Nice One Bakery

I remember coming here as a child and loving their gai mei bao (cocktail buns). At the time, they were the only bakery at the time that didn’t add coconut! But now, the bread-​to-​filling ratio is almost non-​existent, which is so disappointing. If anything, I’d come back for their hot dog buns but I’d rather go elsewhere for my gai mei bao :(

I was first introduced to this place by my father as a kid. My initial thoughts were «wow this place is ghetto». Tons of old locals come here and just chill and eat from the bakery, sitting on those chairs that reminds me of elementary school seats.
I personally am a fan, partly because it is reminiscent of when I came here as a child and partly because it is a good, cheap bakery. I have always been a fan of their pork buns, sponge cakes, da baos (big buns that a whole bunch of random meats in a bun including chicken, sausage, egg, pork, etc) and their mantos (a white colored soft bread). I always find the texture of the buns to be soft with a good slight chew to them. Their buns range from less than a dollar to perhaps $ 2. They also provide a number of dimsum items you can order.
I would say the downfall perhaps is just lack of English everywhere. I always have to point and guess what I am getting when I order from the trays behind them. Service is also meh (per the usual Chinatown places).
Regardless, for what you are paying and quality of products, this is still one of my more preferable bakeries. And with so many locals always here, one can’t question the authenticity of this place!

Traditional Hong Kong style bakery with sufficient seating that carries the staples of Cantonese baked goodies. Usual suspects are of the elderly passing time sipping coffee with a copy of Sing Tao Daily newspaper and reminiscing the earlier days of time. With a family member following a doctor appointment we needed to rehydrate and attain stillness. Crowded and boisterously loud noise volume from the constant chatter. Buns and Chinese baked goodies are soft breads which is okay for a quick afternoon fix or on-​the-​go breakfast.
One egg custard tart 蛋 撻 daan6 taat3*1
One pineapple bun 菠 蘿 包 bo1 lo4 baau1
One hot tea
No WiFi. Service is mediocre, not «nice» as the business name.

I pretty much ONLY come here for the steamed pork buns. They have a higher bun to meat ratio, which is exactly how I love it. Heaven.

This review is a comparison between «The Big Bun» from Nice One Bakery and Sun Sai Gai.
In the photos that I’ve taken, the one on the left is from Sun Sai Gai and the one on the right is from Nice One Bakery (has the blue dot).
Bread: from the photos, you can see that the Sun Sai Gai has a thicker bun/​bread. Nice One Bakery has a thinner one. I prefer the thinner one. Bread is just filler.
Ingredients: main difference is that Nice One Bakery includes a piece of mushroom inside. The piece of pork is thicker from Sun Sai Gai and probably juicer. The pork from Nice One Bakery is also good, but I felt a little drier. Both buns had egg and a chinese sausage. In both buns, there weren’t any other vegetables (ie napa). I was quite disappointed. In terms of overall flavor profile, I still prefer Nice One Bakery.
Cost: Sun Sai Gai costs $ 1.80. Nice One Bakery $ 1.75. I prefer Nice One Bakery.
Service: in both places, the staff were friendly and nice.
Overall: I highly recommend Nice One Bakery over Sun Sai Gai. Nice One Bakery is cheaper, tastier, less filling (less bread).
As of now, this is my go to place for «The Big Bun». I will now have to compare other stores.

