Palisades Park Bakery — Restaurant in Palisades Park

I am an old school Pal Park girl. I grew up in the town in the 70s/80s. My family lived here a generation before me and my grandparents immigrated from Italy. I remember as a little girl walking into this place with the display cases and moving shelves with the cake inside. Half the time my Mom would send me in to buy a “container of milk”, a loaf of rye bread and they would slice it for you and put it in the wax bag. Back then the Boston cream donuts were .10 cents then raised up to .25 cents. The highest I ever remember them being was $1 each many years later. My brother moved down the shore and we always had to bring him 1/2 a dozen because he loved them so much! They were 90% cream and 10% pastry. I knew in my heart of hearts after all these years once you haven’t had something, once you tasted it, you would just know and your heart would be happy and your brain would click and say “ahhh there it is, what I’ve been waiting for”. And then the day finally gets here after all the hype on Facebook that they were posting about and BAM! Nope. This is not the same. No way, no how!! They can say all they want it is the same bakers/recipes all they want. You know when they say the proof is in the pudding, the proof is in the Boston cream. I will give them this…the texture is pretty dang close, but not the same. The taste is way off and if it was truly a PPB Boston cream it would be filled up. This was about 30% as compared to years ago 90%. And the jelly donut was inedible. Dry and overcooked on the bottom. It is a shame. We used to get all my family birthday and occasion cakes here. We definitely not be returning to that. It was a custom. Yellow cake with strawberry and banana custard with whipped cream. After all the reviews of the cakes I read, we are not even going to bother.

It made me so sad to be in there and look around and feel like all the nostalgia is gone. The white boxes and the spool of red and white string hanging from the ceiling. Everything in there is SO overpriced! $2.75 for a donut!!! That is insane. I knew the place had changed drastically when no one was in there and we got the first parking spot in front. Years ago we had to double park on the side street and pray we wouldn’t come out to a ticket!! It didn’t matter what time of day it was or what day of the week it was. And by 3pm there would be no pastries left! They had a ton leftover. That is because they are terrible. Sorry PPB. Yes…times have definitely changed. So...

DISREGARD ANY REVIEWS BEFORE 9-1-23. THIS BAKERY CLOSED DURING COVID & RE-OPENED WITH NEW OWNERSHIP PLEDGING TO USE "ORIGINAL RECIPES" AND "ORIGINAL BAKERS". NOT SO! NEW SHOP IS ENTIRELY DIFFERENT. NO QUALITY BAKED GOODS ANYMORE.

It is Awful. The donuts are tasteless. Look at my pictures. There's NO real cream in the chocolate covered cream donut (there's no cream at all - it's a teaspoon of yellow imitation goo filling)!!!! The apple turnover was tasteless and had a bad aftertaste. I don't know whether these pastries are even baked on site since the place didn't smell like a bakery. And I observed the "back room" door open & there were packages of Oreos on mini-mart type shelving. I don't know what's happening back there but it ain't baking!

3 Cream donuts & 2 tiny turnover things cost over $19. Remember our bakery??? We'd buy a whole cake with a couple of donuts for that price or less!!! I understand inflation & would PAY for a great donut - but what's offered at this "shop" aren't the pastries we expect. This shop is like all the other little Asian patisseries on Broad Ave - which would have been fine had the new owners not advertised "original bakers" and "original recipes".

The self-serve donut section is a waste of space & unsanitary. I so looked forward to going back to my favorite bakery. This place only carries the original name. Everything else is overpriced, tastes bad, has the wrong texture. The chocolate covering on the cream donut chipped off while trying to bite into it. You can pick up better donuts at Shoprite (for less $$$)!!!!!! Terrible. Just terrible. Our beloved bakery is GONE.

Oh, the girl at the counter said that my favorite 7-layer cake would be "coming in" in a couple of weeks. Hmmmmm. I prefer a bakery with dedicated bakers who bake onsite. I'm sure that cake will be overpriced too (about $55 for an 8" round we saw behind the counter). No worries. We're not going back.

The new owners use photos from the ORIGINAL Pal Park Bakery. That's ALL GONE & a bit of false advertising. The owners should advertise the shop they opened & not use the original, historical bakery photos that people in NJ knew well & loved. I'm disappointed that this place, with lousy donuts, appropriated the Pal Park Bakery name (including the date that the original bakery opened). That's...

New ownership promised to bring back the old favorites and they did. The problem is that the place lost its personality, character, and spirit. They have transformed this beautiful bakery that used to cater to the local community with open arms and smiley face, to a very modern cold non spiritual place.

They turned this into a bakery/cafe, which does not stand out amongst the dozens of the same kind around the area. Their star products like the cheese cakes, pecan pies, are put aside and overpriced. There is nobody there to greet you anymore. Just a cashier waiting for you to pick your own goods and bring it to the front. No personalized attention. No love. "pay and leave" type of place.

I miss being helped by a counter person, helping me choose things and have small conversations. Also, what I miss the most, are the comfortable prices. Cheese cake for $11 is now $26, pecan pie for $12 now $20. yes inflation, but no, its a character kill. They didn't continue an old established business loved by everyone, they killed it, and open something very bland. Palisades park bakery had survived among all the modern cafe/bakeries, because they never changed their spirit, and now that's gone.

Hope the new owners do some soul searching and try to be different from the other bakeries. Personal attention...