Haegele's Bakery — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I don't believe I'm overstating it to say my experience was nothing short of magical!

It was our friend's birthday, and rather than desiring cake or ice cream, we knew she'd much prefer a good donut. Now, we've tried the chain places, as has everyone, and we've tried the newer places with the cool signs and the social media hashtags, but the product left something to be desired as it was all hype. So I guess I'm saying, "Give me a donut; hold the hype."

My wife suggests we try out Haegele's, that place that Joe always buys from. I didn't quite know how to pronounce it, so I thought , "Haegele's Bagels," as if it rhymed, but was quickly corrected, "Haegele's Bagelies, if anything." Okay, not quite the same ring to it, plus, what's a bagely? A mini bagel? I search and tap on directions and see it's close. Really close, in fact! And so I head out during our little one's naptime.

After parking next to the corner bakery and walking in, which, by the way, being a neighborhood bakery on a corner rather than on a busy street or in a strip mall already have me good vibes. I don't put too much stake in vibes, but in this case, they were right!

I waited till my turn, selecting in my head what I was to purchase. The kid in a candy store had nothing on me in this instance. All those delicious looking pastries set under the cute vintage-looking signage were calling my name! How'd they know me?! We hadn't met yet. YET! When prompted, I began my request: "A dozen assorted donuts, four eclairs, I'll have this bag of macaroons and a few of those fruit filled twisty-boys there!" She grabs and boxes it all up, ties it up with strings, making it all among my fav-or-ite things, and tells me the total.

Here is where the magic happened! I pull out my card, to which she says, "Oh, sorry, we're cash only." No problem! Please, set my things aside, I'll be right back! A gentleman with his son, who were waiting patiently behind me, says, "I got ya, buddy!" Now, mind you, this was no small order. "No, it's fine, I'll be right back," I answer dismissively. He wasn't taking, "No," for an answer, pulls out the cash, hands it to the owner who then hands me my delicious goods! Wow! That was so nice! Thank you! Thank you very much! How on earth can I repay you? (because I still need to learn how to accept a gift) The gentleman tells me to pay it forward. I thank him again, I thank his son, I thank the owner, I thank God on my way back home...

It really was the best first impression one could have of a place! The pastries were a hit at our Bible study that night, and the birthday girl was quite happy with her treat. I'll definitely...

We stopped by here because I've been craving for a fastnacht styled donut. My coworker brought the fastnacht donuts in previous years, and it was so delicious and fluffy and satisfying! Though it's not Far Tuesday yet, I went in hoping that they have something similar. The bakery is on a corner in a residential area. We went on Friday afternoon and saw plenty of street parking. We went in and the lady greeted us immediately. I asked about the donut and she suggested their jelly donuts and cream donuts would be the closest to the fastnacht. I also saw what seemed to be chocolate glazed donut. She said it is actually chocolate cinnamon and different than the fastnacht but still pretty tasty. So I got one each. Then I saw the bee cake, and asked about what it was. The lady explained to us and we decided to get one to try. She was so nice and gave us two! We got home, and had the donuts first! The jelly donuts and the cream donuts are delicious! It's not quite the texture of the fastnacht but so close and just what I was looking for! The jelly filling was nice complement to the sweet dough. The cream filling was sweeter but very light. The chocolate cinnamon donut was definitely more like a typical chocolate glazed donut. It was still really good. We had the bee cake a couple days later. It has a cream, almost icing-like, in the center and cake on the bottom and top. On top of the cake, there is plenty of almond soaked with honey. It was delicious but it was a bit too sweet tool my taste. It would pair well with a nice pot of tea though. The donuts were so good and now I cannot wait for fastnacht day and indulge in the only...

I was just at HAEGELE'S. Why would that pop-up right now ? I didn't give my e-mail, phone # or even my name. That's really strange for the Post to ask me for a rating. I ALWAYS give HAEGELE'S a " 10 " if its 0 to 10 and 10 being GREAT and "0" horrible. A neighbor told my mother about this bakery around 2003. 15 years and NEVER had a complaint and I'm MR. PICKY. I went there this morning for a birthday cake for my son-in-law. B-day cake was $17.50. My bill came to $48.05. Couldn't resist the cheese cake, cinnamon crumb Danish, cup cakes (green + white jimmies with an Eagles head on it; vanilla + choc.) Jelly donuts, cream donuts. There's times that I'll go up and get a B-Day cake. No one's B-Day though....