What is there good to say about this bakery? Not much. As others mentioned, it may be called «Nice One» bakery but don’t expect any type of «nice» service from here.
I live and work in Chinatown, so I’ve been here countless times. Every single time, the service is about the same. You know when you’re a foreigner that goes inside a Chinese bakery, you feel like an outsider? Well apparently there’s different levels. If you don’t speak chinese or look like you don’t, you’ll definitely be ignored because none of these ladies want to even try and struggle communicating with you. Ive seen this first hand when was next to a (I’m assuming a hippie Caucasian) guy and he was literally treated like he was invisible. I came in after him, I don’t know how long he’s been there but I see him trying to order, but the ladies would just take other people’s orders. They even took mine before his, in the end I asked him if he needed help to order and I just ordered for him. Then there’s the «me» type. I understand, read and speak fluent chinese, both Cantonese and mandarin, but I look like a typical what they call ABC who doesn’t know any chinese. Mind you there are no lines here, how this works is you walk in, make eye contact with someone behind the counter and just order. The ladies have their preferences, and apparently if you’re not one of the older men who frequent the bakeries and sit there for hours, you will also get neglected. I came in and made eye contact with this lady, I’m 100% sure she saw me too, but she went on to pass me and ask the older man behind me what he wants. There may not be a line but I’m pretty sure first come first serve is a basic respect. And it’s not that I don’t have respect for elders, but the way she was talking to him I’m sure he was a regular or something. Business is business. If that’s how they serve customers, only the ones they like or the people they like first, then what is the point of everyone else who wants to order? What if another man comes in and you know him too? Do I need to wait in line until you finish all your regulars?
And then back to the food, just mediocre. I don’t think I’ve tried anything here that makes me have a craving to want to come back for. Their dim sum is inside the steamer for hours until someone orders, so almost everything is soggy. But it’s not an actually dim sum joint so I don’t expect much anyway. Milk teas are usually watery and lemon honey are overly sweet. It also depends on who makes it for you. No consistency, no service.

Had one of the best pineapple buns with custard: warm, soft, generous amount of filling and right amount of sweetness. Char siu bun is above average. The store has an old school feel to it and usually in the morning you can see the elderly gather in front of the tv and chat. The service is fast, like other chinese businesses.

What is there NOT to love?! My husband and I were vacationing and stopped here for some goodies to go before heading back to our hotel. I’m a sucker for baked goods (Chinese style) and this place does not disappoint. There are sooo many choices and it was hard for me to pick just one thing. There were a few customers in front of us being helped but service was fairly quick. Each item in the case has a sign with Chinese characters (I’m assuming it’s either the name or the price) and then price per item in U.S. dollars. I would just recommend having your order ready when it’s your turn so you are not holding up the line.
We decided on a couple of the egg tartlets (don’t know the proper name), prewrapped sliced cake with coffee flavored icing filling and adorable little coconut pies that tasted like Almond Joy bars! The prices are so low you could easily go crazy here. But pace yourself.
I recommend this place if you’re in the area and have a craving for some sweets. I guarantee you will not be disappointed!

Well the two ladies who helped me with my order were friendly and patient with me speaking broken Mandarin. But I was disappointed with my order– all of it– lo mai gai, char siu bao (steamed), and bean paste pastry. The char siu bao lacked flavor and pork. The lo mai gai was too gooey and after much digging, all I found was a chunk of chicken and some chopped mushroom. The pastry was kind of stale and just didn’t taste good. I didn’t finish the latter two, and that’s saying something, considering I’m not a picky eater or like to waste food.

Happaned in here once a few years ago. now I go there every time I’m in NYC. It’s a great bakery. Great prices and so good. If you like Chinese baked (and particularly) steamed foodstuffs, you’ll love this place.

by far, one of my most favorite bakeries in Chinatown. They do it all old school style.
Bakery buns and goods? Check
Steamed buns? check
Dim sum? Check
Coffee/​Tea? Check, but unsure on the boba
Seating thats not really clean but at least its there? Check
Brusque slightly mean Chinese waitstaff? Check
and most of all…
low prices? Check, check and double check.

Came here for a box of baked goods. Second note is that they sell bags of prawn chips. Third note is they sell cakes; some of their cakes are singles and come in cute little design. This place is average, your typical Chinese bakery that serves Dan Tat (Egg Custard), round/​flat Chinese version of mochi deserts and your other Chinese baked goods. Their beef noodle rolls, I don’t care too much for. The beef noodle rolls are dense and I can’t taste or feel the texture of the beef filling, whack yo. Decent coffee is served.
The young ladies that serve the food are cool and nice though. With their crappy seating and tables. Average.

