La Esperanza Bakery

I love this bakery! Their bread is always freshly made and CERY delicious. The sucky thing is lately around the holiday season their lines are so long!!! But it’s definitely worth it the girls working here are always very sweet and helpful. I’m a loyal customer.

Best bread in all of Northern California! I’ve been coming here since I was small. The bread is amazing. Always fresh and everything you try is bomb. You can tell from the long lines that sometime go out the door that the bread is great. From the pruerquitos to the conchas it’s always fresh and yummy. Will recommend to anyone.

So the first time me and my girlfriend went here we got the tres leches cake and it was great, best cake I ever had. Kept telling my girlfriend we should come back soon for more. Fast forward 2 months later and it’s her family Christmas party and she orders another tres leches cake. This time the cake look fine but it wasn’t. The bottom of the cake seem burned and hard, the caked itself wasn’t spongy through out the cake and only on top, and my girlfriend asked for strawberry filling in the middle and there were barely in it.
Don’t think we will be coming back here for more since they don’t seem consistence with their products

The best Mexican bakery I’ve ever been to hands down. I’m sad I discovered it towards the end of my living in Sacramento, but the bread is so good I’ll drive up from the east bay to get my fix.
The bread is soft and tastes best when you get there around opening so it’s fresh and warm! It’s not too sweet and had a perfect balance to everything. My personal favorite to get is the pink croissants. I haven’t found another that tastes similar to it so it’s pretty unique! Second favorite is the pink cake with sprinkles. The only cake I’ve had that stays moist for a long time. Nice and cheap too, cheaper than most places at about 45 cents –85 cents per bread.
Make sure you stop by this place if ever in Sacramento. I always get bags full, and will continue to when I move to the east bay!

I must be honest and declare that this was the last resort when I was looking for a decent bakery for a wedding cake. My wedding cake. Well, my then fiancé’s’s really. I had visted other bakeries, American and European, as we wanted a good decent cake. I am Mexican, and most of my guests would be too, so we wanted something different as we have grown old with 3 Leches.
Well, I am so glad I gave them a chance. They were easy going on the costumization of the cake, the delivery, and charged half the budget we had. I knew in my heart it’d work because when I placed the order, I tried their bread, their churros and pastries and they were the best I had ever had, rivaling top bakeries in Mexico itself. The wedding cake did not disappoint– we even got compliments from our white guests, for christ sake.
I know they may not be as fancy or pretentious, but the quality and flavor they put on their products overcompensates for that.

Pan buen rico y caliente con el sazón de México
Simplemente es el pan igual siempre que vas

Best bread in sacramento, great family owned bakery. Everyone is super friendly and my children absolutely love coming here. A must see for everyone in the Sacramento area. My favorite is their pink she’ll sweet bread. Everything is so fresh. I can’t belive such a great quality for such an affordable price

Been coming to this place for years now. I always remember it as the place to go for pan dulce. I don’t know of any other place like this so I always stick with this place. Lots of variety and always fresh. Super inexpensive with is a plus. The cookies and empanadas to me are the best.

I knew it. I should have never sent those vibes out into the universe about Esperanza. I should have never said how they didn’t change.
I have been in town for a month, and they are changing. Let’s forget they have merged — once again — with Harvest supermarket next door. Let’s forget that I keep seeing more and more white families grinning from ear to ear while they stand in line for the pan dulce they discovered while in «Meh-​hee-​co.» Let’s just focus on the…
Conchas; signifcantly smaller. Puerquitos; smaller and hardly any molasses flavor. Ninos; where the hell is the raspberry jam you used to be able to sink your teeth into? Before there were long shavings of dried coconut adhered to the outer layer of the sponge roll, now it’s just coconut dust particles. A millimeter of raspberry flavored gelatin a mere suggestion against a dry sponge. Cookies with hot pink frosting/​shell; the size of Mother’s two to a pack. Manzana turnovers; all masa and nada manzana. A teaspoon of apple pie filling a whisper within a ginormous faux puff pastry shell.
This place is my childhood. It’s my nostalgia. A rock in the midst of a Franklin Blvd that is changing to the point where gentrification is slowly casting a shadow, moving forward like The Blob, from Sutterville to Fruitridge. I had Esperanza pan dulce at my wedding. I went here on Sundays with my nana.
My nana passed away a few weeks ago. Come on Esperanza, I can’t handle another loss. You’re one of the few good memories I have left of my hometown and my family.
Get it together.

Hands down the best Mexican bakery in the area. We drive from down from the foothills to get our fix. We’ve special ordered a large Tres Leche cakes that are «incredible». Also the daily selection of colorful and flavorful baked goods are always fresh and delicious. Don’t mind the long lines (that’s proof that they are good), because when get up to the counter, to pay, you’ll be «stunned» by the exceptional value.
I’ve said, more than once, «you get all that stuff for $ 8.00 !!!»
This is the kind of neighborhood institution I truly enjoy patronizing, and can see myself doing that for many years to come.

This is the only place I get my bread. I drive out of my way and the line is always long. I cant imagine anyone not loving this place.

I have been coming to this panaderia since a child in the 80s. My grandparents would drive us from Citrus Heights to south sac just for pan dulce… its that dang good!

