Faragalli’s Bakery

I was driving in S Philly during a two day layover this past summer and found this bakery. I bought several loaves of Italian bread and brought them to dinner at a friends house. It was outstanding, nice and crusty and the right amount of chew. Nice people with a great product. The owner gave me a piece of cornbread on the house before I left. Just authentic people who care about their customers and who take great pride in delivering a quality product. I bought the long loaves, btw.

Old-​time classic little corner bread bakery. I love their hearty round or long loaf bread which gets served in many restaurants city wide. Get it plain or seeded. Perfect for dipping in olive oil or butter or just by itself. They have fried dough (add powdered sugar if you like) and other tasty specialties too!

Small, old-​school bakery with very limited selection. When we went they were out of the touted donuts and cinnamon sticks. All they had were loaves of bread and small bags of cookies to choose from. We tried a loaf of the bread and found it to be pretty mediocre at best. Maybe one too many visits to Metropolitan has unknowingly turned us into bread snobs? Anyway, the next time we are in the area we will see if Faragalli’s has any donuts or cinnamon sticks and will give them a try.
Addendum: ignore the donut and cinnamon stick comment. They don’t make them here. Apparently the place that has them is Frangelli’s.

I had a loaf of fresh bread from Faragalli’s for the first time today. I ate the whole loaf without any olive oil or butter. It’s that good. Great balance and flavor.

Simply awesome. There are no words to describe their donuts and cinnamon sticks. And the prices are great. Go now!
Oh, and the staff is super nice too.

Faragalli has delicious bread with a nice denseness and a great crust. I love that they do not slice the bread for you. I usually get the high hat rounds and this is the only bread that taste even better after a few days in the fridge. Just slice a few pieces, pop in the toaster and onto sandwich heaven. Once you have this bread you will never forget it. When I am in a restaurant I always recognize Faragalli’s bread — it is that unique. Great family run business.

If you liked the bread at Little Fish, this is where they get it. I’ll be there. Soon. Yum! Dense, flavorful, the right amount of chew… mmmmmmm

Absolutely delicious bread with a rich, unique flavor and very chewy crust — perfect for sandwiches. Also pretty inexpensive at $ 5/​dozen for big (4″?) dinner rolls.
A few almost grievances:
1 — Out of every dozen (I buy a lot) — at least one is burnt/​cooked to an inedible point
2 — If the lady’s not at the counter, it’s usually a grouchy dude. I’m trying to support your family business, guy, cheer up. .
3 — They don’t have defined closing hours, so they might be open til 2, 3, 4… who knows? And they’re not there Sundays — when I’d really like fresh bread.
EDIT! Just got 4 dozen DEEELICIOUS looking rolls this morning. The super nice lady Bernadette behind the counter told me they were placing bets on who the crabby guy I was referring to is in my review! We had a laugh. Love that place… crabby overheated dude or not. :)

I make hubby stop here on his lunch break once a week and buy several loaves for me at once. I have a freezer in my basement so I cut it up, ziploc it and pop it in oven to warm up again when needed. It’s delicious even after freezing/​thawing. My kids are addicted to their breads! I dip them in garlic olive oil. So yummy!

The most perfect Italian bread in the city. Chewy crust, dense moist crumb with the right amount of airiness. Very Italian, small bakery attended by pretty much just the locals. Great deal too, four sandwich rolls here (perfect for a real Philly cheesesteak) were $ 2. Molto benissimo!

I love this place. Small neighborhood bakery, specializing in Italian-​style breads, baked on premises. Surprisingly wide variety. I love braided Italian with sesame seeds, that chewy loaf with pointed ends, and whole wheat (on Fridays only)! I’m neither Italian nor Catholic, so their many holiday specials are new discoveries to me.
Retail business plus they supply a couple restaurants. Reasonable prices. They’re opposite the SW corner of Columbus Square (aka Passyunk Square). You’ll see Mrs. Faragalli sitting in the front window.
UPDATE: From the Phila Inquirer: «Marie ‘Maemoe’ Faragalli, 86, owner of the venerable Faragalli’s Bakery in South Philadelphia, which lays claim to the only wood-​fired open-​hearth oven in Philadelphia, died of breast cancer Sunday [June 29, 2008] at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.» Great story about the family and bakery (
).