Chico’s Bakery

They have you pick out your pastries and put them directly on an uncleaned tray, then they bag it up for you. We picked out at least 6 different bakery items and each one was so stale.

Despite the awful reviews I read. I had to try it for myself. My in laws get their cakes here so I had to order mine here. I just want to say that my experience with them was amazing. The cake was awesome. Everyone loved it at my nephews birthday party. I am definitely coming back for my daughters birthday party for August! And I hope I receive the same treatment I did today. Thank you guys!

Updated Review, dated 5÷27÷2016:
I have further reduced my rating another star down to 1-​star.
I returned to Chico’s after a 3 month hiatus due to doctor’s orders to cut back on sugar… I could not believe the change in this former South Bay jewel. Another change of ownership? I mean signs have been changed. There are now some very nice tables and chairs in the front. But, on the downside, and most importantly is that the former staple of this bakery, their pan dulce, has gone South even further. I mean I purchased some conchas and some other pan… It was gross – no better than Vons or other American supermarkets. Worse of all, the conchas were dry! And, what used to cost me $ 5 and change, is now $ 6 and changeI To make matters even worst, the pan had a strange odor that was very noticeable on the drive home. I can seem to place the odor. Maybe baking powder or yeast? No more! I will not be back! Yes, the place looks better, but they forgot their roots…

Recommended here by a co worker. Gross!!! Had some pan dulce, dry. Tried a beef tamale, dry and salty.

They made our daughters 1^st birthday cake and it was exactly what we were expecting in both, appearance and flavor. We got the ‘tres leches ‘cake, which we highly recommend, it was delicious and most of the guests complemented us about it.
We also ordered some vanilla cupcakes, very tasty and good size, but the better part it was the decoration, they did such a good job with the monsters university theme.
Thank you chico’s bakery… We’ll be back;)

Bought an 8″ OVERPRICED cake, its was sub-​par. Tasteless cake, filling was alcohol flavored, frosting was faux buttercream. I think shortening.
Clerk did not mention they use liqueur in the cake unfortunately most of the slices were tossed in trash.
By default we also bought pan dulce which was fine, but IMO there is another bakery around the corner that makes stellar pan (they don’t make cakes).
5 pieces of pan dulce and an 8″ round cake came to $ 32 bucks, okay if the product would have stood up.
2 stars for the pan dulce.

I ordered a cake to be made last minute and Chico’s was the only kne to take the job on a short notice the cake came out nice and tasted even better I will be coming back again

Horrible experience! Drove all the way after communicating via email regarding a cake design. Gave me a quote– specially asked if it was everything on the photo and they agreed. Went there and they indicated that it was an extra charge for the figures which they never mentioned. Also they quoted me for the smallest cake– I usually buy cakes for my baby and they kept adding extra charges. Will go with another four star Unilocal review in downtown San Diego that said they would do the whole cake for way less — plus their dessert case with all their so called goodies they sell had flies in it maybe it was meant to not be!

I ordered a custom cake (fondant, with a male figure and a female figure on top) for my best friend’s wedding shower on Aug 22. The cake turned out okay in the end, but there were definite major snags during the process.
— I sent an email the day before the party, and I never received a reply, so I had unanswered questions and I had to be the one to call the bakery on ⁸⁄₂₂ (delivery day).
— I wanted a delivery time of 12:30 pm. The cake was not delivered until 1:20 pm or so. The one who delivered the cake (Oscar, I believe?) did have the printout of my email (where I never got a reply) which stated that I was giving a grace period until 1 pm, but the cake still arrived even later than that. Plus I had to be the one to make persistent, upset calls to the bakery. When I called at 12:45 pm, I was informed that the cake was still at the bakery, and the gal on the phone didn’t know when it would be delivered.
— When I pay $ 200 for a cake and delivery fee, I expect the cake to be finished, able to be displayed properly without breaking, and delivered on time. The male figure for the cake was not made properly because it was lopsided and too heavy, causing me to have to find toothpicks from our party for Oscar use to fix it.
— In the process, Oscar damaged the male figure’s hat and hand. I do appreciate that a new hat and new hand were made and that he returned with another lady to fix the cake. But the party was already going on at this point, so it was a distraction. Plus the hand was not put together exactly as in the design.
— I demanded a refund of the $ 35 delivery fee that I paid. Maria granted me a refund of an amount even a bit higher than that, so I do appreciate that.
I doubt that I will be ordering another custom cake from Chico’s, but they were eventually responsive to my concerns.

