Panchita's Bakery — Restaurant in San Diego

I was beyond disappointed to receive my tres leches cake from Panchita’s after so many people recommended it to me. The short of it: the cake message was misspelled with messy writing and the tres leches was completely dry.

The full story: I went to panchitas after enjoying their pastries for years and having many people recommend ordering tres leches from them. The ordering experience was ROUGH, I had a photo of what I wanted, a white cake with a cross and my twin’s names on it for their baptism. For some reason the person taking the order, said no took my phone scrolled through other options from my google search and insisted I get the design my cake ultimately had. Trying to not be difficult and knowing I was ordering it for flavor not esthetics I said “ok, fine”. I then asked if we could keep the colors to white, gold and blue and was told I needed green for the white roses that she wanted to adorn the cake with. Again, I said fine, the flavor was most important to me. Finally, she goes to write the message “God bless” and writes “Good Bless”, I correct it on the form and she assures me that it will be right day of. Remember I just wanted my sons’ names on it with a cross, she added all this additional pieces. Finally I ask for a morning time pick up and she says ok and writes down noon on the invoice.

The day of, my mom goes to pick up the cake at 10am and we learn it isn’t ready…fine the ticket said noon and I should have pushed back harder on this. So, my mom goes back at 12 to get the cake and it says “Good Bless Elijah and Isaiah” and when she asks them to fix it they say they can’t because the baker isn’t there. She brings the cake to our celebration and we slice it and pass it out to find our 3 leches is dry with random patches of wet only on the top layer. It was like they just poured a little milk on the top layer and never soaked the cake. I was so disappointed as I had been talking this cake for weeks and sharing how excited I was to try it.

We call the next day to share our disappointment and they tell us for them to do anything we would have to bring THE WHOLE CAKE BACK. I apologize and share we had cut it and passed it out only to learn it was dry as people started eating it. I wasn’t expecting to get all my money back but some compensation or even just some understanding would...

Update - I’ve been back a few times since my last review and here it is. They had the sanitizer for the trays and tongs up for about a week before disappearing. The prices are still varying and there was a new door greeter harassing everyone to buy him something. See the pic. They actually charged me extra to put the doughnuts in my own box NICELY for a meeting i had. I love the pastries here however, It isnt the most sanitary place. Its self serve with people sharing the serving tongs and platters. The clerks wipe them down with the same dirty rag after every use. I see little kids sticking hands into the displays touching products. The same mud covered homeless man makes himself at home in and out using the coffee machine. Parking is a little tight but usually manageable. For the best selection, I've found between 7-9am to be the best for me. The selection does vary day by day and some items are only baked once a day. Pricing tends to vary depending on who is working. Packing is in paper bags and is usually pretty sloppy. Some of the clerks wrap the chocolates and other coated items in wax while others smash them all in. I've had a few bags of stuff ruined by the time I got home. Asking to have them wrapped can get you some attitude depending on the clerk. Despite all of the above, I'm eating a sugar doughnut(carefully lol) as...

I live around the corner from Pancheta’s Bakery and have been spoiled by this bakery for 18 years now. The delicious tasty treats have encouraged me to learn Spanish although they usually have English speaking help or other customers help me out. Big Ears are my very favorite with Mexican Wedding cookies a close 2nd. I also routinely get rice pudding and flan. They have tasty sweet loaves, I am not sure of the actual name. They used to only take cash but now also take credit cards. Everything in the shop is delectable which is probably why they are always busy. Due to market issues prices had to go up but I understand because I work in nutrition in a hospital. The wonderful early morning smells wafting thru the area make my...