Vanilla Moon Bakery

Cupcakes are good. But I wanted something different, so I tried a small pistachio tart.
Basically it had pastry dough on the bottom, plain whipped cream in the middle,
and then topped with fruit and pistachios. It was $ 8.50. Pretty steep for basically
whipped cream. Not worth it. Perhaps if it had a pastry cream in the middle or something
else, but very disappointed given the price.

Popped in 40min before closing… Not much left and was about to leave when these delectable little sandwich cookies called «better than oreos» caught my eye… Challenge accepted!!! Vanilla buttercream sandwiched between two soft, rich chocolate shortbread cookies embossed with the bakery name… They were almost too pretty to eat. Almost.
One bite and I was done in. So sad I don’t live anywhere near here, will definitely be making more trips soon to feed my new craving! (And try more!)
(Minus one star for weird attitude from young cashier… Ever go somewhere and they just make you feel like your very existence is a huge annoyance/​burden on them? Even when you’re in & out in 3 min and a totally low/​no maintenance customer? Like, Sorry for servicing your establishment?) :/​
But I’ll still go here for the deliciousness, that’s what matters most

The cupcakes are good, but 48 hours to order a couple dozen mini cupcakes is a bit much when all your competitors (Suzie Cakes, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Kara’s) can seem to do it in less that 24 hours and are literally on the same street. I have used you in the past a few times, but feel that doing business with you is a bit of a hassle. There is not flexibility or customer service. I understand that it takes time to bake, but if your competitors can figure it out… it can’t be that hard. I will take my business elsewhere. Too bad… my company does a lot of events and we are always looking for local companies to cater.

Let me start my review by saying I really like vanilla moon for tea and pastries in the morning. It has a cozy feel and the scones are done right! So, I was very disappointed when I finally made it there for lunch. Looking at the salad menu, everything looked delicious. I settled on the roasted brussel sprout salad but was really disappointed when it arrived and the portion was ridiculously small. I’m guessing it was maybe a 1 cup scoop spread thinly at the bottom of the salad bowl to make it look like more. It was delicious but for 13.50 I was expecting a lot more! I wish I had taken a picture to capture the ridiculousness of it. I’m sorry vanilla moon, I’m not coming back for lunch!

Today I tried this Bakery on a whim while passing. We were NOT disappointed! Small sit-​down area however REALLY beauitful atmosphere. Love the chandeliers and vibrance of the place. We left with this beauitful lemon meringue mini tart. It was heavenly. A little pricey but once eaten it was well worth the price ($ 8). I’ll defiantly come back. A really cute place.

Coffee is great here
Scones are the best I ever had
Pastries are great
Love the look and feel of this local place
The cupcakes are no good.

The service here is really friendly without being overbearing. The cupcakes are definitely worth trying each and every one of.

I actually haven’t tried their cupcakes or pastries, their apparent claim to fame, and I still love this place! A lovely environment, it made me feel like I was in a fancy french bakery. It is by far the best cup of coffee in the Laurel Street area, I wish it were more in the center of downtown and I’d come every day. The free wifi makes it a perfect spot to get some work done, or to have a coffee date. I’ll try the cupcakes next!

If it wasn’t for their attitude, everything would be perfect. I’m a pretty good customer, especially for their delicious grilled chicken salad, however the young attitude and lack of customer service is what’s the cause for this review. They treat you like you’re not allowed to ask them for anything, more like it’s an inconvenience, no smile, nothing. … maybe after reading this their attitude will change… doubt it.

A super cute favorite secret spot of mine =)
We like the simple french press (back when I drank coffee!) The food is great and fresh! The cupcakes are always so fun. I’ve gotten birthday cupcakes here a few times and the birthday boy/​girl was always super happy! xo!
The café is really small! =)

This place is definitely not what it use to be, I got the chocolate chip cookie dough cupcake and it was hard, dry and flavorless!!! Two tables where messy and were never cleaned! Definitely NEVER coming back!!! Told the young lady at the register and she argued that this one was in the fridge and the other two weren’t therefore it was hard. No apology or anything she just kept arguing that it was in the fridge. I gave it to her and said I was never coming back.

My office used to order food from Vanilla Moon every Friday for lunch. Until they complained that we couldn’t add items to our order because IT HOLDS UP THEIR KITCHEN LINE!!! Seriously??? The customer service is terrible.

The place is cute and all, good looking cupcakes, but I paid $ 12 for a salad that was supposed to have lettuce, bacon, croutons, olives, eggs, avocado, tomatoes and salami and found myself with a plate of plain grass. I asked for it to be with no salami and tomatoes, but still no bacon or croutons were founded. Maybe ¹⁄₈ of an egg was there. I had the lunch of a rabbit for $ 12. No thanks!
Also it’s 200°, get some A.C.

Here’s what happens when a customer walks into an empty store and stands there for two minutes without being asked what they want by the person behind the counter.
The customer leaves, never to return, you get a one star Unilocal review and the customer trashes your store to anyone who ever asks him ‘hey, do you know a good place to buy cupcakes?’ and recommends they go see the nice people at Susie Cakes instead.

