Essence Bakery Café

It tastes like France! That’s all I want to say about those delicious croissant and pain au chocolat ! We also had the opportunity to try their macaroons and they were very good as well, especially the espresso one!
It’s nice to know a place where you can try some real croissants! We will be back for sure !!

Favorite new lunch spot. Unassuming, low key. Polite and friendly service.
The food is an outrageously good buy.
If there’s a better bakery in AZ I haven’t found it.
The baguette is second to none!
I’ve been here several times now and every time I am surprised how wonderful it is.
It opens early as any good bakery should. And they have delicious coffee not to mention the pastries.
Salads are perfectly dressed and appointed.
I can’t say enough about it. I want to spread the word about how fantastic they are but also want to save them for myself.

I am very sceptical of all these Macaron reviews, if these are some of the best you’ve had or if you would call them good, you need to get out of AZ and try a real macaron. These are gross, ordered a dozen and most of them were inedible. They are also half the size of an average macaron but just as expensive. They are heavy, way too sweet, and tiny. I feel like i got ripped off.

I’ve been going to this Essence Bakery location for nearly 8 years! It’s one of my favorite places in Tempe for coffee meetings or a light breakfast/​lunch. The coffee isn’t anything special, but the small patio facing University Dr. is never overly crowded and always shaded. Though the café is near ASU’s main campus, there aren’t a lot of students who dine here. I’d recommend the menu items over what’s in the pastry case.

Basis for my starred ratings (which skews heavily to the food or drink):
1 star: Never again.
2 stars: Poor food, poor experience, extraordinary measures in order for me to come back.
3 stars: Average, nothing really special, nothing particularly bad.
4 stars: Very good, would definitely return.
5 stars: A favorite, one of the best.
I’ve had the Big Breakfast here once, and it is fine. nothing to write home about. This place gets bumped up to 4 stars for their macarons.
When we visited France, I had macarons every day we were there, sometimes multiple times a day. I’ve had La Duree, Pierre Hermes, macarons at Angelina and small shops everywhere. These stand up. They are often, unfortunately, refrigerated in the case (I assume because of the AZ heat), but let them warm up a bit and they are almost as good as the best in Paris. The salted caramel filling, in particular, is wonderfully more caramelly than some of the macarons in France.
So 4 stars, for not being the best macarons I’ve ever had, but for being pretty darn good.

Much better service now. We come here like once a week because the food is so good. And they’ve definitely started putting dishes out faster, too. All is good.

I’ve been talking trash about this places service for years now. They used to begrudge be placing an order and, honestly I’d written them off completely.
Today was completely different. The staff were incredibly accommodating and pleasant. I loved it. The food has always been a 10 out of 10. Glad the service is coming around. Will earn the fifth star if it’s as good the next time we are here.

I came here on a Sunday late morning around 10:30amish and tried to get a chocolate almond croissant, but they were all out. So I ordered a chocolate croissant, but they were all out of that too. So I ended up getting an almond croissant. It tasted really good! But it was super sweet, so I would recommend eating it for a snack later in the day rather than having it as a breakfast item. I ended up saving it and eating it later the next day and it still tasted really good. I would recommend this place to other people.

Yum yum yum. Best macarons ever!
The croissants are soft and flaky… My personal favorite is the chocolate almond. Delish. Nice small selection of breakfast options and fresh lunch entrees.
I wish the seating area was bigger and the employees were friendlier… But bakery hours make anyone cranky ha!
I really love this place!

Really excited to be at a «french» bakery in the area. The service was very friendly. The ambiance is simple but cute. The huge macaroons look amazing — can’t wait to come back and try them. (They are a bit pricey at $ 3.15 each but they are larger than other places.)
Ordered the Signature Sausage Turnover and Eggs. The worst part of the meal was the eggs. I ordered them over medium as I don’t like any runny white but love the runny yoke. They came out super over cooked and hard. There was not a drop of yoke left to run. The sausage turnover was really yummy but not what I had envisioned in my head. It was a sausage gravy like you would have on a biscuits and gravy dish with mushrooms in it inside a puff pastry. The Baked Tomato Provençale is a tomato with yummy thick layer of breadcrumbs on it.
Brought home a chocolate croissant for my daughter. I had a little bite and it was yummy. She wasn’t as thrilled with it as I had hoped she would be.
I would like to try this place again! Thumbs up!

