El Quetzal Bakery

Excellent food, once we figured out what to order, since the menu, names & prices were all in Spanish. We did not know it was a Guatemalan /​Salvadorian /​Mexican café & bakery until we read their delivery van on the way out. Take a right once inside bakery /​store to find the café seating area. A nice selection of sodas (including corn free sodas) were in a glass fronted refrigerator in the café area. Menus reside on the tables at all times.

My review is centered around the sweet bread:
The product is very authentic, extremely well made, and fresh.
Compared against their Guatemalan counterparts, the bolillos here are a bit bigger and fluffier; I did find that texturally the crumb is less compact. Nonetheless, the product is still very good and resembles very closely what you would get on a sleepy panaderia in Antigua.
I’ve visited them on the weekends, and would recommend going in the morning, as the evening gets busy and they tend to run out of staples (champurradas, for instance.)
Parking is small, but not impossible. Bring cash or debit cards, amex is not accepted.
Enjoy!

Guatemalan bakery :)
This was a great experience to try new and fun food. I love sweet Mexican bread like I love my own mother. When the weather starts to get chilly and the days get shorter, it makes sweet bread even more desirable and delicious.
I had heard of El Quetzal Bakery from one of my Guatemalan coworkers and I had also seen it before. She said she buys bread from them and ships it to her mom in Florida because it IS THAT GOOD.
So I went on a chilly early morning to El Quetzal Bakery. The location can be a little tricky to get to, and parking can be an issue too. If there’s no parking, just park next to the other buildings and walk there :) The area may be a little sketchy sometimes, but it’s OK, don’t worry.
The bread was warm and the aroma hit me as I walked into the bakery. It’s part restaurant and convenience store too, specializing in Guatemalan goods. Each baked good has a little section with its name and price. Most Mexican panaderias (bakeries) don’t have the name nor price, and I was really glad to see that El Quetzal did have the names and prices.
I ended up getting an assortment of everything so that I can try almost everything. My favorite was this long, oval, brown, thin, and crisp baked good. I forgot the name of it but they had a ton of them, and now I know why.
They have a $ 5 credit card minimum and the bolillo bread is really good too.
I approve of this review!

The quetzal is a beautiful, central american species of bird known for its bright, multi-​colored feathers. Ancient MesoAmerican cultures were attracted to this birds abundant rainbow plumage, and worshiped the species for centuries.
The quetzal is still revered for both its physical appearance and its song, so imagine my surprise when I saw one hiding on Hillcroft.
It wasnt actually a bird, but a central american bakery (sorry for the subtle misdirection) serving up cheap, homecooked style meals and delicious breads and pan dulces.
Some of the platos del dias are standard Mexican tacos or tortas, but other options include Salvadoran and Guatemalan specialty pupusas and other intriguing dishes.
Everything is very authentic and tastes great, and its worthwhile to stop and pay this bird a visit if you’re in the area.