Pain d’Épices

The quality is pretty high, but their Pain d’Epices is not the real thing. It’s made with molasses instead of honey and with white flower rather than rye. It’s plain old American gingerbread with a fancy name. It’s good on its own terms, but it’s not pain d’épices.

This bakery is incapable of making anything less than delectable. Their pear tart is one of my favorite desserts. Their cakes and cookies are delicious too, and always fresh.

Beautiful little french patisserie, amazing pastries, cookies, desserts…
Totally worth it!!!

Location: it is a neighborhood based bakery shop for sure. The store is so small that they do not have any seats. But it is lovely making me feel like I was back in Paris somehow. And when you came into the shop, you would be surrounded by all great bakeries, like cookies, cookies, cakes, cakes and croissants and croissants. LOL
I had their chocolate croissant because it loooks fantastic. It was crispy because of the almond outside but inside there’s no texture and it is soft. But it is not rich in chocolate. So I was pretty disappointed.
Service: the guy was pretty nice.
Price： almost 4 dollar for the croissant.
I will just say that it is okay. and a cheat day spot for upper west side.

The owner is such a nice guy! He’s Moroccan and makes French pastries like a pro. We came late at night, so understandably the selection was diminished. He said he had sold out of a lot of items during the day. He still had over a dozen different options in the display case, and many wrapped cookies and other pastries on the side. You can tell the items were made with care.
We couldn’t decide among the three chocolate cakes, so he chose for us. It was absolutely delicious! The mousse was eye-​rolling good. We had chocolate mousse with chocolate ganache in a chocolate shell. We also tried the lemon tart. I loved this item too. The base of the pastry was thicker than I had had before in a lemon tart, but I loved it. It cut some of the tartness of the lemon out, and gave a satisfying buttery flavor.
The items were delicious, but they’re not cheap. We paid $ 14 for the two pastries, which are both quite small. However, dessert is a gift from the gods, so rarely have I regretted ordering dessert, no matter the earthly costs.

I have hit most of the French bakeries on the west side and this is the best. It is a little hidden and has no where to sit, but their pastries are amazing. The apple turnover is one of the best with a lot of filling and a flaky buttery crust. The croissants are just like in France. Go in the morning when everything is warm — they open at 8am. Such a wonderful find!!!

Swung by here on a whim to pick up deserts for after dinner with friends. What a pleasant surprise. First, feels family run (assuming it is) and thus is very welcoming atmosphere. Super helpful and willing to answer any questions and help pick out/​match the best desert for the occasion.
We got an assortment of the small cakes and tarts, all were delicious! Also, very fairly priced.

Super tiny but adorable local bakery that has crammed a pretty wide variety of cakes, pastries, baked goods and cookies into a very small space. The owner is very friendly and was helpful in giving me details of the flavors of each of the pastries I was debating.
I bought 3 small pastries — a mixed fruit tart, a dark chocolate mousse cake and a thinly layered chocolate and hazelnut pastry. All were delicious and a huge hit at the small dinner I brought them too. You can tell that a lot of care and high-​quality ingredients were put into each bite.
I was even happier that they accept all credit cards (yay) and that they provided me with a pretty bow on the box free of charge when I saw them behind the register. Definitely worth the $ 5 per pastry. I’ll definitely be back.

This sweet, little bakery staffed by sweet, little hipsters is the definition of a sweet, little hole-​in-​the-​wall. Blink and you’ll miss it. Though the prices are on par with other pricey Manhattan spots, you get more bang for your buck here, like the banging Chocolate-​Almond Croissant, Raspberry Mousse, and my favorite, the Hazelnut Dacquoise.

Tried their croissant and coffee — all fine, though I wish they’d warmed it up*. Should have asked, they probably would have obliged. Staff is friendly, there is a couple tiny tables.
(*) Note to myself and others, if you don’t get their fresh batch, meaning baked within an hour or so, it’s not going to be great unless you have them reheat that croissant

I live right across this place and had an Apple turnover for the first time, this is the best Turnover I ever had. Seriously, it is so good! And as they see to bake them often, they are still warm! Delicious!!! Everything is so good in this bakery!!!

Their berry-​topped torte was mmmmmazing. Creamy and buttery and the sweet and tart berry combination on top made for a complete and delicious mouthful. Normally I’m a «chocolate is the only dessert» kinda gal, but this is jaw-​dropping.

This tiny bakery has yummy pastries and goodies. I’ve tried the cheese danish and the chocolate-​walnut brownie, and both were excellent. ⁵⁄₅

Good but not sure if it’s great.
I was lured by the fantastic Unilocal reviews and charmed by the cute interior and amazing smell of buttery baked goods. Got a moroccan croissant and a dark chocolate tart. Unfortunately the croissant was somewhat of a letdown — the interior was much more dry, bready, and chewy than I was expecting, and the small amount of filling was okay but not nothing memorable. The dark chocolate tart was good, perhaps slightly sweet for my taste, but for others it may be fine.
It could be that I was just unlucky, or that the other types of croissants have a more buttery/​flaky/​fluffy interior. I will go back and give more and other varieties of croissants a try, and I do want to try their pain d’epices at some point as well. Til then, the croissants at Ceci Cela take the cake in my book!

