West End Bakery

This bakery has been around for over sixty years. And they still make a tasty loaf of Italian bread. Great location next to the 18^th ave train station.
Large selection on cookies and cakes. I went there as a child fifty years ago and was in the neighborhood recently and stopped by its still the same. Nice to see a family owned business be successful for so long.

This place has a mouse infestation. I walk by here at night all the time see mice on the floor inside the store. I have told them about it several times and still see them.
Update 1÷1÷2016: looks like they take care of the mice, haven’t seen them in over a month. Can’t speak for the food.

West End Bakery never fails to disappoint me. An okay service, but what they put out is far below par.
Here’s what i have to say about the desserts:
Chocolate cheese cake: The chocolate didn’t taste like chocolate — it numbed my tongue. I have also found egg shells in the cheese cake several times.
Oreo cake: Practically ¾ of the «cake» was cream. The cream was very inconsistent. Some bites were very sweet, but some were bland.
Chocolate mousse cake: I wouldn’t consider this a mousse because the «mousse» was extremely stiff — the exact opposite of what the texture of a mousse should be.
Cannoli: The shell was alright, but the filling had a peculiar taste — not in a good way. Kind of tasted like alcohol or a cream that has gone bad.
???: I think it was a vanilla cake, but i can’t remember. I actually enjoyed this cake until I noticed the mold in the cake. What a pity.
I pass by this Italian bakery practically everyday on my way to the subway station and on my way back home, which is why I’ve purchased from here more times than i should have. A very convenient location, but I’d rather travel to get my Italian dessert fix rather than come here.

They don’t even deserve one star!!! I got 4 pieces of pastry and a few cookies from this place, not one of the items are eatable. The cake was stale, the frosting was wax-​like, and its super sweet. The cookies was dry and the chocolate dipping on the cookie don’t even taste like chocolate (tasted like icing sugar that dyed brown). The worst!

They gave me lots of broken cookies. Most of the cookies here are tasteless and aren’t good, except for few of the cookies are okay. :/
It’s like they don’t care. The female doesn’t seem like she enjoy her job at all.
I wonder if those stuff are fresh at all.

Let me start by saying that I either never liked or never had good Cheese Cake until I came here around 8 years ago. When I first came here I felt like wow, a foreigner in an Italian place and had no idea what to order as it was stuff I never seen, except for Cannolis and Eclairs. While looking at the window, it was then that Cheese Cake talked to me when I was looking at it so I got both the Blueberry and Strawberry.
For $ 12 for a whole 8″ Cake, its a hell lot cheaper than anything you’ll find of excellent quality and forget about doing it yourself, unless you have something else in mind or if you’re that good. Believe me, Juniors’ best can not even touch the cheese cake they make here and you’re paying what for Juniors’?
That’s where I started ordering at least 2 every week or so for a whole year. The lady is really wonderful and I guess she was shocked from the first time to the last time I was there at how serious I took their cheesecake without gaining incredible amounts of weight. And believe me, she is a one woman army taking care of 10 people at a time though we are all understandably patient with her as she’s probably almost 80. There’s a self serve coffee station too, just not a place to sit, more of a take out/​delivery type bakery.

I live across the street from West End and have been there on a few occasions. I have NEVER tasted worse baked good– I would go as far as to say they are inedible. I am NOT picky at all, and basically will eat anything sweet, but I’m pretty sure their stuff is spoiled. I have purchased the mini pastries, a box of Italian cookies, and a chocolate cake at different times. Each one was so bad it needed to be thrown out. They are the ONLY bakery I’ve ever come across that makes stuff so bad that I’d prefer to eat nothing. It’s shocking.

