Beard Papa’s

Very short menu, but they have great eclairs. Love the fillings. Only go there to pick up some yummy eclairs.

Every dessert is great. Parking is available but cumbersome. My children’s favorite dessert place.

I was craving some Beard Papa’s yesterday so I skipped my way to this location. Ok, I took an Über but who cares.
Walked up to the storefront only to find out they’re CLOSED FOR CONSTRUCTION. The worst feeling ever, ever, ever.

Recommend the original with green tea filling and the éclair with vanilla filling. They don’t give you plates or knives, so be prepared.
Pro: plenty of parking in the lot

This place «was» great!
Since they have a new owner it is not so good anymore.
In the past there was always a long line to order, not anymore, place is empty, which shows its decline since it was bought out in December 2015.
Puffs were baked all day long, sometimes we had to wait for them, you could smell the aroma from the fresh bake puffs from the street. Now the puffs are cold and sometimes even stale, also they have decided not to make the «mini puffs» anymore (which are great for small children and not so messy to eat as the original size), they no longer make the chocolate filling either…
The case with the deserts is there empty, all wrap in plastic, when we asked about the changes, employee didnt seem to care much, he was pretty dismissive. Last couple of times I stopped by in the past few months, there was only one employee to make the puffs, take the order, handle the register and clean the tables, we order some to eat there and some to go. We cleaned the table ourselves, by the time we were leaving a second person came out of the back, looked around and went back behind the door.
It is too bad, it was a great place to get treat for the kids after school.

I went into Beard Papas on a whim driving by when I had some extra time to kill. I like cream puffs and their brand is recognizable but I have never tried one before, so why not take the time to give it a go.
I am happy that I did. The puffs were injected upon ordering. I got a regular puff and a chocolate on chocolate puff. The normal one was significantly better, as the fried chocolate dough just seemed a little bit over cooked.
At the end of the day the treat was very nice, but I wish the pastries them self were a little softer and less crispy.

Always a great place to satisfy your large Crème puff addiction. They added a new green tea flavor as well!
I love the original — classic and clean.

Ordered the original with cookies and cream. Crunchy bread that melts in your mouth! Cream has just the right about of sweetness!

Since I was in the area, I stopped by. Only been to the location in Gardena but a cream puff sounded pretty good at the time. I would say the traffic in this tiny strip mall in new J town is crazy busy. I walked over from Bachi Burger a few blocks away.
I definitely recommend if you haven’t tried Beard Papa.
Try the original and the chocolate cream. Yum!

I used to live/​work over in the Pasadena area and one of my co-​workers would always bring a box of these from the Lake Ave. location to work on the weekends. Never was a biggest fan of cream puffs, these particular treats converted me to a full-​fledged fan. I also recall these powdered sugar treats being messy as all heck and we’d have to clean up since we were all dressed up before going back on the floor. However, there was always sloppy ‘evidence’ that one had just helped themselves to the yellow box in the back of house. My favorite were always the original basic cream puff; you really couldn’t go wrong with this one.
Since Pasadena and the Hollywood location have closed, Sawtelle became a reasonable location due to moving over on the west side. However, this visit left a bitter taste as the service as well as the product itself just weren’t up to the standards I remember. Even though they are made in front of you to ensure freshness, the trip to b.p. just wasn’t worth the time.
Although I haven’t ‘experienced better’ (yet), I’m still looking–

Have been to Sawtelle a million times but never went to Beard Papa’s. It has really good cream puffs! I got the cookie puff with vanilla insides, tasted like heaven.
Has plenty of seating, perfect for double dates! The puff was crunchy and the cream also tasted really fresh. Definitely recommend, great for satisfying those dessert cravings. $ 2/​each.

