Ming’s Bakery

Nice friendly staff. Love their Redbean bun! Prices are reasonable and there are many selections for its size. Recommended.

Came in here right after a fabulous massage in the same shopping center, lady was super friendly and they had coconut buns which is what I was looking for! Hubby found a coffee bun he wanted to try and said it was very good not too sweet or overpowering. Lots of fabulous choices and for those people comparing it to the big 85… well don’t this is better! You can walk in, walk out, talk to the nice lady who can help you no crowds and your supporting a mom and pop shop. Everything looked so good but only had room for 5 – 6 choices to share and now were full so that will be lunch.

We typically come here when we’re in the plaza for another reason (i.e. groceries, the snow place, etc.). Otherwise, I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit Ming’s Bakery.
I think the selection is actually pretty large, even compared to 85 °C. They won’t have 20 of the same items, but that’s also because they don’t have such a huge demand. The shop itself is tiny.
Normally the bread/​pastries are fluffy, soft and tasty but not overly sweet. The super thin almond cookies are good and most of the pastries are too. I’ve tried the pineapple bun, dried pork bun, mochi taro bread, sandwiches, etc. (Too many to remember.)
Prices are a bit higher than I would like, but I always try to support Mom n Pop shops, which I’m guessing they are.
Cons: I wish they wouldn’t skimp on the fillings though. They accept credit cards IF your purchase is over $ 20.
Tip: If you go close to closing time, they’ll have discounted pastries on the counter near the register.

Super fresh pastries! i love the pork buns!

First and foremost, don’t come here and expect a 85C experience. You won’t find it here. What you also won’t find (compared to 85C) is a vast variety of bread, tables, blended drinks and of course, the line. And why would you? This bakery isn’t trying to be 85C, it’s simply another Asian bakery that sells bread goods/​pastries. No need to compare.
Pastries themselves are pretty decent — especially if you catch them when they are freshly baked (morning right around opening and Noon-​time). The prices are reasonable — compared to other Asian type bakeries I’ve been to (like J Sweet in Irvine). If you catch their bread when it’s fresh, the bite is doughy and soft — just the way I like it.
It’s self-​serve, you pick up a tray and put whatever pastries you want on it and pay at the register. Register lady could definitely smile a bit more often, but if anyone’s been to a Asian eatery/​restaurant — they aren’t really known for their friendliness.
Cash only, Credit card accepted with a minimum $ 20 purchase.
They have catering/​pre-​order special cakes as well, but I already have my favorites in mind.

1star.
Small selection. Over priced. Had an unusual smell. No seating. No spoons, napkins, or forks! Oh and no restrooms either.
I came, and I tried several buns and cheesecake. Again, expensive for what it is. More expensive than 85c…
Pineapple bun, coconut taro were decent. (over priced).
Hence, I leave with 1 star & it will remain 1 star.

For those that are looking for a 85C replacement in the HB/​Westminster area, move on.
This bakery has about half the selection and is much smaller. Pastries were overpriced and tasted okay as a whole, nothing special except maybe the taro coconut roll which was pretty good.
There’s limited seating and no utensils for eating, so plan on taking out. Plus the bakery smells bad. Staff is not very friendly nor helpful as well.

Like their cream cheese bread, banana walnut and chocolate cake.

Very poor customer service.
I went to the store for the 1^st time. The Chinese owner asked me if I wanted to buy the pastries that just came out of the oven. Each pastry was in a separate paper bag. Since she insisted that the pastries were still very warm, I touched the paper bag of one of them just to see how warm it was. She rudely yelled «Don’t touch it!». Guess what? I immediately left the store.

Service is awful. Not happy. The owner just not happy to serve customers, people loved the cake we bought, but I did not like the expereince. She was angry about using credit card, not happy about adding a name to the cake.