I LOVE BREAD and this place smells sooooooo good!!! I don’t know what criteria deem a bakery «authentic», but all of my Hispanic friends recommend this bakery. Now I know why!
The line can be long, but it’s worth the wait. Service is a bit slow here because each person in line leaves with boxes of baked goods. There are so many breads to choose from. I felt like a kid in a candy store.
I ended up getting the bread that was shaped like a pig and another one that looks like a croissant topped with yellow icing. The pig bread was a little sweet and reminded me a little of gingerbread cookies, except, the crust was crispy and the rest was soft. The croissant looking one was filled with a strawberry jam.
Another thing about La Esperanza that blew my mind was the price. I got all 4 items for just $ 1.80! Say what?!
The breads were good, but my tip is to finish them the same day you purchase them. The next day, the bread gets a little hard. I didn’t want to waste them, so I dipped it in my morning cup of joe. That was good solution, but I liked the bread a lot better the first day.

My self and my family have been customers for many years now. The quality of the bread is always great and the service is very friendly. I noticed the lines can be long if you go during peek hours like early morning, during lunch time and specially near certain holidays. The store is not very big and its location can be a turn off for some people. Although once you get a taste of La Esperanza’s bread you will be hooked which is specially if you like mexican style sweet bread.

Yes, the line can get long, but you’ll wait because the bread is delicious. :)
The ladies are friendly and bilingual (English/​Spanish). Parking is spacious though the shop is not.

Yummmy always the freshest bread made daily. The one thing that sucks is the line but once you get the bread it makes it all worth it.

Moved to sacramento from San Jose close to two years now, and I have to say this is the best mexican bakery in Sacramento!
You can definitely count on the bread being fresh daily! The line is pretty much always super long, but as my dad says if a place is busy it is a good thing!!! Yes sometimes the lines are out the door, but it’s soooo worth it! Take your phone out go Unilocal,tweet, facebook or whatever you do to help pass the time, but stay!!!
I used to hate concha, but after trying them here OMG my new favs!!! So soft and yummy! The puerquitos (pigs) are gingerbread pigs and are amazing! Trust your eyes, if it looks good go with it!
We had tres leches cake twice here and it was amazing too!!!
Mm I think I will visit Esperanza tomorrow for some yumminess :)

I can see myself coming to this bakery every day but I would be gaining weight seriously!!!
We happen to be in the neighborhood bc my HB mows his mom’s lawn weekly. I actually was in the mood for tamales and was planning to purchase them here until I asked the guy in front of us how their tamales were. He said they were too dry so crap where am I getting them now???
They had a blurb in last year’s Sacbee so I know not to go by that. I guess I have to reach out to a former coworker now.
Anyway when you are planning to come here be sure to dress down. It isn’t in the best area of town. The bakery itself has tons of baked cakes, donuts, cookies, brownies, churros, macaroons, sugar cookies, bread and need I say more??? I ended up with a custard donut, huge macaroon and sugar cookie. Omg to die for they are so delicious!!!
And so cheap! So if you are in the neighborhood come here for some TDF desserts. You won’t regret it. And don’t forget to bring me some in Elk Grove!!! Hahaha.
I shall be back with my HB of course!

The first sign this was going to be a good visit:
The smell of cinnamon and sugar hitting my nose right when I walked in. Yum.
The second sign:
It was 6:30 pm on a Sunday night and the bakery was STILL busy with customers.
The good:
Tons of authentic Mexican baked goods. I felt somewhat intimidated by the selection, but in a good way. I settled for some familiar favorites – the ninos (jelly rolls) and custard filled donuts. Prices were awesome too – the donut was 60 cents and the ninos rolls were 80 cents each. What a bargain! I bought some to take into the office. The ninos were moist and delicious.
The meh:
The donut was a little greasy, but what can you expect at the end of the day? The custard inside was good still. No posted prices that I could see, but expect them to be reasonable – or just ask. The girl that helped me spoke English and Spanish. La Esperanza is located in South Sac, so don’t be surprised if things look a little rundown. The inside is also a little random, with other non-​baked goods and groceries.
Good to know: Credit card purchases under $ 5 have a small surcharge on them.
Landmarks to look for:
To get here, look for the Harvest Foods market. La Esperanza Bakery is located right next to it, and on the opposite side is the La Esperanza Market.
Will I return?
I’ve had this bakery bookmarked for some time in my quest for a good tres leches cake. I wasn’t in the mood for some today, but will definitely be back.

I went here to pick up a group lunch order this last Wednesday. Although a bit hard to find, there was plenty of parking. The bakery itself is located in a run-​down area, but the food itself is terrific.
Our order was all ready to go and we had pre-​paid. One of the gals even helped me carry it to the car! She was very friendly and said it was no problem.
We had beans, rice, torts, carnitas and all were piping hot and tasted wonderful. There was also some spicy salsa, and my co-​workers all said it was good.
Although its a bit far for me to drive on a normal day, if I was in the area and was hungry, this is the place I would stop at.

It was an odd set of circumstances that led me to this business:
There was an old landline at the house when I moved to CA and for several years I would get wrong # calls from men with Hispanic accents asking for Esperanza. I wondered just who was this Esperanza (and what did she do that she got so many different men calling and asking for her). Then one time a caller asked for ‘La’ Esperanza and I realized for the first time that it wasn’t a ‘who’, but a ‘what’, and had to be a business. I looked it up and found out it was a bakery rather due east from me and that it just took transposing a couple numbers in our otherwise similar phone numbers for me to get the call.
Out of curiosity about this place that was now mystery solved, I drove over there and I’m so glad I did … I have become a regular.
They have a huge variety of Mexican baked goods as well as other foods and beverages for sale. My favorite item is their ginger-​pigs, and they make a chocolate frosted brownie with walnuts that’s as good as any. The best part is, everything is cheap. You can come out of there with a lot of baked goods for very little money.
The only items I tried that I wouldn’t repeat were the churros that are too greasy for my taste, and the raised donuts that have more of a heavier, bread-​like texture than how I like them.
I definitely recommend this place. It’s popular, so be prepared to wait in line.