My friend and I stopped by Sweet Thyme Bakery while on a bike ride. It's very conveniently located in downtown Lexington, near a bunch of other restaurants. We just made a quick stop to grab boba, so I don't have much to say on the service. The boba itself was decent, but nothing special. The ambiance wasn't the best... not much decor, but it still felt welcoming and clean. It felt like more of a takeout type of spot. Not sure I'd go out of my way to come back, but nothing negative to report! read more

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Whenever I'm visiting the Boston area, this place is a must visit. I always go for their cookies, but they also offer plenty of other baked goods. The cookies are all great, but my all time favorite here is the sesame cookies. They are so good. If you have one flavor of cookie that you like or would like to try, you can buy a bag with seven individually packaged two packs of that flavor inside. If you want to try them all, they sell cookie gift boxes with all of the flavors inside. The cookie box also makes for a great gift. Definitely worth checking out if you're in the area! read more

I stopped by this bakery several weeks ago to try out their pastries. I got slices of the chestnut almond cake, mango vanilla cake, and the green tea red bean cheesecake. The chestnut almond cake was awesome! It had fresh whipped cream and chestnut cream on the outside with almond bits inside the roll. It was light and delicious. I only wish they had more chestnut puree in the roll. The mango vanilla cake was also very good too. It was a vanilla sponge cake mixed with mango puree. Out of the three, the green tea red bean cheesecake was my least favorite. I usually like green tea desserts but I thought the green tea red bean cheesecake had a hard texture. You can also pre-order zongzi prior to the Dragon Boat festival day. They don't use preservatives which is a good thing. They also come with instructions on how to reheat them. Pretty cool. Definitely will come back for more chestnut almond cake! read more

Sweet Thyme Bakery - a box of cupcakes - Bakeries Near Me - Lexington, Massachusetts

A cute little bakery, but they only have bread starting 3 PM, so only cake/cookies were available when I stopped by. I enjoyed the Mocha Chocolate Rolled Slice ($6.95), which was light and fluffy with pleasant light flavor, though a touch dry. The Green Tea Azuki Bean Sliced Cheese Cake ($4.95) wasn't very good though -- the crust was very meh and the flavor a bland azuki bean one with minimal green tea. It's a nice place for a quick slice of cake, but not worth going out of your way. read more

Cheesecake is amazing, the birthday cakes are even better. So fluffy and the perfect sweetness. Lovely owners and interior! Just know there's no indoor seating. read more

We love this cozy family run bakery. The owners are nice and the cake is tasty. More important it is not crazily sweet. It becomes our go-to place for birthday cakes. read more

Sweet Thyme Bakery - Bakeries Near Me - Lexington, Massachusetts

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Extremely disappointed. Picture and description shown online totally different than what I got. Only one strawberry on top, one? barely found any inside. It's regular cream covered outside instead of cream puréed with strawberry. When I ordered by phone, I did ask to make sure the description is correct. Oh, he definitely didn't lie. Thanks sweet thyme bakery for this wonderful memory. I learnt a lesson. read more

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I ordered a green ice tea... Which I have never had served with milk at any other establishment. When it was served with milk, I told them that I was allergic to milk-and reminded them I'd ordered a plain iced green tea-unsweetened. No refund. No offer to remake it. $6 down the drain. I won't be trying them a second time. read more

WOULD NOT RECOMMEND! Poor customer service alert! I walked in today, hoping to get some moon cakes for the mid-autumn festival on the day of. When I proceed to ask some basic questions politely in Chinese, whether they still have some in stock and what kind of flavors they have, the staff talked to me in a rude and arrogant manner. She indicated that everyone wanted to order, and that they only have two boxes left. When I asked her about the flavors in the box, she said, "go online and figure out yourself or go outside and check out the menu." Even though there's only one other customer in the store, she seemed impatient. I listened and stepped outside to look for the menu. Once I was out of her sight, I heard her complaining in Chinese, "there are so many people who wanted to order, and you're asking me what flavors we have?!" To my discretion, it sounded like I should be thankful and honored to be able to put down money here, despite the fact that I just asked a very simple question that any responsible staff would be able to answer if they know their product enough. I've been to numerous Chinese restaurants and bakeries in the Greater Boston, even some that are notorious for bad services, but this is by far the worst experience I've ever had. This is my first time, and the last time I'll ever step foot in here. The experience was horrible, and the entire "talking behind people's back" is just no way to treat people, especially your customer. read more