I would never buy it again got some cookies and red velvet cake taste like wax no flavor and old old old I wouldn’t even eat it for free is really bad

I want to believe that the limited selection was due to the fact that it was a sunday and near closing time. One thing i dont get about bakeries is why the counter top is so tall. Are people afraid of a cookie bandit? Have they experienced someone trying to creep up on the canollis?
They didnt have the 3 things i would normally try: tres leches, tiramisu or anything with mint. So i figured i would try my go to dessert: red velvet. My son got a carrott cake and my husband got an apple danish. Needless to say none of us finished what we ordered. The icing of the red velvet and carrot cake tasted old. The cake itself lacked in flavor and the danish appeared to have been purchased from a stand in a subway station just taken out of the wrapping. Despite all this the person at the counter was nice. I hope to update this review to give it a second chance… just nit anytime soon

I went here yesterday for the first time and I’d have to say there’s nothing fancy, it’s convenient, and warm inside. The lady upfront is very, very nice. She’s patient even though I hesitated on my indecisive ideas. I only noticed till then as I left with a rainbow cookie cake, she had friscilli. I love pepper sprinkled friscilli. I’ll get some next time hopefully.

Went for the jelly doughnuts of my youth. But alas, many memories cannot be recreated. They no longer make the puffy, raspberry jelly filled treats (or any doughnuts) in house. The lady at the counter was quite honest about it. We took two jelly and a vanilla glazed=all were stale, greasy and disappointing, my quest continues…
What they still do in house, and have since 1918, is Italian breads, cookies and pastries. We brought some to drop off at my Grandparents old church: lobster claws, sfingie and most pastries were a reasonable $ 2 or $ 3 each. Rainbow CAKE (HUGE slices) pignoli cookies, rum babas and anisette sponges rounded out our choices. For less than $ 40, we left with a feast of sugar and spice for the clergy.
So, while part of my quest for the doughnuts Nono brought ended poorly, the beautiful cookie and pastry trays and trip to my Dad’s neighborhood were well worth this culinary stop down memory lane. Open since 1918 for a reason…

Lots of cookie selection. I go here when I have a small craving for sweets.

I went in this bakery to buy some cheescake for a NYE party. The staff was so friendly and helpful and one of the workers (she had blonde hair) gave me a $ 2 discount just for being friendly. The cheescake was a hit and I will be going back here for some cookies or when I have relieve a fix for a sweet tooth!

I always passed this bakery but never thought to go in and try their products.
One day my sister bought a loaf of Italian bread from our local grocery store. The bread was really crusty on the outside but nice and soft inside. We checked out where the bread came from and im like, «hey, I know that bakery!»…
Finally I step foot inside and bought some italian butter cookies, some connolis and of course, some more bread.
The cookies was soft and crumbly, maybe a bit too crumbly. I didnt like it so much because it was too crumbly. The cannoli was good. The shell was nice and crisp. I thought it was going to be soft from sitting in the fridge too long with the cream filling.
Of course I will be stopping by more often to buy their bread but to also try their other products.

This bakery has been opened for a long time and I’ve always been a loyal customer!
I LOVE cheesecake and this place is my all time favorite spot. Their cheesecakes are awesome!!! Soft and creamy… YUM!
They sell small slices there also, in case you don’t want a whole cake. I usually get their strawberry cheesecake. It’s big enough to feed 9 – 10 people and there’s also enough strawberries for each slice so everyone gets one. Their prices raised from $ 18.00 to $ 20.00 but it’s definitely worth it!
If you haven’t tried this place out and you’re a big cheesecake fan like me then you must try it out! :)

My family has been a customer for 20 years. Growing up, we ordered our birthday cakes from here. Stopped in yesterday; the place is just as good. Will upload photos later.
Italian baking at it’s best.

Got a cannoli here, it was the most disappointing cannoli I’ve ever had. it was stale and the taste was a bit off.

Ordered a cake for my GF and wasn’t too big a fan. Too much cream and the frosting taste a bit salty, yeah salty. They didn’t do such a good job on writing happy birthday as well.

Bought a pound of some of their butter cookies (the ones with the jam in the middle and one end dipped in chocolate & sprinkles) for $ 10…sadly it only came with 10 cookies, but the cookies tasted soft & not stale. Kinda pricey… but would probably come back here to try out other cookies.

Deceptive Business Practice!
Look at the pumpkin tart that they sell!
The pumpkin tart that they have on display does not have the crust separting from the filling. Obviously, if the filling is separating from the crust, it means it is stall and old. It means they really don’t have people buying their pastries!!! They know no one will buy their old, stale pumpkin tarts to they do a switch-​a-​roo!
SO DISHONEST!