Pastelería Ideal — Restaurant in Mexico City

This place can get packed! Theres an amazing variety of pastries and breads and its all very affordable.

For the uninitiated, when you enter go to the right around the counter. Grab a big white tray and a pair of tongs. Load up the tray with whatever catches your eye- look at other people's trays for suggestions. Once you've gotten your tray, stand in line to have the pastries counted and packaged. Just stand behind someone with a tray and see where they go if you're confused. The counter staff will take your pastries and give you a ticket with the total on it. Immediately take the ticket and stand in the line to pay (once again, try to follow someone if you're confused). Pay for your pastries, then take your receipt back to the counter staff who was packing your pastries. You dont need to stand in line again, just go to the front and hand them the receipt. They'll then give you the pastries!

I havent been upstairs yet nor have I tried the closed top counter goods, but...

This is a must-have experience. For newbies, here's how you do it: Enter and head around the right side of the front display, and grab yourself a platter and tongs. You can pick up any items you like, loading up your platter. When you're ready to check out, take your platter to the east wall and drop it off with one of the attendants; they'll give you a ticket with your total. Take your ticket to one of the registers and pay - they accept cash or major credit cards. After paying, you'll get your ticket back along with your receipt; take it back over to where you dropped off your platter and trade your ticket for your bag (or box) of pastries!

If you're interested in any sandwiches or sweets in the cases, the process is very similar: you'll order with the attendant at the counter and they'll give you a ticket for you to go pay while they package up your items, then you return after paying to pick up.

Prices are wildly cheap and the food is yummy, so you...

Very busy. They have a system where you choose and get a ticket. Then you have to go to the till and pay and then go back to collect your order. A very long winded method especially when it's so busy and there are big queues. They don't speak English so it was hard for us to understand this system at first. The pastries are not named so you don't know what is in each one or the flavour, and the staff don't understand when you ask them. They have a very large selection of pastries, breads and biscuits. Biscuits were nice but all tasted the same with the exception of the little different toppings that they had like jam or chocolate. The savoury empanadas were good, pollo mole Verde and the Conchita sandwich was very tasty. All was very cheap, the 0.5kg box of biscuits...