Stella Pastry & Cafe

This place is amazing! The staff was so helpful making super yummy recommendations. They even offered us frozen pieces of our selections so that they would be fresh for drive home (we live in Sacramento). I am definitely going to be visiting there again!

It’s hard for me to resist a good cannoli. Whenever I’m in the area, visiting Stella always crosses my mind. Sometimes I can resist stopping by. Most of the time I cannot. This cozy little bakery has been around for over 70 years and it’s not hard to see why they’ve been successful. Despite its small size, the bakery offers quite a selection of pastries, cookies, and cakes. There are just a couple of small tables, so it is mostly a takeout spot.
Cannoli:
crispy, crunchy cannoli shell heavily dusted with powdered sugar, generously filled with sweet ricotta cream, laced with chocolate chips. I am craving one of Stella’s cannoli just thinking about them. It is satiating in taste, crunchiness, and creaminess.
Tiramisu — sponge layers soaked in espresso & rum, w/​layers of mascarpone:
Delicious layers of sponge, espresso, and mascarpone, covered in cocoa powder. It is satisfyingly sweet and creamy, but with the flavor of coffee, tiramisu is not too sweet.
Sacripantina Cake Slice — vanilla sponge, zabaione cream, rum:
Their house specialty cake is very light in texture. The vanilla sponge is very airy. It is rather heavy on the sweetness though. With custard filling and rum, the level of sweetness is no surprise. Altogether, the cake reminds me of an Italian tres leches cake.
Raspberry Cake Slice — chocolate sponge cake w/​raspberry mousse filling:
I decided to try something different. Though the raspberry cake was not bad, it was too sweet for my liking. I found the raspberry filling too cloyingly sweet.
I will continue to be a fan of the cannoli. I’m like a giddy child whenever I walk away with a white box stamped with their logo and carefully tied with twine.

Apple turnover and a napolean for lunch today… Im not ashamed. That was my lunch… dont judge. They were great :)

Stumbled upon this place on Unilocal since my coworkers and I were looking for a dessert spot after dinner, around 9pm on a Tuesday. The line was quite long when we arrived. Service was a bit slow and there wasn’t an organized line in place, so there is an honor system for who arrived first.
During this visit, we ordered the tiramisu, cheesecake, and macaron. I thought the macaron was a bit stale, though flavorful. The cheesecake was good, but nothing to write home about. The tiramisu was my least favorite (sadly) though it is usually my favorite type of cake! The layers were soggy from too much alcohol soaking the cake, though this shows the tiramisu is prepared in the traditional method! For $ 12.50, the price is decent as portion sizes were pretty good. Staff was very friendly. Parking is very difficult so definitely walk or take public transport here! Not bad, but didn’t stand out for me.

I hate myself for not knowing about this place sooner. What’s more upsetting is I used to manage the bank right next door and never did I knew or heard of «Sacripantina». It’s as if destiny called me by my muni having issues and I had to comedown right in front of this bakery. Call me overly dramatic, I don’t care. I decided to grab a coffee and was browsing through the chiller. I noticed that the Sacripantina mentioned that this place has a patent on it. It caught my attention and boy was I glad that the muni broke down. This pastry was food for the gods. It’s light, not overwhelmingly sweet and just plain awesome. 5 stars and I’m backing this up all the way. You need a Sacripantina in your life. Trust Me.

Best tiramisù i ve had in a while… Coffee had perfect bitterness, perfect temperature .
Their signature pastry is my second fav. Third would be the strawberry shortcake.
Area is nice to take a stroll at night, very lively.

My amazing friend and fellow foodie Kristen told me about Stella’s and their awesome cannoli. I’m actually not a big cannoli fan, but the ones at Stella’s are fantastic! The filling has a good consistency, and isn’t too sweet.
I took my parents here last Saturday, and we had to go back again the next day. All together, we ordered biscotti, cannoli, a black/​white cake, and tiramisu. Everything was delicious, including tiramisu. And I’m also not a fan of tiramisu, but I’d get it again at Stella’s! It was very moist in the middle, and the coffee flavors complimented the chocolate well. The black/​white cake satisfied my chocolate craving.
Parking in North Beach is a hassle all around, but if you want delicious Italian desserts, it’s worth going to Stella’s.

