Fournée Bakery

Awesome place with friendly staff. Love their ham and egg croissants and chocolate almond croissants.

Wow, wow, wow. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Fournee, for taking me, for just a moment, back to Paris. I loved the thousand-​layer croissants, the perfect boule miche, everything. I haven’t been able to get back to Paris for years, and you took me back.

I LOVE Fournee bakery. I’ve been coming here for over a hour and never get tired of it. Everything they offer is delicious, especially the morning bun. We bought olive bread and when we walked out realized it was too crusty/​hard, so they replaced it immediately and cheerfully. I’ll continue to come back here.

I am not sure what all the hype is about. I have had better at many other local bakeries. The savory croissants are rather flavorless and skimpy on filler ingredients. The pastries are not as buttery as I would expect. They always seem dry to me. But I keep coming back since I get my haircut nearby. Maybe one day, I will hit on that one item that wows me. Maybe it’s the desserts that everyone is clamoring for. Will try one next time.

The finest bakery in California, if I’m allowed to judge! Family and friends from out of town insist on coming to Fournée on every visit — there’ve been weeks when I’ve come every day, and each day enjoyed another marvelous delight! Please never stop melting gruyère over rolls and twirling cinnamon sugar into your morning buns, they’re pure pleasure!

Would definitely say the best croissants in the East Bay. Pricey, but the line moves quickly. And they can run out towards the late morning.

Best croissants this side of Paris. And that’s confirmed by a Parisian who lives in Berkeley.
Generally expensive, but the quality is good.
However, I’m very dismayed at the treatment Ayelet W. received as described in her post of early April 2016. Pretty pretty crappy customer service. I’ll think twice about visiting again.

This is def the kind of establishment where pounds do NOT deliquesce! I mean, serious state of lubriciousness when I visit pâtisseries!
I went a little bit overboard and couldn’t stop at just one Choc gâteau. My bro birthday and he wanted something petite, but indeed yummy. As a foodie himself down South, I knew where to venture: here!
After $ 50 and change on a sugar splurge, I was presented with a great big box of goodies. Impressive craftsmanship and excellent pastries and cakes.
Recommend! The parking is a major headache though. I’m usually fairly lucky, but the short street that abuts the tennis courts of the Claremont are simply in the way!

I decided to check out Fournée after seeing rave reviews of their croissants and scones on the Y-​Diggity. I came around noon on a Sunday and the selection for a girl who doesn’t like chocolate was seriously lacking, but that’s probably due to the time of day and maybe even the day itself. Anyway, I was lucky enough to find a Walnut Coriander scone that was pretty good in terms of taste and a Cheese Roll that was equally satisfying. The cheese roll was a little tough in texture and the scone was also somewhat dry and dense, but the flavor was there and left me relatively satisfied. The taste was enough to make me feel like they know what they’re doing and I could probably find more delicious digs on a day that the selection is better suited to my own tastes.
The gal at the counter was very sweet and engaging, doling out compliments and appearing to be genuinely interested in interacting with customers. I felt appreciated and valued, which makes all the difference. She provided a great first impression and made me more enthusiastic about returning to Fournée later, which says a lot about their customer service. Go girl!
Overall, I wasn’t too impressed with the selection during my visit but still had that lingering feeling that on another visit I could find something worthwhile for myself. I think I’ll dust myself off and try again another time to grab a sweet treat more aligned with the flavors I love.

