Went to the San Mateo Backhaus and was very impressed! I've been to the Burlingame location and I…read morelove this one equally. The baristas are super efficient and nice to talk to. The interior was limited seating but the back patio is spacious. I got a croissant and an iced americano. The crossing was delicate, flakey, warm, buttery and tender- so delicious! The coffee was very satisfying, with a bold, smooth flavor. Great experience- also bonus points because this location is walking distance to the Central Park Japanese Garden.

The plain croissant was excellent--beautifully flaky with a delicate sweetness and satisfying…read morecrunch on the outside, while remaining soft and pillowy on the inside. The chocolate croissant was just as good, featuring the perfect balance of sweet and slightly bitter chocolate wrapped in layers of buttery, flaky pastry. The latte, topped with a leaf design, was rich, smooth, and flavorful. It provided the perfect pick-me-up while making a headache disappear. The café offers plenty of seating both indoors and outdoors, with additional space upstairs and downstairs. Friendly staff, a welcoming atmosphere, delicious pastries, and good coffee make this cafe well worth a visit.

I've been here several times, and everything always tastes incredible. The croissants are buttery…read moreand flaky, the kouign-amann is perfectly caramelized, the scones are delicious, and the focaccia is outstanding. You can really tell they put care into their baking. The only item that didn't quite stand out to me was the cookies, which I think could be improved. That said, everything else has been consistently excellent, and this has become one of my favorite bakeries. Definitely worth a visit!

3.5*** Rando place…read morethat's right across from an industrial building and surrounding area so, it feels like you're lost and plus parking isn't great. Despite that, service was great. There's seating inside and outdoors. It looks linked to an actual kitchen - guessing that's why it's called Kitchentown. Taste testing done on site in addition to production? If so, that's efficient! The food looked yummy! Ordered: Egg-tine 7/10 The black sesame seeds were good but then the sunflower seeds adding with the cheese in the center, uhh, it was ok. I took off the center - see pic of actual product with the center in tact. That made it taste better. The croissant was my fave part - crispy yet flaky and oh so soft in the middle. Jamon fromage 10/10 Basically, a ham n cheese croissant. This was delish. Unsure if you've eaten at Croissante; but, their jamon fromage isn't that great compared to this. Theirs has mayo, which completely throws off the taste for me. In any case, this was a success. Latte 3/10 Way too milky and not enough flavor.

Delicious pastries! Service is also quick…read more I work close by so I'm happy this opened up. So far I've tasted the guava concha, almond croissant and mochi muffin. All have been really great. I love the mochi muffin the most. The guava concha wasn't dry and the filling was delicious. I would've liked it to be more spread out through the bread but it was still good as is. I ordered the mocha and that was also delicious. It may be a bad thing for my body that they're open but a good thing for my heart haha

Visited on a Saturday at 9:15am with a friend no line, ample seating and space in the bakery. Space…read moreis nice and open with lots of natural lighting lots of tables and seats, wifi available so would be a solid spot to get some work done. Food: Passion fruit kouign amann - okay, nice light passion fruit curd in the center with a balanced sweetness and mild acidity, lamination was there but pastry ate a bit dry and bread not much buttery flavor Pistachio Chocolate Croissant - okay, bakery took a chocolate croissant split open and added pistachios creme and a pistachio topping and lightly twice baked, also light on the butter, chocolate flavor was good, pistachio filling wish the frangipane was baked a bit more and blend in more with the chocolate Service was good, quick efficient and friendly. Order pastries at the counter, they ring you up at the register and provided utensils for dine in which was a nice touch. Water was self serve, bathrooms are available in the bakery. Overall pastries were okay, felt a bit stale and flat in comparison to other bakeries in SF. If you like a slight leaner pastry this might be for you. Appreciate the variety available, no line and ample space and seating make this a good option for a snack and getting some work done. Might be an off day so would consider revisit.

Great bakery to grab some fresh bread! The desserts are amazing and baked fresh on a daily basis…read more The sourdough bread is my fave. Also grab a bag of crutons as they make the best in the bay!

The bread itself has changed. For years, I always got the sourdough baguette. Loved the crust, it…read morewas brown and chewy. I don't know when but over the years it's changed. Now the crust is light, like it's underbaked and lacks that crusty but chewy quality it used to have. Now it's just an underbaked crust. And the crumb structure is really subpar, it's so dense and flat, very underfermented. Super disappointing. Acme and Semi-Fredi's are now my go-tos for sourdough bread. Both have great quality, consistency and taste.

First time trying this out, my friends told me these cookies are delicious... well they were right,…read morethe cookies were so good! This shop is small, the service was great and I liked how they also write down on their menu if they are low on cookies and how many are left. They also have a small oven where you can WARM UP YOUR COOKIE(S)! Such a great idea, highly recommend checking this place out for their cookies.

