Pink Box Bakery Cafe

Their buns are awesome. Way better than the place down the street.
Their bubble tea is spot on and they make it hot too if you want during the winter!
Try the mochi buns!

Over priced. I’m used to prices in bigger cities so I was surprised that most buns costed more than $ 2, while they usually cost just a buck in other cities. However I was able to overlook this since Pittsburgh doesn’t have a large Chinatown.
Now the taste… if you’ve never had good asian bakery before, you should come check this out. But it’s definitely not great by any means. The layout of the store and packaging of the buns are very cute. The taste is unfortunately lacking. I got the macha bun and pineapple bun, both were flavorless. Granted I did come to the store at 6pm so the food aren’t out of the oven fresh, but it doesn’t explain the lack in taste.
I would come back in the morning to see if the quality is any better

Very very cute and clean. Easy to navigate and everything is labeled properly. Prices are fair, the baked goods are all very fresh (you can see them cooling on a bake rack when walking in!). I would love if they had more savory options, however the curry puffs and «standard bakery» (cheese & hot dog buns, scallion rolls, etc.) items are enough for me! Their bread loafs — taro, coconut, raisin, and plain — are amazing (and make awesome french toast, if anyone was wondering)! Also, the staff is always really nice and willing to answer any questions.
Although I haven’t tried them yet, the «prettier» looking cakes, tarts, and macarons in the display next to the register are beautiful. Hope to give them a go for a special occasion or something!

3.5 stars
I’ve tried several items here. Some varieties I do like are the green tea/​red bean stuffing combo, the bun with taro/​mochi inside, and the roll with scallion and pork rinds. The pineapple bun was okay to me — I like mine with a generous amount of flaky topping; this one was pretty sparse on top.
I took a bunch home the last time I went, and ate it for a couple days. Had it in the fridge first and then put it in the oven, like 250 degrees for 10 minutes. I guess I discovered this by accident, but I found it’s surprisingly good hot :)
Overpriced for sure… it was average probably $ 2 for a bun. I’m used to them being $ 1-​$ 1.50 per bun.

I really need a fix of Asian bakery goods sometimes and pink box has really good flexible hours.
My complaint is that some one of their red bean buns are consistently not baked well enough. And inside is still gooey from the still raw dough. I come here every month and it happens fairly often.
I’ll still come because I like Asian bakery goods, but if the timing is right, I’ll try sumi instead.
Edit: This is my mistake. Sorry! Jennifer explained that it’s the mochi red bun.
It’s not uncooked, just the gooey rice flour layer of mochis.
Great red bean buns, I personally prefer the pineapple red bean bun over the mochi one

I can’t speak on the authenticity of these beautiful pastries but they not only look great, they also taste great. I love that they also have a selection of savory pastries which are my absolute favorite. I’ve tried the bbq pork buns, both the roasted ones and baked puff pastry ones. These are just amazing and I love getting a bunch of them and reheating them in the oven/​toaster oven for breakfast. Both kinds are buttery, savory and slightly sweet. Their sweet pastries are just how dhiI haven’t tried much in their refrigerated cases but I am always in awe of how beautiful they are. The only downfall is there is a $ 10 minimum for credit cards, which it can be hard to spend a whole ten dollars sometimes. Unless you’re getting a bunch for later like I do, bring cash. Otherwise, these pastries make great snacks!

Taste: ³⁄₅ Definitely not on par with the asian bakery of NYC/​LA/​SD. This taste includes bread/​cake/​tiramisu.
Price: ²⁄₅ I cant understand paying 3 dollars for bread that is stale and the filling is bland.
I do frequent this place more times that I want, being the only asian bakery in town.
The employee there is not chinese. She has no Idea what I am asking when I saw taro, or red bean… or black sesame (didnt know what that was)

A fantastic little Asian bakery. I don’t know if they’ve changed prices since some of the reviewers have gone, but pretty much everything I purchased was $ 2 or less.
Bread was soft and fresh, with the proper amount of filling.
Hopefully Pink Box is a permanent fixture for years to come!

Cute little bakery with a variety of different asian baked goods!
I tried their matcha bread with red bean and love it! I could tell the red bean paste inside was made fresh, because you could see the bean’s skin in the paste.
Additionally, their pork sung (dried pork flakes) bun are pretty good as well!
The only qualm I would have with this place is their variety, which was pretty limited.

I’m shocked to see such good reviews on here because the food I tried was pretty disappointing. I picked up a lot of items but none of them were very good in my opinion. I was excited to try the beautiful taro pastries (see picture), it looked really appetizing but didn’t have much taste. I also got a whole mocha roll and it had an almost fishy taste that I thought it actually went bad. such a waste since I could barely finish a bite of the mentioned food and others and just ended up throwing it out. :\ if you’re in the area, I’d recommend Sumi’s instead.

