Michi Michi Baking Collective — Restaurant in San Diego

After finally managing to visit this highly-hyped downtown adjacent bakery, lured in by long lines and glowing Instagram photos, I walked away not just disappointed, but genuinely frustrated. It’s becoming alarmingly common for trendy spots to invest more in aesthetic presentation than in actual quality, and unfortunately, this place seems to have fallen hard into that trap.

Two pastries cost $15, and for that price, I wasn’t just expecting good, I was expecting unforgettable. The Oaxaca Molé Babka sounded bold, innovative and inventive, promising a mix of chocolate, peanuts, and spice. But what I received was essentially a dry, unremarkable cinnamon roll masquerading as something exotic. The spices clashed rather than harmonized, with none of the complexity that a good molé or a solid babka should deliver. It leaned savory but lacked balance, subtlety, or the sweet depth that could justify its morning pastry status. It was confused, uninspired, and frankly, underwhelming.

Then came the chocolate croissant flan cup, a concept that should’ve been a knockout. Instead, it was a structural and textural mess. Imagine a croissant cup, already lacking the buttery crispness you'd expect, filled with an over baked dense flan that hid a surprise nobody asked for: a stale piece of chocolate cake buried at the bottom. I was expecting a really creamy and delicious center of a perfectly baked croissant tart cup reminiscent of a kouign amann. It felt like someone kept adding ideas without ever refining the execution, more chaos than creativity.

But the most frustrating part? This place doesn’t have to be bad. It just seems to vibe on it's content being photogenic. The pastries are undeniably crave-worthy, engineered to be snapped, filtered, and posted. But beneath the glossy surface is a total disregard for quality of flavor and craft. It's performative baking: all sizzle, no soul.

I stopped by three separate times before I could even get in, thanks to the never-ending line spanning well past the store front. That alone gave me hope, surely the crowds knew something I didn’t. But now, I see it clearly: this is a bakery built for influencers, not for food lovers. And for $15 and over 30 minutes of my time, I walked away with little more than a frustrating bitter taste and the knowledge that beautiful pastries don’t always...

The staff is super friendly and pastries are decent, however, I have to speak up about how inefficient the line and service are. They have one person taking orders, packing and refilling pastries, and another person at the cashier. So only one party can order at a time and usually the cashier is just standing l there waiting for the person packing and serving pastries to finish taking orders. The cashier should also be taking orders. I do think they do this on purpose almost like nightclubs so that a line accumulates. But I just wasted 45 minutes of my time waiting for a sandwich. I know that’s probably on me because I could’ve just gotten out of line but I didn’t think a line that was 3 people deep would really take that long. As someone who studied economics and owned several businesses, there is a way more efficient way to do this. They just choose not to. To reiterate, this is not an issue with the people who are actually serving, it’s an issue with management, not understanding, basic economic efficiencies and consequently, making the customer waste a ton...

In addition to amazing, unique food and service, this business is a fantastic community contributor and collaborator. When the city removed the parking district's authority to to service the 50 trash bins in Bankers Hill 3 times a week as the District had at the request of the City the first 3 years since bike lanes and trash cans were added by SANDAG & City, Michi Michi stepped up and has voluntarily collected the trash in the adjacent waste bin two or three times a week for the past several months. They provide snacks and beverages to the small army of volunteers that pick up litter on routine basis, and do a great job policing the front of their business before and after business hours. As a board member of the uptown community parking district and someone who voluntarily picks up litter 3 to 5 times a week in BH I can tell you this corner of Banker's Hill is much more activated, safer, and cleaner than it has been in the five years I have lived and owned a home and collected litter in this community. We are so lucky to have...