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    Kelly's French Bakery

    3.6 (644 reviews)
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    Kelly's French Bakery Photos

    KELLY'S FRENCH BAKERY ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Outdoor seating
    Dogs allowed
    Good for kids

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    Chocolate Swiss roll
    Mary H.

    So happy that I can still get the desserts I know and love from the Kelly's French Bakery weekend pop-up! They run on the weekends in the same shopping area on Ingalls St, very close to their old location. Usually I get their eclairs/cream puffs, but this past weekend I decided to go extra decadent and try this chocolate Swiss roll - they had a fancier name for it that I'm blanking on. It's absolutely divine, but so are all of their baked goods! If you've been missing their permanent location, then their weekend pop up will satisfy the taste nostalgia you've been looking for!

    Baked goodies.
    Jennifer H.

    So many tasty baked goodies here. Olallieberry Macaron || $2.29 Mm...yummy! The macarons here are light and airy. Not too sweet! Love the shell's perfect crispness and the cream's blackberry flavor. When I visited, there were many folks having lunch foods here. Plenty of outdoor seating during nicer weather. Would come back to try more next time!

    Latte, cinnamon roll and macaron
    Leo C.

    It's pretty hard to miss this place due to its huge name, painted on exterior of the building. We were just passing by and could not hold back from coming here, and had to check it out. It's located in Swift Street Courtyard which is home to some great local business (bakery, wineries, shops and restaurant), including a few of my favorite breweries. Ample parking is available on the lot and surrounding streets. The place is small inside and was full when we arrived, but we managed to get a small table after checking out their impressive display case of pastries, baked good and desserts. Everything looked yummy and inviting. From the raspberry chocolate mousse to lemon merengue pie and variety of macarons. It kind of reminds me of Bodega Louie in downtown LA, but a smaller version. Aside from desserts, they also serve sandwiches, soups and salads and few breakfast items, like poached eggs, french toast and pancakes. We wanted to try so many things but it was impossible to choose. We settled for a few macarons (dulce de leche, blueberry and birthday cake), cinnamon rolls and latte. All were sensational and divine!! The coffee was delicious. I highly recommend their macarons which are slightly bigger than traditional macarons. The shell has a nice soft texture and picture-perfect aesthetics. The flavor of blueberry and dulce de leche were on point and well represented. The cinnamon roll wasn't too bad, though I prefer them fluffier and less dense. At least the icing was on point and not overly sweet. Everything was lovely and would definitely come back to try other desserts/lunch items.

    Outside tables
    Doug C.

    French toast is made with their own cinnamon bread. Thick and flavorful. Tasted like there were nuts in it or that was the grain that was part of the bread. One of the best I have had. Very light texture. No preservatives in the bread.. Didn't need the syrup. Haven't had a better FT anywhere else in the bay area. Poached eggs are better than the traditional scrambled; still moist. With herbs and freshly ground pepper. Attention to detail and quality. Nectarine galette: not overly sweet. All the fillings appear to be home made. Everything here high quality and freshly made.

    $10 coffee and eclair
    Michael R.

    A small to-go coffee is placed on the counter. "Oh I'm sorry I think that's supposed to be a large coffee." "This is a large coffee she said. It's the largest we have. I can cancel your order if it's not okay with you." "This is not on you, I reply, but I'd like to bring this matter up with management." "She'll be here in 30 minutes at 11 a.m.". 'Well is anybody in charge? "No." I have several problems with this. - Management should know, full well, people think coffee is get to be 16-20 oz for a large yet there is no display anywhere showing the sizes of cups. - If the hostess placed an empty cup of coffee on the counter before ringing it up I would have known and caught the issue, instead they waited until after POS was complete. - I do not appreciate a gigantic tip window on the tablet with the poor girl staring up at me expectantly. Finally, the Eclair. The chocolate was tempered so firmly and the holes on the bottom where the custard is piped in too large; that was impossible to bite in without crushing the entire eclair and squirting the custard out from the bottom. I'd think that they would try these out themselves, you know, to see how it goes, before releasing for sale. "I do not recommend"

    Single scoop of chocolate chip ice cream
    Tricia M.

