85C Bakery Cafe - National City

It’s been a little over 20 years now since their first shop opened up in Irvine, California. Although I don’t mind the 8 mile drive to National City (closest location to my home), I would think by now a location would be set up down south, somewhere closer to the border. The family and I love 85C Bakery Cafe primarily for their fresh, soft home baked, delicious pastries! We’ve bought cakes at their National City location before, but their pastries have been our favorite treats in the shop. Tops. I always look forward to walking inside 85C Bakery. My eyes, are all wide open, walking through the shop, looking up and down each shelf. Staring at all the pastries displayed - I want them all. I feel like a little girl at a candy shop. Unfortunately, I had my daughter run in a buy whatever looked good plus the usual pastries that we’re accustomed to getting. Had I gone inside and shopped with her, we would have been on sweets overload. By the way, there’s always a line at the register. Whether short or long, all cashiers are ready to ring you up. That’s a big plus. Unless there’s a complicated customer, rest assure, the lines do move. 85C Bakery Cafe on Fat Tuesday…why not !? Recommend 👍🏼

Food good service good but they have to do better in maintenance it was dirty table was not good hallway to go to the restaurant was a lot of bags of grocery

Great experience. I have been coming here for 4 years and the service is excellent. The Strawberry De Leche drink is my favorite. But hurry because it’s temporary. 10/10

We recently went by for a little morning smorgasbord variety for the family over the weekend and we absolutely loved the many options. Our 85C bakery back home (Texas) doesn't have such a selection. I ended up buying some for the morning... and next few days! The customer service by the cashier was also wonderful, she had such a cheerful and lovely personality. We enjoyed the visit 10/10.

My favorite place to buy pastries, berry tale and mango tale are my favorite. But this time I came the whole place smelled like wet dog or a hamster cage or something

I always come here. Everyone is very professional but one person had always stood out for me and I finally asked her name just because she’s really nice even after getting yelled by a customer for how slow the service was going, but they were doing just fine… They just had call offs. Rose-Lu, (I’m not sure if that’s how you spell her name), but she’s the sweetest. Oh and she makes my drink the best as well!

They sell strong Vietnamese coffee. I always buy their marble taro bread, choco bun, and coconut snow cubes. My daughters like their mini lemon cupcake.

Had the red bean bun and a hazelnut latte - delicious! Individually packaged and so much variety. Great spot for a casual treat and caffeine pick-me-up!

85 degree bakery is my go-to bakery for when I need to pick something up for a gathering, event, or birthday. Their selections are good but I think could be better. Their drinks are always good as well. Their rewards program is also really good. I love their monthly deals!

I frequent 85° Bakery at least every other week for their drinks and pastries. The location I visit depends on which area I'm in or where my errands take place. The chain offers rewards for its members and has good drinks and pastries. Although I have been coming for pastries for years, I've only recently discovered how much I like their drinks. The Sea Salt Matcha Latte and Mango Matcha Latte (seasonal) are quite good. However, I feel like the service is lacking at this National City location.. oftentimes, they seem to be short staffed and the line moves rather slowly. Customer service could also be better. It was very hard to decide whether to give them 3 or 4 stars.

Update: Now they can't serve hot drinks? Cashier was unapologetic and unphased as she explained that they couldn't serve anything hot. This has happened twice now. My issue coming here was the coffee machine being broken SEVERAL times, and now they cannot service hot drinks. Not sure why there is always a problem at this location. I've been to several 85 degrees all over the West Coast states and this has been the only location to have issues. I think I'll just get some coffee at Starbucks across the street.

This location on has been on the decline for years. It was recently closed for a renovation, which was surprising given that the space seemed fine overall -- save the seating arrangement. Now that the redesign is complete, I cannot understand why all that time any money was spent. Yes, the outdoor area with covered seating is nice. But, the only notable interior changes/benefits are that there is a clear delineation for the line and seating, and there's now some backsplash tile work. There is now unnecessary open space and much smaller display cases for bakery items. Significantly so. This location often had an issue with slow stocking, but the smaller displays don't give the impression that there is more in stock. Same problems. Low inventory. Understaffing. Overextended team. Lack of general cleanliness behind the counter. And they rarely ever have boxes -- only bags -- even to this day. What a disappointment. You're better off driving all the way up to Clairemont Mesa for better inventory, service and ambiance.

