Bittersweet Pastry Shop & Cafe

Category:	Pastry Shop
Address:	1114 W Belmont Ave, Chicago, IL 60657, USA
Phone:	+1 773-929-1100
Site:	bittersweetpastry.com
Rating:	4.4
Working:	Closed 7AM–7PM 7AM–7PM 7AM–7PM 7AM–7PM 8AM–7PM 8AM–6PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 8

Hollina U

Usually I only give a business one try, and if it doesnt wow me the first time, I go elsewhere. I made a couple of exceptions for Bittersweet since its literally down the street from my apartment. The first time, I thought the macarons were average and the cupcakes werent as moist as I like. I figured Id go back and try different items the next time. The second time, I ordered a fudge cake with hazelnut filling for my friends birthday. Everybody raved about the presentation, because I requested for fresh flowers and fruit to be added on top. If only the cake tasted as good as it looked though. The third time, I went to pick up an angel food cake that I specified multiple times on the phone that I wanted strawberries and a glaze on top. What did I get when I went in to pick it up? No strawberries... Which could be, because they told me they only had raspberries and no strawberries, because my memory sucks... but then they told me they could do strawberries and that it would take 3 minutes. Which turned into a 10 minute wait, turning my total time in the bakery into a 17 minute debacle from the time it took them to prep the cake. I expected the most creative, beautiful strawberry display on the time it took them to slice 6 strawberries in half. Also, when the girl first brought out my strawberry less cake, she asked if I was going to eat it same day and that she had instructions for me on how to serve it. Well, she neglected to follow up with the instructions. I guess hand, cake, face. THANKS. But I do have to say, the presentation of the cake is beautiful.... so I dont absolutely hate this place. AND damn I really wanted to hate the angel food cake, but it was delicious and my coworkers demolished it...

Ismail Cem Kuru

Get ready for the easiest and hardest decision in your wedding planning. Choosing Bittersweet is the easy decision. Nancy, who was our host, was great to work with. Our experience started with the tasting. We had the idea of the cake we wanted in our mind when we arrived. But as we waited the samples to arrive, we came across a little book of cakes in our table. The variety of the cakes that Bittersweet created is astonishing. As we browsed, we came across the city skyline band that we incorporated into our design. When we showed the design we wanted to Nancy, she did not hesitate to confirm that they could handle it. When Nancy came out with the samples, our hardest decision has begun. So many different flavors cooked with precision. The best part is, you keep the samples! Although we did not see the finished cake until the wedding day, the final result was one of the most beautiful part of our wedding. Bittersweet created our wedding cake as good as we hoped and everyone at our wedding enjoyed the flavors. We cant wait to go back next year to get the complementary 1 year anniversary cake.

Sarah Schwuchow

We had Bittersweet Pastry Shop create our wedding cake and grooms cake, which turned out AMAZING! Months before my wedding, I had been looking for a bakery all over the city without really being impressed. I probably tasted 6 or 7 cakes/frosting before I was recommended by a friend to Bittersweet. We scheduled a tasting, and got to try a variety of delicious cake flavors, frosting, moose, and fruit filling. The experience was fantastic. Nancy made it very easy by showing us the quality of their work in photos of cakes they had previously made. She explained how much cake we needed per guest, and even helped us figure out how to make a grooms cake work in our budget. We ended up with our main cake being a 4 tier round layered cake of white and chocolate cake with white and chocolate fudge frosting and a Lego grooms cake with banana cake and chocolate frosting. The flavor was spectacular. Its been months since our wedding and our guests still rave about the cake! I absolutely recommend this shop to anyone shopping for a wedding cake.

Ivonne

I really like this place, have been coming here For a while and Place my babys order for each birthday. The cake is delicious but the customer service has a lot to say about this place. Its not like the cake is cheap. Every time I come here the front staff is really good but when I want to do a creation and have to talk with the manager for creations is a freaking pain and my experience really becomes a nightmare. Wherever you do...dont deal with Zaida. She was really mean treating us like we didnt even know what we want it and was to a point rude. I took my friend for a first time so she didnt know how they do cakes and orders. We were disappointed it! This is the worst customer service I had in many years. Such of shame for such of nice place with great cakes!

Berryblusher berry

Listen. The cake is absolutely DELICIOUS so hopefully your experience will be like mine and the cake will be so good. On the flip side the customer service is not so good and the prices are a little steep. They wanted to charge me an arm and a leg for 12 cupcakes with a letter S on them and then an additional $1 per cupcake for labor of putting them in a box. What?? Do they charge ppl that come in for 1 cupcake an extra $1 to wrap it up in store. Naturally I cancelled the two dozen cupcakes that I would have happily added on to my order. Its batter. Their margin of profit is already up there paying over $50 for a dozen. Moral of the story. Steep but the cake is good. Id go elsewhere for anything else.

Samuel Tan

A really pretty pastry shop with really pretty pastries, chocolates and sweets. Everything here is really well made. The artistry, craft and attention to detail that goes into each pastry and dessert is clearly evident. In short, everything looks really really good. We had the almond biscotti and it was really tasty - good flavors made from a nicely balanced mix. Perfect for an afternoon snack. They have a small seating area, which is generally not too crowded, so you can be pretty sure to get a table. They also have free samples on occasion so depending on which day you stopped by (we popped in on a Sunday afternoon), you might be in for a treat :)

Grace Rebesco

Bittersweets flavor is beyond compare. Many of our guests told us it was the best wedding cake theyd ever had! Bittersweet made us an amazing 3-tiered wedding cake (with 3 different flavors!) and also worked with us for additional sweets, including custom-colored macarons made just for us (they were delicious!) I would have preferred slightly more consultation on design aesthetic - unfortunately some messaging got lost in the cracks during a personnel change - but the outcome, though not what Id originally envisioned, was still beautiful, and the taste was undeniably delicious!

Mary Smith

18 years ago, we skipped buying a giant wedding cake, and bought a dozen of their most chocolatey cake creartions. who needs pillars? dont worry, if you want the massive 10 foot high extravaganza, they can do it. BUT...it really is the tastiest cake in the city. Chocolate lovers will be in paradise. They also have a cafe, and theres usually something wonderful to taste. Im not a huge fan of the breads...but the cookies make up for it. If you want your office to LOVE you. If you want your in-laws to LOVE you. pick up something from the Bittersweet.