Shilla Bakery & Cafe - Annandale — Restaurant in Annandale

I've been to this Shilla Bakery for years now. Like everyone else, I enjoy their assortment of baked goods, desserts, cakes, bingsoos, and drinks. They usually have lots of samples to try and everything is decently priced and yummy enough.

Every year for my parents' birthdays or mine, I get a cake here (or from nearby Breeze Bakery). The cakes are also good. I like Asian cakes (mousse/chiffon/sponge/cream cakes with fruit toppers) much more than American cakes with their overly artificial flavors. Asian cakes are much lighter and don't have that sweet artifical flavoring, which agrees with my sadly slowing metabolism these last few years. Shilla makes chocolate chiffon, yellow sponge, green tea, chocolate cream, etc - most of them have strawberries, blueberries, kiwis, raspberries, and other fruits on top. They even make cakes shaped like pig faces, roses, and other cute shapes and figures. And if you tell them it's for a birthday, they'll put the cake into a nice, sturdy box, throw in a plastic knife, and some tall candles for you. A bit expensive for a cake (ranging around ~$19-30 depending on which cake you get), but I rather get one of these cakes than your typical American grocery store-bought sheet cake.

Now, the bingsoos. I discovered bingsoos here and really liked their assortment of various bingsoos. My favorite is probably green tea (I'm a green tea addict), but the yogurt, strawberry, and red bean are all good too. As for boba, I'm not really a big fan of their boba because it's not really boba to me, it's more like frozen slushies. I like my bobas to be the traditional liquid bubble tea with tapoica, not frozen. These bobas do not hold a candle to the ones in Rockville and certainly are no rivals to those in California. I will say that I did enjoy my green tea latte though.

One thing I highly do not recommend eating is their macarons. I ate two out of curiosity and boy was that a mistake! The macarons were hard, the outershell separates, and they tasted stale. UGHH do not eat these!

One significant drawback to this Shilla is that it gets pretty busy in the evenings and on weekends - understandably since it's one of the only places open past 10pm on weekdays in the DC suburbs. Driving in this small plaza is sometimes a nightmare when it gets really busy, so I try not to go when it's "rush hour" here.

3.5 stars. Worth coming back every now and then to get some goodies and meet up...

I had heard such great things about Shilla bakery so I decided to give it try. As soon as you walk in, it's just overwhelming to see such a variety of sweets, pastries, and breads. I wish I could try every single item there. I was there looking for a birthday cake for my mother and this is where my entire experience at Shilla went downhill.

I had found the cake I liked but it was small and so I kept looking meanwhile an older lady behind the counter approached me and I asked her to give me a moment while I looked. This lady went on to stared at me while speaking in her language to her coworker next to her and started laughing. I knew she was talking about me because I saw her touching the other lady's leg next to her and pointed at me. I have to tell you is the worst feeling, I felt disrespected and extremely uncomfortable as she kept staring at me and laughing. This woman made me feel like I didn't belong there. Absolutely no sense of respect or education!

I pretended I didn't notice her unacceptable, discriminating behavior and just continued. I asked the lady if they had a bigger version of the strawberry short cake or if it would be possible to order a bigger one as it's my mom's favorite. This lady rolled her eyes on me and gave me this agitated look, as if I was wasting her time. I don't know if she pretended she didn't understand what I was asking or simply did not care. She continued looking at me while speaking her native language and laughing. At this moment I just wanted to get out of there. And so I just bought a bigger "buttercream fruit cake" that was already baked on the counter. As the woman finished my cake, I thanked her and she just ignored me and pushed the cake towards me and looked away!

I was extremely disappointed of the customer service at this bakery but even worst I didn't get the strawberry short cake I needed. With all sincerity the buttercream cake was just "Ok" it definitely wasn't fresh, it was very dry. Overall this cake was not worth for the price I paid. I honestly wish the best to that lady and hopefully learns to be...

Just some friendly feedback back, I ordered a medium size Green Tea Cake.

Pros The presentation overall was visually appealing and well done.

Cons The cake focuses more on the cream rather than the bread. There is nothing wrong with having a spongey bread texture, however one must remember that soft texture dissolves (melts quickly) when you eat it. With the small portion of an already soft spongy bread layer combined with a large amount of cream, it created an unpleasant taste where it felt like one was eating a cream filling instead of a Cake.

Remedy One way to fix this is to have a balanced proportion of bread and cream filling that compliments one another.

I suggest that Shilla Bakery review their Green Tea Cake. Taste their cake to see what it feels like when a customer eats it. Then make the necessary adjustments: whether it’s fixing the ratio of bread and cream or changing the overall structure of the cake. (I noticed that the cake is structured in the shape of a donut and has way too much, cream filling in the middle, which doesn’t add anything to the cake) it’s just feels like a way to fill the void of the hole. Perhaps a normal shaped cake is better? instead of a donut shaped cake? unless something else that is unique or delicious can replace the hole instead of regular cream filling.

Due to these factors, it has led to my opinion that the cost of the cake does not equate to the quality of the cake.

I love Shilla Bakery. I really do wish for the continuation of its success, but in order for that to happen improvement must be made.

I believe another review by the name of Jennie Ly had similar complaints about the cake. I will say on a positive note that your other cakes are phenomenal.

If you you can make other cakes that good, surely you can make this cake good as well, if not, even MORE better. This cake can be fixed and has the potential to be a phenomenal cake! Shilla...