So let’s start this off with a few truths, I am an essence fan, my wife is an essence fan, and this is our go to breakfast spot. My wife and I have breakfast here whenever we can, and our fall back spot you might ask? The essence’s Arcadia location. There is nothing that we have not tried on the menu and we have enjoyed everything. Actually that used to be our problem we could never decide on what to get, so at some point we just started to order the daily special. Some specials that stick out to me as extra special the Greek Meatballs, Biscuits and Gravy, Tomato Orzo Soup, and my personal favorite the Croque Madame!
But what puts essence over the top for me is the service. The crew at the Tempe location has always made us feel welcome and comfortable. We also enjoy eating outside on their patio. There is nothing like having a great meal enjoying the Arizona weather.

I like Essence Bakery. I’ve been spending my coins here for at least three years. I am not excited about their food, there macaroons are the best in the valley. Maybe I should take a hint from their name and stick to the baked goods.

Just came for the macarons which were excellent! Hard to find someplace that makes good ones, but these are very good! I got a variety of flavors and all were very flavorful and well done.

Decent food that is overpriced. Lame service. I stopped in to try the macaroons, only so many places you can get them. After spending $ 10 on one large macaroon and three mini ones I was told I couldn’t have a box because I needed to buy five small ones, or five total. Seriously?! The service is meh, food is good but overpriced. At the same time I ordered quiche to go (thinking this is just a matter of cutting and putting in a box), 25 minutes later I had a teeny, tiny $ 10 quiche. No thank you.

Best macaroons I’ve ever had. I should take a star away because I’m now hopelessly addicted haha, this place is a must try for sure. :)

Though the space was inviting, I must admit that I was disenchanted by the menu and ultimately what I ate. I ordered an egg sandwich for brunch. It was good, but it was minimal; I was left hungry and it wasn’t that cheap. I will also admit that I have not tried their piece de resistance: les macarons. So I will have to be back for this delectable treat

Best way to begin your day. Great food. The croissants are one to die for, be it the butter one, chocolate or even almond. The Lorraine quiche is delicious. One should also try the lunch menu that has the chicken pot pie. And yes, not to mention a paradise of baked goods!

The macaroons here are so delicious! If there is once place to get a treat this is it. The menu offers a lot of healthy, fresh options. The food is not phenomenal but it is pretty good but a little pricey.

Came here after reading an ad in AZ Central. The almond croissant and macaroons are delicious but very expensive. Over $ 3 for one medium sized macaroon is crazy. They are tasty but not for that price. We tried breakfast here today too and we were not impressed. $ 30 for small portions and tasteless food. My eggs were runny and not in a good way… Almost like they were rushed and didn’t cook all the way. So we won’t be having breakfast here again but we may come back for a baked item, if only their prices were more affordable.

The best macaroons I’ve ever had!
Hey, when this girl gets a craving, I will go anywhere just to get the best… And the best I did get! I am a huge fan of macaroons (vanilla bean is my fave), and I have been to many places… But this place has the best. When I got there, the place was packed with people eating their delicious breakfasts, but my tummy was only focus on their macaroons.
I ordered three and ran to my car to scarf one down. It immediacy satisfied my craving and put a big smile on my face. I am definitely coming back!

This review is for their breakfast, in which case Essence has the «crispy» in baked items down. I had the chance to try their classic breakfast sandwich and the chocolate croissant. The breakfast sandwich is $ 5.50 with $ 1 add-​ons for ham or bacon, $ 0.85 for avocado and $ 1 to switch to a butter croissant. Before I continue, I must say the toasted bun was what made this breakfast sandwich above standard. The toasted, crispy bun adds a great texture as you bite into the softer inside of cheese, eggs and ham.
As someone with a smaller appetite, I opted to add ham and the portion was just right. If you’re hungrier, a fully packed sandwich with croissants may be a better option.
In regards to the chocolate croissant, it was delicious. Chocolate was rich but not overly sweetened and again, the flaky and crispy croissant exterior was divine. I’ve heard a French man in a Rolls Royce comes and orders a box of chocolate croissant every week, so it must be worth it right?

Those eggs are to die for with delicious, crusty baguette slices n jelly. The perfect breakfast !! Can’t go wrong with all sorts of yummy French pastries to end your meal either !

Too pricey. Food just not as good as it used to be. Took stew home and my husband found a bone in it!!! Luckily he didn’t swallow the bone!!! I had lots of fat in my stew. Totally unacceptable.
Won’t return. Other great places out there.
I think the owner should have stayed and focused on the Tempe location.
Baked goods r tasty but way overpriced.

I just love that they have a breakfast plate with sauteed mushrooms on it. And their mashed potato cake is to die for. This was my first time visiting but I’d definitely come back!

I like this place a lot, though I always wonder why they don’t invest in some larger coffee mugs so customers don’t have to make 3 refill trips to make one normal cup of coffee. It’s nice you allow free refills, like most breakfast places do.
Also, not sure the Eggs Benedict special is worth 14 $. The small dice potato on the side (at least today) are like tiny bricks — I think that side could be improved upon really easily. And the poached egg was over cooked with a hard yolk. The tomato, spinach and hollandaise worked well together though. I’d avoid ordering it if you can.

