Alessi Bakery

Extremely pleased with the service of Alessi. I had my wedding in Tampa last weekend and I don’t live there. Alessi was recommended to me by the wedding location coordinator. Cake was absolutely delicious and beautiful. They delivered it exactly as they said.

Visited for the first time. As a Cuban girl from Miami living in Tampa for the past 3 years it’s been quite difficult to find a decent café con leche and Cuban bread. Read the reviews and thought it was time to try Alessi. Was pleasantly surprised… café con leche actually tasted like café con leche versus a cappuccino and the bread wasn’t the best Cuban bread I’ve had but definitely the best thus far in Tampa. The location was clean and the staff was nice. Wide variety of pastries, sandwiches, desserts to try so will definitely be back.

This is one of my favorite cuban toast places in Tampa. They also make a mean café con leche and lattes. They have cakes and assorted cupcakes available to buy right away but you can also custom make your own. They have very pretty and creative cake decorations.

I had been trying to come here for awhile now but they close pretty early so I never seem to make it on time. One of my friends is getting married and is getting her cake from Alessi and invited me along to the cake tasting. The cake tasting was great and I got to try many different cake flavors and filling flavors. Personally the almond cake and the Nutella filling were my favorite!
After the cake tasting j of course had to visit the normal bakery part to get some goodies to go. I ended up getting a fruit cheesecake and a coconut cannoli and a chocolate cannoli. I thought the cheesecake was decent. I was not a huge fan of the coconut cannoli. I think they might use coconut flavoring in addition to coconut flakes so it was a little overpowering for me. They did have quite the selection though and everything was very reasonably priced so I will be back.
I want to come back and try one of the Cubans they make there!

My 5-​Point Rating System [adjusted for Casual Counter Service joints]
Food: 4 of 5
Service: 4.5 of 5
Efficiency: 4 of 5
Atmosphere: 4 of 5
Overall Value: 4 of 5
Great café con leche and very good pastries and deserts. A solid place in Tampa for old-​Florida recipes and some caribbean classics. As an institution in Tampa, Alessi bakery is worth a visit.

I’ve been going to alessi Bakery for years, and years and years. I have kind of grown up with them and the last couple years they haven’t been on my route either coming or going home so I have not been to them recently.
I stopped in the other day to find not much has changed. The bakery of course and Café have grown over the years, only to make it a better experience overall. The sweetts, Delicacies, unusual desserts and sandwiches I’ll make it a spectacular place to have a great meal or pick up something tasty for dessert that evening.
Alessi never was one to disappoint and they still are not want to disappoint. They continuously have above-​average everything that they serve and make homemade and house. I was quite happy to have returned to alessi Bakery once again and intend & plan on making it a regular stop now that I’ve rediscovered an old friend of mine.
I was quite surprised to see how many offerings they had for BOGO specials on different days. That was a nice surprise.
What’s a girl to do? Continue going where you know that you will always get quality food and ingredients.

Been dying for a bacon egg and cheese like from NY delis and everywhere has been a fail. Decided to grab one here, was not disappointed. It’s not the same as NY but it was very good! Bread was super soft and fresh, eggs and bacon made right there on the grill not microwaved like most places. Will definitely go back for another. The prices are a little high, but you pay for quality. Also grabbed some Amaretto canolis, my fave. Just as good as Arthur Ave.

I normally love this place but today was an exception. I had placed an advanced order, told the order taker specifically what I needed.. ««no problem «I
was told. Pick up day was a different story. On order day they quoted me one price and on pick up it was $ 5 more. and the order was wrong. When I tried to get things corrected the «owner » Deena was rude and dismissive. Employees waited until she walked away and then apologized to me. If she is the new «owner» of this iconic tampa business then count me out. great place, TERRIBLE young new «management »