Last Wednesday, August 26^th, I called this shop to find out if they would be able to make me a simple, two tiered cake for Saturday, August 29^th. The lady on the other end of the line confidently stated yes. Soon after, I visited the shop, gave them pictures of what I wanted, finalized my order (one 10″ round with a 6″ round on top; white cake, strawberry filling and buttercream frosting), and paid for the cake in advance because I was going to have someone else pick it up for me. All went so well and I was ecstatic that I was able to order the cake on such short notice. I was getting married and the cake was to be used for a party following the reception.
Initially, the scheduled pick up time on the 29^th was at noon but I called the same day I placed the order to change this to 6pm. The day of, my husband wasn’t able to get to the shop until 7pm… When he arrived, he was told a cake or a cake order in my name was not found. Trying to make a long story short, it turned out that they found the cake but it was made as a single layer. I paid $ 175 so this news was very frustrating. My husband was told that they could complete the cake and because of the inconvenience, they would also deliver the cake, all within half an hour.
While the bakery came through with the delivery, the cake did not look as nice as I was expecting… It looked like it was put together in a rush. Again, frustrating considering how much this cake cost me.
Other than for my order not being right and how the cake looked, on the positive side, it did taste okay.
I was excited to try this bakery because of all of the great reviews and pictures, but unfortunately this experience spoiled that for me. Good thing the cake was only to be used for a small party and not for my wedding reception!

Chico’s Bakery did an outstanding job on my son’s custom TMNT BDay cake. It was the best cake we have ever gotten and more importantly my kids love it! Both in looks and taste! The cake was ready and perfect when we picked it up. They brought it out and boxed it very quickly and made sure it wouldn’t get damaged on the drive home. The staff was very nice and service was great. I picked up a bunch of pastries while I was there too! There were so many to choose from, We ended up cutting them up into small pieces so everyone could try them. Definitely the Best Pan Dulce I have had in San Diego! We live in North County and came all the way down just for Chico’s.

I have been order cakes before and this is the second time they do this horrible… cake and the lady has such an attitude, since the owner pass away everything change even the quality …

Issac and I were walking around downtown Chula Vista when we happened across Chico’s Bakery. Since Laurie’s in town, I wanted to treat her with some Mexican sweet bread (pan dulce) and picked up a couple of desserts.
Pan Dulce. The pan dulce here tastes like the one that Issac brings from North Gate. It’s a little more expensive, but I enjoyed it. This bread goes great with a cup of tea.
Empanada Manzana. I liked the apple filling in this empanada a lot! It was much better than the mini apple pie from 85 Degrees and is what is expected when your think you’re getting apple filling.
Round Raspberry Coconut Cake. Cam and Laurie liked this one the best. I didn’t have any since I’m not a fan of coconut, but I would definitely pick one up again for Cam.
The layout of this store is just like 85 Degrees. Take a tray and tongs and select your own bread from the boxes. The cashier will bag them up for you. These breads are definitely cheaper than 85 Degrees with a Hispanic twist to their recipes.

This review a year ago would have been a 5-​star rating. It seems that since the original owner died and the kids took over, the quality for their pan dulce has gone down. Maybe not gone down but they sell it way past it’s prime. If the product does not sell out quickly they just leave it until it’s gone. If you’re the sucker that comes in on day 3, 4 or 5 like me, then you will get day old product at fresh prices. On top of this, they raised the prices too. And some of it had a weird perfumey taste to it. Bleh.
The pan dulce selection was a lot smaller or, maybe, that’s what was left over from their initial batch they baked. They took out all the Mexican candy as well.
For pan dulce this bakery is just a shell of it’s old self. Needless to say, I will be searching for another bakery. Goodbye Chico’s, it was good for so long. :(

I HIGHLY recommend this bakery, it’s my favorite when it comes to ordering cakes for special occasions for my loved ones.
They have made me beautiful cakes.
I am forever a customer!

