Melinda's Gluten Free Bakery — Restaurant in Capitola

I’m not sure why it took me this long to find Melinda's. Even though I changed to gluten free not long ago (to improve some health issues), I love bakeries of all sorts and I'm always open to trying new and different flavors, so I was delighted to find this gem.

Not only the bakery is super cute but their goodies are delicious. Not the weird, pale, and often soggy gluten free stuff you find around.

I tried their croissants (ham & cheese, chocolate, plain), monkey bread and havarti/Turkey pastry sandwich. Everything was yummy. I got there a little after noon and a lot of things were sold out, which shows how people like their pastries. I will certainly come earlier next time because there's plenty of things I want to try. I'm more of a savory gal but I will try the sweet stuff too.

Service was super friendly and patient. It was my first time there so I was asking a lot of questions and they were amazing telling me about all the options.

I super happy to have found Melinda's since it turned out to be pretty challenging to find yummy gluten free baked items in the area.

I'm sure I will...

Stopped here for lunch on our way to Watsonville after finding it on the Find Me Gluten Free app which gave it high reviews. Not sure if they have a consistency problem and we came on the wrong day or if this is normal. We really wanted to like the food and don't want to bash anyone trying to do gf but we were so disappointed. I've been baking for my gf spouse for 30 years now so I know it's challenging. We each ordered a sandwich and then got two pastries and coffee. Was a little disappointed that the sandwiches aren't made fresh on real bread but reserved judgement for when we ate the premade ones that were in the heated display case. The "sandwich" was made with some sort of puff pastry but was very extremely dry and crunchy. My jaw literally ached after eating it. The meat and cheese had great flavor but again the pastry ruined the sandwich. An hour later we tried the almond croissant. Same problem, the pastry was super dry and crunchy but the filling was delicious. I will say their coffee was excellent wished I had gotten the large! It was a lot to pay for gf food of...

We went in right before closing, so our choices were limited. That is to be expected at any bakery. The later you go, the less they will have. We were excited to try their baked goods. It is not always easy to find a gluten free bakery. We purchased 2 bear claws, 1 chocolate croissant, 1 chocolate donut, and one croissant. We did not care for the bear claws. They were extremely dry, dense, and didn't have a lot of flavor. The chocolate and regular croissants were delicious! It's difficult to find a good gluten free croissant that actually tastes like a croissant. The chocolate donut tasted very good, but the texture was not exactly what we expected. I am sure that had a lot to do with being gluten free. I would like to be able to try some of their other items to see what they are like. Everyone's tastes are different, so just because I didn't care for the bear claws doesn't mean someone else wouldn't. Gluten free bakeries are rare, so we need to support them as much...