they have quick dim sum here. Another breakfast spot for me. I like their sticky leaf rice. it has Chinese sausages inside! not just one but TWO! some places doesn’t have it. So its like finding gold for me. ;) the milk tea is good too. they use «tetley» tea bags. I don’t like the Lipton ones. They have a good amount of seats for people to eat and read their Chinese news paper and kill time. They also don’t have a time limit to stay in there which is a plus. Don’t feel rushed at all.
Workers on the other hand, they are slackers! so many of them but they seem to be so-​so… but it’s Chinatown. can’t expect over the top workers. Either way, I like this place and I would recommend them. The food is decent. Never had a problem

This is a small neighbor bakery that we go to for soft sweet breads maybe twice a week. Place is old and nil of décor. They have some dim sum, cakes, freshly baked variety of buns (sweet or savory types) and strong coffee. For $ 2, you get a bread & coffee :) I love the scallion bun, my husband likes the ham & egg bun while my mother in law always get the coconut bun. Most tables are occupied by older folks eating dim sum, coffee & pastries. Prices and sizes are decent. The downside is that the girls working the counter speaks mostly Chinese and I don’t …but they try to help as much.

Nice bakery. Traditional Hong Kong style bread and cakes. The roast pork buns are pretty good. They also carry some basic dim sum. Prices are reasonable and I think after 7 pm, the food is ½ off. I love a bargain!

Don’t come here thinking the service is going to be nice just because the joint is called Nice One Bakery.
Come here to get your stuff quick. thats it!
Its always crowded with the older folks having coffee and pastries here. I never sat in the bakery before. Don’t expect wifi either.
There is really soft breads. Some cakes and pastries and some dim sum and even baked rice dishes that are cheap. I have tried a few dim sum items and I didn’t like it. But to each his own. They have baked & steamed buns too. They are only ok.

I really hate how a lot of people are comparing this to Bouchon or some upscale Americanized bakery. Aye yah! This panaderia is located in Chinatown, and one of the more hardcore Chinatown bakeries. If you can’t handle the fact that this place has most of the menu written in Cantonese (or maybe Mandarin), speaks broken English (Pointing is encouraged), or they don’t reach your sanitation standards, Go to McDonald’s on Canal and get an apple turnover with a diet Coke and don’t EVER consider leaving the country.
At my go-​to bakery when in Chinatown, I would suggest bringing small bills and loading up on the Pork Buns.

This is one of the only two Chinatown bakeries I go to (moreso because it’s run by Cantonese/​Hong Kong people) and that means a lot — given the fact that you can definitely find one on every street.
I wouldn’t say it’s the best bakery in the city, but I personally like it. You know a bakery is good when you see the place crowded with old Chinese people drinking hot milk tea and mingling.
I typically get the egg tarts (delicious), pork floss bun (ahhh), and milk tea (hot or cold) here. Nice One also offers what every other bakery offers — which are fresh fruit cakes, other pastries, breads, etc.
As for customer service, I suggest you not be too, too alarmed if the ladies are mean or don’t seem to care because, quite frankly, it is like that almost ANYWHERE in Chinatown. I mean, yeah, it might seem rude, but that’s just how it is and I’ve learned not take it to heart. I mean, if you REALLY want to know what rude is, my advice is to go to the infamous QQ Bakery (sarcasm, of course).

Half the time they don’t even have my black sesame rolls in stock, so I was imagining it to be super duper tasty and all… but unfortunately, it’s not. I walked into this super old Asian-​filled bakery on Bayard St, excited to finally be able to buy these rolls (I can’t find them anywhere else but dim sum places). $ 1.50 for 3 — very affordable.
I took them home and… alas, they sucked. The noodle (or whatever it is) they use is much thicker than the ones they use at dimsum. It’s not sweet enough (probs for the older generation) and it doesn’t really taste like anything but… semi-​sweet kind of black sesame-​y noodle.
Was totally expecting more.

This used to be my favorite bakery. I used to buy Siopao here by the dozens. Ever since they went fancy, wrapping siopao in fancy bags, the quality has gone down, down, down.
I am still looking for that old school sweet pork bun!