Rise Up Bakery

12÷23÷15
3.5 stars!
It was very busy at Rise Up Bakery this morning! I arrived sometime between 9 and 10 am, and as expected, RUB was humming. Not with customers (I was the only one there), but with one cashier, who was busy bagging pick-​up orders and icing cinnamon rolls as they finished cooling off on the baker’s racks, and three bakers, including an apprentice, flouring the table (or scraping them clean) in preparation to knead more dough for foccacia, baguettes, bread loaves, cake breads, cinnamon rolls, babkas, cookies, and bars– oh, my! I assumed that people would be in and out to pick up their holiday orders, and sure enough, many did show up to pick up tomato and pesto focaccia, pumpkin and chocolate chip breads, and sour dough breads, among other items.
I came in to buy Peach & blueberry loaf, and I left with TWO said loaves (can’t remember how much each), a French baguette ($ 3), a pumpkin and chocolate chip bread ($ 6), two sliced breads (honey wheat and white, with the white fresh-​sliced right before bagging!), an oatmeal-​raisin cookie ($ 1.50, or $ 1.75?), and two scones (a raspberry and a blueberry; $ 2 each, I think). The scones were surprisingly NOT dry, were sweet and buttery (and did not need extra butter or curd spreads to enjoy), and despite having a powdery, crumbly texture, was not off-​putting, like most dry scones I’ve tried in the past. If I were to try to improve** on these scones, I would ADD more FRUIT, but that’s just me being too mindful of all the butter that I know goes into scone recipes! I figure if there’s more fruit in the batter, then that must mean there’s less butter in the recipe! Hehe! I know– silly me!
It was nice to see that even though the bakers were busy baking, and the cashier (a second arrived 20 minutes, or so after I arrived) was busy filling catering orders while making sure the store was amply-​stocked for walk-​ins, that said cashier was not too busy to make customers feel not-​rushed in their selections. We guests AND cashier traded stories on favorite local haunts, favorite bakery items, and one customer even described how she presented the tomato-​pesto bread to her house guests– hot tomato soup and said bread for dinner, and everyone taking a loaf home after as a gift from their host! The cashier then added that she liked to warm the pesto bread and then add tuna on top.
Rise Up Bakery supplies four bread loaves to Whole Foods (white, wheat, cinnamon-​apple, and the fourth may be dill-​rye?), which sell at $ 7 each. Buy them here, as well as other selections, at just $ 4.50 a loaf! Don’t forget to use the loyalty cards for sliced loaf purchases– buy ten SLICED loaves and get the next one free!
I asked if RUB supplies local restaurants with their breads and was told yes, but I could not clearly hear the name she mentioned. I will edit this review once I find out for sure!
Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!
**Dear Rise Up Bakery… Please, pretty please, offer organic selections!

The Almond Toffee Bars is a must at this spot. They’ve got plenty others to choose from but its the usual chocolate chip cookies and brownies etc.

Loved the lemon bar, mississippi mud bar, and and the cinnamon roll

I hate to be a contrarian, but I have to disagree with all the 5-​star ratings. It just wasn’t that great. And I really like the idea of the place. Family owned and operated, local business, everything fresh. What’s not to like?
Well, I’ll tell you. We bought some rolls. They were just ordinary wheat rolls. No better than we could get at Costco or any of several other places. Maybe not as good. Perhaps a bit too yeast-​ey? Flavor wasn’t really right. We also bought bread. Nine grain. It was fine, but for the price I expect better than «fine». I didn’t try the lemon bar but my wife says it’s «OK». Not «great», just «OK». And finally the mint brownie was «meh». Not bad, but a bit dry, and not nearly as chocolatey as one would expect. Even with the chocolate frosting!
One bright spot was the babka. It really wasn’t like any babka I’d ever seen, having chocolate chunks instead of fine rolled layers. But that’s minor. Nuke a piece for maybe 20 seconds so it’s warm and this one was good. If I had ordered only this I would rate the place 4 stars. But the other stuff was 2 – 2.5 stars, so it looks like they get three today.
For these prices I expect better than I’d get at Basha’s. Heck, there’s another bakery less than three miles away that is better in all regards. Except maybe the family/​staff is a bit friendlier here, and their babka was good.

Rise Up is so delicious! Everything I’ve tried has been scrumptious. I am a sugar cookie connoisseur, and theirs is heavenly. We also ordered many pies at Thanksgiving and they have been amazing. It’s so cute too!

This place is a gem! Great décor, better food and even better people. We come here on a weekly basis for homemade bread, desserts and whatever other baked goods your heart desires. You can’t go wrong with any of the options.
There is always something new on the menu and the shelves. Support local business and go Rise Up. You will not be disappointed!

Husband came here because he saw a coupon. We’ve been off bread for awhile. This place is addicting. Love the tomato basil and jalapeño cheese bread. We are back eating bread. Super friendly owner.

When you enter the store the fresh smell of baked goods wafts through the air. The service is excellent. They are kind and thoughtful. They offer samples of anything you want to try and the goodies are delicious. Great experience.

Absolutely incredible cinnamon roles! The staff are warm and welcoming too. The only thing that would make this place better is if they served coffee.

Awesome little bakery. So dang cute. They have breads, cookies, granola, brownies & probably plenty of things I’m forgetting. The staff is über friendly. Everything is reasonably priced. There is usually a free sample of something on the counter. My only nix is there is VERY limited seating (two 2 tops) inside and none outside and they don’t sell coffee. They do have a small frig with bottled sodas but that’s just not the same.
Great baked goods. Great staff. Limited seating. No coffee, tea or hot chocolate. 4 Stars.