Every item I’ve had from here has been very tasty. I really like the ham and cheese pastries. BUT what kind of bakery doesn’t open until 10am? I find this incredibly odd. I’d definitely stop here to pick up something for breakfast if they opened before I had to be at work!
Also I giggle like Beavis and Butthead every time I think of the name.

I love that we have this bakery in Squirrel Hill!
I have been a few times and each thing I have tried is great!
Their egg custard tarts are very good and I love their pork buns!
They also have some great sweets and their cheese filled bun tastes like the best cheesecake filling ever!

I went to Pink Box again, this time to try more items. I didn’t have cash on me so I ended up getting five pastries on my card. No shame.
All the pastries I got were regular bread pastries with a filling inside them. I should have gotten a fruit tart, but maybe I’ll just do that next time. Anyway, the bread on these pastries is so delightfully light and fluffy. Each of them had the same impeccable consistency, and practically melted in your mouth. I don’t know how they do it, but who cares, I could eat this stuff for the rest of my life.
The first one, the almond taro pastry, was fantastic. Taro may seem weird, especially if you’ve never had it before, but it is a paste that is sort of sweet and adds another dimension to the pastry. I recommend you try it. The almonds on this pastry also add a nice crunch. Granted, you don’t taste them that much, but it’s just a nice addition to the taro and bread.
The next one I got was this chocolate cream pastry. I can’t remember what the exact name was, but the filling was rich and decadent. I bit into it and was warmly welcomed by a thick chocolate filling. I had to stop myself from inhaling it. This pastry is definitely for those with a bit of a sweet tooth.
I got a pineapple pastry, but it was not the one that was circular and had the pineapple pattern on the outside. I’m beating myself up now for not remembering the names of these, but I included pictures so hopefully that makes up for it. This pastry I found to be the blandest of all of them. The bread was great, but I kind of expected a more… pineapple-​y taste to it? Maybe I expected something different.
Next was the red bean bun. I love red bean, because I grew up with it, but it can be a hit or miss for those new to it. Red bean has a subtle sweetness to it, and almost a chunky texture to it. It adds a nice flavor to the light bread. If you’re still a little hesitant, I would suggest you still get this pastry. It’s unique and the red bean isn’t overpowering or anything.
The last I got was a strawberry cream pastry. It was two buns sprinkled with coconut and «glued» together by a cream. I liked that the cream was not too thick, sometimes too much cream takes away from the pastry. Anyway, while I enjoyed this pastry, it isn’t something I’d get again, just because Pink Box has other fantastic treats that I probably can’t find anywhere else in Pittsburgh.
One thing that is interesting is that I am not a fan of coconut, but I would eat anything from Pink Box that has the coconout sprinkles. It’s light and subtle.
I will definitely make an effort to go here more often. And will probably «forget» to bring cash again.

We finally stopped by Pink Box one night after months and months of meaning to. I really like how this place stays open till 10pm, since other nearby bakeries usually close by 7 or 8pm. After looking at our available options, my husband and I took home 3 buns:
(1) pineapple green tea with red bean filling:
I love pineapple buns, especially ones with red bean filling. This is the one bun I always get at every Taiwanese bakery. But who would have thought to incorporate green tea into it? The green tea was a really nice touch and gave the good ol pineapple bun a nice kick to it.
(2) pineapple bun with milk cream filling;
(3) milk cream puff pastry bun;
(2) and (3) were similar except for the exterior but I personally didn’t like the milk cream filling, it was a little too salty for me.
I do agree with Laura M. that this place is overpriced. I’m used to paying $ 1.25 –1.50 per bun, but here they charge anywhere from $ 1.75−2.25, and more for cakes and tarts. I see that the buns were individually wrapped which is nice and sanitary.

Yum! Great Chinese baked goods. I had a sampling of a lot of different pastries. The taro mochi buns are amazing! I could eat these all day!
The rest of the selections are all right — if you have a craving for asian buns that can’t be quenched, this will fix you up but you will pay a pretty premium for it. Prices and products reflect the lack of competition.

