La Fiorentina Pastry Shop

This place is a 4 ++. I am a big fan of this place. I have also visited the Springfield location back in the day. The Italian pastries are top notch. The ricotta cake is excellent and so are the rum cakes and tiramisu. The other pastries are great too. All the coffee items are very good also. I have found the service to be very good here every time I have gone in and I have been more than a few times. They do have a 10 $ minimum for credit cards. There is a lot of seating inside and it’s a nice place to hang and enjoy your delicious desserts and pastry items! Ciao!

Apparently this business doesn’t care about having happy customers. I don’t even care if their pastries taste good or not, but I do care that when I treat people nicely and am a good customer that I get treated nicely back. I will never go back to this store having just left their nearly in tears. I hate being pushy, but sometimes you have to stand up for what you think is right. It’s an even worse feeling though when the employee gets snappy back, admits the store screwed up, but gleefully does nothing to make it better.
The gist of the story is that I spent $ 70 on a birthday cake and when I came to pick it up even though the women on the phone said I could pick out the candles when I got there, the girl working refused to sell them to me because of the $ 10 credit card minimum. I told them on the phone that I had never been in the store before, but she never mentioned the minimum. I happened to pay ahead of time with my credit card because I thought it would make for quicker pick up (it didn’t, it still took forever even though it was supposed to be ready). So despite the fact I nicely explained that I didn’t know the minimum walked a half mile to pick up the cakes, only have a card on me, but would really appreciate the opportunity to get some candles for the cakes, the girl got sassy and said no the credit companies whack them with high charges and I can find candles elsewhere. Well turns out you can’t when on foot in Northampton. So, by refusing making a unique exception for me and swallowing a 50 cent credit card charge, they decided instead to lose a customer. Good news, the credit card company won’t whack you with high charges from me again because I’ll never be back. These are just not the type of people I want to support.

Our first time visiting the bakery. The staff was very kind, friendly, patient and took the time to answer all of questions and explain the different pastries.
We will definitely be going back, best canolli I have ever tasted hands down.

Considering how good the pastry was and how inviting the elegant dining room is, I would expect a professional, pleasant person behind the counter. Instead, we got rung up by a young lady who got a barely passing grade in customer service 101. No greeting, no finesse, no warmth, no smile, no «Thank you»; just robotically going about the job. We asked ourselves afterwards if she just had a problem with a same-​sex couple; one would hope not, especially considering that this was Northampton. It’s more likely that she really just doesn’t enjoy her job and thinks of customers as an annoyance. We don’t want to trouble her anymore so next time we’ll have Little Debbie snacks in the parking lot across the street. It’s a bummer — We really did want to go back.

The fruit cake here is fantastic. I am not a big coffee fan but they have a lot of different flavors!

This place has delicious hand made cannolis. I also recommend the affogato, which is a scoop of gelato in an expresso. Definitely would come back here.

I’ll start by saying that I’m a bit of a pastry/​dessert critic. If it’s not baked with butter, or if the chocolate isn’t rich, then I probably won’t like it. The pastries and cakes/​cupcakes looked delicious, but when it came down to it, they weren’t a big step above grocery bakery items. We tried the eclairs, and the whole thing was too sweet, the custard inside was clearly not pure pastry cream. We also had the chocolate cake with strawberry cream layers, and the cake was not rich and chocolatey, but sweet and bland. The butter cookies were clearly not made with all butter.
Big disappointment, if you’re looking for high-​quality ingredients in your pastries. But if you’re looking for cheesecake or tiramisu… it sounds like it’s the place to go!

Cheesecakes, Tiramisu’s and the rum soaked items are our favorites.

We usually stop in when passing through Northampton. The pastries are nothing great, but they’re good for a pastry shop in Northampton, MA. The coffee is excellent. The $ 10 minimum for credit cards is antiquated. Either take them or don’t them. The staff is decent. There’s always a guy there that’s super nice, talkative, and provides excellent service. He must be one of the owners. If you’re in Northampton and looking for desserts, don’t pass this place up. Quaint, cozy, and quite good. Been going there for years and years.

Used to come here all the time, but was not impressed tonight. We ordered a few different desserts and was disappointed with everything we ordered. The flavors were just kind of bland and the cookies a little too dry.

What isn’t to love about pastries and coffee? Tucked on a side street in Northampton, this place is great. The coffee is good and there is a large selection of other hot beverages.
The pastries are to die for. My husband and I split a (giant) chocolate éclair and it was so good.
$ 10 minimum for credit cards.

La Fiorentina is one of my favorite bakeries in the area. Whenever we are in the Northampton area we make it a point to stop in to grab a quick bite. Some of our favorite items are their tiramisu, cannoli, and cheese cake. The pastries are always fresh and the staff is always polite.
The other plus about this shop is the fact that they make an incredible espresso. It is always nice to stop in with friends after a night out on the town. The only downside is that parking can be difficult, and it would be great if they made some sugar free options like some of the other bakeries in the area.

Nice place. Their croissants were nice and fresh and their cannoli are to die for. I wish they had music playing in the background to help make a more relaxing ambiance, but this is a small critique for a place that’s otherwise great and one of the best bakeries I’ve tried in Northampton.