    Always a line! Every single time I've ever been here! We stopped this week for ice cream - yes, they do ice cream in addition to their lovely lineup of baked goods behind the glass counter! - and it is really good. The kids tried their toffee crunch and chocolate chip. I had a taste of the toffee crunch and it was so rich and delicious (and melted quickly!) They do also brew Stumptown Coffee, which is one of my Portland faves. Now if only they could find a way to reduce the line!

    Eggplant panini
    Leeza S.

    Stopped here for lunch on the way up to San Fran. Great little spot. We ordered the grilled cheese and an eggplant panini- it was huge and delicious! Nice find.

    Carmen V.

    Pastries and coffee are a real disappointment. Specially if all what they promote is 'French' in the subject. You salivate thinking about real French pastries but these have only nice look, yet stale consistency. Everything on display looks good, then frustration builds up when you start trying a burned out coffee and try a dried pastry. Also, the structure of this bakery is one of the most un-cozy I have seen. Not a place to stay and enjoy. Maybe this is the best you can get in Santa Cruz? Not French for sure.

    Tram N.

    I came here w/ my kiddo one Saturday morning. It was my recovery day (from being sick) but I didn't let that stop me from going out and about. Anything beats staying at home and boy did I map out my entire day wisely. I started out enjoying a pretzel at the farmers' market [it was a snack] and then I came here per Craig's suggestion. It was a bookmark that I had anyway. I love that there is outdoor seating and a rather intimate but open seating inside. The chocolate pastries, the chocolate cakes, the chocolate macaron, the chocolate eclair, the chocolate mousse tart was calling me. I swear, I heard it but after weighing out my options (budget and caloric), I went w/ a chocolate macaron and the AJ Heart (a croissant breakfast sandwich that contains scrambled eggs, bacon, and gruyere). To my surprise, my bill didn't cost me an arm and a leg. This is my thing... when I go out, I don't pay too much attention to price. If I don't have the money then I stay home; restriction is utterly painful. BTW, restricting self from buying $30 worth of decadents is smart however, not painful per se. OK, I lied. I was a little upset I couldn't order every chocolate item there. Bewilered as to what to order, I looked at the specials and asked the girls at the register what they recommend. I was between the AJ Heart and Van Joe. It's the same thing but one is w/ bacon and the other came w/ ham. The bacon won apparently. After seating myself, I started to help myself to a cup of water, napkins, and utensils. The water dispenser doesn't have ice in them so I was a tad peeved. I'm fully aware it's first world problems but anyhow... right after I took a picture of the macaron, Gavin straight up stole it. He took it right off the plate and started to devour it in front of my eyes. I actually asked if I can have a bite but he shook his head. In a way I was proud of him because hell, I don't like sharing my food either but on the other hand, I was cursing at him in a playful way in my head because that macaron was meant for me. Minutes later my AJ Heart arrived at my table. I doused the thing in hot sauce before enjoying it. I will note that there was barely any gruyere, the eggs needed salt and pepper but the bacon was awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed the bustling atmosphere. I liked the fact that the guys bringing food to tables helped me grab more napkins when they saw that I was about to get up to go grab some. There was this guy that was sitting adjacent to my table that kept looking over from time to time. I noticed because it was pretty damn obvious. When the guy was about to leave, he came over and made small talk w/ me about hockey. I have been getting a lot of that lately but that is because Gavin and that hockey stick is inseperable. Normally I don't condone dependencies on inanimate objects but if it's about hockey and the Sharks, by all means. Let's summarize. + service was great; cheerful + speed was good + clean + inviting + inexpensive breakfast specials + a place I would rather enjoy by myself than w/ kids (even my own)

    Emmalouise B.