Essence for sure has the best pastries I know of, no question, five stars for the goodies. The food is also very good, mostly healthy stuff that still tastes great, so four and a half stars there… it only goes a bit South with the prices, which aren’t terrible, but a little high for the area, and the décor, which is downright depressingly boring. Bring in a decorator to spruce the place up and I’ll be willing to stay and eat instead of taking it all with me. The macarons are worth killing people for!

I didn’t like this place at all, sorry to say. I went there with my business partner the other day. My partner asked if she could taste the salad dressing, you know, get a small sample before she ordered the salad. We were told NO, they are under strict orders from the owner not to give out samples because of Health Department regulations. Really? Is this a joke? Why can I get samples of anything at Chipotle, or almost any other food establishment?
My partner also asked if they have gluten-​free options. Guess what their GF options are? Yup… order any sandwich and they will give it to you without the bread. Do they wrap the hamburger in lettuce? Nope, they give you a patty on a plate with mixed greens piled on top like a salad. When I asked why they don’t offer GF bread, I was told the chef doesn’t feel there are any good GF breads. That’s complete nonsense. Jules Bakery in Arcadia offers many GF bread options and they are all delicious. And hey, since this is a «bakery» (it says so on the sign), why not put together your own killer GF bread options? Perhaps that’s being too innovative.
I do not recommend this place. It is not professionally run, they don’t value customer service, and their bakery selections are unimpressive — all they have are multicolored macaroons. They should name it Essence Café and Macaroonery.
Oh and guess what else? They don’t have wi-​fi. That should have been my first indication that this place was not for me.

Food is tasty but portions are small. This sure ain’t no burger king, Can’t have it your way right away! LoL
Tried to add cheese and tomatoes and they said sorry can’t do that. Don’t bring in Starbucks from same plaza. They’ll make you toss it. Good thing I was done!
What else… Oh, 50. Cents extra for a togo cup. That’s cwazy! Smells like a fresh bakery… Guess that’s the ticket?! Or is it!

Wonderful macaroons! If only their staff could be a little more human. I asked if they had almond macaroons and the answer was, THEY’RE ALL ALMOND. Which, of course, is technically true although they have many flavors (macaroons are made with almond flour). I was asking for something similar to amaretto cookies. Instead of saying no, the woman continued tip insist they were almond.
Breakfast is all right… but they are only opened sometimes and not on days I wish to eat.
They have no bike rack.

Les meilleurs croissants dans toute la vallée, et très bonne pâtisserie aussi!
(the best croissants in the whole valley and very good pastries too…)

This combination bakery/​café is a good, but small place to stop in for desserts or a quick lunch. I had the organic spinach and cranberry salad with added chicken, and while it was largely enjoyable, the cheese was a little too pungent for my taste. I’d personally have preferred more of a goat cheese, or something a little less aggressive on the palette.
The prices are a little more than other places for similar items ($ 14ish for my salad, no drink after tax), but they locally source their ingredients as much as possible, which may be worth the premium to some. The desserts are incredible, and I tried a bit of one of their delicious macaroons — that’s the real reason to check this place out! They’ve got a lot of delicious looking stuff… next time I’m craving something sweet, I’ll stop back in for some of their bakery items!

Nice environment and food!
The staffs are friendly.
Will visit it again next time with friends.

All hype no bite? Like Elizabeth mentions I had the same issues with hours. I have heard so much about them but they are always closed when I am in Tempe. Well I had an Arts council meeting early so I stopped by. The lady behind the counter was not very nice (Strike one) and in fact was a bit snotty and short with me.
I had a Macaroon which was not great, just okay. (Strike two) In fact I continued to think I just disliked Macaroons until I went to Napolean Bakery later this day. (Long story and on a recommendation of a french friend)
Strike three, how do they get away with their pricing? 8 dollars for one Macaroon and a croissant, really? Did I move back to NY or Paris and not realize it?
I will give them Kudos where due though, thus three stars. The Chocolate Croissant I had is the best I have had in Az. I thought Karl’s Bakery made a good one but this one beats it in my book. However, it is close enough in quality, the price so much less, the service so much more friendly, and the hours so much less inconvenient that Karl’s wins. I won’t be revisiting this place anytime soon and if you want a Macaroon made by an actual french chef try Napolean Bakery.

