Frances Bakery & Coffee

Love their cronuts or as they call it, «Frances Donuts»! I prefer the original flavor than the others and they’re $ 3.85 a piece. I have yet to try any of their cakes since I usually just come here for the cronuts. Come early since they do run out pretty early in the day! Parking is free for 40 minutes with validation (gives you time to go on a boba run to Twinkle Brown Sugar across the street!)

Everything I got has been amazing here. The quality and taste of the chocolate raspberry cake and baked cheesecake is above and beyond delicious.

This place, from these people, make pastries and truffles as well made and delicious as any you will find. Great location, but if this chef had a boutique shop in a high traffic area, we would all know about it in a short time. In the meantime, I will stop in time when in the area and enjoy the low key vibe.

For the best Cronuts in Los Angeles, come here!!! They bake fresh croissant-​doughnut hybrids here daily. Their selection includes their original, chocolate, blueberry cream, Nutella and a strawberries and cream. All great choices! They also sell macarons and a variety of pretty cakes and pastries and fruit tarts. Frances Bakery also validates for parking in their lot, so that’s a plus!

Come here for their «donuts». Let’s be real they’re cronuts, but for legal reasons they can’t call them that.
I usually get the nutella «donut», which comes with a custard filling. Definitely worth trying if you haven’t had one before, but does it compare with the original from Dominque Ansel? I’ll let you guys know this upcoming summer.
For LA sake, I highly recommend trying it as a snack after grabbing a meal in Little Tokyo.

Very simple no frills bakery with nice service and a beautiful selection of desserts.
Elegant cake slices priced at bit high, most items are just under $ 5 and pretty small.
I went with a cronut at a dollar less and it was very tasty and fresh.
Strip mall location with easy parking and they had a really nice selection even late in the morning, very light and not as heavy as some versions I have had before, worth returning for some of the cake slices next time.

The cronuts are to die for! So crispy and the custard filling is so delicious! They also have a green tea chocolate mousse cake that’s amazing as well. You have to call in advance if you want the whole cake (everyone at work loved it).

I wasn’t aware they sell Cronuts until viewing all the Unilocalees reviews. After the first bite into the blueberries n chocolate France’s donut, I know why all the fuss! It’s good! France’s made good cake but they are not cheap. This is my all time top choices among all Asian bakeries. Stop by yesterday to pick up some sliced cakes/​pastry sad to know they don’t make Neapolitan in slice anymore … Knock off one star cause the cashier/​server girl use her bare hand to pick up all the cake, I think it would be nice if they have glove or something …

Love the cronut! The texture is perfect. Been trying the cronut and this time, we got the green tea chocolate cake and it is good!
Layers of green and chocolate melt in ur mouth!
Very nice little store to chill n chat over a dessert.

Found out about this place through an article online, claiming it to have the best cronuts in town.
Not impressed.

I come here for the strawberry cronuts. They are heaven! They’ll run you about $ 5 a pop but they are sooo worth it. Fresh strawberries and delicious custard. It’s not too sweet. They’re just perfect. If your on the hunt for a good cronut this is your spot.

Frances Bakery is in a small plaza that has a lot for parking – buy something from Frances Bakery and you can validate your parking ticket! I believe it was the first 40 minutes are free and there are different prices for parking depending on the time you come and go.
I wanted to try this place because of how much people raved about their cronuts/​macarons/​cakes but sadly I didn’t think it was all that great. The lady that helped my friends and I out was super nice and patiently waited for us to decide on what we wanted. There were many options for macarons and slices of cakes, but only one cronut left. We ended up getting a regular cronut, two macarons, and a slice of tiramisu cake. The cronut was alright and wasn’t anything special, the same could be said about the macarons (mostly hard and flavors were meh) and tiramisu cake (not that sweet, almost biiter).
If I’m ever in the area, maybe I’ll come back and try their other selections, but for now Frances Bakery was alright.

I ordered a cake for my friend’s birthday on the phone here, but I have never physically been there yet. The lady is really nice although she was the only one who worked there at that time that she could not pick up the phone while she had customers there. She called back and also again to remind me that their closing hour for pickup.
I ordered a 7.5″ square Passionfruit Mousse cake, it was really pretty and delicious. The taste was really refreshing and not too sweet, and the cake on the bottom was soft and moisture.
It was about 37 dollars for that size of cake which was good for at least 10 people. Because it was one of my friend’s favorite dessert, so totally worth it. Not a place you would choose to have a cheap cake, but the quality is really good! I know they have cronut now, and I haven’t got chance to try it. But I will definitely go back for it.

Open for 30 years, Frances’ is a Little Tokyo coffeeshop staple. Located in the Honda Plaza, they serve up delicious Lavazza coffee and french baked goods. If there are any Europeans in the vicinity longing for some homeland coffeeshop ambiance, this is where they will be.
The interior décor is interesting. The ceiling and wall trimmings remind me of some french baroque chateaux. A picture of Audrey Hepburn stares at you when you walk in. There are some sample photos of possible themed cake designs they can make; one is of Minions and another is an animé character. The Café plays a good variety of classical music.
So if you find yourself at 2^nd and central and want to skip the monotony of the usually Starbucks shuffle, check out Frances! The cronuts are delicious but if you want a croissant you’ll need to arrive earlier than later as they sell out daily. Bön apetit!

