King’s Bakery

The pastries there are wonderful, they really are but if you are non Asian expect to get terrible service. I was just there for my second (and last time) and the service was just as atrocious as it was the first time. Keep in mind I’m one of the most polite customers you’ll find but at King’s Bakery I received a «hello» but rushed snappy answer in a loud almost yelling voice when I asked a question, and when I paid for my purchase, instead of returning my change to my hand it was slammed down on the counter and my purchase was just pushed across the counter at me with not a «thank you» to be heard. I’m not going there again and I would warn those in the community who are not of Asian descent to expect rude and very unprofessional service.

King’s Bakery certainly has many authentic Chinese bakery items.. .sticky buns, curry meat pies, egg tarts, etc. They also have an impressive array of dessert sweets, cakes and other goodies. OK, that’s all good, but the ONE item I can get here that is the hardest to find anywhere else in town is the Chinese «joong chay». It is a large dumpling consisting of sticky rice with duck egg, mung beans, pork, and Chinese sausage wrapped in banana leaves and steamed.. .sort of like a tamale. My grandmother and my mother-​in-​law used to make them, but since they’re both gone now, I had been left with the daunting task of trying to find joong chays at a store. Previously, I’ve found «sweet» versions at another store, but I had been searching for the «savory» type with pork and sausage. Today was my first visit to King’s Bakery in hopes that they would have them, and I was totally pumped when I spotted them on the top of their front counter. They’re immediately recognizable since nothing else looks like them.. .big leafy green things wrapped with white string. Came home and opened one up. Yep, it’s the real deal.. .my quest is over. The good thing is that King’s Bakery is only about a mile from my house, and all this time, I never knew.

This bakery is the best & their pastries are delectable! I’ve gone here multiple times with my grandparents, and we’ve never had any problems. I would definitely recommend trying this bakery out.

Love, love their cakes with fruits. We have big family, everyone loves it. Kids, teens, adults. Very light, not too sweet. Plus great prices. We are not people who has big appetite, lol

When stopping by and parking in the back lot, you walk through a door where there is a group of old Chinese men playing some type of board game. They ignore you, and you walk through another door in order to actually step foot in the bakery. The layout is kind of weird but I have been here MANY times and have always encountered the same scenario. The lady behind the counter never looks happy. They make you feel like you are making them do chores. The food is okay (but there are better Chinese bakeries in the area). Parking lot is small and hard to get into. They located next to an adult store which makes me feel like I am in a sketchy part of town. There are a lot of pot holes in the parking lot, so make sure you drive carefully. We have been buying birthday cakes from them for years, but have recently switched over to a different Chinese bakery.

They make fresh pastries every day and sell it at a fair price. Onion bacon bun is my favorite. My husband like the meat flakes mayo bun. Yumm!

I bookmarked King’s quite a while back because of some of my fellow Unilocalers who frequent the place. I searched my bookmarks from where I was and I was barely a mile from the location.
I’ve mentioned before that I enjoy food from other cultures and I’ll admit, I’d never really had bakery items from a Chinese bakery. I grew up with Italian bakeries and all those rich desserts and cookies. With the exception of East coast Chinese food, I didn’t have much exposure to all the other good stuff. No hot pots, no dim sum either. I still need to experience those.
As for the bakery goods? Cream bun, bbq pork pie, custard bun, egg custard tart and dry pork bun were the items that were looking good to me. Pretty much everything was around $ 1.00 and not much more. Those five items cost me all of $ 5.40. The cream bum was sweet and the cream was light. The dry pork bun was different, in a good way. Pork on top of the bun and the sweet bun was actually filled with butter. Really cool. The custard bun and egg tart were great examples of desserts. The only one I was a little underwhelmed by was the bbq pork pie. Philo dough with very little minced bbq pork. Nothing special. But you can’t win ‘em all. But there were many other items I want to go back and try including their steamed buns.
I am so glad I got to try this place out and it was because of the people I see here and I’m friends with on this app. Kudos to my fellow Unilocalers.
Go experience new foods. Enjoy.

