Palo Alto Baking Company

I like the apple tart, couple other desserts!
However the staff here is so unfriendly, rude, uptight, maybe get some New Staff here to work at the register!
So, service isfast. but to me the greeter means alot!
— Smile. or get a new job if you are so unhappy here !
I love sweets and I would come here but not as often as I would like!
Need to find a new bakery to visit!

Ok here is a thing. I get it. All those people who buy a tea and spend an entire day at a table in your coffee shop. Terrible. I get it. I work from coffee shops in downtown Palo Alto and I spend a lot of time in them, sometimes I just have the tea, more often than not I end up eating there too because later on in the day I get hungry. So, my first time on California Street looking for a place to work. I am heading to Starbucks when I see the Palo Alto Baking Company. I peep in and it looks warm and cozy and lots of delicious looking food in the glass show case. So I think, ok Starbucks can do without my business, lets support what is local. I put my bag down and go to get a tea, my traditional morning starter. I order the tea (they do not have chai) and I ask for the wifi and the lady behind the counter says, «Sorry, wifi only for $ 5 purchase and above.» I am astounded. I have never heard of such a thing. I have heard of vendors who do not take credit cards for purchases under 5 or 10 dollars and I normally do not go back to them but no wifi because I bought a tea? At least have the courtesy to say that «I see you are new here. Normally we do not give the wifi out for under $ 5 purchases. Here it is today and I hope we will see you again.» That is courtesy and that is how you retain clientele and get loyal followers. This is not. So I tell her, «This is ridiculous» and I walk out and go to Starbucks where I am now working on their free Google Wifi and drinking my tea and having my breakfast too.
Two stars for what looked like a good ambience. One star for hospitality.
And in case you are wondering, the Starbucks on California Street is spacious, variety of seating options, courteous staff and don’t forget the free and fast Wifi.

Best bakery for a cake for a special occasion, hands down! I having been ordering their cakes for years and am never disappointed. Whether I place a custom order in advance or call up at the last minute I always show up at an event with a cake that gets raves and lots of, «where did you get this from?»
My favorite birthday cake is their «Chocolate Heaven», and that is exactly what it is, chocolate and heaven

Seriously underwhelming chocolate cupcake: a little dry, not very chocolatey, frosting without strong chocolate flavor. The place is clean and bright and the counter staff are polite and helpful, but I don’t know that I’d come back. Maybe their cookies are better?

Their cakes have good looking, but too sweet and either too dry or too wet. The princess cake is too wet and watery, the success cake is too sweet and other chocolate cakes are too sweet too. Was thinking to order a wedding cake from here but no thanks.
Their customer service is good though.

I regularly buy pastries on the week-​ends and very often at PABC because their pastries and tarts are excellent. However their customer service is going from bad to unacceptable.
Today I waited behind an other customer and when it was my turn the woman behind the counter sais «Just a minute» and disappeared. 10mns later she was not back and I left the store to run an errand. I came back some time later, waited behind two other customers and, once more, when it was my turn the woman disappeared. There was an other employee in the store looking at his cell phone but he never offered to serve me. The pastry cooks made a few appearances but also disappeared quickly. Finally I left and I doubt I will be back in this store.

worst customer service, I got a call to pick up my cake earlier (my doctor’s appointment made it so that I wasn’t able to pick it up at the original time) — then when I called to pick it up early, I was told that I couldn’t. skip this place, go to burlingame’s copenhagen bakery instead. Better treats and better people

This is my 3^rd time I am buying a bday cake here and each time the customer service is lower & lower. I think it is my last time.
Long story short — my last order was a chocolate cake I placed over the phone to be ready next day for pick up at 4:30pm. I confirmed a custom writing if they can do it at the time of the pick up. They said ‘Yes, of course!’ I wanted to make sure as I could have told them over the phone, but they said no worries at the pick up time is just fine.
Guess what?! There was no custom writing and the lady at the cashier told me the person who could do it left already! There was no apologies, nothing! She just said I can’t do anything about it!
So disappointing. She kept saying ‘you did not talk with me… I don’t know who do you spoke to.‘
Very passive approach and she even did not try to save the situation! Custom writing was very important to me. I said I am not buying a cake without it so I asked her to figure smth out. And she did! It came out a bit clumsy but at least I had it. So why she couldn’t offer this to me from the very beginning? Why this unnecessary discussion and passive attitude?

Great bakery! No macaroons :(. But lots of varieties that reminded me of my moms baking! Beautiful cakes!!! 10 cents for a big bag ;(

I’ve been here many times to study and eat sweets…
Apple Tart
–This was really yummy! It wasn’t too sweet and the apples were nice and crispy. I couldn’t finish the entire tart but I very much enjoyed it.
Red Velvet Cupcake
–The cake was overly moist and had no flavor. It tasted like white cake with red food coloring. And even worse the frosting was just plain frosting. Neither cream cheese nor vanilla! That’s not okay!
Mixed Fruit Tart
–The crust was so dry, and the custard was very flavorless. I ended up eating only the small fruits at the top. So sad…
I would have rated this place a 2 if I hadn’t had the apple tart and remembered from previous experiences that the spinach croissant was yummy!

