Scafuri Bakery — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

I was walking down Taylor Street and was a little surprised that they were open on New Year's Eve (yesterday), but I'm glad I went in. The first thing I want to shout-out is the fact that the two people behind the counter were SO patient and excited as they were explaining the different baked goods they have. There's a lot of stuff and could easily seem overwhelming, but they were both so happy to explain what some of them are and to offer suggestions. And really, really, REALLY wonderfully, there was a really gender-affirming moment from one of the people behind the counter. They referred to me with he/him pronouns to their coworker, and then they caught it immediately. They then acknowledged it and asked me what my pronouns are. This moment was really touching because this is a small but really affirming moment (and a demonstration of solidarity and allyship), which doesn't happen enough. This show of care makes me feel comfortable about suggesting this place to others since this seems to be a business that sees and honors the individual people who make up its clientele.

As for the baked goods themselves, many of them feature almonds and pistachios since it's an Italian bakery. Most of the goods erred on the sweet side for me, but the taste of each one was nuanced -- often both delicate and punchy at the same time. It's hard to describe the texture of the goods, but I think the most accurate thing would be to say that they're dense (you're going to see this word a lot because this is virtually the only word to describe a lot of their goods) and have some give without being so thick that it sticks to the roof of your mouth. Basically, the cookies and loaf that I got were dense and didn't have that kind of soft, al dente texture that you get from a freshly baked cookie taken out at just the right time. Instead, each thing (except for the biscotti) had a chewy texture. (Imagine soft-baked cookies at around the two-day mark when they start to get a little less pliable but still bend slowly instead of breaking, about two days before they become dried and snap in half instead.)

As for the specific goods I recommend, THE ABSOLUTE HIGHLIGHT was the lemon ricotta loaf. It had an amazing crust and was dense but not cloying. Some of the icing on the other things were too sweet for me, but the icing on this loaf was perfect. I have nothing bad to say about it except that I wish I had bought more, and I intend to try the chocolate orange ricotta loaf next time. I also really, really enjoyed the pistachio amaretti cookie (though it was just two degrees too sweet for me), the chocolate spice cookie, and the pignoli (pine nut cookie). Their chocolate-covered butter cookie is good and is like a dense madeleine, so it's cross between shortbread and a madeleine. A lot of the other ones were just a bit sweet for me, so I can't say that I'd suggest them; BUT this may actually be a good thing for most customers because I have a low tolerance for sweet things, which means they're probably adjusted for more typical tastebuds.

All in all, it was a GREAT experience, and I will definitely be coming back for some of the ones I got as well as to try their chocolate orange ricotta loaf, their cannoli,...

Buyers BEWARE! I came across the site and the loaf breads and cookies looked good. I ordered 2lbs of cookies and Zucchini loaf Order #9734. The one star I did not want to give but had to put in to continue.

The products do not look like the pictures they provide. OH MY! I called and e-mailed the bakery about my issue, nobody e-mailed me back. I waited two days no response with my issues. I called the bakery on 1/8/2023 at 3:30 in the afternoon. Someone answered the phone I told him my issues and also told him my problems and no one contacted me. His response we will see what we will do. I do not like writing bad reviews but I gave them a chance to resolve the problem. The cookies are hard as rocks l literally did a video banging the cookies on the counter and plate and all of them taste the same and the biscotti cookies fell apart from being stale. Just a horrible experience. The cookies were just old and stale, the Zucchini bread I cut a piece the loaf bread fell apart not moist at all the white icing was hard as a rock and all you tasted was sugar too sweet, Just nasty an not edible. Beware of this place of old cookies and stale products. I will upload a video and you can see the cookies are hard as a rock. Customer service horrible. The owners of this place can not say I did not call or email to fix the problem because I did. My emails were ignored and phone calls.

Please give me a...

I ordered cookies on Sunday, December16th on the website and paid for 2 day delivery. My expectation was the order would be filled within 2-3 business days and the cookies would be shipped fresh on the delivery date chosen which was Saturday, December 22nd. I emailed to follow up on my order and received an email that the cookies were shipping on December 18th which included a link to usps. I clicked the link for the next 2 business days and there was no information indicating the order was even picked up. The order finally was associated with the usps link on Thursday December 20th at 8pm. At this time the cookies were now at least 3 days old. I finally received the cookies on the evening of Monday December 24th, now almost 1 week old. These were a gift for my family in which I spent $86 on. When I opened the package and tried them, they were all stale and very dry. They were also on a plastic dish with saran wrap. This is not how they were shown on the website. Overall, I am very dissapointed in the customer experience I have received from this company. I've emailed and asked for at least 50% off and have not received a response. I would not recommend ordering from here. The items were not fresh or prepared as shown on...