Ritual Bakehouse and Patisserie — Restaurant in Brunswick

Amazing little bakery in the heart of Brunswick! So nice to go out for a short walk, get a bag full of tasty pastries/cakes, and come home to a french press of coffee.

Today we got: a butter croissant, a pain au chocolat, an almond crossiant with rhubarb, and an almond citrus tea cake.

The butter croissant scored points as follows-

Look: 4 Smell: 5 Taste: 5 Feel: 4 Overall: 4 out of 5 Comments: the flavor was amazing, very buttery, and the texture is good too, but a little too airy. Nonetheless, would (and will!) unashamedly eat a lot of these.

The pain au chocolat scored points as follows-

Look: 5 Smell: 5 Taste: 5 Feel: 4 Overall: 4.5 out of 5 Comments: the pain au chocolate brings all the best attributes of the butter croissant plus fantastic chocolate flavor. Seriously, it is very nice chocolate inside. Feels a little moister too.

The almond croissant with rhubarb scored points as follows-

Look: 5 Smell: 5 Taste: 5 Feel: 5 Overall: 5 out of 5 Comments: this was for me, the surprise winner of our pastry breakfast-stravaganza. Almond croissants generally aren’t my thing as I feel they’re a bit sweet and dense, but this one’s flavor was wonderfully balanced. The addition of the rhubarb really tempered and complemented the almond with a nice tart jamminess. If I ever see these again, I will definitely buy… several.

The almond citrus tea cake scored points as follows-

Look: 5 Smell: 5 Taste: 5 Feel: 5 Overall: 5 out of 5 Comments: this score reflects this tea cake doing everything a tea cake should in my book. It is still not what I would reach for when there’s croissant dough nearby to be had, but if I were handed this in ignorance of the other options I would be perfectly happy. The cake was moist, great almond flavor, light on the citrus.

For me, today’s winners were definitely the almond rhubarb croissant and the pain au chocolat. Thank you bakers for the great pastries! I will certainly make it a Ritual to come by...

I’m so grateful that Ritual Bakehouse is here in Brunswick; it means I don't have to drive to Portland for a great croissant or to Montreal for an unforgettable French cake.

Last summer, my husband and I asked April if she could cater a small wedding gathering for us, and she went above and beyond. She prepared a beautiful spread of breakfast pastries with coffee for the morning, and an exquisite entremet cake for the afternoon. We love light, not-too-sweet cakes with Japanese/Asian flavor influences, and April created a custom fraisier with yuzu sponge and marmalade, matcha mousseline, and strawberry jam. Everyone at our gathering said it was the best cake they’d ever had — we even talked about planning a reunion and ordering the exact same cake.

The breakfast pastries were just as well-loved. Several guests who usually have sensitivities to bread or pastries commented that they felt great after eating April’s: proof of the care and quality that go into everything she makes.

April and her team are always warm and welcoming, and the shop has such a cheerful, inviting vibe. If she ever expands into more dessert offerings, I’m convinced Ritual could become the best French pastry shop in all of Maine, if not New England. After living in multiple major cities, I’ve yet to find anyone who makes...

The pastry is really great. I have traveled through Spain, France, Italy eating all the pastry I could and this competes well. Service has been sketchy. For example, today I ordered Pain au chocolat and two danishes. They were all put in one bag which feels more like dunkin' donuts service than a place where you are paying $5 or $6 per pastry. The danishes had fruit and custard on top which obviously gets misplaced when stacked. More importantly, the server had placed an almond croissant instead of the ordered Pain au chocolat. By the time I noticed, I was 20 miles away. A previous time, I ordered a plain croissant with Jam. I was served a plain croissant without jam and when I asked for the jam, I was told that they did not have any. I then tried to tell the person at the counter that I would not have ordered a croissant If I had known there was no jam and she simply looked past me and said next and started serving the next person in line. Although I am local and really appreciate the quality of the items sold, I tend to frequent other places with more...