JR Dessert Bakery

One late night I was scouring Google for good dessert places in Chicagoland. This was one of the places heavily recommended. However, I have to recommend against it.
Everyone raved about the cheesecakes here, and as a cheesecake enthusiast myself, I had to try this place out. I had the lemon cheesecake and was highly disappointed. Furthermore, the service left a LOT to be desired. After going into the store, I noticed they offered a Wildcat Advantage (they give a discount to Northwestern University students). I showed them my Wildcard, and expected that shold be enough. However, it wasn’t…Every other place that offers Wildcard Advantage, just letting them inspect my Wildcard is sufficient, but not here. They wanted to make a copy of my Wildcard. I have no idea what they would do with it or why they even needed it. Needless to say, I refused to take the student discount. Additionally, they have a credit card minimum. Usually this doesn’t bother me because I understand how bank fees can really add up and be burdensome for these small stores, but this just came as icing on the cake after the whole Wildcard situation.
Not coming back here again.

This bakery is a hidden gem! They donated an amazing cake with buttercream frosting to my Americorps team 2 years ago for a school event. This year I went back and bought a carrot cake for my mother’s birthday. She’s not a huge fan of sweets, but this was by far THE BEST carrot cake either of us have EVER had! Highly recommend to everyone and anyone!

This is a small bakery on Howard street. They are mostly special order and mail order. They have a good selection of pies, coffee cakes and cheese cakes. I promise you that you will be impressed with the quality and taste. Simply amazing. All natural ingredients and simple but great recipes. Many of their item are frozen and ready for you to bake or defrost. If you want your order ready to eat, call ahead and special order. I would highly recommend the Apple Pie.

Top notch cheesecakes! If you ask for an irregular you can get acheesecake at a discounted price with just one or two flaws. I recommend this place for anybody that wants a quality cheesecake.

JR’s cheesecakes, brownies and other treats are indeed as good as it gets.
We have friends, a married couple who both cook superbly and are known for being well able to, individually and together, make delicious scratch cheese cakes. When ever we are invited to their home for a gathering of more than six people that includes a meal, they request we bring a J.R. Dessert Bakery lemon cheesecake as they fell in deep like with one we brought along years ago. They prefer JR’s to their own. S. and I agree with them.
~Peter O. and S.

Not much to look at inside, three menu boards and almost empty display case. Guess most of their business is wholesale and mail order. Service was ok, felt as if I took someone away from browsing their computer.
Bought blueberry, and pecan caramel. Cheesecakes come frozen, told to thaw for 4 hrs at room temp. Not that great, really dense but not much flavor. Crust what crust! Very minimal, and very thin.
Bought one brownie in display case, ended up throwing it away. Hard exterior from being left out too long. They had slices of cheesecakes also but did not look appetizing, maybe I should have took that as a clue to leave!

The lady who served me was quite pleasant. I chose a slice of ginger lemon cheesecake, a slice of chocolate mousse cheesecake and two chocolate chip cookies, one with nuts. Ii thought they tasted good. The slice were 3 bucks and some change and the cookies were big and under 2 bucks. I wasn’t blown away but I’d return if I were in the area.

I have tried the carrot cake, cheese cake, red velvet cake and cupcakes, tripe choc mousse cake, flour less cake and lemon cupcakes. I work for an establishment where we buy from Jrs and sell their desserts. I must say they are all delicious. My customers even want the bakery info. I will def buy for my family parties and holidays. Very excellent desserts!!! Highly recommended

I got my wedding cupcakes from JR Dessert Bakery this past July. Unlike another reviewer, I did not receive free samples before making my decision. They had me order and pay for the different flavors before deciding, which I was a bit surprised about since they knew I’d be ordering over 150 cupcakes. Once I decided on the flavors and placed my order, they suggested I get frozen cupcakes because it would be a lot easier to transport them from the north side to the south side without them melting in the summer heat. It made me a bit uncomfortable since I wondered if they would taste fresh, but I figured they knew what they were doing, so I agreed to it. A bit to my surprise, they were actually really good when they did defrost and you couldn’t even tell they had been frozen. Had the reception hall kept the cupcakes out when my brother-​in-​law brought them over instead of putting half of them in the fridge (they weren’t aware they were frozen and I wasn’t around to tell them), it probably would have turned out fine and they would have all been defrosted by dessert time. And after the wedding, we had leftover cupcakes which we kept frozen and would defrost a couple hours before we wanted to eat them and even a month later, they still tasted fresh and delicious so I say who cares if they are frozen first as long as they taste good!
There was an incident with the bakery though on the day of the wedding. They forgot to give our small cake for the cake cutting to my brother in law who picked everything up to bring them to the reception hall. They called us to let us know that they had accidentally forgotten to give them the cake along with the cupcakes and wanted us to come pick it up. Since our wedding ceremony was going to start within the hour and was more than 45 minutes away from the chapel and reception hall, we said that wasn’t going to work. After a bit of arguing back and forth, they kindly agreed to bring the cake to the reception hall for us. It made it in plenty of time for the reception and they even called the next day to make sure everything worked out which was very thoughtful of them.
I’d say 3.5 stars for customer service, but 5 stars for deliciousness of the cupcakes.

