Fresh Flours South Lake Union — Restaurant in Seattle

Updt Apr 2022:

SO sad. The bakery has gone downhill since two years ago. The baked goods come in paper bags now instead of a nicely presented cardboard box, even if you order a lot of them.

They don't acknowledge you at all if you go in and pick up your online orders. They just leave the orders to the side so anyone can walk out with them with no verification.

They no longer allow you to order baked goods online in advance before the store is opened.

Worst of all, they got rid of one of their best items on the menu - the chocolate twice baked almond croissant!!! :-( This was their best tasting item, and they took it off the menu because of ownership change to a roastery. Now, Fresh Flours is just a coffee shop and their baked goods are getting pared down. They also increased their prices on several other items.

Good things don't last forever. :(

This unassuming bakery/coffee shop below an apartment complex has surprisingly delicious pastries!

Highly recommend the: CROISSANT: buttery and flakey!

AZUKI CROISSANT: omg. this is the BEST THING EVER. Get it. The top is crunchy and the entire concoction is just delightful.

TWICE BAKED CROISSANTS (chocolate/almond): no words. just good.

GREEN TEA RED BEAN MUFFIN: delicious! Not too sweet and not too bitter. Just right.

MACAROONS: one of the best I have tasted. Not too sweet or artificial. The passion fruit is my favorite.

The good stuff sells out by late morning, so try to pop by in the early morning if you can. You can also put in online orders the night before to reserve the pastries so you can sleep in on the weekends and pick them up at your...

My husband and I are foodies, always in search of high quality pastry experiences in every city we visit. We happened to come here only because most of the higher rated bakeries in Seattle are closed on Tuesday. Unfortunately, despite the name, this place is not worthy of being called a “patisserie”. The base of their kouign amman was wrapped in parchment paper creating a sticky, wet, and soggy layer of croissant dough instead of the delicious caramelized base that one would expect. It was so bad that we threw away the remaining half. The ham and cheese croissant has cheap processed cheddar cheese in the center. Even after they heated it for us, the center was still cold. I later found out that their pastry items are baked at a central location in the city and then distributed to their various locations—which partially explains the poor quality. Their latte, served in a plastic cup, is extremely poor, bland, with a thin water mouthfeel. And the shorthaired blonde woman with glasses who rang us up was curt at best - it doesn’t cost you anything to be welcoming, patient, and pleasant to your customers. I have no idea how this place managed to expand to multiple locations. This was our last stop in Seattle and unfortunately ended our trip on a really low note. You’re way better off going to Bakery Nouveau or Coyle’s Bakeshop who are more deserving of your...

I’ve been a loyal and enthusiastic customer of Fresh Flours ever since I moved to Seattle nearly two years ago, it’s truly one of my all-time favorite cafés, not just in Seattle but anywhere in the U.S. The pastries, the coffee, the atmosphere, all top notch IMHO.

That said, I was very disappointed by the recent switch from Square to Toast as the point-of-sale system. The new interface feels clunky and less informative from the customer side, I wasn’t able to easily see my loyalty points, which is a feature I’ve always appreciated.

More disappointingly though, I’ve heard from several friends that the refund process is now slower, less flexible and doesn’t always support refunds to Google or Apple Pay, sometimes resulting in store credit instead, which really isn’t a refund, it's a gift card purchase. That seems not just unfair but borderline tacky.

Fresh Flours remains a place I deeply love and recommend, but I hope they consider addressing some of these issues with the new system, or reconsider the switch altogether.

(And if I may: please bring back the azuki (red bean) croissant! I...