Specialty Bakery — Restaurant in British Columbia

The reviews are a bit shocking to me, because this bakery is excellent. I have frequented the Specialty Bakery in Kelowna (both locations) for over a decade at this point. When they opened up the West Kelowna location, I was ecstatic.

This place is a genuine bakery - not some kind of tourist shop. They provide bread and baked goods to businesses, and the front end side is only one part of their operation.

Their front end person can often be one of their bakers, so if they seem annoyed at you, it's probably because they had to stop what they were doing while you walk back and forth for 45 minutes asking moot questions that can probably be answered by reading the dang product bag.

Also note that this is only a satellite location. They receive most of their products every day or so from the Kelowna location near the airport, so the freshness can definitely be dependent on the time of day you walk in. You won't get anything 'stale', but you won't get their best goods if you walk in thirty minutes before closing either. It's a true bakery, not Walmart, so plan accordingly.

You don't expect Tim Hortons to have oven fresh Timbits at 8pm, so why would you expect the same from a true bakery? Common...

Went in twice within a couple of weeks. The first time I went in alone. There was a lady sitting at the table looked like she was doing the books and a lady behind the counter. I said hello, neither person responded. I asked a question, the person who was sitting at the table didn't respond to my question but looked around and said "where is she" referring to the person behind the counter who was bent down doing something and popped up and said "I'm right here". Very cold welcome. 2nd time I went in, I was with my husband and the other lady was behind the counter this time and she was impatient and I felt very rushed. Another customer asked her a question and she ignored her and continued waiting for me to decide. I told her she could go help the other customer because I needed time and she just said "no, what would you like". I quickly decided and we paid and left. When we got outside my husband said "wow, I will never go back in there again, she was impatient and rude". The Kelownuts are awesome but we won't be having...

We were excited to see a bakery of this caliber in town. I was surprised to see the negative reviews because we were greeted in such a warm, friendly manner which quickly turned to excitement when they learned it was our first time in the store. We got buns, cake, and doughnuts and all were delicious. The buns were soft and fluffy, not too yeasty, good flavour and texture. The cake was quite nice - a light white cake with flavourful filling and a frosting that wasn't greasy or overly sweet. Not sure if they use gelatin in their frosting/icing...it, too, is quite light and seems to have a bit of a "skin" to it. Nothing nasty, it just 'sets' with a bit of firmness. Their crowing glory is a variation of the now famous cronut, which they call the Kelownut — amazing! So decadent. 🤤 Their doughnuts are divine...nice flavour combinations, generously sized,...