Figaro Dessert Cafe — Restaurant in San Diego

WHEN IN NEED OF SWEETS

... this place will do. Cute little dessert neighborhood shop offering an array of sweets. It's the far distant second cousin of "extraordinary desserts" that nobody really knows but are curious about.

"PURPLE THING" - its stunning to look it at. It's like a mashup of PRINCE + HERSHEY KISS. It's new so It doesn't yet have a name. And one of the first questions that comes to mind is "what's inside"... it's a berry cheesecake. The shiny purple outer layer was an interesting texture - likely some purple food coloring, water, sugar, and gelatin mixture that's breakable, soft, yet holds shape. It's mainly for decoration to couture the cheesecake inside. The cheesecake wasn't rich in flavor or anything special, just basic cheesecake flavor and texture with a ball of squished berries adding the fruity and tart flavor. It was good but it would have been even better if you order this with a hot beverage. I didn't do that but will do next time. RECOMMEND

GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE - Three layers chocolate cake filled with pecans and coconut, topped with pecans and coconut filling. It looks like a typical slice of German chocolate cake. Sadly, no picture because it was in a to-go box and swiftly demolished. This hit the spot. You can't go wrong with a German chocolate cake, you just can't. The cake itself was a little dryer to my liking BUT with the layers of filling added good mixture to the cake. You get a bit of chocolate, pecan, and coconut filling your mouth with an even balance of flavors. Again, this would also pair well with a hot beverage. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

I like this place! Can't wait to try other desserts!

Until the...

Located at the heart of San Diego's North Park community, Figaro is tucked in the busy corner of University and 30th.

This place actually used to be called Heaven Sent which was a couple doors down. It closed, reopened, and rebranded under new ownership and new name in 2017.

It appears that besides the trendy, updated decor, the offerings and variety are similar to the prior location.

And quite a variety there is (as the photos show) so it was a bit embarrassing to stand gazing endlessly into the glass case deciding the evening's indulgence.

On this visit I treated myself to both the key lime and the apple pie which were as decacant and delicious as could be.

The only thing tempering the enjoyment was the price of $7 per slice which came to over $15 with tax. And mind that the slices were not conventional slices but about half the size.

Since the quality was outstanding with excellent service, I'm not complaining too much because operating such a place in a swanky high-rent area is quite expensive.

It's a small space with the seating area of maybe a hundred fifty square feet that includes about three or four tables and a counter bar by the front window. However, there is plenty of seating outside which would be great on a nice day.

I enjoyed my visit and hope return to sample additional sweet...

Paid $26 for 3 desserts. The chocomel, dulce de leche roll, and a cheesecake cupcake. 1 tasted very much like cleaning product, 1 had a slight taste of cleaning product, and 1 had an aftertaste of cleaning product. The dulce de leche was somewhat edible by picking at specific parts, the cheesecake was decent, and the chocomel was inedible.

Another reviewer had mentioned the desserts taste like cleaning supplies- the dulce de leche and cheesecake were decent and didn't overwhelmingly taste like cleaning supplies, but I had a slight weirdly chlorine like aftertaste after eating them, like detergent. The outside of the dulce de leche tasted like it had cleaning spray residue on it or something.

The chocomel tasted like cleaning spray was mixed into the batter. The entire outer part was just overpowered by the taste of cleaning product. Like someone straight up sprayed the pastry. I honestly didn't feel safe eating it.

For almost 10 dollars a pastry, extremely off putting and honestly unsafe. The two not overpoweringly cleaning spray flavored pastries still had enough of a detergent aftertaste to make me hesitate on eating any more. How close are they using cleaning products to the pastries/batter if they literally taste like Windex was used as a substitute for milk?

The pastries are gorgeous, but I...