The customer service — starting with the owner of this bakery — is appalling. On the day of my son’s bar mitzvah, after ordering well ahead, checking twice (once morning of), I went in to find that they had only made one of the cakes in our order, and not (though of course they couldn’t know this) the cake that my son had requested.
People were showing up at my house in ½ an hour. I was panicking. I had a solution. Give me the cake I paid for, credit me for the cake you gave away (because this AM they assured me the cake was ready for pick up) and give me two small cakes from the case so at least I have something to feed the people coming to my house.
The owner began haggling with me and I got angrier and angrier. Eventually I said, «You guys screwed this up. This is a solution that will make me a satisfied customer. You don’t want to do that, fine. Then I’m unsatisfied. And there’s Unilocal.And I’m a writer. If that’s what you want, so be it.» By then it’s safe to say I was yelling. I mean. What the hell? And on the eve of bar mitzvah? I was beside myself.
But here’s the thing. Mistakes happen. Someone sold the cake by accident. Whatever. It’s always a special occasion in the baking biz, so it’s not your problem that we were particularly screwed on a particularly important day. But make up for it! Do what you need to do!
Not so much.
Oh, and by the way? They couldn’t even refund my money for the cake they didn’t give me on the spot! Their machine «doesn’t do refunds.» I’m assuming they will refund me at some point, but this means that I’m going to need to spend time checking my credit card, email, etc.
A lovely guy in line behind me said to me, «Go down to La Farine. Their cakes are better and they will totally help you out.» That’s what I’ll be doing from now on. I sure won’t be going to this bakery again.
Funny, when they first opened the rap in the neighborhood was that the food was good but the owner was a jerk, but I defended them. I even remember saying, «Who cares? It’s not like I have to marry him, just eat his pastries!» Turns out that a nice guy willing to make amends is more important than I thought.

Oh… Em…Ghee
This is by far one of the best bakeries I’ve ever been to in my life. Not in the Bay. Best bakeries, period. Better than that delicious French one in the city, better than semifreddi’s and Achme. It’s right up there with cheese board.
But what differs it from Cheese Board is their French style Breads and pastries. We are talking about complete originality here. Everything is handmade. Everything is made by scratch, every bread, every dessert, every pastry.
And the ingredients are high quality, they make everything right there in front of you to some level, you can literally see the ingredients.
This is a very honest business that produces high-​quality food. And let’s not forget the fact that, with all due respect, this place is cheap. I mean it’s affordable. It’s affordable luxury foreign delicious desserts. And anybody could get one, in some cases for $ 2. And I won’t even get into the fact of how delicious their coffee is. It’s just damn good coffee.

I think I went here for the first time 2 months ago and I doubt that much more than a week has passed since then between visits. Its pretty spot on, and I love the neighborhood. On weekends, the line is usually out the door, but it moves quickly. The staff is very adept at managing the crowds and friendly to boot.
My absolute favorite is the egg croissant, think I’ve gotten that on every visit and it has never disappointed. It’s always perfect in texture and flavor and its very filling for breakfast. I can also recommend the morning bun. One thing I would like to try at some point is the baguette and perhaps some of the lunch items, but its always been an early morning stop for me so things aren’t on my mind.

Best croissants in town!
I love this place; their croissants are just perfect and as fluffy, crunchy and buttery as they should be. Not dry at all like I find from other bakeries.

This bakery is my absolute favorite!!! I worked at the kids club at Claremont so it was awesome that I could order my bread and walk on over to work… I love the desserts and they used to make tamarind macarons. Maria who works there is very welcoming and cares for her customers… I moved to Las Vegas for a year and as soon as I came
Back for the delicious baked goods she instantly remembered me and gave me a hug… I ordered my usual
the pizza and cookies… Will be returning soon …

Fantastic! This small bakery bakes some of the BEST items I have eaten from Paris to Berkeley.
I have gone twice and LOVE the ham & egg, the almond, and the ham & cheese Croissaints.
You can not do better than Fournee.

Best bakery in the Bay Area! Truly amazing croissants and scones. I thank the good Lord for this place often.

Fournee is a beautiful bakery that has a great sense of branding, staff, and, variety of baked goods.
It is a good little rush in the morning between the busyness and sugar with Fournee, and I always look forward to coming back with their friendly staff.

Best pastries! Cakes are very good, but pastries and bread amazing. Better than most bakeries in France– I will save so much on air fare now that I can get croissants, pain au raisin, baguettes, and everything flakey and delicious right here in Berkeley. So good. Forget your diet, and get in here. Do NOT think about calories. Who cares? If you really want a mouthgasm, get a warm chocolate almond croissant, close your eyes, and be transported…

I live just up the hill behind the Claremont resort and walk here to get pastry. The pastry here are good however (and I’m sorry to say) they are almost there. The price is a little high but I’m sure it’s to cover overhead cost. I won’t go out of my way for this place but the pastries are ok. i guess it’s because everything seems slight over baked.

