La Farine Boulangerie Patisserie — Restaurant in Oakland

This location does not know how to handle customer issues appropriatly. It is very unfortunate. Be on the look out for the type of cake you are buying and ask for the written menu to make sure you are getting what you are buying. We went to the bakery to purchase a birthday cake. We chose the scilian chocolate cake based on the descirption provided by a nice bakery team member. The young lady was nice and cordial. We did not see any description on the cake name card in the display and the bakery team member helping us did not direct us to one either. She went on to describe the cake as a pistachio, chocolate ganashe cake with hazelnut. We said that the hazelnut, chocolate and pistachio is a great combo and we decided to get it. However when we tasted the cake there was not any hazelnut flavoring or any hazelnut in it. I called the store and was transferred to the cake baker who became very defensive, pretty much suggested that my understanding of what the cake is made of is not correct and there is no way that their team member would incorrctly describe the cake. She then went on to say that the only way to resolve this is to watch the store video and call me back the following day. I did not mind. She called me back saying the same thing she said before that the vidoe shows the bakery assistant telling us that this is a pistachio chocolate genache cake. I responded by saying that the young lady repeated the statment several times and confirmed that cake included hazelnut. This was a very unfortunate exchange with the La Farine baker who did not suggest anything to address the probem appropriately. They are not customer friendly and are unwilling to remedy mishaps like this one. This is very different experience from Fournée Bakery where I have always recieved great service, accurate description and...

I happened to pop by College Ave one day and walked by the bakery, we were totally drawn in by not just the short line that had formed, but also all the breads and cakes and pastries that lined the wall shelves and pastry case in the shop. It was very small and cute, and is take out only.

They have a pretty diverse selection of breads, pastries, tarts, cookies and cakes. You will be spoiled for choice if you love pastries and baked goods as much as I do! Service is friendly and efficient and no one really rushes you through your choices which I really appreciated.

We were looking for a light snack so we got the apple croissant and chocolatine - one less traditional option and one more traditional to see what the bakery could deliver up! I was expecting quite a lot from the pastries since the laminated dough looked quite impressive and the line moved quickly but there was a constant stream of people.

Apple croissant: the apple filling was really delicious and not too sweet. It went really great with the croissant dough. The croissant dough itself was a little more disappointing, I was hoping for it to be both shatteringly crisp but also moist and buttery. It was pretty crisp and had nice layers but missed the very rich, buttery flavors I love in croissants from France. Overall it was a good pastry but I wouldn't classify it under a good croissant. Chocolatine: a classic choice with two batons of chocolate wrapped into the laminated dough! Similar to the apple croissant, it didn't hit the butter spot for me. I also felt that the croissant dough had puffed up so much that it wasn't quite in the right proportion with the chocolate as there was way more pastry than chocolate. It was still good, and it went well with coffee that we got next door Cole's Coffee, but I wish it was...

An adorable French-inspired bakery that adds immeasurable charm to the neighborhood. I've never had a better sugar cookie (probably because they are shortbread cookies), and I love that their dinner buns are .75, rye raison rolls $1.95

Two notes: Their croissants don't seem to be that fresh, and have a texture more like puff-pastry than croissant dough. Their bread/ cookie products are superior. If you are also a vegetarian or otherwise want to keep meat and savory pastries quite separate from other goods, you'll have to ask to have that done. I was surprised when they didn't do that automatically, and while only a tiny inconvenience to me, it may be a much larger issue for...