I visited this location around 7 pm and was disappointed to find that many of the pastries were already sold out. The oolong milk tea I ordered didn't quite taste like oolong, which was disappointing. The ambiance was pleasant, but the limited selection and inaccurate taste of the tea were a letdown. I hope they can improve on freshness and taste consistency in the future.

I love this place, I normally get a box full of tasty treats to share with my friends or coworkers and will get a coffee or milk tea to go. I've had the milk tea, the Thai tea, the sea salt caramel iced latte, the pudding milk tea, all of which I love. I've never had an employee be rude or anything like that. They're always kind and courteous which I appreciate. This place is usually busy but sometimes it is more busy than other times. But I definitely recommend it.

First time coming to this location. The place itself it's super big, clean, and plenty of tables to seat on. They have a bunch of variety to choose from. My main purpose was to pre order a Mother's Day cake the lemon one. Lines can be super long but goes fast and quick. They have an app where you can earn points and also order. Employees are friendly except for this last time we went. My sister didn't liek her drink and the employee made her feel so uncomfortable for returning her drink. I loved my hazelnut iced coffee. And my chocolate bread. The Mother's Day cake was amazing and also the mango roll. My mom and sisters also loved it! Except for that little incident. The mango pana cotta is to die for.

I needed something to eat! Since Family House is no longer in the area, I thought maybe IHOP or some other place that was open, but then I saw 85 C and was so glad I did. Easy parking which is always nice! Great selection of pastries. I just started grabbing different ones and planned on sharing with my colleagues when I went back to work. My chocolate almond croissant hit the spot! The guys really liked theirs as well! My only complaint was the wait! There was one cashier working, and one barista making coffee. So the customers pretty much waited for their coffee before leaving the area. Meanwhile, I'm getting hangry cause I have to wait for the the others to get their orders, and when you're hangry, the time seems to drag! Other than that, it's a good place to come to.

Food and drinks are amazing whenever they're available. The one time I'm actually able to order a Viet coffee I get this half filled cup? Everyone is super friendly and helpful but my god the management of this store and its menu is a joke lmao

Been here a couple of times now. They always have a good variety of pastries and cakes available. The pastries are always fresh but sometimes their cakes are kind of dry. I wish they had the self serve ordering system for drinks and cakes like the Clairemont location. Lines can get pretty long and busy on the weekends but service is quick. This is a smaller location but parking is easy. Overall good location if you're in the area.

Their bakery items are great but it has been over a month with no ability to make hot coffee. It's really sad because we absolutely love their 85 degree C coffee, but they haven't been able to make it for over a month, and now they can only make "iced" drinks. But then they don't have Vietnamese coffee. I really hope they get this issue fixed soon, I mean Home Depot isn't too far if they need a new water heater...

Seeing a trend after looking at other reviews, I myself had a similar experience. Second time at this location, and it was definitely the worst of any 85 degree store I've ever been to in any state in the country. Last time I came was before the remodel, and it was not like this at all. Hardly any selections to choose from. The long lines? First off, I will not blame employees because I understand they're probably working by how they're trained or managed. One cashier with a line basically out the door. You have employees restocking items that frankly don't need to be restocked, and one cashier drowning because people have picked the shelves clean and have a tray full of breads. There's a second register there, the first thing that should be done is to staff the second register to quicken the line. This is the basic strategy of any retail store ever, especially one that doesn't have to worry about making stuff to order, since the drink kiosk does its job well and barista gets drinks out very quick. I waited 40 minutes in line just to purchase 4 items. Every person at the cashier was 5 minutes, that's incredibly slow. Management clearly needs to fix the priorities of this store, because it is completely backwards. Definitely will be avoiding this location, because it seems like this is just everyday here and wasn't just a fluke since the redesign.

85 is always good. I stopped in on my way to the airport, so I could take some home. Unfortunately, it was so busy with a line spiraled all the way to the door, I couldn't wait... not this time. But, from b the look of things, the staff were working hard, they kept the shelves stocked and drinks were constantly coming out. I was so disappointed I wasn't able to take amything back to MN with me.

I love 85 Degrees. I haven't been to one since moving out of Orange County two years ago. When I saw there was a store located 7 minutes away from my parents' house, I immediately told my husband we were stopping by first thing in the morning after we land in San Diego! As I remember there is nothing better than stopping by in the morning and getting sweet pastries. I absolutely love everything. Depending on what they have on the shelves is what I usually buy. I love their custard filled buns and my husband likes the savory pastries. I usually get excited and buy way too many pastries. Another must try are their cakes. They are so good and not too sweet IMO. Their coffee selections are also a must try. Staff was friendly and the shop was nice and clean. I will come back every time I visit my parents.

