Sweet Diplomacy® Gluten-Free — Restaurant in Los Altos

I’ve been gluten free for 15 years, and it has been rough. But I have made the most of it by searching for gluten free treats everywhere I go. I’ve had gluten free pastries in dozens of cities including London, Florence, Madrid, Sacramento, Lahaina, and Austin. Other than the now shuttered Helmut Newcake in Paris, Sweet Diplomacy is my favorite of all time (and only 20 minutes away!). If you have tried baking gluten free you know pastry (choux, puff, flakey) is really hard to do. This place gets pastry and cakes as close to wheat flour as it gets. I enjoy all of the offerings but I’m most impressed by the pastry. The cream puffs OMG. And today I tried the tiramisu for the first time (it knocked my socks off). The coffee is excellent, and I love their cupcake varieties and cookies but my stomach is only so big. I personally do not reach for the vegan offerings but this is because I don’t need to (give me butter!!). If you have restrictions they have nut free and vegan options. I’m super impressed by this, especially knowing the difficulty...

As much as I wanted to love this place (as I am always of gluten free and vegan baked items and was really looking forward to visiting this place and make it a regular) I am sad to say that I was a little disappointed during my first visit here. Good things first - Welcoming people, lovely GF Vegan Cupcake (both the cake and the topping were really good) and decent bakers mocha and hot chocolate Things I wish will be improved - Blueberry muffin - need more flavor in this. It was a little bland and the texture was quite crumbly as well. Cinnamon bun - it was like a cake the day we visited instead of how it is supposed to be (the website picture also suggests something different than what we got) but the problem was that it was also a little hard , lacked flavors and warmth that we generally associate with a cinnamon bun. Coffee Cake - hard and lacked a bit of flavor too.

Overall - I will definitely visit the place again for GF Vegan Cupcakes but I would love for other items to become as...

Placed an order for a couple of dozen cupcakes for my Dad's 90th. Thought it would be a nightmare (we have the celiac people, the non dairy people, the diehard vegan people, and of course the "I'm not gonna eat weird gluten free dessert" people). Instead, we had an amazing experience.

FIRST: Yum. There was not a crumb left. Even those family members who only eat gluten free under duress pronounced the cupcakes AMAZING. ("Wait. Were those really gluten free? No way. Those were too good to be gluten free.")

SECOND: I placed the order on their website and everything was So Clear. Each cupcake type was clearly described and ingredients meticulously listed. The ordering was easy. The payment on the web was easy. Even the post-order emails were detailed, including info on pickup. My husband did the pick up and commented how friendly, happy and organized everyone seemed to be. (C'mon folks. As a customer you know you rarely get friendly and happy AND organized all wrapped in one.)

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