Tartine Pasadena — Restaurant in Pasadena

Have you heard of Tartine bakery? If not, should head over to the newly opened Tartine in Pasadena and try their pastries and breads and then you know why you should definitely know this bakery. They are famous for their artisan pastry and breads. In fact, Tartine was on Neflix’s second season Chef Show. In the show, Chad Robertson, the co-owner showed the TV host Jon Fareau and Roy Choi how to make sourdough bread.

Every time I go to San Francisco, I have to visit Tartine to get their croissant and sourdough sandwich even though I have to wait in a long line. The bread truly is spectacular, with incredible flavor and texture that may just ruin mass-produced sliced bread for visitors who fall in love with the good stuff. Tartine’s San Francisco cafe is a carb-lover’s paradise, with multiple different types of delicious rustic and classic French bread recipes baked up fresh daily. When I heard that Tartine is opening a bakery in Pasadena, I was excited and looking forward to its opening.

I finally got a chance to visit the bakery today after church. Got myself a regular and an Almond croissant, a sourdough turkey sandwich for my wife and a cup of coffee and ice tea. The croissants are heavenly. They are very butterly and crispy. I loved the multilayer structure of the croissant. That’s indication of a good crafted pastry.

No wonder Tartine has won so many awards. With technical prowess and refined creativity leading to delicious results, Tartine has won a number of prestigious food awards. It won a James Beard Award for excellence in baking and pastry, and it’s regularly named to “best of” lists in the Bay Area and for the United States as a whole.

So now that Tartine is here locally with locations throughout LA, we don’t have to go to SF in order to get the taste of the famous and delicious breads...

I've been wanting to try this Tartine for over a year. I finally did. I'm sorry to say it's not worth all the hype. I ordered 3 morning buns, 1 lemon cream tart, a chocolate croissant, and a slice of tres leches cake. With coffee it'll set you back over $50. I was specially looking forward to the morning buns and the lemon cream tart. Since they use larger than normal sugar crystals style of sugar I felt like I was eating very sweet sand on my morning bun. The sugar took away the pleasure of what would normally be a pleasant bite of a sweet and flaky morning bun. Everyone one of us had to shake off the sugar. The tres leches isn't what I expected. It is just okay. It had a pumpkin flavor. I don't like their style of coffee and agree with someone else that it's acrid. I had to water it down. I had a decaf coffee which is really a decaf americano since they don't brew decaf coffee. Service is fine. While the lemon cream tart is all the hype I won't be coming back just for that. I will pay for pricey food as long as it lives up to hype. This doesn't. Tempting to try their breads but I have many closer great bakeries around me to not make this special trip to West Pasadena again. I only enjoyed one item of the over $50 I spent on a few pastries and coffee. I'd rather make the drive to Porto's Bakery before returning here. I normally call to provide feedback prior to posting online reviews but this is different. This would be me saying change your pastries. That's not what I'm saying. Their ideas of pastries are just not my cup of tea. Hey,...

Tartine is designed as a place locals can go for lattes, croissants, sandwiches, and soup, and beautiful pastries. If you are a lover of Morning Buns this seems to be the only place east of Los Angeles to get them, but Tartine makes their Morning Buns with a twist -- literally. They use orange zest along with the butter, cinnamon, and sugar that goes into the classic Morning Bun. If you like orange marmalade, you will like these. They also make ham-and-cheese croissants that are very good. Their version of almond croissants are to split open a plain croissant and spread almonds and frangipane between the two halves. I, personally, prefer almond croissants that are baked with almond paste in them. The bakery also bakes delicious breads that are for sale; some of the sourdough is available in half-loaves, and it is absolutely one of the best sourdoughs around. Seating is all outdoors. A stress-free atmosphere to sit and eat a readymade tuna sandwich on the aforementioned sourdough or a custom grilled cheese and other delights. It's in the heart of Pasadena's "Millionaires' Row", so it is definitely aimed at an upscale clientele, but it's still affordable for a light...