I tried the rose, strawberry, lemon, salted caramel, seasame and they were delicious. My favorite was satled caramel and strawberry.
I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t had macarons in a while, but these were huge! I wish they’d pack my pretty macarons in a box so they wouldn’t get smashed before I getting home. But it’s okay, I am definitely coming back here!

Came here around 10am on a Saturday. Went up to the view glass to look for some cronuts. hmmm… only saw couple. Feeling left out, I asked a lady if they ran out. She asked «how many» I said «2-​reg and 2-​Blueberry». She told how she will have it ready for me ^^ SWEET!
Waited a little but was happy that I got some of them fresh cronuts!
HINT: Just ask nicely and it will be given! ^^

Anytime I’m in downtown and around Little Tokyo, I always go here for their macarons because they have THE best green tea macarons. The texture is perfect, and the flavoring is just right. I do like the other macaron flavors, but there’s just something about the green tea that I love.
They also have other types of desserts, like cronuts, cake, chocolates, etc. I have tried the earl grey and green tea chocolate pieces, and those were pretty good as well!
Parking kind of sucks because it’s located in a private parking lot that requires payment, and the only other type of parking is metered street parking.

Located inside Honda Plaza Shopping Center.
Came here awhile back to try their Macarons. The bakery is clean and organized. Seating is available inside. They offer a plethora of baked goods and it’s all very tempting. Tried 3 macarons and the total came to about $ 5.55. They were well made, slightly crisp cookie with a smooth cool cream in the middle. The macarons had a nice bite to them and were cakey in the middle, great! Service was friendly and quick. I will have to come back one day to try their cronuts.

I f*cking love doughnuts. I f*cking love croissants too (and other flaky pastries). So, naturally, I should f*cking love a combination of the two, right? Not quite. Having had a wide variety of cronuts over the past year now, the fusion of the two things still has yet to appeal to me more than its individual parts. That said though, Frances has been the only place I’ve tried on this side of the Pacific that’s managed to elicit an «ooo» from me.
Calling in to reserve an order a few days prior (this is highly recommended, lest you run the risk of them having sold out), I managed to stop myself at three, getting their chocolate, strawberry and custard, and blueberry flavors. The best one, by far, was the blueberry, followed by the chocolate, and then the strawberry cream. While the croissant portion of them were all equal, something about jam and pastries just… works. Though, to be fair, the blueberry one was also the only one I waited long enough to take home and toast. I suspect that, had I allowed myself the same delayed gratification with the other two, they would have been almost equally as delicious: almost, because, well, I do really just love jam.
***Accessibility Info***
Venue — A small-​ish bakery, with some two to four tops along one side, and the display cases and ordering on the other. As is usually the case with bakery display cases, the topmost shelves may be a little difficult to see: that said, their display cases are a bit shorter than most, so this isn’t as much of an issue.
Bathroom — Didn’t try them, so no comment.

I had a rough day, and needed to TREAT MYSELF. I drive by Frances on my commute home everyday, and yesterday was when I decided I needed to make a pit stop. The bakery itself looks very old and dated. There are plenty of seating inside, but it’s definitely not one of those places you want to hang out at and take cute pictures of your pastries.
I stopped in to get a slice of their semi sweet chocolate mouse cake. It was a $ 10 minimum to use a credit card, and this was one of those times i desperately wished I had cash. Asked the register clerk what else is good, and they recommended the CRONUT. I’ve heard of a cronut, but never had any desire to try it… but since I was here I picked up two of the Original Cronuts.
FLAKY LAYER AFTER LAYER OF DECADENCE. The custard filling was good, but overkill for me. It was definitely tasty but way to sweet. But that chocolate mouse though.

Fantastique! Les macarons, les gâteaux, et les autres choses que les gens vendent ici sont absolument délicieux, et les prix né sont pas trop chers.
Summary: Everything here is delicious, and nothing is too expensive. The prices reflect the quality of the food.
Everything here is delicious and well-​priced. The prices for macarons might seem a bit steep, but they’re actually pretty standard. Macarons are a pain to make, and they make very good macarons here — crunchy, egg-​like shell encasing a gooey center, with perfectly formed macaron «feet» in the middle.
The cakes here aren’t too sweet — perfect for someone like me, who can’t tolerate milk chocolate because it makes my throat hurt. The green tea cake was very good and light. I love Japanese cakes because they’re not too rich but just rich enough to satisfy your cake cravings. Yum.
I remember when I went here with my brother, the lady at the counter offered me free samples of amaretti-​like cookies. They tasted amazing; they were slightly buttery and chock full of almond flavor. The texture wasn’t too crunchy, and it was heaven. After I took one, she said, «Oh, why don’t you take one for your friend, too?» Who? Oh, my brother?
The staff here is very sweet. The food is a perfect fusion of Japanese and French cuisine, and the tastes blend very well.
Vive Frances Bakery & Coffee! (Long Live Frances Bakery & Coffee!)