The coffee here sure as hell beats Starbucks or Peet’s. The service is friendly and the place is cute.

Every single time I think about checking out to this place, it’s closed because it’s Sunday, but I finally got the chance to grab my laptop to do some work (free wi-​fi!) and come on a Saturday.
I was enticed to come from the pictures of their giant macarons posted by Unilocalers, but I was sad to find out that they stopped making it :(. Since I was there and wanting a dessert, I chose their chocolate chip cookie cupcake and wasn’t so sad anymore. It was the perfect combination of chocolate chip AND cupcake and it was soft and moist and not super heavy, but it was definitely a satisfying dessert. It was a nice day so I was able to enjoy it on their outdoor seating and they also have water where you can just dispense it yourself.
Overall, delicious desserts, accessible water, free wifi and nice patio? I’m sold on this place!

Vanilla Moon is one of the very many cute cafes situated in downtown San Carlos.
I’ve been trying to come here for a while and finally did during a work lunch. We spent about $ 30 for two people on a panini, a chicken curry salad, and two teas. Everything was pretty good and freshly made.
Seems like they have a plethora of cookies, cupcakes, breads as well as various sandwiches, salad choices.
The space is cute and cozy but somewhat oddly dark inside, except for the 1 – 2 tables right by the window.
No wifi, Sadness, Otherwise I would probably visit more. Overall, a good stop for a quick bite/​snack or sweet treat.

This was a sweet find in San Carlos!
I ordered some dessert — to share with friends after dinner:
(1)Tiramisu cupcake
(2) Red Velvet cupcake
(3) Chocolate w/​peanut butter filling cupcake
(4) Caramel Apple cupcake
(5) Snickerdoodle cookie — a bit hard, not soft cookie
(6) chocolate chip cookie — soft and chewy!
All of the desserts were delicious! :) Not too sweet either, which is nice. Prices are kinda hefty though for the cupcakes. There’s some tough competition in this downtown area, that’s for sure!

I stumbled upon this little café by accident as I was in the area and decided to pop in due to its beautiful décor which really complimented the beautiful weather and outside seating on that sunny day. Upon entry it’s like pastry heaven! There is so much to pick from, especially when you come early enough. I came in to try their breakfast quiche and soup of the day but unfortunately it was all out and their regular meals don’t get served until 11am. So I settled for a pistachio croissant. AND BOY, was I blown away. Thank goodness they ran out of the others because I wouldn’t of had the opportunity to try this one of a kind croissant. You can see the pistachios on the outside sprinkled on, and I thought maybe some pistachios were just baked with it like almond croissants, but there is actually a crème that is spread in the middle that is absolutely delicious. It absolutely complimented the vanilla lavender latte I ordered. The latte was light and not too strong or sweet with just a little bit of froth on top. Its definitely hard to find such a pairing because I’ve had experiences where the pastry was too sweet and made the coffee flavorless or vice versa. But definitely not the case here.
The only downsides I would say is that there is a lot of foot traffic here, so if you sit alongside the wall you may get distracted when studying. I also chose to sit at a corner table which I noticed was not wiped down, and had crumbs all over it. Another thing is that the print can be extremely small, so it can be difficult to read the items behind the counter because you can’t get any closer. But on the positive side, that is just because they have so many items to offer.
On another day, I got to try their macarons and mexican wedding cake. The mexican wedding cake was a bit dry for my taste, and quite floury. But the macarons were amazing. Just the perfect amount of sweetness with the freshness of of the filling in the middle. My favorite was probably the Earl Grey and the Rose flavors.
This café definitely reminds me of the ones from Europe. Just a nice place you can sit and enjoy the afternoon and catch up with your friends. There’s various breakfast items, macrons, dessert, and even wine and beer. A good place to just relax and enjoy the weather.

Just my luck that the one time I didn’t read many of the reviews before coming here I really should have done because had I done so I would probably have carried on walking right past and into the place next door (no mentioning names as Unilocal might decide to pull my review). I had very much the same experience with the Macaron’s that everybody else had.
The Bakery is very cute with a small amount of seating and I found service to be very friendly even if they did give the wrong flavor Macaron yet the baked goods are just ok bordering on mediocre.
Macaron $ 3.25 (
) — Incredibly hard and Brittle. One bite into it and it just cracked and fell apart. Macaron’s are supposed to be chewy.
I asked the young lady serving which flavor she recommended out of the Strawberry and Nutella to which she suggest the latter which I decided to go for but I think in the confusion of her training another member of staff I got the wrong flavor as the Nutella in the case were coated in Hazelnuts and the one I received wasn’t. It also had no Hazelnut flavor flavor at all.
Caramel Apple Cupcake $ 3.50 (
) — Dense, dry, no Apple flavor, over whipped frosting.
Banana Nutella Cupcake $ 3.50 (
) — Not as dense, very weak flavor, soggy Banana Chip on the top.
I also didn’t like the clear bags they put the Cupcakes in as they’re not very efficient. They taper at the top so that the sides tough the frosting and smudge all over the bag. You have to be very careful when carrying. Boxes would be much more appropriate.
Savory items are available — Sandwiches, Soup, Salad and Quiche.
A very generous 3 stars I think.