Alessi Bakery is a mainstay in the south/​west Tampa area. For over 100 years, Alessi’s has been providing quality local products to those looking for bakery items.
The selection alone is something to experience. Alessi’s boasts a hot food area including made to order sandwiches and meals, deviled crab and empanadas as well as refrigerated sandwiches and salads.
There is a room to the left of the hot food area to sit and enjoy your meal (if time permits) so you don’t necessarily have to take it and go. This room was renovated and added on a few years back.
Their cake selection is something to see, with meticulously decorated cakes in an array of colors and flavors. I also marvel at the individual cakes, tortes, tarts, and pastry whenever I am there. Alessi’s takes orders for specialty cakes for events and some of their creations are displayed on top of he cold case in the middle of the store.
The scachatta is yummy and a great for groups; I have bought many scachattas in the past while either hosting or contributing to a meal for a party or event. I have not seen this type of cold pizza available anywhere else in the Tampa area.
I also like the selection of pastries and cookies offered. I adore the rainbow cookies and almond crescents. There is also a cold case with items like fudgy brownies and flan. There are BOGO offers every week (usually displayed on their marquee sign) so be sure to look out for those.
On the times that I have been, the staff is lively and helpful. Be sure to check out this longstanding Tampa gem.
Side note: I love that Alessi’s branched out and packages their own products for retail, such as their salt and pepper shakers, pinenuts, ladyfinger cookies, etc. I always enjoy seeing their products in sale at stores or see their salt and pepper shakers on the tables and restaurants. In addition, I think it’s awesome that the retail stores support local business.

Hands down this is my favorite bakery in the Tampa Bay Area and a staple in the community. My mother has taken me here since I was a little girl. The scechada (I have no idea how to spell it) is the best in town and is the first to go at parties. This place is old Tampa. I live in the burg now but I don’t cross the bridge with out stopping here.

I used to live right down the street from this place and frequented it often. They have really big, tasty breakfast sandwiches. I always order their café con leche. They have a beautiful display and tons of baked goods.. So much to choose from. I, however do not have a sweet tooth but my boys love when I bring them here and let them each pick out a cookie… if your in the area, this place is definitely worth the stop.

I am tired of Crispy Crème, Dunkin Donuts and other mass produced chains for a taste of baked goods. The fact I’m even EATING a baked good only 7 days after a New Years resolution to get in shape again reminds me of how non-​committed I am to that cause. The gym is too far, I’m fat and and happy and in Tampa helping my sister after her kidney transplant and it’s stressful. So when things get stressful I eat.
I found Alessi’s on Unilocal and it sounded good. We were minutes away so I steered the ride over to get some sweets to go.
I was greeted by this awesome angel named Carolyn who helped me navigate my way through the very large store. When I found out she has been there 43 years I wondered if she started right out of diapers. Every business should have more Carolyn’s.
The café looked fantastic but I didn’t want grub — I wanted fat bombs. I did taste the Tomatoe pie sample and it paled in comparison to Philly to Tomatoe pies.
Her highly recommended cronut was AMAZING. The cinnamon roll was good. The cherry Danish — fair. The chocolate frosted cake donut (with a hint of cinnamon) that my sister had was very good.
Glad I Went there. Maybe I’ll return before I leave town. Unless the diet kicks in.

I had a cronut.
It was good …
Not really my kind of bakery, but everything looked delicious.
Staff knew their stuff.
Can’t comment on soups nor sandwiches, only my cronut (which we agreed was tasty.)

A quick in-​and-​out bakery for great dessert! In which everyone is usually here for the dessert though on the left side of the store there is a deli where you can get soups, sandwiches, pizza, and much more! Have had a few grab n go items, though the one that sticks out to me to rave about was the guava tart! It was something torn out of heavens bakery.
If you’re looking for a quick fix and not sure if it’s actual food or dessert, then I would suggest stopping by this South Tampa location!

