Reyna’s Mexican Bakery

As soon as you walk up to the building the amazing smell of fresh baked bread is intoxicating! The bread was so good, conchas, tornillos, empanadas, you name it AND you can’t beat their prices we purchased 10 pieces of bread for less than $ 7.00. We didn’t try the tamales but will have to next time. This is definitely our new bakery, we live in West Shawnee but the drive is worth it.

We just went there for the tamales, but they were super friendly & gave us the last dozen they had. We got six pork & six cheese & jalapeño. The pork was very good, but the cheese was just fair. I wouldn’t get them again. The bakery did look good, but not what I was wanting at the time.

Well, I would have given this place a try, but they refuse to speak English when the first word you say is «hello» on the phone after they answer. They hung up twice when I first called. Since my mother is from Mexico I thought I’d at least try to find out more about this place. When she lived here she always warned me about inauthentic Mexican food in the states, and she would avoid places in the Argentine area mainly because she would say «the uneducated Mexicans lived there, and often it would be their descendants who’d run the place and wouldn’t know a thing about Mexico to begin with.» I decided to go against her opinion and still give this place a try. After they hung up twice, I called a third time and spoke in Spanish because I know the language, although I figured if they run a business here they ought to speak some English. I asked the lady who answered why they hung up and how is this a professional way to run a business? I then asked if they have a website, and she said «un momento,» so she put me on hold to find out the answer I suppose. I listened to the background and the business bustle, which was really interesting. A sociological perspective that made me wish I could be a fly on the wall to watch. I heard some people of color speaking in English or Ebonics and they were complaining about the wrong order they had received. Hmm… I thought, its like the tower of babel. I digress, I decided to hang up. I figure if I want authentic Mexican conchas, bolellos, or orejas I best save my money and go to a panaderia down there. While I’m there I’ll go to a tortillera and get a few fresh hand made tortillas.

It doesn’t get any more delicious or authentic. My co-​workers and I go here at least twice a week. You can beat the tacos for the price. 5 – 6 meat options to choose from everyday. And the bakery? a sweet lover’s dream. Tons of choices– all delicious. All very cheap. Under a dollar an item.
There’s no menu but you can choose from the staples– hard or soft taco, burrito, gordita, torta.
If you want rice, beans, cheese, or lettuce on your taco, please ask because the traditional fare is just meat on a taco.
You can add cilantro, lemon, onion and 4 different salsas on your own from the salsa bar.

The name of the place is actually Reyna’s Panaderia which means Reyna’s Bakery. The bakery goods and the food are authentic. The employees are helpful and are bilingual. I ate lunch (6 crunchy tacos) there today for $ 2.98 plus tax and bought a dozen large (about the size of a bear claw) mixed sweet breads (pan dulce) for under $ 7.
The food is really good and you get the opportunity to dress it up the way you like with a small bar of add-on’s and sauces. the place isn’t fancy but I can’t think of another place where you can get authentic Mexican food that cheap. I was raised on authentic Mexican food so I know the real thing when I see it. I work on the Plaza and it’s a short drive to get there and back during my lunch hour.

The smells when you walk through Reyna’s front door can do more for you than any therapy session.
This place is a mainstay for me. I am here at least every other week. Good authentic home cooked Mexican food for less than $ 5 is hard to come by in this city, and as a student I most definitely appreciate Reyna’s! $ 1 tacos or tamales, $ 0.62 for a bread (tax included!) and it is DELICIOUS! The options at the lunch counter change a little daily, but I always get tacos, and I can recommend the chorizo with potato and the pork tacos. The setup is fast food/​casual with a walk up lunch counter where you order and they put it in your hands, and there are a few tables and a soda fountain machine. Come to think of it, I don’t think there’s a menu posted anywhere, just walk up to the counter and pick a tortilla and your fillings! I can never leave without picking up a 6 pack of fresh hot tamales for study nights. They make pork tamales daily and they’re there until they’re sold out, but once in awhile they also make cheese and jalapeño tamales! I would only consider taking this down to 4 stars when KC can offer me a better lunch for less than $ 5! The tamales and Mexican sweet bread are the best I’ve found in the city.
Since there are no hours posted anywhere and I don’t know what their hours are exactly, I though I should mention that the food is only open for lunch (no dinner here), it’s pretty much shut down around one. If you’re going for bread, the bakery is open later (late afternoon?) I have also catered from here a couple times, mostly ordering large numbers of tamales for student organization meetings. Everybody raved about how delicious they are and if you want to do that, you should talk to Jessie who is only there in the mornings. I have successfully ordered last minute the night before, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have some Spanish skills and reconfirm the next morning. This place is as authentic as they come, I would also suggest an extra half hour cushion pick up time :)

A classmate suggested Reyna’s when I wanted to order a Rosca de Reyes for a class presentation. They don’t have a website or any information listed online, so I called to see what time they were closing on Friday. The woman who answered kept answering, «6, 6 in the morning.» I decided to take a chance and just head down to the bakery.
When I arrived at the bakery, there was an inconvenient language barrier that made it very difficult to order the Rosca. I eventually placed an order for the following Tuesday and prepaid so I could just swing by and pick up the cake before class.
Tuesday came and I was very excited to pick up the cake. However, when I got to the store, the man at the counter went to get the owner to come talk to me because of the communication barrier. Apparently their oven had broken on Monday and they had to shut the entire store down. When I asked if my cake was ready, the owner said that the baker didn’t have a chance to bake it. This confused me at first because I could see the people in the back working with trays and trays and trays of freshly baked pastries and their were pastries in their front display cases. The owner said she didn’t know about any Rosca order. I had my receipt from both the actual order and when they ran my credit card. She repeated that she didn’t know about any special orders. I showed her my copy of the order and pointed out that they had my name and phone number and should have called me if they weren’t able to make my order. She and a couple workers began talking to each other, I interrupted because I had to leave for class. The owner asked if I could pick the cake up tomorrow. I reiterated that I needed it for a class presentation that day. The owner and the workers began to talk again, I interrupted them again and asked to be refunded. They did not know how to refund my credit card, so they just gave me cash.
As I was leaving, the owner said to place orders directly with her in the future. As if I’d ever order from Reyna’s again? Psh. No.