Came here just to get a bottle of water so i could take some medicine. There were two people ahead of me but the person working here had her back turned. After some time the person at the front of the line said «hello» and the employee turned around and said «what» and the lady asked «can i buy something?»
Anyway i tried to pay for my water with a debit card and they would not accept it and said theres a $ 5 minimum so i just left. I know what standard credit card swipe fees are and they could have just charged me the .20…

I got me a cookie that looks like a giant thumbprint cookie. It was sorta a tough cookie and I expected more of the squishy texture but good nonetheless with the jam in the middle. There is an assortment of pastries and you can get a nice café lunch here too. Cute place but since I only came for the cookie, I cant really judge bloop

Spring Break 2015 in CA… Palo Alto Baking Company (PABC) is a nice little find on California Street just down the road from Stanford University. This fancy little bakery reminded me of Carlos Bakery in Hoboken… talented artisans creating a variety of beautiful pastries. We wandered past it as we returned to our car from Joanie’s Café a block away… and since we had just had lunch, we were on the prowl for a sweet… PABC filled the bill.
We ordered a slice of carrot cake and two hamantachen (or hamantash), one raspberry and one apricot. For those unfamiliar with hamantachen (like I was) there is a decades long argument over which Jewish treat is better… hamantachen or latke (see:
or
). The University of Chicago has had an ongoing debate on this conundrum for almost 70 years as of 2014. While tongue-in-cheek…the debate does highlight these two treats… and the hamantachen (usually sold only during the Jewish holiday Purim) that we had at PABC (and outside of the holiday of Purim) were delightful. I think the treat and the holiday are sort of like Fat Tuesday and Paczki… neat little traditions.
Stuffed with a fruity jam, the hamantachen dough was a bit like a shortbread and nice and crumbly. They were very good versions at the PABC, but since this was my first I am now on a quest to find more. Oh, the carrot cake was wonderful also. We managed to finish all the sweets and write the PABC down as one to return to… you should visit. Seating available inside, or take something home.

Time: 3:16pm/74°F overcast
Purpose: Had a appointment meeting with client on California ave. Came a bit early so wandering around was pretty much imminent.
Ambiance: Kinda dim near the seating area the display cases has lights to that of Vegas strip. 12 – 13 tables with optional booth like seating. 2 bistro style tables for sidewalk a doggy bowl. Massive display cases for cookies and pastries couple of stationary cake display boxes holds in their best looking dummy cake samplers. 2 rotating cake fridge with cakes available for purchase at a moments notice. Behind counter has bread baskets and loaf slicer. Portable built on site walk in fridge and freezer can been seen while paying.
Staff: Couple of girls no older than 22yrs old. Quiet not too talkative only answer to what you ask and nothing more. However their 115lb body frame sure gets around the place pretty fast. So I’m okay with that as people were coming in for their afternoon snacks.
Cleanliness: Grade B, not clean or clean I would place it as a half job kinda like. However there were people wiping and clearing tables while there so sort to say when they have the time it will be done.
Eats/​Drinks: Bearclaw $ 2.75 and large drip 20oz $ 2. Bearclaw was definitely fresh but the question to be ask was if it was made on site. I doubt it as the dough was yellow not off white color with brown freckles. Anyways it’s frozen out of box type just take out thaw and pop in oven. Coffee was Peerless not the best or worst just average coffee.
Products/​Services: Cookies, cakes, cold/​hot drinks, coffee by Peerless, wedding birthday/​anniversary cakes, cakes for all purposes, bread loafs, buns, various pastries, candies, yule log slices/​whole, bagels, bagel sandwiches, cannolis, macaroons, bite size, personal sizes, napoleans, cream puffs, eclairs, cupcakes, tarts, fruit bars, crème brulé, slices, gift boxes, soup/​salads.
Punch Lines: One of 3 bakeries nearby, fast/​efficient staff, flowing foot traffic, good size cookies, mellow setting, smell of bread, most are locals, flashy lights, never a dull moment, mesmerizing cake displays, lots of choices, street parking. Nearby cafes, restaurants, grocery stores, yoga studio, bar/​pub, post office, optometry, realtor.
Tradeoffs: You come here for a quick bite and perhaps some desserts for yourself, not a place to wow someone.
Final Thoughts: Very average bakery with mostly locals patronizing. I kinda knew what I was getting into when I saw the cupcake sprinkles were like Betty Crocker dark hue colors. Respectable artisan places does it themselves with less food colorings. Finally the pay by Belly with iPad is the only modern item I see, everything else seems outdated late 70’s-early 80’s. It’s a good place to meet up a friend for chats people watching keeps you occupy at times, or grab free local paper and read up.

