Clover Bakery & Cafe — Restaurant in San Jose

If you love Japanese bakery style items, onigiri a.k.a. triangle kimbab, deep fried fish or meat stuffed in thick bread rolls, this is your jam. It reminds me of Japanese bakery/take-out places in midtown, NYC near Bryant Park where workers would line up at lunch time to fill their bellies and go into a food coma for under ten dollars. Have tried custard cream filled doughnuts, apple Danish type thing with just apples and a jam? With turbinado sugar sprinkles, deep fried vegetable curry croquettes (more liquid), baked beef curry croquettes(more solid), various onigiri including chicken teriyaki, unagi, salmon roe, ginger beef. Agree with reviewers who say filling is a bit sparse but what little there is was fresh. A lot of Asian places we have tried tend to have warmed over odor/flavor, or more gristle than meat, but you don't get that here. The onigiri does sit heavy in your stomach, could be the sugar content in the rice mix. Went twice this past week (had car serviced at auto mechanic shop nearby) and cashier is friendly, and alert. Do always check allergy related questions several times to be sure. I asked an employee who spoke little to no English if the pear and peach danishes had cream cheese or cheese. I was told no cheese, just cream, and when I checked again it turned out it was cream cheese. This process took awhile because both times they had to go ask someone else. The danishes looked very generous, with a whole half piece of canned pear or peach per danish. Be prepared to wait. Even at 8am, and also at 10 am there was a line, which can move very slowly. This is due to the 8 person limit as it is a tiny shop, standing room only. Definitely considering ordering a cake, as reviews...

Clover Bakery & Cafe is cute and neat! It has a variety of pastries and drinks with good portion and reasonable price.

It's located in the super popular Mitsuwa Marketplace along with Teaspoon, Tomi Sushi and others. If you come here in the weekend, prepare to spend at least 15 minutes or more to look for parking. May the odds forever in your favor

That being said, you'll be rewarded when you step inside Clover Bakery! The store looks inviting with an aisle against the wall with all the pastries you can imagine in your life. There's a table in the middle too with extra goodies and delicious stuff. Grab a tray and a tongue and the bakery is now your oyster! Go roaming and come back and share what you got

There is very limited seating inside. Only a tiny table and two chairs so it's mostly grab and go at this bakery. I came on a Saturday at noon and the store was not crowded at all.

I got a peach danish, a spam musubi, a chocolate chip green tea round puff and a strawberry milk. There was a bench just right outside of the store so my friend and I sat there and enjoyed our finds.

I liked their spam musubi. The rice was moist and fragrant! The spam had the nice flavors and kicks. Everything worked well together and was comforting to eat. The strawberry milk was refreshing and not too sweet (which is the best compliment an Asian can give )

Perhaps because I didn't have chance to try the peach danish and the chocolate green tea puff till a day later, they didn't taste that spectacular to me.

Overall, it was a nice experience visiting Clover Bakery, minus the...

Most authentic Japanese bakery I've found in California so far! Large variety of sweet and savory breads including yakisoba-pan, curry bread (カレーパン... both fried and baked!), melon bread (メロンパン), chocolate cornets, etc. as well as their incredibly popular selection of rice balls! Other goods include: cookies, cakes, and fruit sandwiches. Everything they make is very cute and all their handmade price signs are so fun to read because of the illustrations.

There is also a good selection of drinks including an interesting coffee-matcha one (big caffeine boost!). I love coming to this cute place, such a cozy atmosphere and very sweet employees who are very helpful and nice.

• Bringing cash is recommended (I believe the credit minimum is $5 or $10?)!*

Many of their goods are sold in neighboring Mitsuwa, but this bakery is worth a visit on its own if you are there during open hours, it is too cute to...