Happened to be in Lexington last week, and when we went on a coffee break, we passed by the bakery by chance, and I'm glad we did. I wasn't too hungry, so I bought a loaf of cinnamon bread to eat later. The bread was light with a touch of sweetness. Definitely better than I had expected. The one room for improvement would be to evenly distribute the cinnamon swirl as it seemed like some pieces had a good amount of cinnamon while others had little to none. Overall, I was quite happy with this experience, and if I ever find myself in the area again, I'll definitely stop by again! read more

Sweet Thyme Bakery - Assortment of sweets on display. - Bakeries Near Me - Lexington, Massachusetts

Actually I have been to this place several times and we really love everything from this store. Their cakes are perfect for our taste, creamy but not too sweet. I would highly recommend this place if you have not yet tried their cakes or other desserts. read more

A family-run business with the best Asian desserts in town! I ordered the strawberry cake and the tiramisu to go from their display cake. Both were so cute and light, and the strawberry flavor tasted entirely natural to me. read more

Sweet dreams are made of this. A close friend and I decided to drive here on a recent rainy Sunday, in search of the boba other reviewers rave about. Though we arrived for the boba, we stayed for the baked goods. The boba lived up to the hype. As other reviewers have stated, it's obvious that they use actual strawberries in the preparation of their strawberry milk boba drink, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was creamy without being too heavy. The boba was also cooked properly. Both the blueberry and green tea/red bean cheesecakes were delightful. I could've eaten an entire cheesecake, to be honest, it was that good. My friend had the red velvet cupcake and one of the sandwiches with her boba. She enjoyed everything and agreed that it was worth the trip. The owners clearly cared about the quality of our experience, regularly checking in to see what we thought, and the baked goods were well-presented (though I did feel a little spoiled by the unexpected table service, but that's just me!). Nice, calm ambiance. Parking (in a nearby public lot) happened to be free when we visited, so that was a nice bonus. Pricing was in line with our expectations and definitely on the lower end for a place as expensive as Lexington. If you're in the area and like Asian-inspired baked goods/milk-based boba drinks, definitely stop by! read more

Sweet Thyme Bakery - Blueberry cheesecake (top) and red velvet cupcake (bottom). - Bakeries Near Me - Lexington, Massachusetts

Delicious smells as soon as you wak in. Not a huge selection in the case on the Friday afternoon when I stopped by. The strawberry cake slice and apple cupcake thing I tried were ok. Nothing special. read more

An overrated rude place. Obviously, the owner/staff think very highly of themselves. So they feel free to talk down to customers. When you walk out the store, don't be surprised you feel robbed emotionally and financially. read more

I'm very surprised by the negative reviews of this bakery. I actually had to read some of them and it's kind of sad that the star rating is down due to some ridiculous complaints. I love this bakery, and I love the people who run it! They take great pride in their product, and if you get something to go, they will warn you that it needs to be eaten right away or it must be refrigerated. Why? Because everything they make is FRESH-no preservatives. Their cream is made fresh. The colors of their cake only come from natural ingredients. FRESH. If you leave anything with milk products out for 3 hours, it will go bad. That being said, if you want to indulge in a sweet that has great ingredients and is FRESH, then this bakery is the one for you. I ordered my wedding cake from this bakery, and we didn't have a crumb left! People actually went back for seconds on the cake! Their in house bread is also delicious! Grilled cheese taste absolutely divine when made with their multi grain bread. read more

Cute little mom and pop bakery and boba shop. Haven't had the baked goods, but they looked great. The boba was very good, especially for a suburb and not central Boston. The Boba itself coulda have been sweeter, but the milk tea was delicious. read more