One of my favorite new places to go for sweets in Gilbert. Service is always quick and the employees are always friendly. Also, the company always provides a large variety of free samples.
The honey wheat bread is just sweet enough to be delicious and just wheat enough to be used for sandwiches. There are a lot of super delicious treats here, but my favorite thing by far is the carmelita. It’s basically a ton of soft caramel, oats, and chocolate. It’s absolutely to die for! I wish I could eat them more often! :)

I’m not going to «sugar coat» this review.
The goodies at Rise Up are as close to heavenly as you’re going to get!
I’m a Realtor in the valley. I love to promote good local business. Rise Up BAKERY goods are not just good, they are YUMMY beyond your wildest dreams!

I probably should have opted for a healthy nine-​grain loaf, but inevitably I leave this place with a cinnamon roll, orange roll, brownie, lemon bar, or raspberry scone or any combination on this list. I do wish there was more comfortable seating and the chocolate babka didn’t impress, but with so many goodies I always have something to look forward to here.

Can’t say enough great things about this bakery! Everything is so fresh and delicious.
Today is bought white bread, dozen white rolls for dinner they have both white and wheat. I also picked up a Toffee brownie and a Carmelita brownie EVERYTHING is so good. If there is something you want to try just ask.
The staff and owner are very attentive, helpful and always have a smile!
Once you try this place you’ll want to go back

Bread and orange rolls that are to DIE for! Came in with my friend Shannon for some loaves. The owner took to time to chat with and gave us samples of the PB&C brownie (go try it!)
While talking to my friend, he put a brownie in our bag. We went back, because my friend is a believer of Karma. :-) When she came back out, she said that he told her not to worry about it. DEFINITE class act there!

What a wonderful surprise! Absolutely delicious goodies ready on the spot. They were friendly and the bakery was very clean.
We bought a good selection to see how our favorites stacked up:
— Loaf of Whole Wheat and Honey bread
— Chocolate Babka
— Lemon Bar
— Toffee Bar
— Orange Roll
The chocolate babka was soft, perfect amount of chocolate, not sickeningly sweet. Pretty perfect. My Jewish mother couldn’t see how to improve on it at all. I was a big fan of the bars. The lemon bar was delicious and my favorite. Fresh lemon — nothing aritifical here! Confectioner sugar dusting on top. The toffee bar had so many layers of flavor. One bite was all I needed. The orange roll was perfectly undercooked. Soft and sweet but could use a little more orange frosting.
Delicious afternoon! I will absolutely be going back.

Finally stopped in after driving by since they opened. My willpower left me on Saturday and I decided to check them out.
Unfortunately for my diet — they are really, really good. The cinnamon rolls are moist, sweet without drowning in fat like Cinnabon’s or dry like the grocery store. I also had a blueberry scone (when I decide to eat — I really eat). Also a home run.
The staff is friendly and also seem to really enjoy their jobs. They’re just a happy group.
Free samples and nice interior.
Good bread store/​bakery. My new favorite — break the diet– place.

I decided to check out Rise Up after seeing an article in the paper. I specifically wanted to try their spelt bread since my gluten sensitive husband can tolerate that grain.
During my first visit, spelt wasn’t available, but I figured it was because I stopped by in the evening. I got a loaf of nine grain for myself. I was a little put off by the service because the person in front of me was offered multiple samples, but I was offered none. The bread was ok, but I was really unhappy with the hole in the middle of the loaf. I had to throw several slices away since they weren’t fit for sandwiches.
Prior to my next visit on a Saturday, I called the bakery at 7:30 to make sure spelt would be available. I was told it would be ready in two hours. My husband and I stopped in at 10am, and the owner said the spelt had just come out of the oven. So we could either buy a frozen loaf (um, no!) or he could slice the hot loaf but it would probably tear (hell no!). I came back later in the afternoon to get the spelt, but it had the same problem with the holey slices. It tasted fine just like my first loaf. Nothing special. Still no samples offered on these visits. My husband mentioned how surprised he was that the bakery didn’t have all their stock available in the late morning, and I agree. Perhaps they need to start baking earlier?
Normally, I wouldn’t give a place a third chance, but I like the idea of a local bakery where I can get wholesome sandwich bread. I stopped by a third time and purchased a loaf of five seed bread. This was by far my favorite! Lots of flavor. And no holes! No samples offered on this visit though. Maybe I look like I don’t want to try free goodies? Wrong. I really, really do.

So first, what it’s not. As much as I think Gilbert needs one, Rise Up isn’t a hipster-​cool bakery, doesn’t have a loaf as gloriously beautiful as Noble Bread, and isn’t (yet) using any local heritage grains (Agritopia and Hayden Flour Mill have the goods!). And none of the employees I’ve seen are covered in tattoos with beards and/​or Macklemore haircuts.
With that said, Rise Up is a really solid bakery that’s kind of safe for everyone to love. My inner hipster loves that there’s a place making good bread daily (super happy about the challah), kids will love the brownies and cinnamon rolls, and parents will love the bread bowls and fairly inexpensive loaves. And the people are all friendly, with plenty of samples if you need any tastesperation.
If you like bread (and I know you do), do yourself a favor and get your next loaf here. Be a good citizen and support your local baker.

So excited to have a GOOD bread bakery in the area. I sampled the Apple Cinnamon Bread. Over the top good. Great selection of breads. All sweetened with honey and not sugar.
It won’t take long to fill up my frequency card.
They are so new their bread rotation has not yet been established. Can’t wait I will be making daily trips.
The basics are available everyday Cinnamon rolls looked amazing. Cookies are huge.
Finally after 14 years I don’t have to buy grocery store bread.