jilly's cupcake bar & café

more than just cupcakes! sandwiches and really awesome ice cream too! date posted: nov 9, 2014 category: cafe , cupcakes , ice cream address: 8509 delmar blvd, st louis, mo 63124 jilly’s cupcakes is becoming a very well known name in st. louis and beyond.  they reached the national stage due to the food network’s series “cupcake wars”, of which they are twotimewinner.  they are also reaching greater and greater local visibility in st. louis due to a deal with the schnucks’ line of grocery stores. chocolate thunder and visibility is a very accurate word to choose.   their cupcakes are a little hard to miss, the largest size weighing in at over half a pound and usually featuring fantastical icing and toppings.  jill, the owner, and jack, the vp of business, started baking with the intent of making cupcakes that were huge, filled to the gills with something delicious, and outlandishly dressed up. 24-karat carrot cake they also are always filled with something amazing, like rich chocolate ganache, honey lemon curd, or, in the case of their october monthly special, filled with m&ms.  the 24-karat carrot cake, pictured above and possibly our favorite, is covered in gold leaf and filled with vanilla cream.  we have read reviews of jilly’s online and some people have stated they didn’t like the cupcakes, stating they were too sweet or in some cases that they were dry and not moist.  we could see the “too sweet” complaint on some of the cupcakes, like the missylicious for example, but every one we had were plenty moist and had plenty of flavor besides sweet. cupcake six-pack but jilly’s isn’t just a brand of cupcakes.  they’ve decided to not rest on their food network won laurels and have begun to offer st. louis more than just dessert.  they now offer sandwiches, soups, salads, and some of the best ice-cream we’ve had in st. louis. fancy brick work they have regularly weekly fare for lunch in their cafe, their “foodie-fest” brunch buffet on sunday, a monthly-or-so thursda

it's a goodtimeto be in st. louis if you have a sweet tooth. chefs are actively trying to innovate and if you've got any adventure in your palate, there are some great pastries, donuts, and now, ice cream to be had. if you had asked me what my favorite ice cream in st. louis was, it would have been the selection of house-made ice cream and sorbets at frazer's (here). jilly's has put a different twist on things and i think their offerings rank right up there. i'll definitely be back to try the sorbet(s) as well as the sundaes (that i just now learned about looking at their menu online), so i'll see you there.

really nice sunday brunch. i tried jilly's sunday brunch for the firsttimewith about a dozen friends this morning and i was very impressed. aside from the tantalizing choice of cupcakes, the brunch buffet has a really interesting selection of dishes and i didn't try anything that i didn't like. among the goodies were: mini biscuits with creole gravy, chinese style eggplant with mushrooms; dragon noodles with bean sprouts, green onion and a nice little hot kick; tiny fruit/yogurt cups; heath bar scones; beef brisket hash, stuffed chicken with mushroom sauce; roast pork; mac & cheese and a do-it-yourself cubcake decorating bar. lots of fresh new flavors in addition to things like eggs, bacon, sausage, french toast, egg salad and the like. the service was very good also. and, they take reservations--recommended because it gets pretty busy between 9:30 and 10:30 in the morning.

my favorite cupcake ever. this is a review of cupcakes only since i've never had her food.....
i've had jilly's cupcakes a couple of times.....most of thetimei got them from the children's boutique in downtown st. charles (the name slips my mind). i've had a few different flavors from jilly's on the beach to bee sting to reese's to another rich chocolate one. her flavors are very inventive and i love the different combos of flavors together in one cupcake. they are are big which is how i can justify them at over $5 each. the icing has always been good and the cake is always moist. most cupcake places can't get both right. i have enjoyed all of the flavors but i find the jilly's on the beach to be outstanding. i mean- i crave this cupcake and judge all others against it. it has a mango-cream cheese icing and a lime curd stuffed vanilla cake. those flavors together make my tummy very happy. i'm not a huge fan of cake since it tends to be too sweet for me but this cupcake gets it right. i have yet to find a cupcake place that even comes close. i live in florida and visit this area often and always make a stop for this cupcake while i'm here.

firsttimevisit. i'd heard good things about jilly's, so a business associate and i met there for lunch. gumbo was exceptional, service was great, staff was very professional. we purchased cupcakes to take back to our office for staff to enjoy. jilly's is definitely worth a return visit or two.