Alessi’s Bakery is located in South Tampa, slightly off from the beaten path, off Cypress, 3 blocks from Armenia, and features a great selection of Italian, Sicilian, and Latin cakes, cookies, donuts, pies, scachatta, pastries, baked goods, deli sandwiches, wraps, and various other desserts. Alessi’s bakery makes delicious breakfast sandwiches with eggs, bacon, sausage, and cheese. For Lunch, I highly recommend their Philly cheese steak sub and corn beef sandwich. For Dessert, they had special edition Star Wars cupcakes, Christmas cupcakes, a cool looking snowman cake, cherry cheesecake cups, toasted coconut cream pie, oreo cream pie, fruit cake, and various other mini single serving desserts. I had their flan and it was delicious. Unfortunately, this place closes a bit too early during the week for me at 6PM so I rarely can make it in before closing. There is plenty of parking available in the private parking lot onsite. Décor is traditional, no frills. Staff was friendly. Received my food and got rung up pretty quickly. I usually visit on the weekends. If management could stay open another hour later, I’d visit more often during the week!

Something is going on here, and it isn’t good news: the taste has left some of the formerly-​amazing goodies.
Our two most recent purchases in the past weeks were really disappointing. The pastries still look perfect and appetizing, and the goods are fresh, but things don’t taste as they have in the past. Different Items that were to have flavoring of blueberries or mascarpone cheese, apples or pineapple, and even those without fruit toppings or centers were just… tasteless.
Alessi Bakery has been an institution in the area for a long time. Let’s hope they adjust back to the taste that we all have loved in the recent past!

Been going here for years and my two favorite things to get here are their rainbow cookies and their «Italian pizza». Both are the best I ever had anywhere in the Tampa Bay Area.
Everyone is really nice there and the place is clean for the most part. There is a hot selection as well that you can put up food. I also recommend the media noche sandwich from there.
Good selection of sweet and savory items!

Pregnancy has given me a sweet tooth. Therefore, I have been going between the different bakeries in the area to try out their goodies.
Alessi is quite the operation. There’s the deli side and the bakery side, and after you order your food, you can pay at the pay area.
I tried a mini cream puff and mini éclair. Both were too sweet and had slightly soggy and stale pastry. Disappointing. I also ordered an assortment of cake pops. I found them rather dry.
Maybe their sandwiches are better, but I have to say that there are a lot of near by places that make great Cuban sandwiches for a lot less money.

Came here for wedding cake tasting. I had no idea how many different types of food they sell not just desserts.
I can only talk about there wedding cakes and it is good. The speciality fillings are so unique it was a hard decision to make. Ultimately for our wedding cake we went with them. The staff is professional, friendly, and proud of what they sell.
Next time I’m in Tampa I will definitely stop by for lunch and get a little sweet treat to. :)

While I was not born with a sweet tooth, even I’m always impressed by what Alessi Bakery has to offer.
Our fearless leader, CM and «Mayor of Cleveland» Brett N. and I often debate quality vs. quantity as it relates to area restaurants.
Alessi clearly features both, and there’s great value to be had here as well. They often do BOGO on select bakery items, which was my cue to try a cronut for the first time ever and give the other one to a friend in the office.
While I’ve never been asked to bring a cake to some special occasion, this would be the place for me to buy it when that happens.
Lunch items are on the left as you walk inside the front door and everything I’ve had here has been delicious with one odd exception… the chicken salad. I’m a self-​professed chicken salad snob and I must have caught them on an off day when I ordered that sandwich.
Still, I never hesitate to stop at Alessi and am always impressed by the look of the store offerings and the attitude of the employees.

Tried Alessi for the first time today. What a beauty of a bakery. Beautiful displays of cupcakes, treats, danishes, etc. There are plenty of options for lunch and plenty of options of nice treats to take home.
I had the regular Cuban sandwich, they also offer a hand carved option of meat in lieu of cold cuts, but the traditional was great and hearty in size!
Also had some mini desserts, mini éclair, cream puff and cannoli. All very good!

