Garden Bakery of Mendocino

Looking for fresh bread to have while camping up the coast, apparently this is hard to find on highway 1… Got a sourdough loaf from here that wasn’t really sourdough and way too soft. The pastries didn’t look appetizing either. Nice ambiance but the quality isn’t great.

Almost cant believe how much I enjoyed this little bakery! An interesting mix of items made with care. Quaint tucked away and simple counter service, I can see going often for yummy treats. Stop in and try it out.

The most pleasant part of my visit to Mendocino was this tucked away bakery.
The young man behind the counter was so pleasant and he didn’t make me feel rushed or unwelcome unlike OTHER Mendocino restaurants.
Pie was yummy and apple pastry was decent. It was the ONLY place I actually could get a bite to eat. The other places were on some stupid half-​assed menu or had crappy waitstaff — stick with the little places like this bakery.
A pleasant respite from the assery of the rest of Mendocino businesses.
Well done cute little bakery!

So ya’all, there are a number of pretty darn good bakeries in Mendo but this one has a beautiful setting and is a delight to sit in the garden atmosphere. The baker is on the premises baking away so it gives it a warm and inviting appeal. It reminded me of the French countryside. The ingredients used are quality and there is a lot of thought that goes into all the goodies. The only glitch is that it is tucked away so you have to be walking around and happen upon it or already know it is there. Once you discover this inviting place you will have a hard time choosing between Mendo Bakery or this one. The both have a different vibe… but equally as good.

We have been here a few times now. Always seem drawn to get some freshly made baked goods to take with us to the overlook area, sit on a bench and enjoy. I love that everything is made from scratch. Pastries are fluffy and flakey, cookies are big and fresh.
We always catch the baker in the kitchen whipping up something fresh.
The only drawback is the cash only, and that they run out of goods in the afternoon. There just isn’t much left. Otherwise… have to try it to believe it.

Cute little bakery, quite small, counter service. We bought a plain croissant and pineapple croissant. Hubby and I both agree neither were that good. The croissant wasn’t buttery enough and the pineapple was acceptable but nothing that would have us returning anytime soon. There is nowhere in there to really eat, so you have to go outside where there are some wooden benches. Some old broken plastic chairs are stacked in a corner, should be tossed aways as they are quite an eyesore. There are a lot of flowers outside so you can enjoy the numerous butterflies fluttering about.

Nice little breakfast spot tucked away off of Lansing. Excellent baked goods made on the premises. Empanadas, quiche, and cinnamon rolls all very good. Cash only. Limited seating inside, but some tables and chairs outside and a garden setting which is quite lovely.

This bakery is not easy to find. It’s hidden down a little walkway. They have the best Rugalah I’ve ever had. I’ll definitely go back!

Solid rugalah, excellent fruit cookie and nice fruit near paws. Only downside of the place: limited indoor seating when it’s cold & cash only.

Its a great place, had a slice of blackberry pie very yummy. And also nice people working here.

Friendly service and wonderful fresh bakery items. The breakfast burritos, Danish, scones and quiche all looked great. A great find at reasonable Mendocino prices.

A place a foodie wants to love but it fell a little short. This review is based on one item I ate there one time so I wouldn’t take it too seriously.
I had a cheddar/​jalepeno roll and coffee. The roll was tasty but greasy and that kind of ruined it after a few bites.
If you sit outside the birds will come and peck food off of your plate! I even got one to eat out of my hand.

Very nice little bakery — out of the way. Had a very good chorizo quiche. Nice variety of bakery products on display.
Definitely a place to go next time we’re in town.

I have worked in a bakery 15 years. I had abasic cinnamon roll but there was nothing basic about it. The icing was sweet and homemade. I would take home a 6 pk if they came that way. Best cinnamon roll EVER!!! I went back next day… all gone by 9. They said they were making more but we were leaving town. ;) It misses a star just for location. You have to go behind moodys coffee just to know it is there

On our recent visit to Mendocino we picked up a few goodies — pumpkin empanadas, oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, and a gluten free brownie. I’m not gluten free but it sounded interesting. it sounds better than it tastes.
The hands-​down best were the pumpkin empanadas. Not too sweet. The cookie was okay. The day after eating the empanada I went back around closing time and they had only vanilla custard empanadas left. That didn’t sound appealing so I asked if they’d have pumpkin the next day — Sunday. They said yes. I came back around 11 a.m. on Sunday and they had the same amount of vanilla custard empanadas left and no one was cooking in the kitchen, it was dark. It was a different employee than the previous day so I didn’t bother asking.
Methinks the woman on Saturday didn’t know what she was talking about and they sell day-​old pastries without a discount.

This is a cute place that had a zillion great-​looking snacks, and everything else, it seemed. We got pastries and other sweets, and loved them all. the ‘counter girl’ was very sweet and nice, and even let us try a sample of things we had questions about. A very homey place. Have a look!

This place is a sentimental favorite of mine in Mendo, and has gone into its 3^rd owner in my time.
If you get there early in the am, the morning pastries are very satisfying with a cup of coffee in that the various fruit danishes and cinnamon twists are dense, heavy and sweet. The cin twist is a big tasty blob of carb, to set your expectations properly in that it’s not a delicate puff layer pastry. I’ll accept it as part of the rural experience.
If you want something parisian or artisanal, go back to the mission in SF.

We were looking to pick up a few nibbles to tide us over on the long drive back to Windsor, so we stopped in at this little bakery which has gotten good Unilocal reviews. It is right next to the MacCallum House B&B. They had a nice looking fresh peach custard Danish, and a chorizo quiche. Unilocalers rave about the cinnamon buns, but we’re not fond of them so we skipped them.
Sadly, although the fruit and custard on the Danish were fine, with the custard better than the usual oversweetened glue that so often afflicts Danishes, the pastry itself was indifferent with poor quality butter. The chorizo quiche had good-​tasting if somewhat salty chorizo. But the custard filling was oddly starchy and overcooked, actually splitting into clearly defined layers like piecrust when we broke it apart to share.
The quiche pastry, like the Danish pastry dough, was so tasteless we ate the filling and tossed the crusts away. This place reminds us of Boniere Bakery/​Oakland, another long-​time, mediocre quality place where people judge it by the size of the pastries and the cheap prices.
We wouldn’t bother to return here.

Yummy! We rented a cottage in Mendocino over Thanksgiving weekend and popped into this bakery THREE times during our stay (yes, despite being majorly full on Thanksgiving treats we still made room for Garden Bakery).
Have to admit that once we tried the cinnamon roll, we had a hard time branching out. Also got the blueberry and raspberry danish plus tried the cinnamon twist. But, the cinnamon roll was hands down the yummiest of them all. On one day my husband and I bought this intending to share it, but it was so good that I ate the whole thing — whoops!
There’s a small garden patio outside (probably great in the summer but wasn’t getting much sun on the days we were there) if you can’t wait to get home to eat your munchies. Another option is to grab a coffee from around the corner and take a walk down to the bluff to enjoy your sweet treats with a view. Enjoy!

Finding ourselves stuck in that awkward time of not quite lunch but definitely not dinner, we were in search of just a little something to tide us over… enter Garden Bakery
Pumpkin Empanadas… oh yeah! Take a slightly sweet pumpkin filling & wrap it up in a thick, somewhat crunchy empanada crust & you’ve got a great treat to chase away the midday munchies
Also indulged in their Cinnamon Twist & had we not waited until the following day to give it a try, I bet it would have been heavenly. Unfortunately it was dry & crunchy but there was just the teeniest hint of goo so I think it has potential & would be worth another shot!
Overall — A-​OK!