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- Neighborhoods:
- Midtown, Chelsea
- Categories:
- Bakeries, Restaurants, Dessert Shops
- Price:
- $
- Restaurant Special Features:
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At a Glance
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88% ambiance
“When finally ordered, all they had was cupcakes, I thought what yahoo waits 30 minutes for a cupcake, then I realized how delicious the cupcake was, how cool the atmosphere was.”
76% dessert
“My colleagues and I have been big fans of Billy's and would often buy our desserts or afternoon treats from them.”
100% drinks
“We had a chocolate cupcake and a slice of German Cake, which was very good, especially when you wash it down with a cup of Billy's coffee.”
97% food quality
“The desserts are incredible (very fresh, great designs on the cakes, unique products) and the staff is sooo friendly.”
100% menu variety
“two other options in the immediate neighborhood wins HANDS DOWN for truly awesome sweets and treats, so it's a no-brainer.”
100% overall
“After reading so many good posts about this place I decided to go order a cake from Billy's.”
100% return potential
“Although I wish they had a delivery service (we needed to pick up the cupcake tower, cupcakes, and return the tower after the wedding), their customer service was excellent and more than made up for that.”
60% service
“Third, the customer service was great.”
100% value
“The desserts here are decent sized and the portions of frosting is a guarantee for diabetes.”
100% wait time
“When finally ordered, all they had was cupcakes, I thought what yahoo waits 30 minutes for a cupcake, then I realized how delicious the cupcake was, how cool the atmosphere was.”
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What Our Expert Scouts Say
October 25, 2012
There's a lot here that's well worth taking home, but its the cupcakes that everyone loves the most. By all means get a box, but you'll surely want to eat one or two as you walk away. Unlike some cupcakes (yes, you, Magnolia) these are actually worth the wait.
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Heart
Tips for Billy's Bakery
June 20, 2011
Come in for a cupcake- leave with a pie!.
Billy’s Bakery bills itself as “Old-fashioned Baked Goods Made from Scratch”- no artificial ingredients here! Their pies are my favorite… do you know how hard it is to find an old-fashioned pie, made with real, crispy, fresh fruit (not sugary crap) here in NYC? Or anywhere? They’ve also got cupcakes, cookies and bars (such as lemon bars), cakes (in varieties such as Red Velvet, German (or regular) Chocolate, Banana, Carrot, Yellow Daisy, Pineapple Upside Down, etc), cheesecakes and breakfast goodies like muffins and lemon loaves.
Their trademark cake is “The Icebox Cake”… it’s made with “Fresh dairy whipped cream layered between chocolate wafer cookies”. They’ve come up with very creative and unique ingredient combinations- I have never heard of butterscotch gingerbread cookies before, or cherry muffins, outside of Billy’s. Their cheddar cheese biscuits really hit the spot when you’ve got the (salty) munchies too.
They also do catering, and if you order online, you can have cakes and other products shipped to that special someone.
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Heart
March 08, 2010
Not a bakery for cupcakes.
Billy's cupcakes were one of the contenders at my 18-cupcake-store blind tasting party and it wasn't rated very highly on the scoring sheets. I decided to give it another try, this time at the Chelsea store itself. The interior is cute and reminds me of my grandmother's kitchen with the kitschy wallpaper. And it smelt just like that too.
Upon the staff's recommendation, we got the pumpkin cheesecake, which was really really good with the whipped cream. It was a little harder than I expected but the it tasted just as you think it would - pumpkin pie with cheesecake. We almost ordered another one, but decided to try to vanilla cupcake instead, upon the staff's recommendation.
Unfortunately, my verdict still stood by what we rated it at the party. The frosting was way too sugary, I could
almost taste the sugar grains in there. The cake itself was really dry and didn't have the moist fluffiness that you would expect in a good cupcake. I didn't even finish my half.
In short, the other cakes on the counter looks pretty good, but I wouldn't get cupcakes here at all.
snob now.
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Heart
October 21, 2009
terrible attitude. In a city where service is king,I find it hard to believe Billy's is still in business. Their average cupcakes are not worth being belittled and snapped at my their surly staff. (I'm English, polite is in my blood - I did nothing to antagonise these wankers, bar having the temerity to enter their store)
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Heart
January 06, 2009
Average sweets poor service.
I have been to Billy's several times and each time I walk away wondering why I came back. In a time when the cupcake is king of the hill Billy's is at the bottom of the heap. I love a good cupcake but at Billy's prefer the the banana cream pie of everything I have tried. The coconut cake would have been perfect except for the meringue topping is just wrong. I've had it twice and both times it did not sit well. Most of all each time I have been there the staff has been preoccupied. There always seem to be lots of young people behind the counter but every time I am there I feel like I am interrupting social time and putting them out of their way to assist.
Even though from the outside Billy's looks so inviting and the enticing aromas inside seem to beckon decadence... I say walk on by and go to one of the many other better bakeries in the city.
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Heart
January 04, 2009
Good Cake, Bad Service. While their cakes are amazing, their service is another story. Every time I have ordered a cake from them, they have screwed something up. One time, they forgot to mention to me that they would be closed on the day that I was scheduled to pick up my cake(and they didn't bother to tell me this until it was too late to order a cake from a different bakery). Another time, they misplaced my cake and didn't even seem too concerned about it. This is New York City; service is everything. I think that I'll support a more organized and better managed bakery from now on. I recommend that you do the same.
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October 01, 2008
Best Cupcakes in NYC.
I've only been to Billy's once, but they definitely had the best cupcakes I've tried in NYC (Magnolia, Buttercup,Crumbs, someplace in Penn Station...)
For me it's about the frosting: or the fact that this is the only cupcake place I've found that doesn't completely overwhelm the cupcake with the frosting.
The cake is yummy, the frosting is yummy, and they seem to be baking all day so you can get 'em fresh. My favorite was vanilla/vanilla.
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Heart
July 06, 2008
Cupcakes are good. I liked the cupcakes I got here, although if you want specialty cupcakes, crumbs is better.
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April 03, 2008
Magnolias II. Did a bakery tour a while back and thought I had gone back to Magnolias by accident. Cute shop. Same food. Very Average. I expected much more because of all the hype. If this is one of the best in NY I feel sorry for you. My food was ok nothing special.
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Heart
March 27, 2008
Best cupcakes in the city. The cupcakes here are worth the hype. I have been all over NYC and these are the best. Forget Magnolia and take a trip to this smaller and much nicer shop. I have also tried the cookies and various cakes and they are delicious. I ordered a birthday cake and it was a great dessert ending to the party. Enjoy the experience and visit Billy's.
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