Ben Lomond Baking Company

Yummy coffee and Italian baked goods! The only thing that would make this place better is if they supported organic or local ingredients… I bought a Mediterranean sourdough loaf one of the bakers created and it is deeeelish!

A truly Italian gastronomic palace. So expensive (in my book) and so worth it! In my book, they have the best cappuccino I’ve had since I visited Italy eons ago. The biscottini in a jar on the counter in the cash register area are so fabulously delicious and not too hard as many in the stores are but home made Italian ones aren’t. Great authentic pastries. And just enjoyed one of their breakfast quiches. Meraviglioso!

Being a faithful «shop local» shopper, I was extremely excited when the bakery opened within walking distance to my home and eagarly went to check it out.
PROS: Staff was amazing, friendly and extremely helpful.
A friend purchased cake pops as a house warming gift for us and the cake pops were excellent!
CONS: hot chocolate was vile. So vile, a 9 year old wouldn’t even drink it. Not to mention it was faily cold for ‘hot’ chocolate.
The adults had two different breakfast sandwiches, which were displayed beautifully. Both sandwiches were ice cold in the middle, which was immediately a let down. I do not think they were baked or assembled at the bakery, unless they were baked, frozen, unthawed and reheated.
I was hoping to see fresh baked sliced sandwich bread avilable for purchase, but there was none.
We spent $ 20 on two sandwiches, 1 watered down coffee and 1 vile hot chocolate and left a $ 10 tip for the staff, because guilt.

Everything is delicious. The new bakers are amazing! Every time I go in I try two or three things and I’ve not been disappointed. Rich yummy goodness!

Was really excited to have this open up but both times we visited, that excitement was deflated. There were some things that looked good but nothing extremely appealing. We got coffee, cookies and muffins… none of which blew my mind. They reminded me exactly of stuff I could buy in plastic containers from the Safeway.

Cute, friendly, and delicious!
Not from the area have only been there twice, both times incredible!
The first time I had a slice of Italian chocolate cake absolutely fantastic! We also got a loaf of fresh baked bread to take with us, incredible!
The second time was even better. We arrived just as they Opened, The smell a baked goods was in the air. Such amazing selection, being Italian I always have to get a cannoli everywhere I go, now it’s not the best but it’s fresh and flavorful. I’m picky when it comes to my cannoli.
But I also ordered a carbonara croissant and that blew me away!!! The flavors were making my taste buds dance!!! My friend got the peach bourbon ricotta croissant also absolutely incredible! We might live two hours away but you will from now on will always be our stop for baked goods

Great for quick and filling breakfasts, tucked in the middle of the redwoods. The filled croissants are a must!

Nice selection of baked good and we
Appreciate the gluten free selections as well. The staff is helpful and friendly. We like the relaxed atmosphere.

Great place for a quick and tasty breakfast. Eat there sitting on redwood stumps or take it with you. The pastry items are delicious and the house coffee very good.
They have speciality coifed. And for an afternoon treat gelato.
Overall, a good morning stop. I have been there about seven times and each item so good I want seconds. And sometimes I indulge and buy a second item.

I went here before looking at Unilocal,so I was not biased by any reviews.
I’ve tried multiple things here:
— Bitter Heart: about the size of a half dollar, it is a rich chocolate cookie with a hint of bitterness. Its size is all you need due to its richness
— Chocolate chip & gingersnap cookies: got them a day old so half off, woo! They were still pretty fresh and easily breakable without any signs of staleness setting in.
–Blackberry pie: holy moly that was so good
–Apple pie: I’ve had better (had 1 – 2 days after buying, was in fridge and heated up)
–cup of blueberry and chocolate gelato: OMG what a delicious mix. must try.
–and a few others that were not significant enough for me to remember
I’ve been here twice and when I looked at the current Unilocal rating, I was in shock. This place is definitely better than 3 stars. The staff is friendly. My only complaint is that the baked goods do not seem to last for very long – their staleness seems to settle in relatively early. Otherwise, I love going to this place and hope the best for them.

I’ve been back a few times and you are working out those kinks. The coffee is a little bit hit or miss, but you have adjusted the prices and the staff is tip-​top.
Keep up the great work.

Wow! What a great vibe! So nice to enjoy such a cool, modern bakery/​café in Ben Lomond. I enjoyed the décor, the atmosphere and the very helpful staff was friendly.
Oh yes, I had the apple cinnamon muffins and macaroons. So divine, absolutely perfect and delicious. I can’t wait to visit again soon.
Next time I’ll bring my laptop and enjoy the free wifi while sitting beneath the majestic redwoods on the front porch of the café.