Everything at Stella is delicious and affordable. I seriously love everything that they have: Tiramisu, Sacropantina, Raspberry Dark Chocolate Cake, Napoleon, Linzer cookies are the ones that come to mind and I’d gladly run out and pick up some from the store right now.
The Tiramisu looked perfect and tasted even more perfect, and I’ve gone back over and over for the tiramisu. Recently, I went out of my way to get the tiramisu for friends I’m hosting because I didn’t want them to miss out on the best pastry of their lives, and my friend exclaimed how the tiramisu here melted perfectly in his mouth! That was worth the 30 minute walk between my apartment and Stella.
The Sacropantina was a unique and authentic citrus-​y cake that you have to try, as it tastes so unique from other cakes I’ve tried. Both cakes were beautiful and dusted with a layer of powder that reminded me of the fluffiness of the first snow and I felt bad to bite into them, but it had to be done!
I think this is a great place for a date as well, the amazing pastries will definitely add brownie points to the experience.

Came by the other day to enjoy a slice of Tiramisu while in North Beach.
The Tiramisu was pretty fresh and a tad sweet, still decent, although a tad pricey at $ 5.4 a slice. Café Greco across the street has a better, slightly less sweet version.
Staff was friendly behind the counter and put on poly gloves before grabbing the slice of Tiramisu.
There are a few tables inside the café and outside… perfect for people watching, especially tourists!
…they do offer coffee but I didn’t see anyone getting espresso drinks here…

Cheap, good coffee, GREAT pastries.
Sit outside and watch the people go by. A nice break from ultra high end north beach restaurants on your wallet without losing the authentic Italian style.

Not many bakeries remain open until as late as 12am, but Stella Pastry & Café takes the cake! No pun intended. If you’re craving sweets late into the night, Stella has you covered.
Reading up on raving reviews for their top seller, the Sacripantina cake, I had to try a slice for myself. Layers of fluffy, airy vanilla sponge cake alternated by sweet zabaione custard, this dessert was divine! The square-​shaped slice is perfect for two to share.
Another Italian dessert I tried was the cannoli: sweet ricotta cheese and chocolate chips generously filled inside a crispy shell. The cheese filling was soft and creamy, yet not too heavy.
A simple, no-​frills classic Italian bakery, Stella did not disappoint.

Not bad at all!
It’s pretty hard to find a place that makes good sfogliatelle and this place delivers on that aspect. The employees seem really nice, however, my espresso macchiato had coffee grounds in it. Not that big of a deal though, the sfogliatella was as good as it gets for the West coast. The cannoli don’t look like authentic Sicilian cannoli, but it’s even hard to find authentic ones in italy so I’ll leave that alone.

I have been here only a few times, but I think this place is probably one of my favorite bakeries in San Francisco. They have varieties of Italian desserts, and you can’t really go wrong with any of them.
Items that I have tried are:
Sacripantina, Cannoli, Tiramisu, and Neapolitan.
Even though most people like their cannoli, my favorite item would either be the Tiramisu or the Sacripantina. It’s hard to find a legit Tiramisu like this. Very flavorful and creamy, but not too sweet. Unlike most of fluffy and sponge pastries, their Sacripantina is creamy and full of flavors (i.e. vanilla).
Seatings here can be really awkward. Sometimes the place gets super crowded, and the people in the line might accidentally push your table or chair. If that’s the case I thinks it’s best to get your order to go.
The coffee is just OK, but what can you do. I’ve learned to get used to that. With bakeries that is usually the tradeoff!

Get the cannoli. Maybe I’m biased because I’ve never had a cannoli before today, but if you want to find out what you’re missing in life… This is it.
Service is great and friendly. I will be back to try more items. And to get another cannoli.

OH DA BUTTAH! That’s what I remember from taking tiny bites of Stella’s delectable cookies. I thought I’ve tasted heaven before but these are just as heavenly (if not more) as the other heavenly cookies I’ve eaten. How do they do it?! With da-​buttah!
We had an office party with a platter of miscellaneous cookies from here. The first piece I ate was a thin layer of butter crisp with nuts on it. After that, I snapped! You can see hearts in my eyes as I ran back to nibble on several other small heavenly bites of buttery cookies.
The week after my first encounter with their cookies, I walked back up Broadway onto Columbus Street to pick up another 2 boxes of mixed cookies for several Xmas dinners I was to attend. Its $ 20 per lb so I didn’t get a whole lot of cookies for $ 42. Did my friends and family see hearts after they ate it? I believe so! Got a lot of compliments on how incredible they are!
This is one addiction that I don’t want to stop. I would eat their cookies until I burst open. That’s how yummy it is. Its yummy because of da buttah!
Notes: 1 point deducted for odd customer service. There’s no organization for taking next customers. I felt like several people cut in front of me even though I was at the front counter and the cutters were behind me!

