PAN PA' VENEZUELA BAKERY COFFEE — Restaurant in Katy

This wasn’t my first time to visit this very interesting little Venezuelan bakery tucked into downtown Katy. I’d been here about a year ago and remembered having some nice pastries, and I might’ve even taken home some sourdough bread at that time.

But recently (2025), a few videos have been cropping up online, and, when I saw that they are making a panettone, I took the opportunity with this trip out to Katy to pop in and sample one. It turns out they have a small portion for $10 and then the large one is $45. It had some nice chocolate flavor bits, but, in my opinion, was not one that I would look forward to having again (dry). I suspect one would want to steam it to reconstitute some moistness. Too much work for me. Especially at a $45 price point for the large one.

Since it was lunchtime I decided to also sample one of their pizzas which I had also seen in a video, looking authentically VPN, with a puffy, inflated rim with lots of big air bubbles and gelatinization.

Some videos follow, showing the guy shaping and stretching the dough by hand. My concern was, watching him, that the pizza dough was having every bit of air and bubbles beaten out of it by his technique. Additionally, it looked like with all the flour he was putting on it, that it was going to lose a lot of the dough hydration ( good hydration, that can result in a truly spectacular pizza).

A much wetter dough is what I hoped for.

What I was observing was one similar to the underwhelming ones at Coppa Osteria.

I’ve spent a lot of time in Italy. I’ve had a lot of pizze. I’ve even had some good ones here in greater Houston.

And I’ve even had some pinsa here, thanks to a good friend who makes a spectacular Roman style pinsa.

So I knew that I had to try the pizza today and evaluate it. There were a few bubbles but, as suspected, they’d beaten all the air out. It was not a great pizza dough. But it did have chew and some flexibility. It wasnt a dry, matzoh cracker crust. The sauce was tasty but pretty salty for my personal tastes. But others might not find it so.

You might ask, well, why didn’t you talk to them and have them make it right for you? But you see, the thing is I wanted to see how it comes out of the kitchen, what the kitchen staff says “this is perfect and we are satisfied with this product that we’re putting out”.

For me it’s more important to know what the kitchen feels is a good product to sell.

And then again you get into the question of authenticity versus did I like the taste of it?. Perhaps in Venezuela this is the style of pizza that has evolved. And if this is authentically prepared as it would be in a Venezuelan restaurant in Venezuela, then I cannot criticize it for authenticity, and I can only say that for my personal taste, it was not enjoyable.

Authenticity always over rides...

UPDATE --

The owner's response is as bad as the experience with this issue.

1. You live and have a business in the US, learn English and conduct your business in the local language
2. It is not about me being right or wrong... this is about you, the Owner, making a deal and then backing up.... not cool! It would have costed you less than $20 to make it up to a Customer that until today was loyal to your business and a great sponsor of your business. Too bad you rather lose a good Customer and get a bad review for $20..

Happy Valentine's! I was a real fan of this bakery. Great food and up until this last service they had been great. I dont live in Katy, we are in the Spring area, so we visit only occasionally. We take the opportunity when friends and family from Katy come to visit, we place a pick up order. On 12/21/24 I placed a large pick up order. We got it and a lot was for a family gathering we had that day, but I ordered (8) pastries I had tried the weekend before and loved. When I came home late that night I opened the box because I was craving them. Only to discover they sent me something else. I went online and sent them an email explaining the situation. A few minutes later David called me and we talked about the situation and the confusion. David was very understanding and told me to come back and he would make it right. I explained I live far and would be a while. He said no problem, just let me know in advance so he could make sure he had qty 8 and thats it. Today my husband is in the area and I called to order them. The lady that took the call said David mentioned this to her. She only had 6, but I said ok, no problem lets do 6 and call it a day. She them proceeded to tell me the cost, I said this was agreed with David as a replacement no charge. She called David and he pretended to amend our agreement to do it free of charge IF I returned the wrong items.

1. that was never the agreement
2. he pretended I would have them here since 12/21/24 (over 40 days)?!?!? Precisely when I told them it would be down the road, he didnt set a max date or stated I needed to keep the other pastries (by the way I threw them away, they were terrible — the only pastries I would not recommend there very doughy, blend and not even cooked through, see the picture)

A total liar! To think that I was even willing to take 6 instead of the 8 promised and call it even.

There is a lot of misconceptions about Venezuelans and people like him are the reason we are...

This one kind of hurts to write because I was really excited about this place. The place is cute, the owner seemed nice. However, when business starts to cut corners its never good.

The first time I tasted the dubai croissant was at a friends house. He had brought home a box of several croissants at around 1pm. I got to tasted them like around 8:30pm. They tasted great! and definiely was looking forward to buying more. We visited with my family the next week, we ate there and again it tasted great. The 3rd time I went and ordered the Dubai croissant to go, I came home and noticed it tasted very stale. Didn't think much about it at the time. Fast forward 2 months, leading up today, I decide to buy a few of these croissants and order to go. I take a bite of one and it again tasted stale. I'm thinking for $7/croissant it better tast super fresh. I called them up and inquired about them. He told me they were baked in the morning and suggested I put it in the oven for a little bit. According to google, a croissant should stay fresh for at least 24 hours. It should not taste chewy. I purchased these at noon. How did it get so stale in 6 hours? He replaced them for me, but still tasted stale. Even if you put it in the oven, it will not taste the same as it does fresh, and thats why you pay $7 a croissant for freshness. Otherwise, I could have gone to Costco and bought a box of 20 croissants for $6.99 where I am assured they are fresh and add my own chocolate. Quality should always surpass quantity. At least thats what I teach my kids.

In short.. IMO when business start to cut corners it effects them because customers will start to notice and will NOT return. If you are still reading this and still choose to go, order your pastry to eat there, there might be a chance you get a fresh one.

Again, I wish the place well. They seem nice, but I will NOT...