Work receives fresh pastries from the bakery, their chocolate chip cookies are by far one of the best! We just recently ordered their Strawberry Crème cake for our owner’s birthday, it was just perfect! Not too sweet, moist and fresh strawberries! I saw that they have a Black Forest and a Tiramisu cake… can’t wait to try both real soon!

Pros:
— Smells like heaven inside. :)
— Nearly every baked good they sell is delicious, or at least average. Brioche loaf, mango mousse, princess cake, and carrot cake are standouts. Cookies are a cut above. Only have been disappointed by red velvet — but that’s because I’m a buttercream addict and they don’t drown theirs in buttercream.
— Fascinating slideshow of the various novelty cakes they’ve made before — from wine bottles to hamburgers to footballs, they’ve made them all.
— UPDATE 6÷11÷14: Recently added WiFi! Yay!
Mixed:
— Sandwiches. Never been disappointed by one, but never impressed either. Meh.
— Can be very stuffy. Great on cold winter days, terrible when it’s hot.
— Peerless Coffee is ok, but they brew theirs a tad weak for my taste. The one refill policy is pretty nice though.
— No (obvious) way to self-​bus your table (I leave my dishes stacked next to the trash can …), so this may sometimes lead to lack of seating when the staff are busy and haven’t come out to bus in a while.
Cons:
— I always feel a bit too poor and young (grad student) for the average clientele here, which tends toward retired folks and the VC/​startup crowd.
— The hum of the refrigerators and other appliances inside can be a bit loud. It isn’t covered up by the 96.5 KOIT light rock that they pipe in sometimes.
— UPDATE: Bathrooms are located deep in the bowels of the building, behind a set of doors and around a corner. It’s been remodeled and repainted, and the leaky faucet replaced, so this is back in good condition in my book. Nothing fancy, sort of a Mixed thing really.
With the recent updates, they would merit a half star increase (to 4.5) if I could give that. Unfortunately the heat and the loud fridges still make it less than perfect.

I recently started work in this area, and of course the first thing I would do is Unilocal for a dessert place to satisfy my sweet tooth! I like coming in here when I need a break from work. The smell of bread and other baked goods lure me in.
This place has a variety of pastries from breakfast to dessert! I fell in love with their almond croissant. It’s pretty big and all for about $ 2 something. I’ve also tried their baguette with egg and cheese which is $ 3. It’s a great togo breakfast item and their breads taste fresh!
Overall, great bakery/​café! One complaint I do have is some pastries are bit over priced, like $ 3 for an éclair! But nevertheless, you’ll definitely be seeing me here a lot!

The princess cake is above average. Great flavor:
The butter croissant is very good:
However, the bakery as a whole has gone downhill a little ever since a change of ownership a few years ago. They no longer make caneles.

PABC had some of the best service and worst cupcakes I’ve ever come across together.
Our cashier was incredibly friendly, polite and offered first thing to help us out with what we were trying to decide we wanted.
The problem? Is that what I came in for, the cupcakes? Were awful.
I’d purchased two mini vanilla and one large and boy am I glad I did. The mini’s came with cream cheese frosting. And sadly, I abhor cream cheese frosting. It also doesn’t usually belong on anything other than a red velvet cupcake. In fact so few cupcakes I’ve eaten in the last 5 years have had cream cheese frosting I wasn’t even aware bakers continued to use it.
So I scraped the frosting off, and the cupcake was. Meh. Cake. Basically what you’d get from a box? Not moist, just sheet-​cake ish. Blah. I threw the second one away. The larger vanilla had regular icing, (maybe egg white?) and it was over cooked. Almost hard and fairly difficult to get the wrapper off of. Again. Blah.
I’ve been having artisanal cupcakes for so long I’d forgotten what home baked cakes tasted like. And here at PABC, it’s strictly home baked. These are not top of the line sweets. You get what you pay for at .95 for the mini and 2.50 for the large. Heck, you may even overpay a little.
I probably will never come back. Even with the fantastic service :(

Stale Cakes and Cookies! Yes, seriously.
I picked up a small selection of mini desserts for my Husband and I to share and every single one of them was stale. How can a business operate like this? Admittedly I did come later in the day (around 4pm) but they all tasted like they were at least a day old. The Cupcakes were also both very dry and bland.
The service wasn’t much better as the lady behind the counter had this vibe that she would rather be doing anything else than serving me and boxed my items up without even cracking a smile.
A very generous 2 stars. I can’t possibly see this business lasting much longer if the quality does not improve.