    Being in Santa Cruz at the Beer Festival for the afternoon I decided after sampling a couple too many Beers I wanted something sweet and seeing the high rating decided to check out Kelly's and came by around 5pm. It wasn't too busy but there was still a fairly long line of maybe 4 or 5 people in front of me but it gave me plenty of time to browse the display cases of goodies. Everything did look very good but somewhat smaller than many other bakeries and as others have mentioned - kind of on the highly priced side, I figured that meant they must be really good if they're able to get away with charging what they were. Sampling the goods once home I can't say I was overly impressed. The items in which I got were fine, just not particularly memorable. Maybe I'm just a bit of a snob when it comes to Desserts seeing that I bake a lot myself. I don't know, It's just I wasn't wowed and if I'm going to pay just short of $10 for 2 less than average sized pastries and 2 bite sized cookies I wan't something that will make me want to go back again and again for. OlallieberryTart (http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/8wErB9tnKjwjO8nUhlupgw?select=TN2HEqm1p62d-HNC2zxQ7g#prdIg29gciaimS2O27sQAA) I warmed it slightly and served with a small amount of Vanilla Ice Cream. This was my favorite of the items with a good amount of filling and sweet flaky crust. The tiny little cookies I didn't get the name of (http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/8wErB9tnKjwjO8nUhlupgw?select=TN2HEqm1p62d-HNC2zxQ7g#lNb8ofwlD3BweYt846yR7Q) were overly sweet. The filling was essentially just butter and sugar, not fine powdered sugar either but large granules that were very gritty. Eclair (http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/8wErB9tnKjwjO8nUhlupgw?select=TN2HEqm1p62d-HNC2zxQ7g#EJGnfVPj9XYnE-Fi-lQtPQ) I bought expecting it to be a traditional Eclair filled with Cream but was very disappointed to find it was filled with custard.. too much custard. As I split all of the items with my husband I only had half but a few bites in I found it to be quite sickly. Sorry, I just don't understand the rave reviews.

    Strawberry shortcake
    Jana C.

    The bread baked here is pretty amazing. I found the breaded chicken sandwich just as good as Bakesale Betty's. strawberry shortcake looked better than it tasted, as the cake was too dense, and not enough strawberries. But omg, the French macarons sold here...they alone should be the reason to drive over.... Olallieberry, pumpkin, lemon, pistachio, and caramel purchased here. They are large, light, not too sweet, great chew texture, and beautiful to behold. $1.85 each PS bit mish-mashed. Fish and chips, fish tacos and such were found on the above menu board...under "additions" ! They looked good.

    Colorful and delicious

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    Fun place for coffee and deserts. Outside seating and people watching great if you time to hang.

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    Kelly's French Bakery Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - Kelly's French Bakery

    Do they only accept pickup orders and, if so, where can I see their offerings?

    I see another answer on here says that the "cafe part" is closing? Does that mean they are sold somewhere else? Where would that be?

    If you order online or by phone you can pick up at door 31. Which would be the back door except it faces the front parking lot.… 

    I heard Kelly's is closing?

    The cafe part of the business has closed.

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    Companion Bakeshop

    Companion Bakeshop

    4.1
    (404 reviews)
    0.1 mi
    $$

    I came here with my mom on a Fri and Sat morning. Fri it was not too crowded and Sat it was very…read morebusy. The pastries were delicious and I love the vibe here, it's very comfortable and everything is made fresh in house. I got their fritatta which was yummy. I also purchased their lemon meringue pastry which was yummy. I did not try their coffee. My mom got a morning bun which she said was very good and she also tried their bread and butter.

