El Rico Pan Bakery

OMG, This is a Gem and not hidden on Willow Street in San Jose, but lots of people dont ever go to this area, so dont know about it. The freshest Pan Dolce (Mexican Sweet Breads) and the absolute BEST CHICKEN TAMALES ever! You can call ahead and they will package them up for you. Sweetest ladies working there too. Don’t miss out going to visit «Calle Willow».

This is absolutely my favorite panaderia! Everything is freshly made and tastes delicious. When I go, I grab bread for my whole family as well.

The pork tamale is yum. The masa tastes fresh and crumbly when they are fresh. The tamale has a good amount of seasoned pork shoulder? (it’s shredded pork consistency). Get it at lunch time… it’s freshest then. Seems to be byos– Bring your own salsa.
I’ve had the shell/​crescent shaped pan (white and pink versions) and the triangle filled with custard. Good level of sweetness without many distinct flavors. The difference between the white and pink shells is just color. Not a fan of the shortening residue left in the mouth after eating the conchas. Leave the pastries in a paper bag for 10 minutes, and you’ll also know what i mean.
They lock their doors before their listed hours… at least a few minutes before 9:45. Not impressed with their service, since they just look at you and not welcome your business even if you’re there before closing hours. For a quick service takeout place, unacceptable. They lose a star for this.

Love this bakery. The cakes are amazing. The staff is very nice and they will work with you when it comes to cakes orders. They help you and for the most part they never say NO. Best part of all is, they have fresh homemade tamales year around. Yay yeah!

HIGHLIGHTS: fresh, affordable
We stopped by on a Wednesday morning and didn’t have to wait for service. Everything was freshly baked, and I couldn’t wait to get home before I started eating my pastry. I have no idea what it’s called, but the pink and white twisted crescent moon-​shaped pastry is my go-​to and it was oh so fresh!
I also like the frosted cookies, but I didn’t really like the ones from El Rico… I think Pink Elephant has better ones (I think it has to do with the frosting). Still, I will be back in the future because everything was so fresh and soft!

I love this place theyre so friendly best bread and food ever !!! Been goong here for a while and its always thr best service ever

Found my South Bay spot for tamales and hot chocolate! Their selection of pan is marvelous and reasonably priced! The tamales are big and tasty! I’ll be back every Sunday after church!

My go-​to spot for pan dulce; I used to go three times a week when I was pregnant just for their champurrado, it’s heavenly! I wouldn’t say that their tamales are my fave, they’re a little too dry for my taste (I like mine soaked in salsa & sour cream, the way they serve them on the East side). However all of their pastries are delicious! My favorite panaderia in SJ is El Rico pan!

This is the one stop to get your pan dulce! I remember going here since I was a little girl, now my 6 year old son loves his chocolate Conchas from here. Best pan dulce a must try.

Excellent bread, is one of the best bakeries. I especially like the «Rosca de Reyes» early January. Great place for great bread.

Went here off of recommendations from two friends. I went for the pan dulce and ended up leaving with a torta, tamales and a champurrado on top of my pan dulce.
–Torta was huge! Crunchy bolillo, which I love! Very tasty
–champurrado was delicious! Not too thick and not too sweet. I personally love mines sweet and more chocolaty than others may prefer.
–pan dulce was delicious! No complaints.
–tamales lack in flavor. Yes there huge and well priced but I did expect a tasty tamal based on everyones reviews. I actually prefer tamales from Mi Pueblo, the mass has so much flavor I have yet to find a tamal that beats Mi pueblos.
I will return. To this place for there pan dulce and tortas!

The BEST pan in SAN JOSE. No joke! And I tried tons of bakerys near by. Very fresh and delicious along with their GIANT tamales. Money well spent plus its a family owned business. They definitely have a customer for life…

The pan dulce here is really soft and good in the mornings. White concha is especially worth getting.

My daughter gave me a last minute request for tamales for a class presentation next day, and I Unilocaled tamales in my area. Not only did I find a place open on labor day, but a place with very good reviews. We walked in, were able to order 15; and received them immediately. Once home, we decided to try one, to see how good they were … YUM. We got the chicken, they not only were tasty; they were also a bit spicey.
My daughter loves tamales, and said these were the best she has had so far. The bakery was clean, the staff was incredibly friendly, and the pastries looked amazing.
Looking forward to our next visit, although not super close to where we live, I will make the trip again soon.

make sure you bring cash, unless your total is over 10 $ (they charge an extra $ 1 to use debit/​cc). They are amazing! the tortas are so delicious & HUGE!

I bought a dozen for our meeting on Saturday, good tasting pastry, good value for my money. The only knock on the place is that they don’t have boxes for my order and put them in a to go bag which I didn’t like. Other than that, I will come back.

You wouldn’t think that you would find good tamales in a Mexican bakery, but here they are! When we went, we got a dozen tamales — half spicy pork, half chicken. I LOVED the spicy pork tamales. These are no measly small tamales either. They are pretty big tamales which makes them all the better. I love the flavor of the pork (though it is definitely on the spicy side so warning for those who can’t take the heat) and the cornmeal is super soft and good. Definitely one of the best tamales I’ve ever had.
We also tried the flan which was also very good. Super rich and creamy without that burnt taste that can be on the bottom sometimes.
Would definitely come back again!

I do not know a lot about tamale making but I would call myself an experienced tamale-​eater. When dining Mexican, I always look for the tamales first. This place really surprised me yesterday when I tried it with the family and was truly the best tamales I have tasted. «La Calle Willow» is something I have passed by many a time but never really had a chance to sample anything in the area!
We were eager to try this recommendation! As I stepped inside the luscious smells of this bakery, it was so hard not to try everything. Along with the tamales we ended up getting a bag of churros and a couple of their vanilla crème stuffed horns.
The price of the tamales was a little scary at first as I am so used to getting 2 for $ 1 tamales at most places. But as we were handed a tray of a dozen, I could tell the quality of the tamales was top notch. The thing I loved most was the integrity of the masa — you could really taste the corn flavor and less of the fat. The filling as well was coming out of the wrapping and I was happy that plenty of it was included in the tamales. I wish I got to try the chicken but will definitely be coming back for them. We ended up devouring them in the car — not really caring whether we had only 5 napkins to spare for our hands (whoops!).
The pastries we tried were delicious as well. I will definitely come back and try their pan dulces and tortas! We were left very impressed and El Rico Pan will definitely be seeing us again (and again).

Delicious, cheap, and efficient/​speedy. Can’t get much better than this. They’re also very patient with my attempts to practice my Spanish. :)
I’ve been here twice and both times the pan dulces I got were delicious. I plan on coming back. I hope to try their tamales and donuts!
My favorite so far is the Pan Nuez (which doesn’t actually contain any nuts I think).
Muchisimas gracias, El Rico Pan!

This place is a baked goods mecca. All sorts of Mexican pastries with things like donuts and other baked goods thrown in. Got a couple of cream cheese filled pastries and they were both super tasty. I felt really bad as my friend is gluten intolerant but I had to drag him in here anyways.