Who doesn't love a local bakery that is putting out amazing pastries AND has phenomenal savory lunch items?! If they are making pastries, you know that everything down to their buns are going to be mouthwatering... My mom devoured this pastry, but I'm still thinking about that sandwich. The warm pastrami with melted cheese, caramelized onions, and a horseradish aïoli... Lord have mercy. Please support these local bakeries because we need more of them. And by we I mean me. I loved all the natural light, the location is great, there is space that would accommodate a larger group, but also allows for intimate seating and studying if that's your vibe. Lastly, the staff is so lovely and helpful. Always such a great experience there. read more

Scenic Route Bakery - Bakeries Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

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We had coffee and pastry to go. Service was efficient and quick. Layout was typical of a bakery/cafe.

4.5/5 Pleasant environment, LOTS of seating, and plenty of bakery items to choose from. Things to know: If you're going here to work, they have outlets and a wet bar for self-serve water; if you have any dietary restrictions, they have options for you; if you're looking for a sit-down breakfast, they don't have that option. My one complaint would be the limited breakfast items, but you have so many pastries to choose from so it's ok! They have lots of sandwich options, so I'll definitely be back to try those. I ordered a small hot latte and was pleasantly surprised. read more

Scenic Route Bakery - Small Hot Latte To Go - Bakeries Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

A great spot to start your day, enjoy some wonderful pastries and some excellent coffee options. Additional light fare is available for both breakfast and lunch. The shop has an open, modern vibe, with historical baking and farm implements on the wall, making for an interesting and fun atmosphere. Wonderful staff is patient and informative of all the special offerings this bakery has to offer. This is an order at the counter take it to your table venue. To go orders are easily accommodated as well. Pricing was reasonable and bakery Products were wonderful. Definitely recommend stopping in if you're looking for a quick bite before exploring the downtown Des Moines area. Open six days a week, early morning to mid afternoon, so check hours for availability on their website. read more

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They know how to make a croissant! The Almond croissant was crunchy, flaky and well filled. Pinwheel and monkey bread were equally excellent. The espresso was dialed in well and delicious. It's worth changing your plans to visit. read more

High quality bakery. Our party tried the caramelized onion danish, the ham & cheese egg bite, and a cinnamon roll. All delicious and great balance of flavoring. Staff friendly, coffee solid. read more

Nice selection of food, bakery and coffee choices. Nice location and large dining facilities as well as outdoor seating. Kind employees that deliver food to table when dining in. read more

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I stopped here for a quick bite and a cup of coffee on my way north to Minnesota. The place had a lovely, relaxed vibe with plenty of space and tables where you could grab pastries, coffee, and other treats. I ordered a coffee mocha with a scone and a pecan sticky roll. The pecan sticky roll was absolutely divine - it was soft and so delicious! The scone, on the other hand, could've been a bit softer. The prices were pretty reasonable overall, and the other pastries looked really good. Parking was easy - paid street parking. read more

Scenic Route Bakery - Big bakery/coffee shop with lots of tables - Bakeries Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

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The co-owner/ cook in the back is the BEST Asian chef in Des Moines! Very generous. Very friendly restaurant. My friend Kevin(a local business owner) and I go there sometimes. read more

The food tasted great. The portions were relatively small for the price. The service was kind and the atmosphere was very warm and inviting. This would be a great place to work or study with some coffee and a snack. read more

Scenic Route Bakery - Latte, Pesto Chicken Wrap - Bakeries Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

Delightful spot! We always pop in here for coffee and a nosh when we are downtown. On Saturday, they had a Farmer's Wrap ( breakfast Burrito ) as a special which was delicious! The only drink I've ordered is the Red Eye. I love it's a double shot of espresso and then the coffee is help yourself. My friends usually get iced drinks which are all house crafted and made to order exactly how they like. Wonderful cookies and bakery items available to enjoy there or to go. The bathroom is in the main building and to the left, a bit out of the way... read more

Scenic Route Bakery - Farmer's Wrap ( special of the day ) frosted cookie, and red eye - Bakeries Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

My favorite place to get pastries!! Service is good and workers are friendly. Only thing- if you sit down right away, you might miss them calling out your order as they never really say it loud enough to hear from the sitting areas. read more

Scenic Route Bakery - Croissant & Latte - Bakeries Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

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Very bright and open cafe in East Village. I've been in on a few occasions to meet clients and it seems like they stay consistently busy throughout the day. So much that the pastry cabinet has been nearly empty on my afternoon visits. I'm plenty happy with just the chai latte though. I haven't been looking for outlets, but it's otherwise a decent place to work for a bit. I feel like I lucked out with the street parking each time too. That area is always tricky. read more