loved it!. our first (but certainly not last) visit to jilly's was for sunday brunch. as other reviewers have noted, it was very busy and seating was at a premium. there were signs up saying that their seating area will be expanding which is very good news.
we found the staff to be very friendly and calm in spite of how busy they were. the food was fabulous. there was a wonderful variety of dishes and we liked everything we tried, though bananas foster french toast was everyone's favorite.
i would not recommend going here if you are in a rush, but if you have plenty oftimeand are looking for a delicious brunch in a casual atomosphere, this is the place!
we also brought cupcakes home to our neighbors who said they were delicious.

reservations reccomended. so this past sunday my fiance and i were celebrating our valentine's day because we both had to work the following evening. i had seen an ad about jilly's sunday brunch in st. louis magazine and it seemed like a great idea, cupcakes for breakfast! we arrived at jilly's at 11:30 on the dot which was thetimeof the reservation i had made two weeks prior with jilly the owner over the phone, she said that they hard;y had any reservations at that time, so i was shocked to walk in the door and find my self at the back of a very long line at a stand-still. it was very caotic and unorganized to say the least with at least 20 to 30 people trying to cram into line for the buffet in the very tiny place, as well as walk around a magician in the middle of the mess. i decided to take action and see if i could figure out what was going on, because we had made reservations i figured i should find the hostess and let her know we had arrived. i saw a lady looking a little frantic but not distraught holding a clip board, turned out to be jilly herself, i told her i had made an 11:30 reservation and gave her my name, she immediatley blurted out that everyone there apparentley had made reservations and they were all still standing in line, so seating was really based on a first come-fisrt served, or at least seated, basis. she told me they had bicotti in the corner and we would get a table as soon as possible, yeah right. my fiance and i now a little perterbed weighed our options and decided that bytimeit was "our turn" to sit it would be 1:00 and neither of us would be wanting breakfast at that time. i went up to jilly again and told her she could take my name off the list, we were leaving, she barley aknowledged us, no apology or anything. jilly may know how to make cupcakes but needs alot of help in the customer service and management department. oh yeah don't forget that reservations for sunday brunch are reccomended but completly useless!

not impressed. i had been looking forward to lunch at jilly's all week, we had planned a girls lunch my 2 daughter's, granddaughter and my son's girlfriend. upon entering a very crowded jilly's thinking, well the food must be good, and it was. the service and available seating not! first you go to one side of a table or the other depending on your ordering lunch or just a cupcake. then wait for the girl to take your order, turn your head for a second and poof she's gone. comes back finishes the order hands us our cupcakes and a number on a stick and off we go into limbo...standing there with a cupcake, a drink and this stick. well this is when we find out that oh yeah there is no place to sit. there are 6 of us, standing there trying to dodge people. looking into this tiny area they have tables all the same size. so whether you were a couple of people or a large group you sat (if you were lucky) at the same size table. well i huess they tired of us being in the way, and listening to us complain. they set us up at these spinning tables what a novel idea lets put 6 people at thes tiny little spinning tables, did i mention we were right where people come in and my daughter spent hertimebeing bumped into by everyone who came in. well remember i said i had that stick with the number...i don't know why because it had no purpose. see they don't understand you have to let the kitchen people know what order goes to what number!!! the guy just walked around with food and you pretty much had 'guess your order!' what a lovely little game to play at these spinning tables. here's a suggestion. a. get more tables b. have them set up so that there are tables for 2 and tables for different size groups. not all tables for 5!!! then you have one old bitty sitting there at this large table all by herself while the 6 of of juggled food. ridiculous!! needless to say nexttimei'll go to breadco...and come home and make my own cupcakes, as for the cupcakes ...they were ok nothing to drive from eureka to universtiy city for thats for sure.

wonderful bakery-wonderful people!!. my family and i stopped by jilly's this past tuesday. impressive!! i had been in before and this was the firsttimei had brought our family to endulge. we were all able to find our favorite flavors and everyone absolutely loved it! the staff were super polite and we even chatted with jilly herself.
great atmosphere and top notch food. jilly's is the best bakery around!
we will be back for sure-i don't mind the drive from saint peters and for anyone who is wondering about jilly's--come out and try it! you won't be disappointed.

an update to "terrible!!!!!!!". first, i would like to let everyone know, that i have spoken to an assistant manager as well as the owner, jilly.

here is what i posted to my facebook account after speaking with the assistant manager:

