Crispian Bakery — Restaurant in Alameda

For year’s my family and I used to be avid customers of Crispian Bakery—we loved their pastries and breads and visited often. I moved away, but my family still lives in Alameda. They stopped going years ago and had told me about the decline, but I wanted to see for myself. Unfortunately, they were right. During COVID, they understandably got rid of indoor seating and served customers through the window. I expected changes, but after five years, I thought things would improve—not decline.

I recently stopped by and was shocked at how bad it has become. The seating area is now being used as a workspace, which isn’t necessarily the issue—but the condition of it is. It’s so messy and an eyesore. The whole atmosphere feels disorganized and unprofessional.

This on top of the cashier being completely disheveled, poorly dressed and reeking of weed, which was extremely off-putting. I was actually taken aback by how much the place has changed for the worse. It’s disappointing, and I won’t be...

Updated September 2024. Repeat visit! We were not so in love with what we chose this time though. Tried the ham and cheese croissant, but it was more like a spiral pastry than a croissant and I wasn’t into the sesame seed topping. Also tried the cranberry walnut bread which was ok but not a repeat buy.

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We tried the Black Pepper Gruyere bread which was good but I wish it had a stronger gruyere taste. Since we love sourdough bread, we also got their Pain de Campagne which was good too. As for their pastries, I love ginger scone so I just had to try their version and it was delicious! Their specialty croissant which had chocolate, almond cream and raspberry jam was a good combo of those flavors. Overall, we'll definitely pass by here anytime we're in the...

Beyond yummy grab-and-go baked goods, Crispian has made us two delicious custom birthday cakes for our kids with great decoration! Unlike many bakeries, they can take custom cake orders the week before, which saved me on one occasion. The baker/owner is very open to working with you on what you want. Our first cake had one layer of vanilla cake and one layer of chocolate cake with our choice of frostings inside and out. More recently (inspiring this review!), we had them substitute lemon curd instead of passion fruit in their chantilly cake and it was lovely -- our whole family raved about how light, moist, and flavorful it was, without being too sweet. Outside of special occasions, we love grabbing Crispian's sesame loaf when we're making...