Del Sur Bakery — Restaurant in Lake View Township

Updating with a full review now that the hype has evened out and I've been able to try more of their pastries. The staff are, as everyone has noted, exceptionally friendly and helpful, far beyond the norm for good service, and the decor is very beautiful and both modern and rustic. I thought the pastries were lovingly made and a welcome break from the typical patisserie, although overall just a touch too sweet. A little bit cloying that can make it tough to finish more than one.

🌟🌟🌟 Pandan Basque Cake -- Pandan is my all-time favorite flavor and can be hard to find in Chicago. Gâteau Basque is quite dense by nature, so the extra sweet and dense cream on top felt a bit heavy. Something lighter like a pandan meringue cookie might have lightened it.

🌟🌟🌟🌟 Calamansi Chamomile bun -- the best of the three. A very well laminated pastry with a nice bright cream filling. The citrus is very strong but I don't think any of the chamomile really came through. Good, if unadventurous.

🌟🌟 Ube Oatmeal Cream Pie -- a super great idea, as is almost anything with ube, but shockingly I couldn't really get any ube flavor! I also prefer my oatmeal cream pies with a marshmallow cream since buttercream tends to overwhelm. A personal preference, but I prefer my oatmeal cream pies to have a crispy cookie to counteract the soft filling -- these were very soft but that might have just been from sitting in the case.

🌟 Cold Brew Coffee -- it was either over extracted or they used too dark of a roast because it tasted more like an iced Americano. I would go with a lighter roast and watch the grind coarseness and extraction time. Lovely baristas tho.

I will definitely come back, because everything was high quality and thoughtful, b/c I want to try the Longanisa croissant and most importantly because I support this business and their endeavors. The Filipino community in Chicago is so talented and is like a breath of fresh air in the Chicago culinary scene so I think it's important that they succeed with our patronage. This little stretch of Damen is becoming something of a Manila Mile with Kanin, Del Sur, and Side Practice and it would be awesome to see even more businesses get inspired to pop up here. Selfishly speaking, as someone living off Lincoln, it would...

We got in line at 10:15 and finally purchased at 11:45. A bit more than halfway through the wait, an employee came out and said that they were out of two things (brownie and a muffin, neither of which I really wanted). I thought that was a good sign, but when we got inside, there were only four pastries left, none of which were ones I wanted from looking at reviews and their instagram. (I was looking forward to a calamansi chamomile bun, toasted rice croissant, turon danish, and mango pandan basque cake)

I have no idea if they ran out of those and simply decided not to tell us or if they just didn’t make them that day?? Either way, I felt a bit duped when they did not have them in the case.

But sunk cost fallacy had set in (90 minutes is a lot), so we got all of the available pastries. They were all oddly salty and ranged from “no thanks” to “kind of good,” which is to be expected for a selection I wouldn’t pick myself.

While inside the shop, we noticed that things weren’t operating particularly efficiently. Suggestions—larger signs on the pastries, or better yet a menu with photos and descriptions on the table (it will not look the most aesthetic but it would be incredibly helpful—those little cursive signs are hard to read, even if you have good eyesight). Also a sign outside that can be updated to show what pastries are available each day would be nice. Finally, it seemed like half of the wait was due to drink orders taking a while—I don’t know how to fix that tbh but maybe more baristas or training them a bit more?

Overall, not a great experience, but I would give it another shot if the wait gets to be less than 15 minutes. At that point I would not feel bad about leaving if they didn’t have my...

Begged my boyfriend to take me on a Saturday morning, we had to look for a parking spot which isn’t fun because you have to walk. You won’t miss the place because the moment you drive by you’ll see a long line going to it. We waited two hours but we made a friend during the wait so there wasn’t a dull moment because we were laughing and joking around so we could pass the time. However we’re bummed because they were out what we both wanted. I wanted to taste the turon danish while he wanted the chocolate croissant. It’s okay though because he bought all the pastries that was left so we could taste everything. We got the; maritozzi, brownie, focaccia, basque cake and muffin. Every single pastry was good! My ultimate favorite of what we got is the maritozzi surprisingly so better get every single pastry and taste them!!! You’ll never know until you try. Everything was made fresh and you could tell that the ingredients are high quality. The maritozzi is the best and the most fanciest pastry I have ever tasted!!! Well all of them are but my favorite would be the maritozzi. I kid you not, it’s been a week but I can still remember my very first bite into it and omg it was so good. It was like I was eating God’s pastry. Like seriously. I so can’t wait to come back. Well definitely come earlier and camp out as the pastries were all worth it! We also tried their drinks. I got the salted pandan latte while my boyfriend got the ube latte. Again, both of our drinks were so good. The interior was small but insta worthy so definitely take pics. I cannot freaking wait to come back. I’m not going to stop until I get to taste that turon danish that’s for sure. Cheers to this place that came...