Alchemist & Co

Well it’s Valentine’s Day again and I put my faith in the very competent Doris to make Vday special and she did not disappoint!
With very short notice, Doris was able to hammer out some minor details with me via e-​mail, text and phone and very willing to customize the order so that I was happy.
The delivery of pastries and flowers got to its destination at a perfect time: early afternoon.
I couldn’t be happier with the pricing, service, and attention from Doris. Thank you for this cool service and for coming through on a very busy Valentine’s Day!

I used Alchemist & Co for my floral decorations and as coordinators at my wedding. They went above and beyond their duties to make sure everything goes according to the plan and the event leaves a memorable impression on all the guests.
The owner of the Company was so creative and added such details as beautiful real tree branches in large vases for placement cards, personalized favor tags, and other finishing touches that gave the wedding that wow effect.
The flowers were very beautiful too. For the church, I decided not to decorate the pews and just to have three large bouquets in the front. The three church bouquets were so magnificent that the entire place looked super festive even without any other decorations.
I would also like to add that everything was done in a timely manner including all the deliveries. The Alchemist crew allowed me and my guests to enjoy the day to the fullest… I would highly recommend their services… I feel so lucky that I had a caring team on my wedding day and that the one day preceded by months of preparations turned out so well.

I used this company for Valentine’s Day (today) and I ordered the Parisian Breakfast in Bed for the incredible man in my life. I wanted to give him something that he wasn’t expecting, and a more personal experience than just a card or flowers. I can say I’m completely thrilled with how much time Doris spent communicating with me on this order. She was even responding the night before Valentine’s Day to emails until 2am. I asked for the flowers to be changed, she did so and more. I asked for a delivery as early as possible, however, and it wasn’t there until an hour and a half after their «first time slot». I was a little upset about this mishap because I didn’t get to see his face when he received the delivery, or enjoy it with him, but I appreciated her accommodating me so late the night before. I just can’t complain. I’m definitely going to use Alchemist & Co. again! *satisfied*

I can’t speak about the problems people might have had before with Alchemist & Co, but I did want to share that Doris and the staff there gave me extraordinary service. They worked around the clock on an anniversary present I got, and made sure to email me with all the details and pictures of the package throughout the process. They were even edited some of my Engrish on the messaging part of the present!
I feel blessed to have found someone whose job it is to be romantic, AND whose job it is to help me be more romantic. It’s a phenomenal service, and I can’t recommend it enough!

I’m not usually one to write reviews but how could I not? Doris and Alchemist & Co. are amazing. The services, products, presentation and customer service are above and beyond and I cannot thank you enough.
I’m beyond happy with all they have provided me. I will definitely continue my patronage to this company and look forward to a long-​lasting beautiful relationship-​with my loved ones and this company :-)

I’ve used this company to send gifts to my girlfriend at least four times.
They’re fantastic! Leagues ahead of any standard florist delivery.
The things you can send are incredibly romantic. For Teacher Appreciation Day, I sent breakfast. WAY more awesome than the standard bouquet the boys sent their girlfriends. Let the lesbian show you boys how it’s really done. The simple breakfast was a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee.
But, as has always been my experience with Alchemist, the presentation is everything.
That simple breakfast arrived on a black lacquer tray, strewn with river rocks. A fresh plant, and an orchid. The card, not a standard hand scribbled florist’s card. This card was printed up, and framed, so that it sat displayed alongside the other things in the tray. (check out the photo my gf took with her phone)
Not to mention, I always ask that the gifts be presented to my girlfriend directly. None of this dropping off with the receptionist nonsense!
The Alchemist staff is always kind enough to make their way through the sea of children, and classrooms at the school to find my girlfriend, and personally hand her the gift. They also apparently recite a little mantra. She always so overwhelmed with receiving a gift, that she never remembers what was said. But it’s something along the lines of «We’re here from Alchemist & Co. This was sent to you from so-​and-​so, with love.»
Alchemist owner, Doris, has always been incredibly kind and helpful. I cannot say enough good things about this company!
Guys (and Lesbians), if you’re trying to sweep a girl off her feet, step your game up. Flowers are played. Send her breakfast in bed, and I promise the next time, you’ll be serving it to her personally.
Yessir.