THE OWNERS THREW BREAD AT HER FACE!
Uhm we came inside the bakery because pasteries and breads looked so fresh and something you can find on Instagram.
We purchased cranberry bread and that was one berry I wished I hadn’t cran-​ed.
There was only one of of each bread, the lady said that it was «baked today «. However it abysmal. The bread was dry and old. The moisture content was unbelievablely dry like the freaking Death Valley Desert.
We went to go and return the bread to get our money back. And the owners argued aggressively with my mother to the point in which my mother stormed out without her refunded money because THE OWNERS THREW BREAD AT HER FACE!

Stumbled on this bakery when checking out the adjacent Sun Fat grocery store. Living in the IE area, we’re really sucking on the hind t*t for decent Asian grocery stores, bakeries, etc.
Upon entering, I felt as if I had walked into a store where the staff get paid a commission to sell, sell, sell. All I was searching for was those chocolate rolls (it looks like a giant Ho-​Ho without the chocolate coating). Growing up in the Bay Area and even when I visit, it is painful to see these cake rolls everywhere and selling for under $ 5 each. Out here, I’ve seen them sell for almost $ 10.
But wait, they sell them here for $ 5.99 Not bad, and hey my oldest son and I love this stuff. Good thing I brought a cooler! The lady standing next to the cake case was trying to sell me one of everything and sounded dejected when responded negatively to all of her suggestions.
The cashier rang me up. She also tried to sell me a lot of their pastries that I was not interested in purchasing.
Any transaction under $ 20 is cash only. I handed her $ 6. She kept the penny change. It’s not the amount but the principle that pissed me off. I hate dealing with store staff that make it their agenda to decide if the customer gets his/​her measly one or two cents change.

This isn’t a bakery to come out of your way for, but if you’re in the area and craving something sweet, you should definitely stop by to support a family owned establishment.
Arrived right when the bakery opened, so the staff was just starting to stock the displays with fresh from the oven items. The blueberry cream cheese bun was tasty and generously filled. The cream puffs lacked flavor even though it was also generously filled. The egg tart was okay. Even though we ate it while it was still piping hot, the crust and filling just left something to be desired. But by no means was it terrible.
With that say, the lady that works here was extremely nice. Parking was easy to find and if you want to eat your sweet treats on the spot, they have a couple tables with chairs inside.

the taro and custard bread here are really good. they dont skimp on the fillings and i like it. each bread cost from as low as $ 1.10 to $ 2. average for asian bakeries.
if you like durian, then you may want to try the durian pastry they make here. i didnt really like it because its too sweet for me and i could barely taste the durian. but you may like. they also have green tea and taro pastry if durian is not an option for you.
be aware that the lady here is not very nice. she looks a little grumpy the last time i came. i think she is vietnamese despite the fact that she looks more chinese to me.
CC is only for purchase of $ 20 and over!

Seriously how hard is it to get coconut buns in the OC? They serve coconut juice in every Vietnamese spot here.
You want them? Ming’s got ‘em. And they’re pretty good. I just tried a coconut cake — it’s really a cupcake without frosting. Doesn’t seem available every time. Loved it.
I’ve tried a few smattering of other items. The tri-​bun (red bean, taro, coconut) is my fave.
They tend to sell out of items in the later afternoon Sunday. So come early or all that’s left is the pork floss stuff. Makes you wonder why they don’t make more of the popular items.

I was going to the supermarket and saw this place. Since I was craving sponge cake, I decided to stop buy and purchase something. I bought the sponge cake, caramel pudding, and pineapple bun. The sponge cake was good, very fresh and fluffy. I loved the almonds on top of it. The caramel pudding was actually flan. I don’t know why they called it pudding when it has no pudding consistency. The «caramel pudding» overall tasted quite good, better than most flan I’ve had. Maybe because I don’t like mine overly sweet and this place makes it pretty decent. In terms of the pineapple bun, I’ve had better. It’s not bad nor is it delicious. I wish there were more of a pineapple taste or at least pineapple chunks.
I would have given this place a 4 start at most but I had to drop it to 3 stars because of the hair I found on their cream puff rolls. While checking out, the cashier tried to sell me the one cream roll they had for 99 cents. It was tempting but when I took a closer look, I noticed that there was a piece of long hair trapped inside the bun. I told the cashier that their roll has hair on it and she just laughed it off. Okay, that’s not cool, I guess I won’t be buying that stuff. The second thing I don’t like is the amount of fruit flies they have flying around the bread. I understand that it’s summer and of course there will be fruit flies… but seriously, if they couldn’t clean off the ones that are dead and lying by the bread, it’s a bad sign for me. Overall, average quality of bread/​cakes. Get the sponge cake, it’s my favorite from this place.

