The Little Daisy Bake Shop — Restaurant in Montclair

After having two very mediocre slices of pizza down the street on Friday afternoon, I decided to roam the neighborhood in search of a palate cleanser. I certainly found it, thereby salvaging my lunchtime adventures in the process.

The Little Daisy Bake Shop has a pretty unobtrusive storefront right on the main drag in Upper Montclair. (Although now that I think about it, an argument could be made that Upper Montclair has two main drags. Well, this is one of them then.) In the best form of natural advertising available, I smelled the scrumptiousness from about a dozen yards away before entering. The shop itself is pretty small - it's definitely not a sit-down establishment, though it looked like they had some potential outside seating for non-February weather. Both of the women behind the counter were very helpful/friendly, and were quick to identify any and all pastries I happened to point at.

I ended up selecting the best looking one of the bunch - a slice of the chocolate raspberry bread. Based on the taste/density, this could easily be sold as cake too, and I actually had to go onto their website prior to writing this review to confirm which it was. It was very scrumptious, with an all-natural raspberry puree/frosting on top. I took an awkward picture (attached) of the slice in my little white bag, and it didn't occur to me until after I ate it a few minutes later that I could have just taken it out of the bag and photographed it. Oh well - we're all works in progress at the end of the day. The only constructive feedback I have is that my particular slice was an end piece, and the edge was a little tough/dry, but the positives far outweighed the negatives.

There was also a COVID-related mask interaction in the shop while I was ordering that was handled just perfectly. Masks were required to come inside, but a customer came in after me who didn't have one. I would say roughly 90% of the time in my experience, the employees don't even bother to enforce that when the situation presents itself (and I can understand why, given the sheer number of nutty social media videos out there), but I was impressed by how polite/respectful the staff was in requesting that the individual mask up. He good naturedly apologized and readily took the mask they offered him. I'm sure it doesn't always turn out that way, but it was refreshing to see a pleasant interaction in that regard.

Strong recommend, and the price point was stunningly reasonable for the area - a little over $3 for a slice of...

I have been here many times in the last few years… at first I didn’t think much of the service or the owner it’s always been a bit awkward going inside and ordering, a forced cordial greeting and service from the owner but not until a few months ago when I came in with my daughter did I finally put it together. My daughter and I were standing in line and there was a customer in front of us and behind us, we were there for my daughters birthday picking up some cupcakes to bring to her nursery school and the owner came out to help, she chatted it up quite friendly with the customer in front of us, took our order quickly, and then chatted it up with the people behind us. Did she know these customers more then us? NO she seemed to ask them questions of where they were from etc etc…what was awful was my 3 year old daughter was there, she was the only kid inside with big eyes loving all the sweet treats and the owner PAID ZERO ATTENTION to HER or me other then a swift checkout and we were there specifically for my daughters birthday. She continued to chat to others AROUND US. I found the experience RUDE & DISCRIMINATORY. This has not been the first time she has acted like this towards me, but I’ve always been by myself so I didn’t take it personally, but when she blew my daughter off it’s time for me to speak up. This little place might have good reviews but be careful where you patronize, we are in a BLACK LIVES movement, AND AAPI TOO. We will...

I walked in for the first time, hoping to order shaped graduation cookies. They were very friendly, but said they had too many orders for that weekend, & couldn't take anymore for that kind of cookie. I had seen on their website that they suggested a week's notice, & I had been hopeful, since it was less than a week till our party, but I knew it was a busy season. I let them know how disappointed I was, especially since they are the rare bakery I had found that is safe for my son's allergies. Then, the very helpful lady started to make suggestions for other things they could provide on such short notice. I couldn't get exactly what I wanted bcs my timing was off, but I left there satisfied that I had something fun & different - & a cake! Mostly, I was thrilled that they went out of their way to satisfy a new customer! Plus, for my son to have a bakery to go to, to freely choose anything that strikes his fancy - that's nut-free - is very exciting, so we will be back! After all, everything we ordered was DELICIOUS!!! ...