Worth a stop just to try out the a slice of the sacripantina cake, a heavenly light and fluffy vanilla sponge cake that has just the right amount of sweetness to it, thanks to its zabaione custard (made of egg yolks, sweet butter, marsala wine, and sherry wine) and a touch of rum. Of course, Stella does many other baked items, whether tiramisu, cannoli, pastries, cupcakes, or biscotti.
A particularly pleasant place early in the morning when you can grab a seat by the window and watch the world pass by over a slice of cake and an espresso.

I’m a sucker for a great bakery or market and hit gold here!
In the heart of North Beach. I specifically sought out the best Italian bakery so I could bring treats to family and my favorite Italian friends. Prior Unilocalers were on the money with Stella — thank you!
Bakery is cute. Upon entry you immediately notice how quaint n clean it is and immediately see all the scrumptious goodies in long and brightly lit bakery display cases.
Ordered few boxes of Cannoli, sugar cookies, biscotti, jam filled powdered cookies and few other pieces of «art».
Boxes were charming w/​hand tied twine complete with Cute Stella sticker slapped on top. This was perfect because it screamed sweet gift and treat inside!
I tried a small Xmas tree sprinkle covered sugar cookie and it was Devine.
My family loved the goodies and my 1^st generation Italian friends were over the moon. Thank You Stella — Bellissimo!

Came in for some dessert and coffee. Had a cannoli and small decaf coffee for $ 1.85 and some cookies to go.

The cannoli was rich and just the right amount of sweetness. The coffee was a bit on the weak side. They don’t provide refills.
Service could have been better. Cookies were mediocre. Best item here was definitely the cannoli.

Serious Cannoli Perfection. Opened till midnight on Friday night!
Upon the recommendation of Unilocaler Audrey W. we stopped into Stella Pastry and Café on Friday night while we were in the North Beach Italian section of San Francisco. This is a small and humble bakery and café with only 5 or 6 small tables and chairs, but they crank out authentic and delicious Italian sweets.
We ordered an espresso, a cannoli, and a tiramasu to share. I liked the tiramisu but loved the cannoli, it absolutely won me over. The shell was crispy and the ricotta filling was studded with chocolate chips and was just the faintest bit sweet, the perfect dessert for me to end the night in North Beach.
At 9 pm the lines were steady. Even though the prices were a bit high, I really regret not picking up more items for the next day. On my visit I was too full to try their any of multiple varieties of almond cookies and biscotti, raspberry heart linzer cookies and other pastries/​cakes, but that only means a return trip here is a must.

How did I never get around to reviewing Stella’s? I have been coming here for over 15 years ever since an ex co-​worker of mine introduced me to the pignoli cookies (chewy almond cookie topped with pine nuts). Since I no longer work in the city, my visits here have been minimal since North Beach parking on the weekends can be a pain.
When I came this past weekend to pick up focaccia from Liguria, I knew I had to stop by to pick up some pignoli cookies and their special and patented sacripantina (vanilla cake with light custard cream and rum) that is similar in texture to a tiramisu. (It helped that my morning visit scored us a parking space just a few doors down.) It was light and not too sweet consequently replacing the long time tiramisu as my dad’s new favorite dessert, making it a sweet ending to my Italian themed dinner —

C’était trop bon :3
Lemon Cake pour moi, avec un grand latte. Le serveur était adorable, nous avons beaucoup ri lorsque j’ai essayé de lui apprendre le français («OMG PARIS OULALA»)
Plusieurs amis de San Francisco m’ont vivement recommandé d’y faire un tour et je né regrette rien !

Un arrêt obligatoire (ce sont les autochtones qui le disent) sur Columbus Avenue vers Fisherman’s Wharf, pour reprendre des forces en dégustant la spécialité de la maison, le (ou la ?) Sacripantina, gâteau qui me fait penser à un croisement entre une tarte tropézienne et un baba au rhum. C’est bon, même si pas entièrement renversant. Il n’en reste pas moins que l’ambiance de ce tout petit salon de thé décoré simplement est très sympathique, autant que les employés derrière le comptoir. Grand choix de cafés, thés, lait, et de toutes sortes de pâtisseries et gâteaux secs italiens (North Beach oblige), à des prix très raisonnables.
Avec de la chance, hors de l’heure de pointe, vous pourrez vous asseoir à l’une des tables juste derrière la vitrine pour observer l’animation de l’avenue.

Ich würde fast wagen, zu behaupten, dass es hier den besten Latte in San Francisco gibt. Und das für nur 2,50 Dollar für eine große Tasse. Dazu gibt es eine tolle Auswahl an Cookies und Kuchen. Wir haben ganz viel probiert und sind begeistert.