Service was bad, cakes are frozen, and they gave me the wrong cake very disappointed at my first visit and last!

Great service Andy the lady that’s work for marketing it’s always nice enough to bring over a lot of sample and made us sustify with they dessert before we order :)

The deserts were just OK… but word to the wise, don’t ever give this guy your email address… he will con’t to email you even though you ask kindly to be removed from his emailings! On the emails he sends out, he doesn’t even have an option to opt out… be ware.

Should be 6 stars. Eli who? Worth the drive up north and then some. The lightest and best tasting cheesecake I have had cross my lips. Not too sweet, not too dense with the perfect combination of flavors and zest. I am only bummed that I took it to the neighbors and couldn’t eat the whole thing myself. Got the variety pack with six unique cheesecakes. Each was wonderful, including just the plain one.
Can’t wait to try the rest of what they’ve got going on there. A tad pricey, but heaven isn’t cheap these days.

Having lived in Chicago and never having heard of this place my friend Nicole asks me to go pick her up a few cheesecakes for her office party. She orders a lemon and pumpkin and they get them and show them to me and I approve of the cheesecake. They slice it and place it into the box. I order a slice of their dark cherry cheesecake for myself to try. I get home and place all the cheesecake into my freezer and sit down to eat my slice. This is one of the best cheesecakes I have found in the Midwest. Now to find an occasion for me to bring a cheesecake to just so I can hit this place up again! YUM!

I’m a nice Jewish boy. This means lots of things:
a)I call my Mom everyday
b)I am willing to give hot guys back rubs, or front rubs.
c)I get canned goods off high shelves for old women in the grocery store
d)I love me some good nosh*
So, in the true spirit of loving some good nosh, I went on the hunt for delicious cheesecake. I stumbled upon JR Dessert Bakery. And struck gold.
Its not really a place meant for eating AT. You get things to go here. And what I like to get here is the cheesecake. Oh my dear sweet G-​d in Heaven. This stuff will make your eyes roll back and your toes curl, with EACH bite.
I’ve been forced to try their variety cheesecake (which comes with slices of different flavors) as well as the traditional cheesecake. This is what I usually have. It isn’t heavy, and the crust is just right. And I’m picky about my cheesecake.
One of the good parts about being a nice SINGLE Jewish boy, is that I can eat the whole thing by myself. Do I worry about my figure after? Um, no. Have you seen me? I’m gorgeous.
The store front is tidy, and they have gone with a nice pastel décor. But again, its always to go… so just focus on this amazingly delicious cheesecake. And eat as much as you can.
They also do a brisk mail order business. Thats how good this place is! While I hate to give away my little secret, as a good Jewish boy, I’m also inclined to tell the truth.
Check it out! Bring the whole mishpokhe**!!
*nosh = the word nice Jewish boys use when talking about yummy food.
**mishpokhe = the word nice Jewish boys use for «family».

I had a chance to try the Key Lime Pie and the Molten Lava Chocolate Cake at the Taste of Chicago and it was absolutely wonderful. I will definitely be checking them out for any event that I need to bring the dessert to because it was the bomb!!!

I went here to buy a cheesecake for a work birthday, and it got rave reviews. I didn’t give it five stars only because I don’t like cheesecake, so I’m not the best judge, but the women at my work loved it.
Another important factoid: the prices listed on their website must be for mail ordered cheesecakes. I got a large cheesecake that served over 20 people for $ 26, which I think is reasonable. Their website prices list it as close to $ 50. I almost didn’t go, and I’m so glad I did!

Go. Try. Believe.
The cheesecake talk thread got me wondering whether or not JRs was listed, and surprisingly, no one has reviewed.
I was never a fan of cheesecake until I tried the wares from here, and now, I will not eat any other. (the lemon is my favorite) The consistency of the batter and the flavor are the memories you will take from JR, not the lump-​of-​concrete-​in-​your-​stomach feeling like the «big name» places.
See for yourselves.

Any kind of cheesecake you can possibly imagine can be found here. They have all different varieties and sizes. Their cheesecakes are excellent — a really great crust, with soft and creamy cheese filling. The best thing about this place is their cheesecakes are always fresh baked. And you can have them deliver their yummy goods to anywhere in the U. S!