Come early or you could miss out. Got there just in time to snag the last 3 Ham and Egg croissants… Unfortunately not in time to try the morning buns.
The Ham and Egg croissant was worth the trip… Tasty and the pastry was flaky.
Not a lot of seating… So unless you are lucky and a very small party plan on taking to go.

I walked by this place and couldn’t help but notice the wonderful smell coming from this bakery. I went inside and they had several types of pastries in which all looked good. I decided to do what any normal person would do. get several. I got a lemon shortbread, brownie, chocolate chip cookie and an orange macaroon. They were all good but I was most impressed with their orange macaroon. Not only did it look pretty it tasted as good as as it looked! I have had macaroons at several places and most do not compare to Bouchon bakery in Yountville but this bakery came very close. My only suggestion would be to offer more flavors of their macaroons. If you are in the area. get yourself a pastry here!

Randomly walked by here today with my girlfriend, we walked in because of the wonderful aroma. Everything looked so great, we couldn’t decide on just one thing so we walked out with four. Everything was as wonderful as it looked.

Their ham and egg croissant is so frreaking good i want one just writing this review. I even bought one to go because it was so delicious – so did my friend. I also tried their lemon praline mousseline and the salted caramel tart. The lemon praline was just ok. The salted caramel tart was better. I wish I had more room that day to try their other baked stuff. I just have to come back whenever I’m in Berkeley.
Metered parking on the streets. Not too bad to find. They take credit cards. Nice and friendly people run the place. Limited seating. Remember to take something to bring home. Yummy.

I was hungry one morning while sitting in my hotel room at the Claremont Hotel & Spa and thought to myself to of course Unilocal it up to find out what’s around the area. Low and behold just around the corner was this little French bakery. It’s sits in a beautiful little shopping area with restaurants and coffee shops but every review I glanced at mentioned this croissant.
Now I’m not a huge fan is croissants but this one had a boiled egg wrapped in bacon in the middle of it. I mean well I love the hell out of boiled eggs and who doesn’t love bacon.
I’m waiting for my colleagues in the hotel lobby since we were all headed to the office. I asked the three ladies and gentlemen who would like to grab some breakfast. All of them said yes so I mentioned this bakery. The ladies had already discussed a bagel place so they jumped in the other car and myself and my colleague Rob headed on our way.
We both ordered the croissant with the egg and bacon. I being who I am ordered a Coke since they didn’t have Pepsi and Rob ordered a water. I almost bought some other pastries cause they looked so delicious and sexy. Yes I said sexy cause they looked elegant like you didn’t want to mess them up. Haha.
The croissant was good and had great flavor but my only gripe is that I wished the egg was soft boiled so that I bit into the egg the yolk would’ve oozed all over the rest. The cost of it was $ 4.00 which is not bad considering the size was good. I only rated 3 stars because I can’t rate higher until I try other stuff. I will be back up here eventually for work again so I will make sure to hit this spot up.

Fournée is the best bakery in Berkeley. I say this begrudgingly because I still like to think of myself as loyal to Acme, but Fournée’s bread and croissants stole my heart.
My favorite thing about Fournée is their bread. I’ll get a half loaf every single time I come in (I think it’s the farmers’ loaf) and it makes me unreasonably happy. The flavor and squishiness and texture are all perfect. We don’t have Tartine or Josey here in the berks, but you will NOT be disappointed by Fournée. If you haven’t been exposed to the SF greats then this may be the best bread you’ve ever had.
If you come in before eating breakfast, definitely try a croissant. I didn’t even like pain au chocolat before trying Fournée’s. Their almond is also good. Be sure to scan their cases because they often have more elusive French treats like canelé. La Farine completely pales in comparison to the quality of Fournée as does every single other bakery in the East Bay.
Need more proof that you need to check this place out? I lived with two French dudes for almost a year and despite being disgusted by most bakeries (and most food in general here), they admitted that Fournée most closely resembled good French bakeries. Their main critique was that the baguettes could use more salt.