Nom nom, soft yummy bread!
They have my favorite seaweed pork sung bread here and lots of other options. Ming’s Bakery has the more traditional flavors like pineapple bread, green tea bread, green onion bread among others. The bakery is pretty small so there isn’t a whole lot of choices, but there’s definitely enough to choose from.
The first time I came here, the breads I purchased were so soft and fluffy — I was seriously ecstatic I had found such a gem of a bakery. The second time, the pineapple bread was a bit hard and didn’t taste as fresh as I’d hoped. I don’t recommend the satay hot dog bun either. It had a bit of a funky flavor that neither Nam nor I really liked. Maybe I had come at a bad time during the day or maybe they’re just inconsistent with the quality. Either way, I wouldn’t mind dropping by for some bread if I was in the area. Prices are a bit higher than most other bakeries, which I don’t quite understand, but not significantly enough to put a dent in your wallet.

Grab a tray and walk around. You will be reading and contemplating many options that you might not be very familiar with.
Word to the wise: If you’re watching your cholesterol, skip the little pastries with the word, «yolk» in the title. It is just a yolk with a sugary coating and breading covering it. Not really my thing, but a neat idea!
I did buy a custard and blueberry pastry for a friend. I did not try them. I imagine they were very good. Everything seemed very fresh.
Also, I love the presentation. I absolutely adore how everything is arranged and displayed. Great little find. Will definitely be back.

Came after eating at Bo De Tinh Tam Chay. Cannot compare 85 degrees to this place. No one has probably even heard of Ming’s Bakery except maybe that it sounds familiar since the Ming Dynasty was pretty big…
There is a seemingly wide selection of bread; however that’s because there’s the same selection of bread on adjacent walls. The bread itself is reasonably priced ($ 1.25 — $ 2.50). I only tried the Coconut Raisin bread which was as I expected from any Asian bakery.
Also if you wanted to buy bread as a gift (as we did), you must spend $ 10 to get a box. At least the box isn’t the traditional pink cardboard but it actually has little pictures of zoo animals. May be too cutesy but looks better than pink recycled cardboard. Another thing is they have «expiration cards» near certain breads. It turns out they only do that for show in case the health inspector comes by… oh Asian people, always finding loopholes.
Since it’s not anything out of the ordinary, I wouldn’t make a trip here. If you’re in the area and craving Chinese bread then this is a decent place.

— Locale destination —
It’s a neighbor of one of the cleanest Vietnamese supermarket (Check my review). I wanted to explore the neighborhoods after shopping at the supermarket. It’s tiny but they got varieties. The owner is very sweet lady.
There’s table but I don’t think it functions…
— Gluttony expedition —
Taro with mochi bun: It kinda looks like the one @ «85 C» in Irvine. Big and soft bun. Hallow inside. You’ll find a taro paste and mochi (rice cake) at the bottom inside. It’s a bit dry but creative. Taste — not bad. I’ll recommend to reheat it to enjoy this more.
Green tea roll cake: Green tea is not «Matcha» kind. The one you often see@ Boba or Vietnamese places. Not so sweet. Red bean paste inside. Roll cake was soft. Not bad.
Whole cakes: Around $ 25. Not as visually appealing as the ones @ «Café Blanc» in NB.
— Conqueror’s deduction —
2.5 stars. They got varieties and try to make something creative. It didn’t wow me but not bad. You don’t need to wait like @ «85 C» in Irvine to get similar pastries — the place was pretty insane for what it was. «85 C» is seriously over rated.