Regia Bakery

While planning a large Halloween party I was excited to try this neighborhood bakery. We love to support local owned businesses and reward them for investing in our community. After being impressed with their extensive selection of Mexican pastries, I began to tell the baker what we were looking for in a cake. Large sheet cake, split chocolate on one side, white cake on the other. Buttercream icing with a Day of the Dead theme. The baker showed me what he would do and I placed the order. This gave them three days to make the cake.
My wife picked up the cake just after the scheduled time. She was not aware of what I had planned with the baker. When she brought it home, I was shocked. It looked nothing like what he had drawn out for me. It was very poorly executed and actually had plastic Halloween decorations placed on the cake. It looked like a very low end grocery store cake (but several times the price). I chose not to return back to the bakery because the party was starting and time had run out.
Now for the tasting…
The icing was indescribable. Cheap, greasy and anything but buttercream. We aren’t sure what is was??? The white cake was burned and very dark brown on the bottom. It was dense and chewy. The chocolate side was thin, overcooked and very dry… VERY dry.
Having a significant sweet tooth, I was excited to have a quality cake in the house. It was nothing but a disappointment. An expensive disappointment. It’s now sitting in the trash outside. My lingering question now is, will the landfill take it? It’s that bad…

This simple Mexican bakery is located on 183B just a few blocks after you cross the Cedar Park Leander city limits. When you enter this establishment you will notice there are no tables or chairs. You will be engulfed with the scent of freshly baked desserts.
Off to the right near the cash register you will find large pizza pans with metal thongs. Use these items to pick out the baked goods that you wish to purchase. The best part about these baked gems of goodness is that they are not overly sweet. The unique flavor is each item is allowed to shine through and is not masked. They are a perfect addition to your morning coffee and or the star of the show of any office brunch.
Sometimes I crave the pastries that I had as child. This is the place I go to get my fix.
Regia’s always has a large selection and the items are big. They are almost super sized, honestly they are so well sized you feel a need to share with a friend. You will find chocolate cake, vanilla cake, cookies, empanadas, polvorones, conchas and marranitos, just to name a few of their baked selections. Marranitos happen to be my all time favorite.
I normally request my baked goods placed in a nice box rather then a bag. Trust me when you get these home everyone will want to look at each one before making a final decision.
I am giving this place 4 stars out of 5, the only thing this place is missing is some amazing in house made flour tortillas.

The theme for dinner this week was Mexican. Making enchiladas and sauce from scratch was going to be very time consuming. What to do for a quick dessert? Unilocal search found me a Mexican bakery open on Sunday.
A short drive north on 183 and I had dessert. It’s a small store in a strip mall. It was packed with customers and of course I was the only gringo there. On the right, when walking in, are six tall stand up cases loaded with assorted pastries. The lady behind the counter called me over. She handed me a silver tray and pointed to where the tongs were hanging. It’s a help yourself service.
One by one, I opened each case and made my selection. Then I realized the tray was getting heavy. I choose 9 pastries. Back at the checkout counter the lady bagged my goodies. The price was 8 dollars and change. Such a deal!
Please don’t ask me what I got because I can’t pronounce their names. So far, I have tasted 3 different types and they were all delicious.
Trust me, I will be back

I loved this place up until last week when a heavy woman behind the register was sweating profusely and wiping her face with her hands… then attempted to place my pan dulce in a bag without wearing a glove! When I reminded her to put on her glove she said the health inspector was just there and almost fined them for not wearing gloves when working the register and placing bread bare handed in bags. When I got home, my daughter found a hair in a cookie. I’m done going here.

Maybe, like me, you love Mexican pan dulce, but don’t want to feel like a cultural idiot when making your bakery selections, so you just buy donuts someplace else and pass up a gem like Regia.
Me, I was looking for something different to take to a brunch this morning, so googled pan dulce, Cedar Park, and I got Regia Bakery. Went over there this am (they open at 7 even on Sunday, but 9 am they were still pulling fresh yummy goodness out of the ovens, so don’t worry. Regia is between Cedar Park city limits and Crystal Falls Parkway, so easy enough to find in nearby Leander.
Now, I went in there expecting to need to be able to pronounce polvorone, and orejas, but no need. The nice ladies up front were happy to assist in English or Spanish, and since I didn’t have any questions, they just handed me a pizza tray and a tongs, and pointed me to the wall (yes wall) of bakery cases.
Empanadas? Check (pineapple, apple, dulce de leche, and pumpkin). Orejas? Of course. Polverones? Absolutely. Little pastries filled with cheese, cherry, apple pineapple, or just plain old croissants, and other non filled sugary treats? Oh yea.
They even have «kolache» what you Texans call sausage inside of a pastry.
Everything was fresh, and delicious. And cheap? At 80 cents per pastry (and these are big as your hand, I thought it was quite a value.
Let’s support this local business! Pan Dulce for all!

A jewel in Leander, Cedar Park! I am Mexican and have had my share of good ‘ol PAN DULCE (Mexican sweet breads) over the years. I tried Regia’s conchas, orejones, empanadas, and assorted cookies and they are as authentic as they come! I first went there on a friend’s recommendation and I keep going back. What finally prompted me to write about this bakery was the traditional ROSCA DE REYES that they made this year!!! WOW!!! I have been in Austin for 13+ years and have not had one THIS GOOD. The Rosca had a nice balance of flaky /​bouncy (if that makes any sense!) Sweet enough without being overpowering, and was topped off with the actual dried fruit I grew up on in Mexico! Always fresh breads, great selection, awesome helpful bi-​lingual staff!!!

Honestly I don’t know if I can properly rate this location. I can tell you that I really like it and why, but I don’t know how it compares to other Mexican Bakeries. This is the first one I have been to.
The place is located in a small strip mall a little south of Crystal Falls in Leander. Walking in the door you are immediately greated with that wonderful aroma you get at a good bakery that makes its goods onsite. They have a HUGE selection of pastries and baked goods with origins from south of the border. I really had no idea what most of the stuff was.
The young lady working behind the counter was thankfully bi-​lingual and more than willing to help out a gringo like me with a selection of goodies. Sam and I picked out a half dozen items that looked apetizing and made our way over to the counter.
When the tally was added up, I was shocked to see my total was less than $ 3. We had a lot of stuff that barely fit in a lunch size paper bag.
Everything that I tried from there was really good. Definately will be heading back. Maybe I will even learn what it is that I ate. :)