I've been going to 85° for years now throughout California, and I don't recall having any serious negative experiences at this location. Sometimes they are out of or are maybe not making certain pastries and sweets my family and I favor on certain days, but that's always opportunity to try something new. They usually have a great variety of yumminess to choose from: pastries, cakes, breads, specialty desserts, and my favorite - iced espresso drinks! I love their Iced Mochas and Iced Vietnamese, though sometimes the current supply shortage affects the availability of the latter beverage. Service is often wonderful and efficient. The line is long sometimes, but they tend to go at a decent pace, sometimes faster. Staff is very friendly, and it was funny when a young employee saw me old-school swipe a card instead of tapping like I normally do (okay, it was my boyfriend's old-fashioned card, Lol; he wanted to pay that time). Apparently, the employee had never seen a card swiped before or just didn't know their payment system allowed for swiping, which made the situation a brief "When I was your age..." conversation. :) It's nice, cool, and clean in there and they have seating available. I'm often on-the-go these days, but I would hang out there. Parking has never been a problem unlike the insanity outside of Seafood City. Haha...

I don't know who manages inventory at this location but they do a terrible job constantly out of boba never have any change on hand for those who wanna pay with cash, it is a good place for drinks and bread but management of inventory and making sure things work properly for the business to run smoothly is absolutely terrible

We usually go to the Balboa Mesa location but checked out this location recently. Our visit was a bit hectic due to rude customers, impatient staff, and many items running low or being out (it was early afternoon). Despite all of that though, we were able to find a few bakery items (the berrytale, chocolate cookie bread, marble taro, and the white chocolate strawberry). Upon checking out, we also ordered a frozen marble taro with boba and an iced sea salt caramel coffee with boba. We were overall satisfied with the baked goods and our drinks, consistently good flavors on everything that are fairly priced. We hope that the atmosphere improves if we were to visit this location again.

CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!. The line wraps around the store yet it doesn't occur to them to open up another register. Will not patronize this place again.

Not really fascinated with their baked products. Well presented baked goods, but it didn't satisfy our taste buds, up to now we still have unopened bread that we purchased, not satisfied with the price that we paid for. I wish they'll improve their baking products. I am sorry to rate this bakery this way; but, this is what Yelp is all about. My review is a constructive criticism so that this bakery will improve their baked goods Peace

I really love the food and coffee here! It is my go to spot every morning but this location always has something out of order. Either the coffee machines are down, there is no decaf (I can't drink caffeine) or the self serve machine is down . It would be nice to see things working more often so I can enjoy a coffee more frequently . But besides this the coffees and food taste amazing

I actually don't understand why it's so bad lately? Maybe it's the permanent fixture paper sign saying they're unable to make basic shit. It could also be that they only ever have one cashier. It's a mixture of stuff that's so easily fixed hello, wake up? Don't bother coming here. There's a boba bar and desserts within a 5 minute walk from here. Boycott this dumpsterfire

Dear Management, your cakes, pastries and breads are delicious. Your staff is amazing, very friendly and helpful. Is there any way that you can display each bread's name on the shelves? Some have but a lot do not. I would like to know the names of the breads I pick and I'm sure there are many other patrons who would appreciate it Thank you.

They have 8 people walking around looking busy and one poor cashier helping everyone in line, I stood in line for 45 minutes. Never coming back to this location again.

I've been coming here for years and ever since the remodel every time I come in the afternoon there is hardly and selection of bread options. When I asked they said I have to come early. Before there were stocking throughout the day. The restrooms are very dirty and the trash doesn't seem to be taken out much. The staff and very busy and don't have much down time.

really love their bread and i was excited to try their drinks but i'm not sure what happened here, shrinkflation at its finest

Oh my god. I'm not sure what's been going on, but I will say that the service here has been terrible. As someone who also works in food service, I understand the long wait times and that it can get busy. But, my god it's -- to be fair -- complete shit. Employees are walking around looking lost, no one is checking the online orders, and why are drinks taking forever when there's no barely anyone there? Staff your store better and train these new hires. The matcha is good though!

