Preligen's Artisan Bakery — Restaurant in San Jose

I stumbled on Preligen's Artisan Bakery on the internet. I'm a huge fan of patisseries, so naturally this place stuck to the back of my mind. The next time I was in the area, I made it a point to stop by.

My husband and I dropped by Preligen's on a Saturday afternoon around 2:30pm. We found the cute and chic bakery in a small strip small with ample parking. As someone who speaks/read French and also lived in Paris, what I really appreciated about this bakery was that they actually used the right French terms to describe the pastries (i.e. les petites gâteaux, vienoisserie, etc.). That was a nice touch.

We also had the pleasure of meeting the owner/chef behind the pastries, who was incredibly nice and hospitable.

The bakery was closing in 30 minutes, but I thought that they still offered a decent selection for me to sample a few things. I got a lemon meringue tart, milk chocolate praline dome, and a mango buttermilk panna cotta.

The lemon meringue was excellent. It had the perfect balance of sweetness and tartness. Loved the crispy crust and the fluffy meringue. What I also liked about the meringue was how it didn't slide off the lemon curd. This can be a big pet peeve of mind, so I knew that Preligen's lemon meringue was the real deal!

The milk chocolate hazelnut dome was fabulous too. Not sure if this was supposed to be a semifreddo or if the display case was too cold so the mousse was borderline frozen. It was still amazing though, and it was honestly my personal favorite of the 3 because of its rich milk chocolate flavor, sable cookie, and hazelnut surprise in the center.

I'm not the biggest panna cotta eater to begin with, but I did enjoy Preligen's panna cotta. The mango gelée tasted like it was freshly puréed from the fruit. I really got the buttermilk flavor from the custard.

Preligen's has quite the impressive menu that I can't wait to...

Maybe it was an off day at this bakery......I went there yesterday with a friend and was really excited.....however, when we opened the front door, there was a young woman sitting down drinking coffee and eating a pastry. We thought she was a customer. After looking at the pastries, we waited for someone to wait on us. Then this young woman got up and went behind the counter and asked with a frown on her face if we had decided on our choice. After choosing two cupcakes, we paid her and left. Her customer service was horrible......no thank you, no smile, no anything.........Another young woman came out from the back of the bakery, and she also made no attempt to welcome us. If the owner reads this review, I highly recommend you educate your young staff on what "customer service" indicates these days, as my friend and I were HUGELY DISAPPOINTED in our first and maybe only visit...

The perfect croissant. Crispy and flaky on the outside, soft and delicious on the inside. It’s so easy to describe and so hard to achieve.

The butter croissant at Preligen is pretty darn close to the best croissant I’ve had in a long time. Since every donut shop, bagel shop, and grocery store now makes their own croissant, my expectations have diminished.

I just happened to stop by Preligen while running an errand in the area. I drove off and probably half a mile away before I realized what a good croissant I had just discovered. I almost turned the car around to go get a second one. I didn’t, but I have been back a couple of times since, and they have yet to disappoint.

Pro tip: the parking situation is less than ideal. I choose to park in the Goodwill parking lot...