The atmosphere and space is nice and clean. The staff was friendly and even though it is street parking, it was easy to find a space to park. There is a lot of seating options here which is also nice. The bakery goods..... not so great. I got 3 items: a monkey bread, a chocolate croissant and a pecan caramel roll. All three were CRAZY burnt on the bottom, which wasn't a fun surprise when I got home and realized I spent $24 on something I had to cut the whole bottom half off of. Their coffee was good. Pretty standard local coffee shop type of taste. Nothing really to phone home about there. I would say this place is good to meet for a cup of coffee but I'd skip the overpriced and poor quality food. read more

Excellent kale salad. Tasty cinnamon rolls. Chill vibe. Friendly service. Dog friendly

This is a "must stop" when I am in the East Village. The coffee is incredible. The staff is amazing. And the vibe is cool. read more

Not recommended, looked okay at first glance but the service and quality was very poor. Plenty of other options nearby, use those instead. read more

Walked around looking for good coffee and this place had great reviews. I just ordered their large coffee and was directed to a metal container that had their coffee. It was almost as cold as the half-and-half! And an hour and a half before closing and no manager working. read more

Scenic Route has my favorite pastries in Des Moines. Always light and flaky, without overly greasy bottoms. My absolute favorite thing are all the savory options: I highly recommend the everything bagel danish and the bialys (only on the weekend). All of the coffee drinks and lunch menu items I've tried have also been good, but I always get stuck on the pastries. Also, it's a large space with lots of tables, so it's a good place to go for a coffee or lunch meeting. It can fill up, but overall I've rarely had trouble finding a seat. read more

Scenic Route Bakery - Everything Bagel Danish + Cuban latte - Bakeries Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

Popped in as I travel west and was stoked by the peach pinwheel pastry and spot on Americano. Worth the stop

This is my favorite place to stop for coffee and a sweet treat whenever I am in town for work! The staff is so kind and even remembered my name The inside and outside both have tons of space and has such a welcoming energy. You also cannot go wrong with the peach pinwheel. Can't wait to come back! read more

Scenic Route Bakery - A half eaten peach pinwheel - Bakeries Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

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We decided to purchase a few baked goods as a treat for breakfast today. Our choices were an everything croissant, an almond croissant, a peach pastry and a vegetable pastry. The everything croissant was stuffed with cream cheese, and we ate it first on the walk home because it had the perfect flaky texture for tearing and sharing, and wasn't too messy. When we got home my husband ate the almond croissant. I tried a bite of it and it was good, but way too messy for me to enjoy, with slivered almond powdered sugar and bread flakes going all over with every bite. I popped the vegetable and peach pastries in the toaster oven for two minutes to warm up a bit as they were a little tougher in texture. We split them in half and they were delicious! The vegetable one was savory with a surprise sliver of jalapeño packing a lot of extra flavor. The peach was my favorite, it had the perfect balance of fruit and cream cheese, and was sweet without being too sweet. Definitely recommend and will be stopping in again as we were quite satisfied with our purchase and are eager to try other items from their case! read more

Scenic Route Bakery - The peach pastry, vegetable pastry, and almond croissant. - Bakeries Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

Came on a Saturday morning for some coffee and a bakery treat while I do some reading for a couple of hours. I was immediately greeted by a friendly gentleman who helped me with my selection. He was very kind, welcoming, and indicated that he was the pastry chef's father! A very nice personal touch for the business. Pour Over Coffee was great and the chocolate croissant had the perfect amount of rich chocolate inside. The atmosphere was very warm and spacious. Perfect for reading or getting work done! read more

Scenic Route Bakery - Pour Over Coffee and Chocolate croissant - Bakeries Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

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I stopped by later in the day so the bakery case wasn't full, but I managed to procure a cinnamon roll and a cherry danish. The cinnamon roll was perfectly moist and I enjoyed the thick layer of icing on top. The danish was flakey and covered in tart cherries. I also enjoyed my hot apple cider while walking around the shops in the East Village. read more

This place for coffee has been on my list for a while now. Decided to give it a try this morning. Staff is very friendly and welcoming. Large selection of bakery items. Even the drink selection has a huge variety. They offer three sizes, plenty of seating. Beautiful decor. Husband and I got a medium chai latte and this was really good not overly sweet which I definitely appreciated. We also decided to get two bakery items, I choose the jalapeño cheese croissant (gave me trader joe jalapeño cheese bread vibes) husband had the cranberry scone and it was FANTASTIC. We spent about 22 dollars including tip. There is only street parking might get a bit tricky at times. Overall great experience. read more

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So good! The veggie bialy was amazing, but I wanted to try everything. Super friendly service too. Loved our coffee as well!