Everything about King’s Bakery sort of has a «split personality. «First and foremost, I’m referring to the baked goods they sell. In their display cases are things which are meant to function as sandwiches/​snacks and then there are things which could be nothing other than bona fide desserts. A lot of people mix it up a little bit — some of this and some of that. Cutting to the chase, toss out the glycemic index in making these selections. The buns stuffed with meat and cheese tend to be vapid and those things that look like desserts, frosting and all, is the way to go.
The people who work there are mostly friendly. There is one lady who is a tad more serious and one who comes off as more mellow. As I was eating, I evaluated my selections and, with the mellower one, decided that one ought to go for the «crescendo effect,» eating their favorite selection last. That makes sense. In this case, it would be those small round cakes with white frosting and with pineapple featured in their circular tops.
I was glad that the ladies didn’t differentiate between their clientele of compatriots and those who are novices to the Chinese bakery experience. However, this one dude, presumably in management or ownership, was getting a little miffed at my photo taking, particularly as I went toward a seating area in the back which didn’t look any different to me except that it was maybe a good place for a pow-​wow or a Toastmaster’s meeting. So I backed off and told him, «Yelp! Internet. Free advertising.»
The building is funky, the sidewalk outside is dilapidated, you can eat there (in this main room of a color which defies description) or take out, there is some parking, the clientele is varied, and, for being across SE 82^nd from the PCC Southeast Center, the place seems to be fairly devoid of students. Perhaps they’ve stopped by for a novelty visit or two and prefer to eat from their own student commons.
At any rate, King’s Bakery is not off the charts but one could also easily return and pick out some things they like after having had experimented during their first test drive.

From the outside it looks a little shady, but the inside is quaint and roomy!
They have an amazing variety. Everything is fresh and looks freakishly amazing.

Rivals Gary’s Bakery on taste, but price points are a bit lower. They offer a number of scrumptious items not found elsewhere, e.g., yummy chicken pocket pies for $ 1.50. Parking can be tricky; service is stoic to lukewarm.

Normally I love Asian style cakes but not this one. I was super excited to try it and was so let down. The cake was just a mess and didn’t taste good at all. The service was good though so I feel bad giving 2 stars.

I wish I could give a 3.5 star rating, but I guess I’ll be nice and round up. I’ve never been a fan of birthday cake. Actually, I hate birthday cake. Especially «American» birthday cake, like as in from Baskin Robins, or you know your local Freddies. The frosting is too sweet, the cake is dry and overall I hate it.
HOWEVER, a birthday cake from King’s Bakery, I WILL LITERALLY EAT THE ENTIRE, AND I MEAN ENTIRE CAKE, by myself. The cake is moist and sweet, and the frosting is my favorite part of all. It’s the perfect amount of sweetness. It’s almost like a whipped cream, but sweeter and just denser, so it could be pulled off as frosting. I love the durian and panda cake.
And the best part is, you don’t always have to place an order, they have extra cakes laying around if you get there early enough and you can have what you need written on it and get going.
However, the rest of the pastries are not as well made as the cakes. I find some of the cakes they have in the display to be a bit dry, the buns and what nots are okay, but not amazing. I’ve ordered from the case a couple of times and I’ve never enjoyed it at all.
Some people complain about the service, but I’ve never really had a bad time here. I mean, it’s not the best in the world, nor is it the worst. I just come for my birthday cakes and I leave. No more to it.

Oh yum. Delicious cream buns, all sorts of wonderful pastries, and so cheap. We get our hair done each month at Heidi’s around the corner. Then we go and eat at Ha VL. Then we get dessert at King’s. Who wouldn’t love hair day? Totally love this place.

I like this bakery the BBQ pork bun are delicious! I love the garlic bun too, it goes very well with soup or just as a dinner roll that compliments any dish. But my only complaint is the cleanliness, the bathroom is disgusting with urine all over the floor and toilet seat, the lady with the short hair is extremely rude and stuck up. Me and my boyfriend came in there to get some stuff for the road back to Washington. Instead of handing the card to his hand she slams it down on the counter. Not being dramatic but she just slammed his card down with such an attitude. Like I said I like the goods but I’m sure there are better bakeries in and around Oregon. Even here in Washington. So being friendly and CLEAN will take you so much further in your business then being a bitch. If I was fluent in my Chinese I would have told her off. But overall, we both won’t be coming back to that bakery.

Upside: the Asian cakes are delicious. My family has been buying our birthday cakes here for as long as I can remember. I’m a huge fan of their durian cake! Downside: the service is not great. I do not look forward to walking in, waiting for assistance, and getting unfriendly service. With that said, I rate this bakery three stars. The parking lot is quite small and the area is a little sketchy. You park and walk in through the back (where you will occasionally see elderly Asian men playing mahjong or whatever they are playing) through the first room to the main area. From there you will see a huge selection of delicious looking deserts behind the counter. I have yet to try a bakery that specializes in Asian cakes that taste as good as King’s Bakery, so for now… they have my service.

This place offers a good variety of Chinese pastries at a low price ($. 75-​$ 1.50).The moon cakes ranges from $ 4-​$ 5. The downside with this place is that some of the items here are not always fresh. Even the days old pastries are not bad, especially how cheap they are. Regardless, you can definitely get full without breaking the bank.
Just a heads up, you’ll have to buy $ 10 worth of goods to use your debit card.