Im only giving this place 1 star for the lack of customer service! Went there to buy my son a birthday cake, everything looked good. So time comes to cut the cake one of our guests takes a bite into there slice of cake a out comes and pink nail from one of the baker. We go back there to show them what we found and the lady just laughs? Really whats so funny? One of the kids could have chocked on that finger nail! We asked that the owner please call us til this day they have never call or even tried to make this experience better by discounting the cake? This happened on march 8 2015 never ever will i give this place business again! 140.00 for a cake id expect better cauality and service!

I was very hesitant getting my cake made here after reading some of the reviews especially because the custom cake I wanted is a little difficult. But I’m extremely happy I came here. Not only was my cake beautiful and exactly what I wanted, but it was delicious as well. Their red velvet is to die for. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone who needs a cake!

Great job! I got a red velvet with cream
cheese icing on the inside and it was INCREDIBLE! The outside was buttercream with the most amazing decorations. Very affordable and great service! Thank you :)

at first i was hesitant to have my cake done at this place becoz their bakery looked old from the outside and it was very hot in the inside. Nevertheless, I was really glad I did!
I walked in, asked them if they could make the cake EXACTLY like the pic that i found online (w/​a few color modification) and told me yes, they can with confidence. In my mind i was like, «really? coz even babycakes told me a bunch of excuses like they can only make something „similar“ and quoted me a very expensive price for that.» I must admit i kinda underestimated them.
As meticulous as i am, I also asked them if there’s any way i can taste their cake before i place an order just to make sure that i’m not only paying for how it looks like but the quality of the cake itself. So they made me choose 3 kinds cake and 3 different fillings of my choice based on what they have on their list. If you order from them, the cake tasting is gonna be free of charge and $ 10 if u decide to decline.
They made me a very beautiful baby shower cake. Not only that, they also made coordinating cupcakes with sparkles on it! It was sooo gorgeous both the cake & cupcakes. On top of that, it was sooo good!!! all my guests love the the cupcakes and the cake that almost nothing was left for me lol.
I was a first time buyer and not familiar of their location. I found this bakery here at Unilocal.I definitely recommend this to everyone who are looking for a cake of good quality and beautiful design on a reasonable price.

I feel bad bc I normally don’t give bad reviews based on service alone but this is a hassle.
I purchased some customer cupcakes on a Thursday for pick up Saturday. I paid ahead of time for the cupcakes. I came in Saturday to pick up the cupcakes but they couldn’t find my receipt showing I paid for the cupcakes. I waited as long as I could but needed to go so I asked if I could just pay for it again and get refunded when I bring back my copy of the receipt on Monday. I was told sure, just come back «ANYTIME» on Monday with the original and we’ll refund you.
I come back Monday only to be told that there is a specific person that is able to do refunds and that they left. I explain that I was told to come by anytime. The lady tells me that THEY will call me later when the «person» comes back and we can just do it over the phone. I double check before leaving that we can do it over the phone, the lady says yes, we’ll just need your credit card info.
6 hours goes by and no call, so I CALL THEM, I am places on hold and then the lady says I need to come in with the receipt and that they CAN NOT do the refund over the phone.
I tell her I don’t live in the area and I was told I could do it over the phone and that this is a hassle. She says sorry, were open till 8.
I would not be writing a bad review but I DOUBLE checked before leaving the first time that we could do it over the phone.
Please train your employees correctly. I will go out of my way again tomorrow to get refunded.
Otherwise the cupcakes came out fine. Wish they would pay for my gas.
Update: so I called today to make sure the person was in so I can get my refund. The lady on the phone apologized about the mix up and said they can refund it over the phone, they just need my cc info… okay…sure. What changed? I have no idea.
Anywho, the product itself is good, solid 4 stars. I’m willing to let this one go and upgrade to 3 stars. I’ll give them another chance to see if the service/​communication improves.