Recently, I’ve been shirking my duties as the resident Bakery Queen of PGH. I decided to pick up the slack on Sun. by stopping into Pink Box at around 12:45pm to grab a few pastries. I’d dropped by before, but hadn’t picked anything up, and regretted it. This time, I didn’t make that mistake, and was able to satiate my sweet tooth!
Based on the reviews of others and the staff’s recommendations, I got a pineapple bun ($ 1.75), a green tea red bean bun ($ 2.25), and a chocolate fruit tart ($ 4.99). All of them were good, but I agree with other reviewers that they seem a bit overpriced. In terms of flavor, I’d describe them as «just sweet enough,» so if you don’t like overly sweet baked goods, you’ll probably enjoy them. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t see any goods made with pandan, but this encouraged me to try some novel sweets.
Despite having visited Hong Kong, I’d never had a pineapple bun, so I didn’t realize that they didn’t include pineapple filling, but are named based on their shape, which resembles a pineapple (see photo). The green tea red bean bun, on the other hand, was filled with red bean paste, which was delightful, reminding me of desserts I’ve sampled in Singapore. As for the chocolate fruit tart, I felt that its name was a bit deceitful, given that the filling was regular vanilla egg custard – the only chocolate on it was drizzled on top, and it wasn’t even that chocolatey. Having said that, the tart was aesthetically pleasing and delicious due to the generous assortment of fruit that it contained – though the crust was rather pedestrian.
Overall, I was pleased with the baked goods and service I received from Pink Box, but I wish they’d lower their prices a bit. Given that they’re currently the only East Asian bakery in PGH, though, I doubt that will happen unless they receive some competition. Nevertheless, I’d recommend giving it a try to sample some novel and delicious baked goods from that part of the world, esp. if you’ve never tried them before!

Ahh! I love Pink Box.
We were very excited knowing that an Asian bakery is opening in this area. I have tried a few bakeries in Chinatown in Boston, and I have always liked the stuff I got there, so I was kind of happy when this one opened.
We usually get the buns, puffs, almond biscuits and some pastries to go. I really like the puffs, (the vegetarian one is the one I have tried) since it is so similar to what we get back in India :) The green onion bun and the pineapple buns are delicious too! Seems like everything is freshly made in the bakery at the back. The people working there are really cordial too! I agree, it’s a bit pricey but I definitely don’t mind paying that for the items available!

SETTING:
It’s funny how all the Taiwanese bakeries are set up the same: shelves of bread along the walls, a fridge in the corner, an island in the middle with more pastries, and then the see-​through glass case with cakes/​desserts right next to the register. Is this an official Taiwanese bakery blueprint? No matter, it’s comforting to see how things can be kept the same even in a totally different environment.
FOOD:
For a place this size, they have a decent amount of choices. I saw the usual kids at the playground – Patrick Pineapple Buns, Gary Green Onion Bread with Hotdog, Emily Egg Tarts, Roger Rolls with the swirly cream things in it (that my ah-​ma always eats for breakfast). Nostalgia hit me hard and fast like the unforgiving winter wind outside.
Then I saw something different, something a bit more fancy pants. Geraldine Green tea bun with Red bean. Drool. I love green tea and I love red bean… but together in a pastry? Let me get at that! I also got the green onion bread with the pork for old times sake… a classic favorite.
SERVICE:
Close to none, but that’s how most of these bakeries are: self-​serve. You pick up your own pastries and put them in a basket and they ring you up at the front. I could hear both the workers chatting loudly about their social life, which is fine. It would be nice to acknowledge customers and ask if there was anything we were looking for. Not a huge deal. I hate to say it, but this interaction is pretty normal in pastry shops like these. When I did ask them something, it felt like I was interrupting them. Again, normal, but I don’t care much for it.
IMPRESSIONS:
My trip to Pinkbox was not complete until I took my first bite. My childhood flashed right before my eyes. The tears of nostalgia were short-​lived as they rolled down my cheeks and immediately turned into icicles from the subzero weather. Worth it? I’m leaning towards yes. Prices are about a dollar more than I’m accustomed to back in CA, but as far as I know, this is the only Taiwanese bakery in Pittsburgh, so I will be coming back to try their other breads. I’ll have to wait until it’s a bit warmer outside, so I can blame my tears of happiness on spring allergies.

A bakery similar to those you would find in a Chinatown in a large city with slightly higher prices due to lack of competition. This place will do great if you are craving some pastries, but I’ve found some of their pastries to be a little dry, too sweet and a little sparse on the filling.
They are still «working» on getting their coffee going for a few months now. I would love to get some coffee or bubble tea with a pastry! Hopefully they start serving beverages!

Pittsburgh has a fruit tart shortage. I do not understand why because fruit tarts are what heaven is made of. So after a desperate search one night, I discovered Pink Box has Asian and European baked goods! Score!
The blueberry fruit tart ($ 3) was PACKED with blueberries. More than I have ever received on a fruit tart, and they were perfectly ripe. The custard in the tart was the perfect amount of sweetness, and they used graham cracker crust for the tart, my favorite! This fruit tart was awesome. But I spent less on pastries when I lived in NYC than here, which makes me cringe.
The staff was super super super friendly and made recommendations and explained things, which was awesome.
I really need to get back here and test out the Asian and other desserts!