I ordered a birthday cake from here- the green tea chocolate 8" cake- and it was delicious! Very spongy, not too sweet- normally my family can't finish the icing on cakes you might get from the supermarket, but with this one we were practically licking the icing off our plates! If you order three days in advance, you get a discount. Also the box that the cake came in was very sturdy- I felt very confident carrying it on the bus and then the T to Davis Square- the cake stayed in place and felt secure in my hand. The birthday we were celebrating happened to be on Lunar New Year Eve. As I was waiting for the pickup, a lot of people came in picking up 八寶飯 and other small cakes to celebrate the holiday and wishing each other a happy new year in Mandarin. It made the place feel very cozy. I believe this place used to be cash only from reading previous reviews, but I paid over the phone with mine and when I went there they had one of those Square tablets that accepts credit card. Overall, it's a little pricey, but the cake and atmosphere were great. read more

Sweet Thyme Bakery - green tea chocolate cake- they let me choose a message on it too! - Bakeries Near Me - Lexington, Massachusetts

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Easily the best bakery I've been to in the entire Boston and surrounding area. The perfect mix of French techniques, Japanese/Chinese influences and Taiwanese inspirations. Throw in an adorable Chinese-Taiwanese couple who own the place and you've got a winning hole-in-the-wall combination. Get everything. But if you can't afford everything, get these: Marble chocolate and vanilla cookie - Not as sweet as you'd expect, and that's a good thing. Almond cookie - Thin, unlike the Chinese kind, but good almond flavor Rose and German walnut cookie - How can you not be curious to try this? Blueberry-chocolate cheese bar - Have you ever sat there on the subway and wished you had cheesecake in a to-go form to eat during your commute? Well, look no further! Conveniently wrapped in a candy-twist style, this is essentially a long bar of cheesecake made for easy eating. It's also light, fluffy, creamy and delicious and the chocolate crumb crust is divine! Cream puffs - Dangerously small and delicious Chestnut almond cake - OMG. So much almond packed into a light, moist, sponge-y texture. Chestnut topping is the perfect contrast. Raspberry chocolate cheesecake - Amazing. Strawberry cheesecake - Also amazing. Blueberry almond square - Er, I'm gonna go with awesome this time. read more

My wife and I really enjoy the simplicity of this place. High Quality: Each time I have been here I am completely impressed with the freshness and quality of the product. They do not use artificial ingredients here and you can taste the difference when you take your first bite. I like the versatility in the menu, low-fat, low-sugar treats like the Green Tea Red Bean Roulade (My favorite) or the Rose Raisin Cheese Bar. Beautiful Presentation: The obvious fine details and craftsmanship of these edible pieces of art show just how passionate they are about making quality baked goods. Atmosphere: The methodical structure of the interior is enough to put a person with OCD to sleep. Everything is in it's proper place, so much that it's borderline chaotic but still manages to be serene. Cleanliness: I think I saw Howie Mandel licking frosting off his fingers in one of the corner chairs. Ya, it's that clean. Competitive pricing: I find myself loading up a box of goodies for just under 20 bucks. I'm talking 6 Cheese Bars and 2 or 3 various other tasty treats. I'm pretty sure it's owner operated, I see the same woman at the counter every time and I assumed she is the owner/baker. I'm stingy with my 5 stars, this place has earned it. read more

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I really want to give a good review for this place cos my friend said she had the best cheesecake here. I asked for the best seller and they gave me the Strawberry Cake. I ate it 3 hours later and somehow the cake went bad, REALLY BAD. I just hope I won't get sick after this. I tried to complain but the phone is out of reach. It's a shame cos the place and the service was nice. read more

Sweet Thyme Bakery - Strawberry Cake went bad after 3 hours - Bakeries Near Me - Lexington, Massachusetts

A really relaxing place to grab dessert and coffee (or bubble tea). I've been here a couple of times and (overall) I really like this place. The atmosphere is wonderful for friends to come together to sit down and chat during the afternoon. I've had the chocolate mocha cake, green tea and red bean cheesecake, red bean pastry (forgot the name, but it's on top of the display), various drinks, and various cheesecake bar. Overall, I think that this place is very good. Nothing is too sweet or too rich. Which is the main point of this bakery. It's a French-Japanese infused bakery. Asian countries' desserts are generally less sweet and rich than Western desserts. Therefore this bakery does a wonderful job finding the balance of the delicacy of these desserts. However, this is not quite a 5 star because sometimes their food/drink can sometimes be a miss. I would come in one day and order a bubble tea and think that it's one of the best in the Boston area. A week later, I would order the same drink and think it's slightly below average. However, this does not occur often; a majority of the time, the food is very good. It's just not the most consistent bakery every. read more