    Yes originally began for sourdough bread but now a variety of styles (all with sourdough starters),…read morepastries, coffee, breakfast and lunch. The line can get long on weekends but unlike neighboring coffee shops, it seems to move quickly and food comes out faster. Order pastries and bread at the glass case and coffee and breakfast at the registers. Coffee comes out by exit door while food comes out from the kitchen in the middle. The coffee is well balanced. Not sure whose they use but syrups are made in house. Breakfast sandwich looks small but is quite hearty and filling. You can add avocado, bacon, and aioli. This is a go to. West side avocado toast: adds garlic aioli, avocado, and poached egg to the Aptos version. Defn better Pesto goat cheese baguette: three letter review -- OMG Kouign Amann: this one is square, rather than classic round, and a little denser but still layered and not overly sweet. GF brownie: quite good for gluten free but sweeter than I like. Bacon egg galette: the puff pastry is nicely flaky with onions and crispy bacon. Messy but good. The premade sandwiches are all tasty and much better than you get in a grocery store. Customer service is a little hit and miss, based on personalities. There's plenty of seating inside and out.

    Photos
    Companion Bakeshop
    Construction on addition
    Construction on addition
    Buckwheat blueberry scone

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    Buckwheat blueberry scone
    Gayle's Bakery & Rosticceria

    Gayle's Bakery & Rosticceria

    4.2
    (2.3k reviews)
    5.5 mi
    $$

    it's ALL about the FOOD! SERVICE! COMPANY CULTURE! I share this from, the , lens of a sugar/ fat…read moreaddict, who ,is a native born , "Cruzian". The ambiance ? Crowded, poor feng shui, and full of tall people craving sugar and caffeine. For a short person like myself it's the one down side. The remedy is to order things for pick up or get your food out of the prepared food section. The ambience , triggers, my fight or flight instinct (personal problem.)Thanks for listening Many ago I,was in with four Girl Scouts ,to pick out meetings goodies. My vigelnce and ,protective neurons, on high alert We, ordered some delicious food and as I went to the cash register to pay , Gayle, came out ,and paid the total of my order. She's watching all she did was smile and I knew that she'd read my face ,seen the panic ,and acted on it. Gayle's, is a place, that I will always take visitors.

    Ok, so I'm not much a dessert person theses days, but when on vacation, I'll perhaps cheat a little…read morefor some of my long time favorites pastries since I'd need doing a lot of sightseeing and walking around for exercise anyway. I searched around the area for some popular bakeries and Gayle's came up on top, so off we went to try it out. As expected, the place was very busy when we walked in, we immediately grabbed a number, and waited to be called to place our order at the counter. It'd be a good idea, though, if you had made a good round to browse at all the goodies they have to offer, so you know what you want once your number is called... at least this is what we did. So, we ordered the Pain de Amande (almond croissant... my fave), a Bear Claw (loved these as a teenager), a Raspberry Napolean, and a Fresh Berry Tartelette with pastry cream. OMG! The almond croissant was aaammmaaazzing! I'm going to say this with all confidence, but this was the very best almond croissant of ever eaten! The croissant had a very nice light crisp on the outside, lovely dense layers of pastry inside, and that almond paste was just the best.... it has excellent flavor, just the right sweetness... not overly, and just pulled the whole croissant together to give one amazing yummy bite.... that you won't be able to stop eating! The Raspberry Napolean was excellent too....a bit sweet because of the raspberry jam. Regular Napoleans have flaky layers holding the sweet fillings, but this was more of a butter biscuit layer.... not quite the same, but still oh so yummy! The berry fruit tartelette was also excellent... fresh berries on that delicious pastry cream, inside a perfectly baked pastry shell. Lastly, the Bear Claw.... used to be one of my favorites, but I thought it needed something more most and creamy or moist on the inside, otherwise it tasted just a little bit dry.... still very good, but just needed something more. The one thing all the delicious baked goods we tried had was, they were obviously very freshly baked with the freshest ingredients.... and prepared to perfection. If I'm ever in the area again, I will definitely pay another visit to Gayle's as their pastries are simply the best you'll ever find anywhere.

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    Pretty flowers on the side
    Pretty flowers on the side
    Seasonal pastries
    Seasonal pastries
    Bacon & Smashed Tots Breakfast Sandwich

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    Bacon & Smashed Tots Breakfast Sandwich

    Kelly's French Bakery - bakeries - Updated July 2026

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