Reach back to your childhood. Back to Charlotte’s web when the rat Templeton was at the fair. This was a smörgåsbord! Friend and I were so confused. We were surrounded by so many pasteries. This was sensory overload!
We took our time looking at everything and the selection was so varied from cupcakes to cannolis, flan, cookies.
Customer service was impeccable. Workers were so energetic and willing to help. It must be the sugar in the air.
Everything tasted good to above average. Cannoli was average. Flan was meh, too eggy for my tastes. Tiramisu and cheese cupcake were very good, but not amazing.
My take away is that this is a general bakery, jack of all trades. They dabble in everything, but don’t really have a specialty or standout. In any case this was such an experience and we will be back to try more. Maybe they do have something exceptional waiting, the possibilities seem endless.

Today was a much worse experience after trying something else beside the Cuban…
The $ 10 chicken philly sandwich we had was almost entirely made of bread… Certainly not justifiable of the $ 10 price tag of the sandwich!
This may have been a case of large-​scale skimping, or a new employee. Either way, it can ruin bussiness…
Also, the $ 10 double burger was very good, unfortunately, very costly for something not Bison or Angus. In comparison, BURGER FI and Five Guys are considerably cheaper that that.

Finally tried this place out, and glad I did!
They offer sandwiches at the deli counter, including 2 types of Cubans: the classic, and the carved. Not sure what the difference is, but I instinctively ordered the carved since it’s a dollar more.
It was delicious! One of the better Cubans I’ve had, and for 7 or 8 bucks well worth it.
I also granted some cookies and they hit the spot too.
I’ll be back next time I’m in the area.

— Short Synopsis —
The tasty almond croissants, the large Cuban sandwiches, and the popular guava+cheese pastry are my three favorite items at Alessi so far, but they have a decent selection of other pastries and other goods as well.
Overall, a decent bakery with a good Cuban sandwich. Also, they seem to always have rotating specials on different items, so be sure to check those out.
— Summary —
As you enter Alessi, you enter the deli/​bakery in one room and there is a dining room in the other. There is also some seating outside as well. Inside the deli/​bakery room, they have samples of the scachatta and some of the pastries for you. This provides a nice taste test to make sure you like the sampled item before purchasing.
The bakery/​deli room is also where you can see the specials written on a white board.
I enjoyed their guava cheese croissant and the almond croissant. I tried two types of their scachatta, and it was decent, but nothing special. I did not really like their French almond ring with chocolate. It was not as good as the other pastries since it was more dry and less flaky than I desired.
For sandwiches, I got the Cuban sandwich and the Cuban toast, which is essentially a grilled cheese on cuban bread that’s pressed. I think children might like the simple Cuban toast. It is also only $ 2.
The Cuban sandwich comes with ham, roast pork, salami, swiss cheese, pickles, mayo, and mustard. They might have added a bit too much butter to the bread when pressed, but I don’t mind and really enjoyed it. I would come back for how good the Cuban sandwich is. In fact, my girlfriend’s parents ate the Cuban sandwich and then went back to buy more for their return trip home to California. That shows how good the sandwich is.
There were about 20 ish customers in the bakery/​deli section and I was able to get my food and pastries just fine without much trouble.
I would recommend coming here to try the Cuban sandwiches, guava+cheese pastries, and almond croissants and to look at their selection of other goods to see if any of them piqué your interest.

I do not cook. Alessi’s is my usual go-​to place to grab something quickly to bring to a potluck or impromptu events.
Their scachatta (cold pizza) is delicious and is usually a staple at most Tampa parties. You can purchase a half or whole tray. The pieces are sliced bite-​sized so they are quick and easy to eat.
Their cookie platters come small or large and are both packed plentiful with delicious cookies.
They also sell sandwiches, salads, pre-​made meals, and lots of baked goods. They also make delicious and beautiful cakes.
The staff is always friendly here and some of the employees have been here for many years.
The scachatta trays and cookie platters sell out quickly on holidays and Gasparilla, so be sure to call in an order. I learned that the hard way when I embarrassingly showed up empty handed to my BFF’s house one year for Halloween.