Best Italian pastery in the area!
If looking for a cullinary experience, try a cappucino and pastry for a late desert.

This past week 3 friends & I decided to go to the top pastry shops in Northampton, to root out a potential haunt! We each ordered something, split it 4 ways then compared notes. Our opinions were somewhat unanimous, but since we are friends maybe our «tastes» are alike, that’s a for a sociology major!
We went at 6 pm in the afternoon in the world of pastries sometimes this changes the quality of things but not on our visit to La Fiorentina.
We ordered 1 lobster claw pastry, 1 sfogliatelli, a cannoli and, some almond bark looking cookies.
The Lobster claw was very good, although I do prefer mine with more custard ratio than whipped cream but it was still very fresh.
The Sfogliatelli (a flaky pastry filled with baked custard and candied fruit) was fantastic … just the way I like ‘em
I don’t usually like Cannoli’s, the filling is usually too sweet but my friends ordered it, I will say this one was good, perhaps because I insisted no powdered sugar on things, I hate powdered sugar. I feel like it’s just a mask to make things look good, but then ya got a mess!
The almond bark was excellent we were eating it on the ride home with our cappuccinos. We needed caffeine we were falling into coma’s, it had been a long day in Northampton window shopping & eating.
La Fiorentina has a very different feeling than most other sole proprietor type places in the area but I think it’s because it aspired to have a polished Italian Bakery Image.
Two thumbs way up!

I have walked by this place several times and wanted to stop in but have always been in transit with no time to stop. I finally had some quiet time and I was in the area so I got to partake.
I got a lovely, foamy cappuccino (which I forgot to get decaffeinated and I was flying all day) and a canoli. I usually avoid canolis and was reluctant to get it when she said it had chocolate chips in it but nothing else appealed to me at that moment. The canoli was lemony and firm but creamy. The chips actually worked and I will never judge again. The store is pretty big for a coffee bar/​pastery shop and it was really quiet at 11:30 which was nice for my reading pleasure.
One issue … While I get it, I really hate the whole minimum order to charge things and I think $ 10 is extreme. They do have one of those bandit … I mean ATM machines in the place but $ 5 would be so much easier on us bad planning, cash poor people.
Other than that, I think it was a solid place … must be really good when you want a late night goody.

I like to go there on Saturday/​Sunday afternoons for a cup of coffee, and spend a few hours there to do some readings, while it is almost impossible to find a seat at any other coffee shops in downtown Noho.
I am a fan of their cakes. They are not as sweet as most cakes you can get in other stores. Whenever my friends and I are in need for a birthday cake, we always get one from La Fiorentina (I like the one tops with strawberries.)
Tiramisu tastes fine for me, although it doesn’t look so appealing. But in general I don’t fancy their desserts/pastries…Éclair is a bit too dry, and the cream filling is a bit too sweet for me. Cannoli is ordinary. I also tried some other pastries, nothing leaves better-​than-​average impressions to me.
Overall, it is an old-​fashioned, basic, low-​budget coffee/​pastries shop. If you don’t mind the basic decoration and not-​so-​fancy coffee/​pastries selection, and you’d like to find a rather quite, bright and sunny place to spend some hours in a weekend afternoon, La Fiorentina is worth a try.

This is a good stop for a coffee, espresso, cappuccino, even an iced cappuccino for a hot day. During the summer, their gelato is creamy, delicious, and soft. They only make a few flavors, but it’s enough. If you have any nut allergies, be sure to ask for a *new* scoop.
The pastries are so-​so. I’m weirded out by the tiramisu in a plastic tub. Everything else seems cold and none of it seems particularly fresh. I love desserts, but I skip them here.

I thought, alright, an Italian pastry shop in the middle of Northampton? They must only have two or three different pastries.
But actually I was surprised by the variety of their selection. They had all the Italian classics. My mom would likely approve of this place. She could probably identify all the pastries by name.
I understand they’ve been in Springfield, MA for over 50 years. That explains why La Fiorentina looks more like an authentic Italian pastry shop you’d find in a bigger city and not an original Northampton creation. I like the abundant use of brass and mirrors decorating the interior walls and ceiling. No good Italian pastry shop in America should be built without those standard design elements.
I didn’t try much, in fact, I only tried one cannoli. It’s was OK but it was hardly the best I’ve ever had. The filling was too runny and too sweet. It resembled sugary candy more than it resembled ricotta cheese. To me, a good ricotta filling is slightly firm, dry, and has a touch of bitterness that makes you go running for a tall glass of milk after one bite.
Next time, I’d be willing to try some other their pastries.

I hate to give any place a negative review, especially one devoted to something as awesome as desserts. But six times I’ve tried the treats from this place, and every time they have been quite stale. And not just one type of treat, but a variety!
If you can get past the staleness (which you shouldn’t, although I see other reviewers don’t seem to mind), you’ll notice that the pastries kind of taste the same. I think this might be because they’re all stored within the same display case.
Also, how can you mess up something as simple as strawberry shortcake? By leaving the leaves on the strawberries! Perhaps they lost the recipe and winged it.
Do yourself a flavor and walk a block to the west, where Herrel’s ice cream awaits and offers absolute perfection.