Cool bakery known for its cheesecake. We got the 7 layer bar and a chocolate mousse type bomb thingy. Great service, lots of selection - it was hard to choose. read more

Sweet Thyme Bakery - The sweets case! - Bakeries Near Me - Lexington, Massachusetts

This was such a great find! I picked up the almond-chestnut cake for my husband's birthday and it was a huge hit. So moist, so delicious and not terribly sweet, something I appreciate about Asian bakeries in general. Also, great customer service!! Warm and friendly owners! Highly recommend. read more

Sweet Thyme Bakery - Almond-chestnut cake! So So So good! Get it! You won't regret it! - Bakeries Near Me - Lexington, Massachusetts

A really cute store and ambiance is great! It's a lil expensive (what isn't in Lexington though) but they have a good selection of breads, teas and cakes. read more

Excellent pastries and customized cakes Pricey Be careful of the pickup date- there is an extra charge if not picked up within frame No flexibility to that rule read more

Love their Chestnut Almond Cake! Delicious and fresh. Whole family love this cake. First time getting it in this size and its just beauitful! Best combination/ratio of cake, chestnut and whipped cream! and Mom and MIL was both very happy with it. Thank you! read more

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Yummy cakes for adult taste - not sicky sweet. Likely need to pre-order since they rarely have any cakes available to purchase day of event. My favorites are the Mango Vanilla Cake and the Black Forest Chocolate Cake. The cake has a sponge like consistency and the icing is very light. I tried the Green Tea Strawberry Cake - I did not care for it much but if you like Green Tea you would likely enjoy it. I have tried a few of their cookies too however, none of them have yet gelled with my taste buds. read more

Love the bubble tea here!! They don't use powder so taste really fresh and not artificial tasting. The green tea cheesecake is amazing. Mocha chocolate cake is really spongy and delicious. The green tea cookies and rose cookies are also amazing. It's a chill place for studying, catching up with friends. It does get a bit loud sometimes on the weekends. read more

Sweet Thyme Bakery - Bakeries Near Me - Lexington, Massachusetts

Excellent cake and dessert. Surpringly, their lunch is very very tasty. Highly recommend this place. Fruit tea is made of fresh fruit, thumbs up. read more

So happy I got to find this Asian-like bakery! Great selections, from cheesecake to a regular cake. Some recommendations: green tea azuki cheesecake, green tea chocolate cake, mango cake (if you're feeling adventurous), and strawberry vanilla cake. Not to mention, this place also sells bubble tea! read more

Sweet Thyme Bakery - Powder-free, homemade bubble tea... Yum! - Bakeries Near Me - Lexington, Massachusetts

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Good family owned bakery. 5 stars overall based on my visits, but just wanted to say that the mango smoothie is kinda too sweet, considering that most of their baked goods are not as sweet (Asian-level of sugar tolerance). read more

I just discovered the greatest bakery in my own town. The cakes in the case looked so yummy and so pretty. I wouldn't want to eat them. The owner, Cindy is from Hong Kong and she said that all were made with no artificial ingredients. I bought a mocha chocolate cheese cake bar and a green tea red bean cheese cake bar. They were fantastic Every 6 bars you buy, you get one free!!! I also bought a loaf of cinnamon bread. It was very good and fluffy! I will keep going back to this bakery!! read more

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This is a wonderful place to get a mid-afternoon pick-me-up that doesn't blow your blood-sugar levels for the rest of the day. I notice that many folk complain that Sweet Thyme's offerings are bland and not sweet enough, but I think that the American palate has been trained to practically expect to eat frosting off a spoon. As for the pastries and breads, they are all of excellent quality and have great flavor and texture. Some I particularly enjoy are the 'yogurt bars', which are like cheesecake bars with a graham-cracker base; the apricot square with almonds, which has a wonderfully rich, crumbly shortbread base; and the mocha cheesecake. In addition, the owner is wonderfully friendly and cheerful! The ambiance of the place is great; it is very clean ad quiet. It has a definite Asian aesthetic, with it's cool, austere decor, which some cafe-goers might find a little unusual. read more

