Nathaniel Reid Bakery — Restaurant in Kirkwood

Stopped in to this bakery while in town last weekend after seeing all the hype. It's cool to find a fancy bakery in a small, unassuming little strip mall. My kind of place. There's more parking down a hill on the side of the parking lot if there's not enough out front.

When you come into the shop, you can order at the attractive glass counter where all the goods are displayed. There was ample staff to support the customer base, and they all were friendly and polite. It is a bit difficult to see what's available if the line in front of you is blocking the case, so I felt a bit like I was inconveniencing everyone by staring into the case when I got up to it, but we short folks gotta see before we can order! Lol.

They were fairly busy in the early afternoon (~1 or 2 PM iirc) and had sadly run out of some of my mainstays -- I was really hoping for an almond croissant. I settled for two chocolate croissants instead (one for me, one for parents), as well as a kouign-amann to try.

Fiancé got a pulled pork sandwich of some sort on a croissant and a brownie.

Prices are a little high but given the reputation of the bakery as well as the current crazy inflation, I give it a pass.

The goodies were pretty varied in terms of quality, in my opinion. My parents and I thought the croissants were rather dry and didn't have a ton of chocolate, but when I gave the remaining 3/4ths to fiancé he declared it pretty good and claimed he had plenty of chocolate to taste. So maybe my parents and I just got really unlucky and wound up eating the part of the croissant with minimal chocolate distribution.

Fiancé was underwhelmed with the pork sandwich. He liked the bread it was on, which is good -- this is a bakery, after all -- but found the pork overly salty and greasy, even as pork goes. On the other hand, the brownie was a solid brownie: moist, with very rich dark chocolate flavors.

The best thing to me was definitely the kouign-amann. I'd never had one before but I really enjoyed it. Super buttery, flaky crust and a pleasantly sticky sweet flavor. Really enjoyed that and looking forward to trying one at the French bakery back home. Excellent stuff.

Overall, I'd come back for a kouign-amann or perhaps to try a different pastry, although my expectations were not quite met...

Chef Nathaniel Reid was in the parking lot when I sparked up a conversation with him. I am part Japanese and noticed that he had many ties and accolades from Japan. Excited to see what his connection was, I said, “Excuse me,” and begin to ask him what his ties are to Japan. He told me about his time in Japan and his experience from living in Kirkwood, studying in France, and being recognized in Japan. Because I was in my car, he noticed that I was from California and asked me what part of California I was from which led to discussing our families and me coming to the Midwest a bit. To end the conversation, he asked me what my name is. When I told him, he smiled and said, “That’s easy to remember!” Which, I bet you, he will remember. Not just because my name is not very common, but because of his manners and care for his customers. He used my name and told me he was so thankful I came in and enjoyed his pastries and he hopes to see me back again.

I was so surprised that the Chef took the time to chat with me in the parking lot. Mind you, he has to go back to work, it is a busy Father's Day weekend, and he is running a business! Having this discussion totally made my day. It was just such a great conversation and so heartwarming that he just stopped in the parking lot to talk to a customer when he had plenty of things to do. I noticed that his staff greeted everyone who walked through the door and there were many regulars enjoying their baked goods. I can definitely see why now.

Not only was Chef Nathaniel Reid a delight, but the pastries were also the best thing I have had all year. I had such a great experience here this morning and will be recommending this bakery to all my friends and colleagues. I will make it a point to bring my family here when they visit. Thank you for this...

My husband and I just went here for the first time after hearing wonderful things about this bakery for awhile. We ordered a cappuccino, chai tea latte, breakfast sandwich, ham and gruyere croissant, and chocolate almond croissant. Overall, it was a mediocre experience and we likely won't be going out of our way to visit again.

The savory croissant and breakfast sandwich tasted amazing! The almond and chocolate croissant was incredibly disappointing though because the bottom was overdone and the middle was just raw dough (see picture). Likely this occurred due to the thickness of the pastry and trying to batch bake too quickly. The coffee and tea were average, nothing special.

Atmosphere is a bit chaotic. We had issues at the register because the cashier couldn't read the notations of the person at the beginning of the line who took our order and there was also one item missing. I will say that the cashier handled this well, but it took a bit of going back and forth to make sure that our order was in fact correct. Parking limited and really nowhere to sit and eat because their counters facing the windowfront were not accessible due to the line to order wrapping...