I’ve eaten far too many almond croissants in my lifetime (sorry waistline), including many in Paris. This place gave me one of the best I’ve ever had! I was wandering the UWS deciding on an afternoon snack, when I saw this tiny place! It’s adorable and so was the sweet old man who helped me! It’s a pleasure to support small businesses such as this in NYC! Go!

Not sure how much I want to share this little gem of the UWS, but Pain d’Epices and their incredible quality and service deserve the 5 stars! I’ve tried everything in this place and is impossible to have a favorite, everything is delicious and fresh. This is my to go secret place for desert when invited to a dinner party. Everyone will always ask me at the end where I got it from cause is just perfectly done. Try their rice gluten free bread… Best bread ever.

How good are the pastries from Pain D’Epices? Good enough to wrestle a pit bull for!
True story: I picked up a coffee and almond croissant earlier this week and headed to the park with my dog. When we got to the dog run, a pit bull grabbed the bag from my hands and tried to get my croissant! Without even hesitating, I wrestled the bag from the dog’s mouth to save my delicious breakfast. No, I didn’t eat it because #gross. I was a little miffed that the owner didn’t offer to buy me another, but at $ 3.50, I went back and got another! I pride myself on being a connoisseur of almond croissants and this one is definitely in my Top 5.
The coffee is awesome too! Super friendly service!

We love this place! Delicious French baked goods that they also sell around the corner in their Muffins Shop!

Probably my favorite bakery in Manhattan. There I said it. So now it is.
This place is easily missable because it stands farther on the corner under a dark awning. It’s small and has no seats but fine by me. I’m just there for the delicious pastries and the quick line. THE MOROCCAN CROISSANT IS A MUST. Let me say it again just so we’re clear, THE MOROCCAN CROISSANT IS A MUST. The outside is flaky and drizzled with powdered sugar. The inside is soft and sweet with honey and pastry cream. This place really does remind me of the kinds of pastries I ate in Paris and am grateful that I have this pastry shop to tide me over until my next European trip.
I’m honestly a little surprised that not as many people know about this place but oh well, MORE FOR ME!

Delicious and fresh. After living a couple blocks away for two years Jeff M. and I finally decided to give Pain d’Epices a try. We had a cheese pastry and a peach pastry, plus a whole wheat baguette that we saved for dinner. It was all delicious.

My favorite barkey in UWS!
Ordered a cake for birthday. The cake has multiple creamy layers, including peanut butter, chocolate, and cream. Sliced almond covers the whole cake generously. The size is huge, enough to stuff eight young adults.
Service is fast and very friendly. One man patiently explained the ingredients of all the cakes they have and gave me great suggestions. I got exactly what I wanted.

A cute, teeny bakery. I came in here looking to buy a bit of dessert for me and a friend at the end of a day, and even though it was late, they still had a nice selection of sweets and pastries. I spent minutes deciding, fighting the temptation to buy three or four things when I’d meant to buy only one.
I went with a little round cake I think was called the Pascal, and then I was going to ask how business was. «How,» I was going to ask, «can such a small bakery afford rent on the Upper West Side?» Before I managed to ask, I was told my little cake was eight dollars.
But the cake was delicious, really well done, it felt light but rich, all crumbly layers and coffee mousse goodness, coated in slivered almonds. Worth it.

Place has a B inspection rating and as soon as you walk in, smells like egg. No fine pastry place should smell like raw eggs.
Do not be fooled by the photos, this is an unpatched hole in the wall with a creepy looking back room. It can be easily missed as it sits in the Walton residence bldg and scaffolds make it even darker. No place to sit and the person who worked there was not only sitting down but also busy talking politics and did not even acknowlege our presence when we walked in.
Highly rated Unilocal reviews with a B inspection and egg smell dominating the place with zero service, can only come from clueless UPWers that are too eager to rate their new bakery downstairs. Walk around the area and surely will not be the case at a proper bakery.
Yuck, I walked away w a creepy dirty kitchen image in my head.

How do you know when a french bakery is good? When it’s run by french men!
This place fulfills my chocolate croissant dreams! They also have macaroons, tarts, bread… Anything your anti-​diabetic heart desires. Come early in the morning to get pastries right out if the oven. I had a chocolate scone last week and it had perfect texture! I don’t even associate scones with the french. Anything they make turns to gold!
A little on the pricy side but you get what you pay for! Promise!

The really nice guy who runs this place handled the ‘eccentric’ (alarmingly entitled) UWS behavior of all three customers ahead of me. I finally* went with the moist namesake item here, and understood the eponymous decision (though I wouldn’t make such a term the name of my joint, for search or pronunciation reasons.
*Sadly they had run out of items I wanted to try, like the Concorde and almond cake.

This quaint little bakery is cozy and welcoming with a variety of freshly made Viennoiseries and other French pastries, tarts, and breads.
I got something sweet and something savory. I first chose their Cheddar Scone. Aside from it being the size of my face, it just sounded great. And, it was. It was buttery, herby, and had a subtle cheddar flavor, not overpowering the whole scone and making it overwhelming. The outside was perfectly crisp just around the edges and the inside was soft and buttery.
Then, I went for their Moroccan Croissant, powdered sugar on the outside and a pastry cream with honey on the inside. The exterior was a bit crunchy, and then the inside is hollowed out from the pastry cream and honey inside after the baking, giving it a soft and light texture and sweet flavor on the inside.