Lets start with the positive — The people are nice. Great attitude and spirit.
Now the rest… Unfortunately my meal was sub-​par, even for my low expectations. Normally I would call the establishment and work out this kind of issue but this burger was so cosmically bad, I don’t want to even drive past the establishment on the way to somewhere else.
My burger smelled, as described by my coworkers, like low tide, dead fish, scraped off the bottom of a crab boat, and «like menses in the sun.» Against my better judgement I put this thing in my mouth. Surprisingly it didn’t taste like it smelled at all. It was more of a charred death taste. I didn’t get any beef notes, no cheese notes, no tomato flavor. Really the best part of this whole burger was that I couldn’t really tell what it tasted like, other than like no burger I’ve ever eaten or will ever eat again.
A lot of the reviews of this place are highly complimentary of their food and I hope that is true and I got the random stinker that is not the norm. But I’m so put off by the utter foulness of this burger, I can’t bring myself to go back and try something else. It has made me nauseous.
Edited to add: I just lost my burger. Ugh. Not sure if I’ll make the rest of the day at work. Can’t get the slimy feeling off my tongue.

A friend told me that this was the place to get macarons in the Valley, so I had to check it out. I was very pleased! They have large and small macarons in addition to other pastries, breakfast and lunch items. The one thing I noticed when I walked in the door was that it was very warm inside. I deducted a star for this because I couldn’t imagine sitting in there to eat a meal because it was stuffy. However, since I was just grabbing some macarons to take with me, it didn’t bother me that much. I opted for a dozen small macarons and one large. My husband and I consumed all of them yesterday! They were sooooo good!
I wish they were open a little longer during the day. The hours make it difficult for me to stop by on a regular basis, but I will make sure to stop by on days when I’m able to get out of work early for a sweet treat! I highly recommend you check this place out if you are on the hunt for some amazing macarons!

I am embarrassed to find that I have not written a review of this place earlier. :(
People rave about the macarons. I can tell you that they are fantastic and I have had every flavor that they regularly keep in the case. Read the other reviews — they’re dead on. If you are looking for macarons in the U.S., look no further.
There was a time when I was working with a client and I came to Essence at least once a week. When the staff know you and the owner comes over to introduce herself, you know you’re there quite a bit. Eugenia was very nice and talked to me about how I liked the food and coffee — I think she also wanted to know why I was coming by so much, too. During that time, I had everything on the posted breakfast menu, including some of the specials offered at that time. I never had anything bad. Not even close. Keep in mind that they do cook their eggs in the European style, so they might seem underdone if you like your eggs «American-​dry.»
What I really want to talk about is THE CROISSANTS. I love croissants — not the ones with all kinds of stuff packed inside, just the PLAIN ones. I had an opportunity to go to Paris last year and I ate a lot of pastries there. The croissants at Essence are at least as good as anything I found in Paris, and I would argue that they are better.
I have been fortunate enough to arrive when the plain croissants at Essence were still warm. Not reheated warm, but just-​out-​of-​the-​oven warm. If you ever need an excuse to get up before the sun and wait at a door, this is it – remember the old Mervyn’s commercial: «open, open, open…»? If I could make croissants like this, or if I lived closer than the 30-​minute drive it takes me now, I would easily weigh 300+ lbs.
I don’t know what witchcraft they use to create the perfect plain croissant: tender in the middle and crunchy on the outside, but they are consistently perfect. (Just make sure you eat them on the day you buy them. ANY croissants will show their age and not be as fresh even a day later). They also make chocolate and chocolate+almond. There may also be an almond, but I get distracted easily by the pile of plain ones and can’t hand over the cash fast enough to get one of those.
For what it is worth, the macarons I had in Paris from the top two companies there (so I am told, at least) were not as good as the ones here. The macarons at Essence are light but have a substance to them. The «cookie» part of the macaron has a bit of chew to it. The ones I had in France were so light they felt like they would fall apart into dust if you breathed on them. There was nothing to chew since they simply dissolved.
The place is small and it gets VERY crowded at peak times, but there are some seats on the patio if you want to sit outside. Parking can be a challenge since the lot is small and shared by a few restaurants AND a Starbuck’s Drive-​Thru.

I’m basing this review on the Chocolate Almond Croissant only since I just got that and it has pretty much changed my life. It has a perfectly flaky, crispy crust and the filling is moist and delicious. I’m probably going to get this every time, whenever I go to Essence.
There are two things that left me bitter about this place:
1) The lady who works there is really rude. We went in the afternoon to try to get the almond chocolate croissant b/​c my friend wanted to try it. She dismissed us right away and said, «we have what you see. That’s it.» Oh okay. Walking out then.
2) The fact that on the door, it says that it is open on Monday. I went there Monday at around 7:00am and of course it was closed. I went again another day and asked the same lady as referenced above about it. She said «oh yes, despite what the sign says on the door .» Umm? Why? Please change the sign & don’t lie to the people who just want to get a croissant to start their day!