At the time of this review, Sweet Thyme has been in business for six years. The interesting thing is that I never heard of them until a friend ordered a birthday cake here for his wife and asked us to pick it up - apparently they don't invest in any marketing and only rely on word of mouth. A few quirks to note before you step foot into the shop: - It's cash only, so be sure to visit the ATM at whichever bank you do business with; thankfully, every major bank is located within a few hundred feet of the store. - They're closed on Mondays, so if you have an event that evening, be sure to pick up your order the day before. My friend ordered a mocha cake, enough to serve 10 people. We picked it up, along with some goodies for ourselves (blueberry scones and strawberry wafers) to nosh on while we waited for the cake to be boxed up, as we had arrived early. The cake held up for the party the next evening; it was moist, fluffy, and didn't make us feel so guilty about having a second serving. The next time I returned was to pick up a last minute cake for my coworker's birthday. Unfortunately, they didn't have any premade cakes left to purchase, so I picked up an assortment of cake slices, just enough for my team of six. Slices of mango cheesecake, raspberry chocolate cheesecake, mocha cake, coffee cake, and adzuki green tea cake hit the spot and made my coworker feel special. Prices are somewhat steep (~$4 for a small slice of cake), but to me, the value supports the quality of the treat. I'll be back soon for the next birthday cake! read more

Yes it's CASH ONLY .. imagine that in this lifetime we are still using things besides plastic. FABULOUS cakes, cookies and pastries. Their are the straight forward items for traditional people then their is the Green Tea Cheese Cake and Mango Mousse both of which are takes on traditional Asian style desserts. We got the orange cookies, the almond cookies and an apricot tart, all were excellent. I want chocolate so bad, which they have an abundance of in a variety of items: mousse, layer cake, cookies but I'm tapped out on chocolate due to the abundance I consumed during the holidays. They ALSO OFFER A FEW ON-PREMISE SANDWICHES which sounded great! The establishment has a ****(four star) Zen-like feeling to it. Calm peaceful and all the baked goods look like they've been feng-shui'ed = lovely presentation! This is a top notch business, and deserves some great PR and more foot traffic than I saw it getting I think people may be confused about what it is! GOURMET BAKED GOODS! I don't give out 5 stars often .. this is a hidden gem I'm sorry I don't live closer! read more

Tiny selection of desserts. They seemed to mostly make and stock breads and Asian pastries. We got a couple of cupcakes that were just awful. The cake was flavorless and dry and the frosting was just basically whipped cream or cool whip or something. We would up throwing them away after one bite. Go further down the street to Eat Cake for better cupcakes. read more

Ordered a cake from here for my family Christmas party and it was a big hit. I ordered the chocolate cake with strawberries. It was totally spongey and fresh. I will definitely be ordering from here again. People should know that it is cash only - perhaps that will change in the future? I hope this little gem sticks around for a while. read more

To eaters: I would caution that you look at the date for the negative reviews. Several years ago, this place was small and had a little variety of teas and sweet goods. Now their selection has expanded (although it is still small by conventional bakery standards) and they now offer lunch. I am back at home for spring break and the first place I went to was Sweet Thyme -- a place I had found fascinating with its exotic and classy desserts when I was younger. I got the Turkey Avocado lunch combo and it was definitely a lunch worth having. For $6.50, I got hot tea (with free refills) that you could pour yourself, a sandwich with a particular tang and extremely fresh vegetable -- probably my favorite Turkey sandwich that I've ever eaten -- and a random cream puff. Hopefully they give you the strawberry cream puff which just melts on your tongue. One thing I've noticed about the place is that they tend to err on the higher end of reasonable when it comes to prices. This should not be a surprise, given its location in a wealthy town. The Espresso pudding is also quite good. I also recommend the Orange Roulette and Mango or Strawberry bars. read more

Sweet Thyme Bakery is a hidden gem. The owners are kind and personable, the bubble tea is amazing, and the breads and pastries are delicious. read more