"resolution!!! called today to speak with a manager or owner (it was not jilly who we had been talking to!) and got some resolution. we explained our entire experience, from ashley's first trip from st. charles with the baby to clayton, only to be told they were too busy and it was an empty store, to the 1/2 dozen falling apart gourmet specialty ... see morecupcakes, the head designer's "offense," to the 2 dozen non-filled but paid for filling cupcakes. the person i spoke to was appropriately mollified, and apologized profusely. simply put, that is what we wanted. just to be acknowledged. i'm a bit more tempered in my disappointment for the store, although it may be sometime(if ever) i want to do business with them again. i still can't get over the audacity of that woman saying she was offended!"

and most recently, a message i received from jill, the actual owner of jilly's:

jennifer, my name is jill and i am the owner of jilly's cupcake bar ...please know, i am not the person that you spoke to on the phone, that person was the one who made those cupcakes that fell apart and was appalled (at her own skills?) imagine my surprise when i was viewing different websites this morning and nearly threw-up when i read your review. after finding out the details from other staff members, let me say that i am so sorry. sorry that a person that i employed had the guts and b---- to be so unbelievably rude, self important and just plain stupid. i had no idea about this incident until this morning. that person no longer works at jilly's (as of last week) but ultimately it is my fault, i am responsible for the people that work for me.

i have learned a valuable lesson, if your employee seems too arrogant,...do something about it before something like this happens! regardless of whether you forgive us (me) or not, and i can understand completely you never, ever coming into our store again.

i am truly sorry and i will have my bookkeeper find your receipt and refund your entire bill, please check with your bank in 24 hours.

i opened jilly's because i really like people and have loved this business most of the time, but your situation makes me sick and again i am sorry that the cupcakes were not perfect, or even close to perfect for your sister's event and that a company is only as good as each of our team members....

my sincere regrets, jill


***i think the fact that she took it upon herself to reach out and contact me, speaks volumes. this is obviously a person who took a big chance opening a business doing something she loved, only to see it tainted by unprofessional employees. i respect her for owning up to the situation, and her sincerity.


-----03 may, 2010-----

terrible!!!!!!!. terrible customer service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yes, you got me right, terrible customer service! my sister-in-law and i were planning a baby shower, and decided to use jilly's for the cupcakes. she lives in st. charles, so she tried calling the store several times, but no answer. so, she packed up her 14 month old and drove out to clayton...about a 30+ minute drive. she got there at 10:30 in the morning, 10:30, and the rude service staff said "i'm sorry, i can't take your cupcake order now. it is too close to our lunch hour rush." now, i could understand that if it was 11 am, there were people in the store (the place was empty!!!!) and the girl didn't take five minutes explaining why she couldn't take the order, when during that amount oftimeshe could have taken the flipping order!!!!

that being said, my sister-in-law is much more accommodating than me, so she left and again packed up her 14 month old for another day. she went back first thing at 9, placed her order, and things were kosher.

so we thought. the day of the shower, we picked up our order of 2 1/2 dozen cupcakes, (2 dozen filled 'regular' cupcakes and 1/2 dozen 'gourmet' decorated cupcakes). following the directions to keep them out of the sun and in a cool environment, we thought the cupcakes looked great. then, one by one, the ears from the monkey cupcakes (the 'gourmet') began to fall off. not once, but at least 2 or 3 times each.

we called jilly's. at $5.25 a freaking cupcake, the freaking things should not be falling apart!!!!!!!!

now, you think any smart, intuitive owner would say "i'm so sorry this has happened. i will take $1 off each cupcake" or "come in for a free lunch" or something, right?????

wrong!!! the woman had the nerve to tell us she was offended?????? i'm sorry, you're offended???? we paid almost $6 for your falling apart cupcakes, and your offended???? i'm offended by your rudeness, lack of customer service, and the fact that you charge $6 a cupcake. (our bill was over $140, you'd think she would be appreciative!!!!)

oh, and the "filled" cupcakes were plain. and we paid extra for the filling.

i will never go back there and will tell every friend, co-worker, family member, associate and stranger how terrible the service of this place is!!!! not only that, but i have told all 460+ facebook friends, my sister-in-law has as well, we have posted it on our twitter accounts, and now yelp!

terrible service!!!!!!! decent cupcakes, but way too rude.

gross cupcakes. yes, i said it, and i never thought i would use those two words together. don't waste yourtimeon this place. the cupcakes look kind of grotesque, and taste like burnt sugar. and the decor is dated! if you are looking for a 1998timewarp with bad food, this place is for you.