so much better than I expected. It was beautiful! more

One of the best parts about my wedding was the cake, it was beautiful and very delicious. I received many compliments from guests. If you want to have the perfect cake at a perfect price go to Helen Bernhards. I know that my family has been going there forever for other goodies as well and they have always been a great bakery. Pros: Service, parking, product more

They have these cookies called M & M's, but they are called that as they ""melt in your mouth"" more

The chocolate Mousse Cake is the best cake I have ever had! SO GOOD!!!! more