We passed through Des Moines recently and made a stop at Scenic Route Bakery.  It turned out to be a great place to pick up some java and a bite to eat! Service is friendly and fast, and their espresso drinks are really good - I recommend the Honeybee Latte :-) We ordered a Kale Salad and an almond cake - both were really good, and the prices were surprisingly reasonable. read more

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Very crowded and dirty. The food was ehh and the guy at the counter didn't have any interest for the costumers who didn't regularly come. The waffle i got was soggy and the whip cream was hardened. read more

Cute place! Great spot to work while enjoying their coffee and baked goods. I ordered the honeybee latte and it was absolutely delish. The cookies were also a huge hit. read more

Scenic Route Bakery - a woman at the counter - Bakeries Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

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Have come here a few times to work, color, and just relax. Their pastries are delicious. Their chicken salad sandwich is pretty good too read more

Scenic Route Bakery - Bakeries Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

The setting of this cafe is nice. The space is beautifully lit, with huge floor to ceiling windows so you can watch out the window and get lots of natural light! The decor is busy, but not overwhelming. The chairs are comfortable (including a couch) and there were many folks set up and working on the Friday late morning I visited. The staff was friendly. The food was my biggest complaint, which is... problematic since it's a bakery/cafe. The croissant I ordered was burned, and all of the croissants in the display looked the same. The inside of it was good, but the entire exterior was very dark and crunchy with a charred flavor. My husband ordered the turkey pesto sandwich, and asked for no tomato. We were told they can't make any modifications to food items. Something as simple as removing tomato seems like an odd line to be unwilling to cross. Especially when you consider food allergies. My husband ordered a basic coffee and had no complaints. I ordered the moonlight jasmine tea. read more

Scenic Route Bakery - Hot Tea (Medium 16 oz.) - Bakeries Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

Damn those ham and cheese croissants tho. Highly recommend. Cool atmosphere would deff come back.

Amazingggg honey bee drink and food is amazing. The service is always top of the line and you can really tell they know what they're doing, I love the modern rustic vibe and location of Scenic Route! read more

Beautiful airy space in East Des Moines that balances both bakery and coffee excellence. Counter staff was very helpful, suggesting the iced Cubano latte and a savory croissant. This is a space that could get loud due to the hard surfaces and yet on a Tuesday morning there was more of a joyful hum than a clatter. Patio seating is shaded, although tables on the edge get sun in the early morning. read more

The ambience was friendly and it was easy to relax there. The staff was quick and efficient. The sandwich and tea was nice and hot. I really liked how the sandwich tasted. read more

I gotta say that I LOVE Scenic Route Bakery! My co-workers and I just discovered this place last week and we all seriously went there two days straight! The coffee drinks are great. I've had an iced mocha and iced Cuban and both were really good! My colleagues raved about the pour over coffee. I also got a ham and cheese croissant which was AMAZING, and a cheese steak panini which was pretty tasty. The service here for the most part is really great. Most of the staff are helpful and patient. So why not five stars? The first time that I came in last week, I asked a barrista if they had any lemon that I could put in my water. The guy acted like that was an odd request and said "we don't have any lemon wedges up here. If we had any they'd be in the back in the kitchen." He didn't offer to get me a lemon wedge from the back, or check to see if there was some. He just flat out acted like my request was strange and not available. Period. I didn't care for that. read more

Scenic Route Bakery - Bakeries Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

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I went early (before it got very busy) and got a croissant and coffee. Perfect place to get work done.

Egg nog latte was awesome. The best I have had outside of our home. No flavoring just egg nog--had it with nonfat milk and it was tasty and light. read more

Scenic Route Bakery - Egg nog latte. Wonderful on a sunny and very cold day. - Bakeries Near Me - Des Moines, Iowa

My first time here passing through town. The pastry was very good but my small iced latte with two shots was weak for my taste. If I had known, I would add another shot. Espresso lovers would have to pay extra for another shot. read more

Bagels, cookies and a baguette was all that permitted myself to buy. Everything looked so good, and everything we had was fantastic. Prefect fuel for the Paavo Nurmi Marathon. read more