I finally had enough of waiting for my delivery refund from Feb. and have now reported this business to BBB. I was promised a refund of my delivery fee for a service that was not provided. I did not receive a refund and tried to reach Doris via e-​mail and phone in March, May and June. No return calls no return e-​mails.
Horrible business practices. I shouldn’t have trusted her for a refund that was promised considering she didn’t keep her end of the bargain for delivery guarantee either.

I also ordered this for Valentine’s Day delivery using the Groupon deal. Unfortunately, my husband’s Breakfast in Bed never arrived. I emailed Doris and she explained that the delivery driver just skipped out on my husband’s delivery. To make up for it, she said she would include two portions of everything and have it delivered the following weekend. Well, it arrived in one of those flimsy donut/​cake boxes. It wasn’t even the hard cardboard kind — it was soaked in oil, dirty, and crushed in several corners.
We opened the box and was dismayed to see that the items promised in the description and the follow-​up email were either replaced with other items or missing. There wasn’t even enough for a single person, much less a double portion. The juice was obviously not fresh-​squeezed and the sandwich bread was hard and stale. I like rustic… but not THAT rustic. The newspaper was missing. The mini muffins and danish were missing. The fruit cup contained a single strawberry amongst apple chunks. The ‘love note’ that took me a while to come up with wasn’t included either. The sandwich was also missing the brie, basil, and radicchio. The only thing on that sandwich was a few slices of portobello mushroom and the spread. The sandwich was literally 3″ x 6″ — how the heck is that a 2-​person portion?
I called Groupon and they were extremely apologetic and refunded me the cost of the Groupon. I think I was fair in giving Alchemist & Co. a second chance. They over-​promised and under-​delivered. I’ve never given a 1-​star rating before, but I had to do it this time. Seriously, they normally charge $ 240 for something I could throw together for under $ 20? If it was elegant, served in nice one-​time use bowls (like a decorative plastic bowl) instead of using styrofoam cups that were all nicked and marked up, then it would make sense.

Although it sounds like this small business was overwhelmed by Valentine’s Day Groupon purchases, I used my Groupon to surprise my wife with breakfast in bed last Sunday morning, and it was wonderful! Delivered right on time, and everything yummy.
It came in a big white cake-​box with ribbon tied in a bow on top, and a bouquet of beautiful red roses inside. My wife loved the attention and pampering, and quickly posted a photo of the whole thing on her Facebook page to make her girlfriends jealous. (It worked!)
The coffee was hot and delicious, the croissants delish, the OJ freshly squeezed, etc. And there was enough for the both of us to have a light breakfast.
Suggestion: everything inside comes in disposable plastic/​paper «take-​out» type packaging, so have your own bedtray and all the china, silver, cloth napkin, glassware, etc. secretly set up in advance so you can make a quick transition to «Plaza-room-service”-style presentation, once she opens the box!

I ordered one of their tray service yesterday and it was delicious! I was worried too after reading the Unilocal reviews but the service I received was nothing like that the one-​star Unilocal reviewers had mentioned. The OJ was cold, the mini champagne was not chilled but it was cold. Coffee was warm, and the breakfast sandwich were delicious. Love the melting brie! I am really glad there is a service like this because a lot of times, I don’t even know what to give to my boyfriend! And I find Doris ’ packets are so clever and creative, not too frou frou for the men. Good job ALCHEMIST! Ignore the bad reviewers!

would give 0 stars if i could. our valentine’s day was turned upside down because of this company. the breakfast was never delivered after waiting and waiting. this is after several phone calls confirming the time of delivery.
the upside to this is groupon refunded me. i love groupon they have amazing deals and are completely supportive of their customers.
shame on alchemist and co. for messing up so many costomers’ special day with their loved ones.

I am the «lucky» guy that was given a box. If the box had arrived on time, arrived with food at the appropriate temperature, arrived with the items promised… this would have been an amazing/​loving/​thoughtful/​memorable gift.
The idea is amazing and would be a Valentines beyond comapre.
My box arrived 4.5 hours late, with cold coffee, warm oj, an amazing sandwich, great pastries, a coke can of champagne (? didn’t know they made it that way ?), and a cheap pastry box. I was asked by my fiancée if I also had a paper, and I guess that mine was forgotten. So, beyond being tied to my home waiting for a delivery, it is actually a fantastic idea for a V-​day gift, or any day you want to make memorable.
As a fellow small business owner, I am being generous with my rating, but Alchemy needs to learn how to scale up. Seriously.
Doris has been difficult to reach, and has given zero followup. Groupon made things right. I enthusiastically endorse Groupon. Doris, you have a good idea. Next year overspend on the delivery staff, and try it again. You can redeem yourself by pleasing hundreds with great memories that last a lifetime. My memory of this says that I wouldn’t spend the money. But, if done right, this would be quite the gift.