Look, I’m not going to lie, you gain at least 5 pounds by regularly visiting this spot, but it’s sooooo freaking worth it. For the meat eaters, the croissant with bacon and egg is amazing, or so I’ve heard. I usually get the roasted tomato and goat cheese for breakfast sometimes. I also highly recommend their sweet croissants, the almond one especially, or the chocolate one for a little sweet bite. Their sandwiches are pretty amazing, same thing with the berry tart. I’ve used them for larger events, such as a Sunday bridal shower for 40 women. They’ve always delivered ridiculous quality products, but it’s not cheap. It’s a wonderful place for breakfast or lunch and or dessert.

Those bacon and egg croissants are craymazing and I totally understand why people probably order like 5 each and they are sold out by 10am on a weekend. People are greedy.
However, the ham and cheese was a close 2^nd. I do not enjoy sweet stuff that much but I’m sure anything this place puts out will be enjoyable.
I also had the tomato and cheese one.
Ok so I spent two breakfasts out of my weekend in Berkeley here.

Alan has brought baked goods home from Fournée occasionally after breakfast at Rick & Ann’s w/​a friend. I found the chocolate in the last pain au chocolat too sweet for my taste, so I’ve asked that he bring no more from there. Instead he has brought scones w/​walnuts and coriander that are fabulous. Just a little sweet, w/​the lovely crunch of fresh nuts and the subtle spice of the coriander. They’ve shot to the top of my pantheon of scones.

1^st star is for the service
2^nd star is for the wide variety of pastries (alot of different types of crossaints)
3^rd star is for the not too pricey pastry prices
4^th star goes to the Ham & Egg crossaint.
One of the best Ham & egg crossaints I’ve had in a while. Can’t say it’s the best bc I haven’t tried the ones in France yet lol. Flakey, savory (the ham tastes more like bacon), not soggy, & it has a soft baked egg. Gotta try out the seasonal flavored crossaints soon.

A good bakery is surprisingly hard to find even in the food-​oriented Bay Area, so when Fournee popped on the scene I was suspicious.
The Berkeley Bread Basket occupied this space for years and always seemed disappointing, and I assumed much the same from the new tenant. On top of this, I’d become a major — no, an extreme — fan of La Farine, a spectacular French bakery just a few miles away. So what could some new kid on the block offer me? More gummy croissants and fluffy bread?
Boy was I wrong! Fournee is a top notch French style patisserie with a fascinating range of options and some of the best breads I’ve found in the entire SF Bay Area. Some of their things seem a bit unconventional, but wow — great creativity and obvious care go into making each delectable delight, and their classics are true to form. (I’m just back from a trip to Paris, too.)
Now we’re blessed with two great local French bakeries and I get my pick each and every weekend where I’ll get something yummy to start my day. Add Fournee to your list, too. If you’re a classic pastry snob like me, you’re going to love it!

This place is AMAZING. I had a total of 5 different pastries (in the span of two days) and was blown away by each one! How many bakeries can do that?
Quiche? Great.
Croissant? Excellent.
Almond croissant? Al-​mazing.
Lemon curd croissant? Uh, hello, lemon curd!
Ham & egg croissant? Fantastic!
And it’s made fresh daily! Fresh, delicious pastries win me every time.
One sad thing is that they don’t warm it up for you so you may end up with a cold pastry. An amazing-​tasting cold pastry but a cold pastry. If you can wait until you get home to toast it yourself, do it! You won’t regret it.
Until my next pastry indulgence.

Holy moly this bakery is amazing!
The other day I was exploring the Claremont neighborhood when I wandered into Fournée. The smell of freshly baked bread alone is enough to lure you in from a block away. Seriously, it’s that good!
My friend from France was coming over for dinner that evening, so it was the perfect opportunity to buy a baguette and a few mini tarts. Needless to say everything was a hit! According to my friend, the dessert is just as delicious as what you purchase in France. Aside from being delicious they are also beautifully decorated. I would commute from Marin in a heartbeat to purchase more treats for a special occasion.