We stop by Antoine's almost every time we're in San Mateo to pick up a cookie. My boyfriend and I…read morehave slowly been working our way through the menu and trying a different cookie each time. The cookies are consistently good--crispy around the edges, soft in the center, and slightly chewy. They're sweet, of course, but not overly sugary or overwhelming. I also appreciate that there's a microwave inside so you can warm up your cookie. So far, we haven't tried a cookie we didn't like. It's become one of our favorite spots to grab a treat, and we'll keep coming back until we've made our way through the entire menu.

Only recently came across Claire from IG because of one of the food bloggers I follow and it's safe…read moreto say that she's a winner in our book! She was definitely a drive from San Jose to San Mateo but well worth it. When you pull up to her house, it may be difficult to find parking as other customers are picking up-- I ended up waiting for 1 person to pull out of her driveway so that I could park. The street is pretty packed with cars. Can I first say what a pleasure she is in person? Claire is super sweet and she's the reason I love supporting small business. We ordered the Mocha Crunch cake. Current prices are $50 for an 8". It's cash only so be prepared. The cake itself is on the light side (not as light as Asian cakes but I wouldn't call it dense either). Unlike some other reviewers that found it dry-- I highly disagree as it was not the most moist cake I've ever tried-- But it wasn't dry either. It was right in between and good enough for us. The Mocha flavor was lightly infused in the frosting and filling. It wasn't super overpowering but it was definitely there. The crunch topping was perfect and so unique. The only other place I've tried a crunch topping is in a latte from Kamurocho in Pleasanton. They have a "Honeycomb Latte" that is amazing. We served half the cake at one gathering and we ended up bringing the leftovers to another gathering. The cake was devoured. If you haven't tried Claire's Crunch Cake's yet, do yourself a favor and support a small business and meet the sweetest woman.

3.5 stars. Ordered a take out cake, 6" mocha flavor…read more The cake looks bigger than a 6" as it's pretty tall, so don't worry that it will not be enough. We had a party with 10 people and we couldn't finish the cake! The crunch was really good and special, the cake itself doesn't really present the mocha flavor, as a result, after a few bites, the cake became too sweet. We were all hoping the bitterness from the mocha coffee flavor can balance out the crunch but we were disappointed. Interestingly, we then moved onto eating a chocolate cake from Marvel Cake and the chocolate was able to balance out the sweetness and cleansed our pallet a bit. We all felt that a cup of coffee would be perfect with this cake. The cake inside could also be a bit more moist. So all in all, the crunch got the thumbs up but the overall cake not so much.

AMAZING MATCHA/COFFEE BEST IN THE BAY…read more Go to Order: Strawberry Matcha Latte and/or Earl Grey Matcha Latte, extra shot of matcha/oat milk Great coffee in addition to their awesome matcha (and I don't even like coffee) I recommend the Miso Caramel Latte for a really good sweet iced coffee. I've taken everyone I've known to this spot since 2023, everyone has loved it, coffee snobs and matcha lovers alike.

Very busy coffee spot in San Mateo. I've visited twice and this is what I've ordered…read more Vanilla bean latte: I normally order some variation of vanilla lattes at cafes and thought Kaizen's wasn't my palette. Something off with the syrup or coffee itself? Took sips before tossing Miso caramel latte: tastes exactly how it sounds if you're curious. It was better than the vanilla bean latte Red bean pan suisse: never had anything like this and it was an amazing pastry. Would 100% get it again Black sesame kouign aman: I also haven't seen this at other cafes and thought it was good! If you like black sesame you'll definitely enjoy this Egg sando toast: filling and I appreciate the chili oil being complimentary Overall, bakery items 8.8/10; lattes 4/10

We ordered a cake for my son's birthday, and it was absolutely amazing! All the kids and our guests…read moreloved it, and several of our friends ended up ordering cakes from them after the party. They were also incredibly accommodating with our custom design request, even though it was placed on short notice. Their excellent service and delicious cake made my son's birthday extra special. Thank you so much for helping create such wonderful memories! I still stop by whenever I have a sweet craving on my cheat days and they never disappoint!

The cake itself was moist and had a strong matcha flavor, which was a huge plus. A lot of matcha…read morecakes and pastries tend to have a very subtle matcha taste, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much the matcha flavor came through. I'm also not a huge frosting person, and I believe the cream was buttercream, which was probably the biggest downside for me. It wasn't overly sweet, but the consistency was just too thick for both my husband and me. I even tried leaving it out for over an hour to see if it would soften, but it remained dense. I do wish there were more fruit in the filling. It was mainly cream and a few berries. We sliced the cake on Saturday, and by Monday the exposed part of the cake from where it was cut had become pretty dry. I ended up cutting off the dry outer layer, but thankfully the inside was still moist, so I was able to enjoy the rest of the cake. Ordering through Square was easy. I ordered the 4-inch cake with a marble design, matcha cake, strawberry cream, and strawberries. One thing to note is that if you order the 4-inch cake, there wasn't a section to add custom text. You'll need to email or call them with your order number to let them know what you want written on the cake. Overall, the highlight of the cake was definitely the cake itself. The moisture and strong matcha flavor really stood out and were my favorite parts. If I were to order from this bakery again, I'd probably try a different filling and cream because the buttercream just wasn't for me, but that's more of a personal preference.