I came here years ago to check out this bakery when I was just moving here and I wanted to see what portland had to offer me. At the time, this was one of the few and most known Chinese bakeries. To this day, sadly, it remains as such.
Chinese pastries and baked goods were one of the strongest and most joyful memories of my youth — particularly the Dan tat — the warm, freshly baked egg tart whose crust crumbled uncontrollably under my touch while the silky sweet custard hugged my tongue.
I was excited to try the «best» Chinese bakery here, but the Dan tat were cold and old. Greasy and the custard hard. The pineapple cakes were bland, the almond cookies crumbly, over-​colored and tasteless. I didn’t return for years. Chinese bakeries in Portland were dead to me.
In NYC’s Chinatown, or other cities with larger Chinatowns, I’d relive a warm, delicious Dan tat, but alas, here, I just lived a life of abstinence! Recently, however, I had some Asian friends who convinced me to give King’s a try again saying my Hong Kong mother had spoiled my palette and King’s was the best Chinese bakery here. I just had to relax my standards!
So I went in recently with my mom and a white guy on a day my mom was trying to relive Hong Kong and we ordered some pastries. I don’t speak Chinese but I sensed some hostility and curtness in the replies from the person behind the counter.
As we left, I said to my mother that he seemed rude. She said that he had been surprised that she spoke Chinese since she walked in with 2 white people — me (half Asian) and the white person and he had been very dismissive of her.
Generally, the baked goods were old and poor as before, and even though I couldn’t speak the language, I could pick up the attitude the person behind the counter had to my mom — well, shit. Your day old tarts ain’t all that.
So once again, Chinese desserts are dead to me in Portland. Too bad. Guess I have to wait until I’m in NYC or someone opens someplace better.
Note: the soft flour cake (sachima/​) is pretty good but he obviously contracts it out to someone else as it is in a different wrapper).

I think there are a few chinese bakeries just in a 10 block radius from Division and 82^nd Ave. Although none of them are 5-​stars in my opinion, I think this one is pretty solid. I think their egg tarts are perhaps their best item: fresh, warm, a little sweet and slightly creamy, and only $ 0.80.
Of course they have the baked & steamed bao (contrary to Don I actually thought the baked one was decent, especially since the meat was lean and not 50% chunks of fat), and a huge assortment of chinese buns (ham & egg, coconut crust, cream filled, shredded pork, hot dog, bacon/​onion, etc) all for a buck or less
They make full-​size custom cakes/​pastries, but I’ve only had their $ 1.00 mini-​desserts (they aren’t the ultra-​high end desserts you’ll find at Pix or Jacivas, but for only a buck they’re a good deal. When I was there a Chinese father brought in his 2 kids and I overheard him asking his 6 year old what he wanted for his birthday cake, so I know this place is legit with real asians :-)
They’ve also got bubble tea for only $ 3! I haven’t tried it yet, and all signs indicate I won’t be super impressed, but again it’s $ 0.50−1.50 cheaper than most other bubble tea shops around like the one at Fubonn or Sozo.
Finally around the time of the Moon Festival they have one of the best selections of Moon Cakes I’ve seen in town!
Overall this place is cheap and decent quality. As Kevin noted, old chinese men are frequently found in the back playing their cutthroat games of Majong. Unfortunately I can’t speak Chinese so I’m not sure if there’s more at stake than just pride, but I didn’t want to stay to find out!

I adore King’s Bakery…
I love the $ 1 section!!!
Check out my photos! :)
NOTE: You need to buy up to $ 10 to able to pay with the Credit Card!

King Bakery isn’t as bad as some folks may make it out to be. In the past this place was always very on and off with its baked goods, but as of late this place has shown a real consistency in producing quality treats.
While I am not a huge fan of their cakes, I have known people personally who rave about them. The cakes are very Asian of course, with plenty of emphasis on fruit, cream, and size which results in a light, fluffy, taste that isn’t overbearingly sweet. Aside from this, their only downfall is their lack of parking spaces. This can be a problem during the weekend afternoon hours when the place is full and parking the next lot over is a pain, especially when carrying a box full of treats.
Prices are reasonable, cakes don’t cost an arm and a leg and buns of all fillings range from .75 cents to $ 2.00. I have had some of the best egg tarts here, fresh and crispy with just enough tart. The service here is top notch and the ladies behind the counter are willing to help out novices in any capacity with decent explanations of every item. Be sure to ask for recommendations.
I could go on and on, but most of the Chinese community of Portland are already on board with this bandwagon. I recommend all curious patrons to come down and try some of the finest baked Chinese goods in Portland.