I’m glad I got the groupon for this one and didn’t pay the full price. I have a hard time justifying the breakfast I got for $ 99, let alone $ 240 as advertised on the website. I feel like for that much I could have gone to a bakery and gotten a plethora of freshly baked pastries and juice. When the breakfast I ordered for my boyfriend arrived, the coffee was cold (as other reviewers have stated) and the «sexy chilled champagne» was pretty much a room temp soda can. Not to mention, the advertised breakfast was a portobello mushroom sandwich on brioche and I got a sausage sandwich on a baguette (my boyfriend and I are both vegetarian) so that was a huge let down. I guess I sort of expected the breakfast to be fancier and what I got was more of a thrown together assortment of sub par things.
Next time I think I’ll just stick with making the breakfast myself.

Ordered the breakfast in bed to be delivered yesterday for Valentine’s Day. Was supposed to arrive before 10:30am and by 12:30pm it still wasn’t delivered. I had to jump through hoops to get in touch with Doris and when I finally spoke with her, she pulled every card in the book– driver never showed, traffic, car problems, etc etc. I even paid an extra $ 48 for delivery. Anyway, I requested for a refund and I just received the email confirmation this morning.

Groupon refunded my purchase when I called them — so if you purchased through Groupon, give them a call. Thanks Groupon!
I am giving 3 stars because I feel bad. Obviously the Valentine’s Day deliveries were pretty much a disaster — mine included (scheduled for the day AFTER V-​day). I work for a small business, so I know it can be really hard. Hope this helps everyone who had a bad experience.

Well, we finally got our order after speaking to someone at the Concierge service number (310) 278‑1988. It was 2 and a half hours late and utterly disappointing. Everything that was supposed to be hot was cold. At least the «Valencia orange juice» was warm. The sandwich was served on a baguette and again, was cold. Microwave re-​heating for that and the potatoes did not do them much service. The farm-​fresh fruit was a Styrofoam cup of cantaloupe and orange slices. There were 4 mini pastries, as promised, but they were dry. Fresh brewed coffee was cold and black. No sugar or crème provided. Sexy champagne was a warm can of Coppola’s sparkling white can. At the very least, they had the right day’s newspaper and the flowers were pretty. Card was generic and the box that held everything was a large cake box, full of green paper grass. Concierge couldn’t do much in the form of a refund. Owner is supposed to call tomorrow. This would have been an unbelievably wonderful gift if it had been what was advertised.

I ordered the breakfast in bed offered by the Alchemist & Co through Groupon. The service seemed great at first. The «owner», Doris called me to confirm sandwich choice and delivery time. I asked for a 7am delivery and Doris called back to say delivery was guaranteed by 10:30 am, but that they couldn’t pinpoint a time due to the amount of orders to deliver on Valentine’s Day. It is now 11:23, lunchtime by my boyfriend’s standards, since he works in the stock market (west coast time). Unfortunately, the gift has not been delivered. I called the number listed on the website and on Doris’ email and it is not a working telephone number. I have also emailed Doris and have received no response. I am afraid I too have been taken for $ 100! :(

I ordered breakfast in bed to be delivered for today, Valentines Day. It was supposed to be delivered by 12 and its almost 4 and nothing. I called their number and nothing. I emailed and Doris said they cannot do it today when this is the day I asked for today over a week ago. I have asked for a refund and gotten no response of yet. I would be interested to hear from others what might be successful to get the money back. Sounds like we all got taken.

I used their service for my wedding last year, and they did an amazing job with the flower arrangement. Everything looked so beautiful with personal touch, and it just showed how much Doris the owner put lots of work and kindness into what she does.
Then came up my birthday, my hubby ordered me ‘Bed and Breakfast’ (I think that what it’s called? or Breakfast in bed?), it was a very sweet gesture, since he was out of town that week. The breakfast was delicious and fresh, and it came in this really cute parisian box that you can keep. I use it in my bathroom to store lotions and body sprays and stuff. It is too cute!
Alchemist always delivers what’s promised, and never failed to make feel so special on those special occasions. Thank you Doris!
I definetely will be using them again in the future