I’m a longtime SLV resident and expat New Yorker of Italian descent. Up till now, the only place south of SF where I could get decent sfogliatelle and local biscotti was The Biscoteria, in Redwood City. I’m thrilled to have a bona fide Italian bakery only two miles from my home.
The pastries are delightful for their small size, which allows people to sample many new tastes. The savories (including a carbonara croissant, filled with pancetta and very moist egg) are light and perfectly seasoned. The gelato is fine. Service is first-​rate.
I worry about this place because I’m afraid that people in this area who have never had really good Italian pastry, might not understand how to evaluate the goods. (Witness the reviewer who admitted that s/​he had never eaten sfogliatelle, but felt qualified to review it anyway.) If you’ve never had real Italian pastry before PLEASE check out the Ben Lomond Bakery. Use it as your baseline, and then try other places for comparison. I’m massively impressed with this place, and I hope you will be too.

This place has the best croissants I have ever had! I brought my 4 daughters here plus a friend and Mario at the counter was so nice! He was patient with us while we decided and so friendly with my girls. It’s sometimes hard to find places that don’t mind dealing with younger clientele, but Mario was awesome! The rest of the crew was very nice too and our hot chocolates and coffees were great as well. My latte was yummy! Perfect before school morning stop. Just make sure you give yourself time before school traffic of course! Then sit and enjoy their sweet spot. :)
2months later… still great!

I think the food here is amazing! Love the stuffed croissants, the arancini, and the little savory pastries. I have a pretty small sweet tooth, but also enjoyed the mocha cookie and shortbread. The staff is super friendly and warm.
The reason why I knocked a star off is the confusing pricing and ring up process. Of the four times I have been here EVERY time they have charged me incorrectly or forgotten something. The other day my husband picked up two regular coffees and a regular croissant for 18 dollars… Obviously wrong. When I went back a few days later and picked up a couple things they said my total was 27! I asked them to re-​ring it and the total was 19… he tried ringing it up three times and got three different totals. This will not prevent me from eating here or recommending this place to others, I think the employees probably need to work on memorizing the prices and using the register. I just don’t like feeling like I am haggling with someone to get the price the item is marked at. But the food is awesome! I am sure they will work it out.

Little bites were absolutely cute and delicious. Still need to work out the kinks… The inventory… They run out of a lot of stuff by 1130am… That should not still be happening!!! But i am rooting for them.

My whole life I’ve been a pastry fanatic. When I was diagnosed five years ago with celiac, you can imagine the tragedy. I tried gluten-​free everything — cakes, pies, muffins, cookies — but was always disappointed. In the end, I basically gave up pastry, since if it doesn’t taste wonderful, what’s the point?
Then I tried the gluten-​free banana chocolate chip muffin at Ben Lomond Bakery Company. It is THE BEST GLUTEN-​FREE MUFFIN in all the land. No kidding. It is not dry. It is not heavy. It is not crumbly. It does not taste like beans or sawdust. It is everything a muffin should be: moist, springy, yummy and delicious. Oh joy!
Honestly, I would come to Ben Lomond Bakery for the coffee, the sunny counter, and the friendly staff anyway, but the muffin makes it a total must.

Four Stars for the staff. They were very friendly and helpful.
Two stars for the products. I ordered the Canoli ($ 1.50 ea) and the Sfogliatella ($ 2.50 ea)
I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy canoli from Boston North End (Modern Pastry) and some other local to Santa Cruz eateries. Here at Ben Lomond Baking Company the «canoli» is bite sized slightly larger than a sample size. It appeared a whole canoli was broken in half, rather than leaving whole and charging the three bucks for a single item. The broken shell does put one off just a little for the astetics The filling was ok, but not creamy as I had with the others. The canoli is filled to order, but unlike Modern there is only one choice of filling. Overall, the canoli was just ok.
The Sfogliatella was very dense. I’ve never had this pastry before but looking at the shell one would think more lite body. There was a slight almond flavor, but nothing more distinguishing for me. Overall, it was ok, but lacking.

I am so happy to have a nice bakery here in my home town. I went a little later in the day like around 1pm. They were sold out of quiet a bit of stuff, I will go much earlier in the day next time.
I tried a little bit of everything, a pistachio cookie, mini brioche, and a cream horn– I brought it back to my family, and rave reviews all the way around.
Pros
great prices, tastes good, easy to find location with plenty of room, they accept cash and card, supports other local businesses
Cons
iffy parking, no website to display hours of operations
Over all I will be coming back for more yummy goodies,
I hope to see them at the local farmers market…

FABULOUS assortment of delicious Italian and domestic savory and sweet pastries, gelato and coffee/​espresso drinks out in the redwoods. Some items gluten-​free or vegan but you can’t tell by tasting. I’ve been test eating the menu item for a month and they just keep getting better.