Beard Papa’s is known for its cream puffs. Originally founded in Osaka, Japan, the chain has numerous locations around the world including in the Middle East and many stores in California, Indonesia, South Korea, and Thailand. This review is for the Beard Papa’s store located in Sawtelle Japantown, West Los Angeles. It’s been around for over 10 years and is one of the first Beard Papa’s locations in the US.
We stopped here for dessert after having dinner across the street at Tatsu Ramen (that place is good if you like ramen). This is like a small bakery-​café. On our visit, the food menu was limited to cream puffs only. They had a dessert case, but it was covered up in a large cloth. Cream puff filling flavors rotate daily. The flavors available during our visit were vanilla, chocolate, and green tea.
Ordering a Beard Papa’s cream puff is a two-​step process:
1. Choose a shell.
2. Choose a filling.
Shells and filling are made in-​store daily and ready to go behind the counter when you order. The shells are made from choux pastry dough. The pastries are filled when you order them. You can watch your order come together. Here’s what the shell menu looked like when we went:
* Original — $ 2.00
* Éclair — $ 2.20
* Paris Brest — $ 2.30
* Cookie — $ 2.20
* Fondant au Chocolate — $ 2.50
* Mini Puffs (6 pieces) — $ 4.50
If you order a half-​dozen cream puffs, you get $ 1 off. If you order a dozen cream puffs, you get $ 2 off. Half-​dozen and dozen orders are neatly packed in carry-​out boxes with handles. All in all, a good deal.
I tried all three fillings in the following configurations:
A. Original shell with vanilla filling
B. Original shell with chocolate filling
C. Paris Brest shell with green tea filling
I thought all the cream puffs were delicious. I liked the original shell with vanilla filling the best, but I am also a big fan of vanilla flavor in general. The original shells were soft, delicate, and flaky. I liked them a lot. I think they were served with a little bit of flour on top. The fillings were cold, creamy, and custardy, almost like a mix between pudding and ice cream with a smooth, dense, and appetizing consistency.
The Paris Brest shell reminded me a traditional cruller because of the pastry’s twisted pattern and it’s firmer, crisper texture. Along with the green tea filling, the pastry also had some matcha powder sprinkled on the outside for extra flavor. Yum.
Note: The cream puffs are messy to eat so you might want to grab extra napkins.
Beard Papa’s sells drinks too. They have various coffee beverages like espresso, Americano, latte, cappuccino, machiatto, and mocha, tea, and bottled/​canned drinks like soda, Orangina, and vitaminwater. The coffee, latte, mocha, and tea can be served hot or iced. The drinks range in price from roughly $ 2 – 4 each. The hot coffee and tea come in two sizes while the iced coffee and tea come in one size only.
I tried an iced tea ($ 2) and an iced mocha ($ 3.25) and enjoyed both. Simple, but satisfying. The iced tea was cold and refreshing while the iced mocha was sweet, soothing, and really hit the spot. I wouldn’t hesitate to come back and order everything we had again.
Service was great. It was nice and speedy. The staff was friendly too.
The store itself is small and aside from the nice storefront sign and fancy-​looking glass façade, the rest of the place is pretty plain and nondescript. There’s hardly any décor and really no ambiance to speak of. It’s a cozy little spot with seating for about 20 inside and perhaps a half-​dozen on the covered sidewalk outside. They aren’t open late (closing time is 9:30pm, Sunday-​Thursday, and 10pm, Friday and Saturday) and I don’t think they provide free Wi-​Fi.
Also, they don’t have a restroom. If you need to go, there’s a restroom next door at Nijiya Market.
Beard Papa’s Sawtelle is located on the ground level of the Sawtelle Place shopping center. Limited free parking is available directly outside the store in the shopping center’s surface lot. If no spaces are available, you can park in the center’s shady underground deck for a fee. I suggest instead street parking (for free) in the residential neighborhood just west of Japantown and walking over.
Enjoy!

On a Sunday night with mediocre sushi and ramen, we decided that maybe 3^rd time is a charm. So, we Unilocaled again and found Beard Papa’s (BP). It sure was THE charm of the night. Mini puffs were all sold out and so were the strawberry fillings. Without many choices, we decided to just get what was available. We got two original ($ 2 each) and two éclair puffs ($ 2.20 each) with vanilla filling. Total came out to be $ 8.40 tax included! Yay!
I think I’m a sucker for sweets/​desserts. Were these really that great? Maybe, Maybe not, but they sure hit the spot especially after couple of mini dinner disappointments. Overall, these cream puffs were pretty good though a bit pricey. Personally speaking, I think a dozen of Krispy Kreme (KK) maybe cheaper and better. But, hey, since there isn’t a KK around so I would settle for BP’s cream puffs. 1 star for every cream puff we bought and we bought 4. So 4 stars it is!
I would be back & I highly recommend it!

Has a tendency to be a bit slow as far as service goes but the cream puffs are so good. This one isn’t my favorite location Bc of the lines and very small staff, but it’s still nice. Would recommend for an easy dessert~

Very tasty and flavorful cream puffs. I got the original with strawberry filling. I like how the filling is cream with real strawberries instead of an artificial strawberry cream flavor. It’s just a little expensive for a single cream puff that is only 2 bites. But other than that, very tasty. Cool place. they put in the filling in front of you.

