Caffe Italia

*disclaimer* this review was from my visit about 6 months ago. I was sorting through my Unilocal account and noticed it was never posted.
I was pretty excited to find an Italian bakery in my neighborhood because I hate having to travel to all the way to Astoria or Manhattan to get my fix of Italian Pastries. Unfortunately I can’t say that I’ll be returning here:
— When we asked about lace cookies we were fed this line: «We don’t make lace cookies because lace cookies can only be made by machine and are processed. We only make things fresh here.» ??? (not true)
— The rainbow cookies we ordered were stale and there was barely any chocolate on them for how thick the inner layers were. I guess they would have been okay if they were fresh.
— The lady whom I would assume is the owner seemed extremely ignorant and assumed we had no knowledge of Italian pastries because we were Asian. There was a lot of «In my country…» and «Where I come from…» getting thrown around when describing the different menu items but not before the obligatory «Oh your Korean right?» (I’m Chinese and don’t have any accent. I’ve lived in Queens my entire life.) To be fair, I think she felt like she was genuinely educating us but she definitely would not have taken the same approach if we were regular ‘American’ customers.

If you’re in the mood for some great pastries then you owe it to yourself to give this a try. Friendly staff and good customer service.

Absolutely the worst bakery in the area. Everything is old and stale. The place is always dead. I went there because I like trying to give the local bakeries the business before the big chain supermarkets. I spoke to the owner who assured me that my chocolate raspberry cake was fresh and i would love it. Was highly embarrassed when i presented it for desert at an event and had to throw it out. It is unfortunate that people conduct business this way. Customers are not idiots. It is only a matter of time before this place shuts down.

BELLISSIMA!!! Stop by for a Spresso and a Sfogliatell! Round it out with a Cannoli– anything here is tasty, the atmosphere is just like what I remember from my childhood in the Bronx, the people here are friendly and life is good –so sit down and enjoy a treat here!!!

I had to get a last minute birthday cupcake for and this was the only place that was still opened at 9:30 in the neighborhood.
He was about to close but I called just in time so he let me in. I decided to buy the chocolate cupcake because it looked fat and sweet. However, little did I know that the place does not accept credit cards.
I asked if there was an ATM but he let me take the cupcake and pay him back next time I came. What a nice guy :)
The chocolate cupcake tasted good but it was a bit too sweet. But then again, cupcakes are meant to be sweet.
Update: I finally paid him back :). They read my review and cracked up.

Cutest neighborhood bakery with delicious pastries.
Rainbow cookies were good
Chocolate cannoli was awesome. Not too sweet but just enough.
The lobster tail was good. It was made with the cannoli cream but still delicious
Great place to find quality pastries :)
Definitely coming back to fill my pastry cravings

A cute little neighborhood Italian bakery. The rainbow cookies were really good and we also got a Lobster Tail. The cream was actually cannoli cream but was nonetheless good.

really, the rainbow cookies were made maybe a week prior. dry and barely edible. never again, but they were open in a time of need and the woman behind the counter seemed nice enough, so… two stars.

Caffe Italia is the quintessential neighborhood bakery. If I lived in New York City, I would be at Café Italia every week to pick up a pound of Sicilian Amaretti cookies and a couple of Pasticchiotti pastries. The Sicilian Amaretti is addicting and reminds me of the Italian Almond Cookies that I always buy from Market Hall Bakery in Rockridge near SF. Except these little cookies from Caffe Italia are better… crisp on the outside on the first bite then melting into a chewy almost macaroon consistency with an essence of marzipan. Young or old, everybody is guaranteed to love this cookie! My 82-​year-​old father-​in-​law loved them as did my 5-​year-​old nephew. The pastichiotti look like little pot pies, but when you bite into one, the custard filling has a very light lemon flavor. I begged the owner and her Sicilian family to move to Hawaii and open up an replica of this bakery. I’m going to be coming back to this place every time I visit New York.