The Beard Papa on Sawtelle in the same strip mall as Nijiya Super Market has a display counter full of Japanese French style pastries, but Profiteroles/​cream puffs seem to be its claim to fame. The hollow baked, slightly crispy pâté a choux is not pre-​stuffed with the flavored crème patissiere until the point of sale since injecting the crème patissiere before would make the pâté a choux soggy and mushy. Such is the care and thought that goes into the making of a Beard Papa cream puff.
There are different flavours infused into the crème such as vanilla, green powdered Matcha tea, chocolate, etc. There are other flavours that rotate into the menu, but my favorite is the vanilla which can take on different flavours.
A lot of times I will take it home as soon as possible and drizzle on a compatible liqueur such as Midori/​melon liqueur, Ume Shu/​Japanese plum wine, Grand Marnier/​orange brandy liqueur, Amaretto di Saronno/​almond liqueur, Combier triple sec orange, Pineau des Charentes/​fortified wine liqueur, etc. Let your imagination go wild and drizzle what you will.
Beard Papa is an easy and cheap way to treat yourself well without breaking the bank. Just use your inventive ways to custom fit to your taste.

This is the OG location and it looks like they still churn out pretty decent cream puffs.
The last time I was here, I had their mini puffs special which was like 6 puffs for under $ 5. If I’m really hankering for cream puffs, Beard Papa’s is usually my go-​to. However, there isn’t anything that spectacular that I would say it is a must-​try because various Japanese and Korean bakeries, such as Paris Baguette, also do puff pastries that are really equal in quality.
The chocolate filling is my preference and there is no denying that the cream filling is airy, fluffy, and delicious. The breading is soft as well though it is inconsistent between each puff.
When Beard Papa’s was the only game in town, they were tops. Now, with so many dessert and pastry shops opening up nearby, Beard Papa’s is becoming like a similarly white bearded chubby man that we only visit once a year.

These Japanese cream puffs will change your life, in a good way. The pastry shell
Is perfect & then injected with the creamy goodness of divine custard filling. The daily flavors are Vanilla & Chocolate with different fillings introduced like Green Tea etc. From the first bite your eyes will roll and you will make a love connection. From then on you will be gitty with the thought of walking away with a half a dozen (or more) of these supreme pastries. Highly recommend the Paris Brest as well, the texture of the pastry is custard like, then they add the custard cream & whoa!!! Bring someone a box of these babies as a gift & put a big smile on their face.

Pastries! I am a pastry fiend and can’t be stopped! LOL. Unfortunately, for me, I think Beard Papa’s is good, but not the AMAZING, melt in your mouth pastry that I crave. I definitely can go without Beard Papa’s for long periods of time. It’s been about a year or so since I last tried a cream puff from here. My sister and I had a sushi lunch on Sawtelle and we wanted to stop by Beard Papa’s. The inside of any Beard Papa’s always smells so good, it smells sugary and delicious.
We decided to buy a dozen cream puffs, which came up to $ 22. The guy who was helping us very nice to us. He helped answer our questions. (We asked a ton of dumb ones). They gave it to us in a box, which was individually wrapped. You can get different filling for each cream puff, we decided on an assortment of strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate. We decided to try a vanilla one (the rest was for a gathering) and I still think it’s a little better than average. I think you can get the same cream puff at any pastry place for a fraction of the cost. But, I do like the fact that the filling is a little less sweet and sugary than most. Overall, I rate the pastry 3.5 stars, but I bumped it up to 4 stars because the guy here was very helpful.
This location is in Sawtelle plaza with Kula sushi and curry house. Anyone who has been to Sawtelle knows how awful the parking can be. I definitely recommend trying to find street parking. There are usually some that you can find in the surrounding neighborhoods.

The location is the best part of this Beard Papa’s. I can quickly grab a couple for an appetizer and eat a meal around there (plenty of choices near by, walk around and explorer), then come back here to grab a couple more cream puffs for a dessert.
Parking can be challenging but you will find something eventually in the neighborhood.
I got to try green tea with red beans (sort of new to me), I was worried if it was too sweet from red bean paste or something, but the filling tasted just as their green tea cream with an extra texture of beans. It was actually pretty good I ended up eating 5 of them. Lol.
When I got there before my dinner, the amount of filling was good, but when I revisited after dinner, a new staff put a little less cream. So puff was a bit dry.
Also he got my order wrong, and did suffer fixing it so I just took the extra order he mistakenly input. I said, «6 green teas in original please» and on my receipt I saw 1 vanilla. So I asked. Then he said, «Didn’t you say 6 green teas and 1 extra vanilla?» Duh. He must have been day dreaming, how can he mistake the simplest order? How can he hear more words than I actually said???
Moreover, he said he didn’t know how to fix it… Ha… Ha…Ha… I said «forget it, just give me the extra vanilla». I like how Japanese kids are trained to work, they always repeat what the customer ordered to make sure before running the transaction. These kids here should learn.
Still my most favorite location is the one in Hollywood.

nom nom nom vanilla