Do not come on Mondays they have the worst selection of bread and food and there coffee machine's is broken

I've been coming to this 85 bakery for a long time and they don't make the same sea salt caramel coffee anymore. I don't know if it's the person that was making the coffee or they just need to do another training and follow the recipe. I saw how they focus on chit chatting instead of making your drink taste like how you would imagine it would be. They used to make it really good but now it's always a miss. Too bland, watery and you can't taste the caramel and the coffee. What a waste of money!!! I gave them a lot of chance to change my mind but their sea salt caramel coffee really sucks now. Look at the picture below. Even the look of it taste bland. The barista needs another training on how to make a sea salt caramel coffee. What a waste of coffee.

Better and cheaper than Paris Baguette, in my opinion. Service is fast and friendly. Coffee, smoothies, tea, and pastries - sweet and savory. Cakes. "FRESH BREAD!!" Whatever you choose, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Download the app for coupon promos and reward points for free stuff... Been here too many times. When I go here, I go big and make it count. My haul today- Drinks: Sea salt iced coffee Mango Peach Smoothie Frozen Marble Taro smoothie Breads: Bacon & cheese Cheese Dog Elote Hawaiian Chicken White Chocolate Strawberry Marble Taro Matcha Chocolate Bun Matcha Red Bean Roll Berry Tart Sugar Cream Cheese Coconut Custard

This is seriously the worst 85 degrees. I've given it several chances since it first opened years ago, but it continues to disappoint. Unfortunately, this is the only store in the southbay so we really don't have a choice when craving the brioche. Inventory is always low or like today, barely any on the floor. They never have boxes which is useful and efficient for traveling. The service is slow and you can't really blame the staff as they are understaffed today, 2 employees checking people out with one making the drinks. Management needs reassess this store and need to do better to improve. They need to follow what the other stores are doing as far are streamlining. The 2 stars are only for their pastries. Everything else needs improvement.

I had such high hopes. The majority of the packaged pastries weren't labeled - ended up not picking anything, didn't want to pick something I might not like. We came in 2 hours before closing so I didn't expect every cake flavor available. The display was pretty much empty with the exception of whole cakes. We picked slices of Red Velvet and the Black Forrest. We both said the same thing - the cake was meh, the frosting was amazing. I'll give them another shot earlier in the day because I really wanted options. And a good piece of cake.

We should all be boycotting this store for the sake of the employees here!! Everything has been horrible since they "remodeled" a month or so ago. They now only have one cashier at a time and the lines are quite literally out the door. I've witnessed this during at least three visits at different times of the morning. They're constantly out of the old favorites they used to offer, and it's not worth the trip and wait anymore. Mostly, you just feel absolutely horrible for the poor employees having to work their rear ends off!! BOYCOTT

I stopped in to get a slice of cake to go for my dad's birthday and was pleasantly surprised. I have heard many good things about this bakery. Price: Reasonably priced! Many of the individual items were under $5 and seemed really fresh. My slice of black forest cake was $3.75 which is comparable to most bakeries around. Food: The cake itself was delicious and moist. My dad is a huge black forest cake fan and he loved this cake which says a lot. I would definitely go back and get an entire cake next time! Service: Absolutely outstanding and definitely earned its 5 stars. The lady at the counter was so helpful and welcoming, she helped me pick which cake and wrapped it up in a beautiful box for me to take home. She was so friendly and made my experience memorable.

Pastries, cakes and coffee are good. However, service is slow especially for coffee. They usually have only one or two people making drinks. The store is nice, clean and large.

Came in to order a jasmine green tea with boba and I was informed they did not have any large cups, this was during lunch, How do you run out of large cups in the afternoon? This location is okay, The staff didn't greet me when I walked in, I am all about Customer Service and that was disappointing. I will give them another try and see how it goes. Stay tuned for another update.

One of my favorite places to go! The bread is always fresh, soft and delicious! And they have a variety of options from sweet to savory! The service is always great and it's always busy, so that says a lot in itself! Besides the pastries being delicious and the service been friendly and fast, the inside of 85 C is beyond cute!

I ordered online and on the App it says it will be ready in 25 mins. I get there and my order wasn't ready. I waited a little longer until I saw the one making the drinks go to the bread area and started chatting with someone who seemed like a friend. She started making a drink that I thought was mine but when she finished, she handed it to the friend. I got upset and lined up at the counter to see what's going on with my order. She then asked for my order number and looked for it in the system. She did not apologize or anything. She started making a few more drinks before mine. I had been waiting for a while. When I received my drink, it didn't have coffee. I ordered iced sea salt coffee. I was already very upset and I just left. Worst customer service I've experienced.

I had ordered boba and pastries I only received the boba without straws how am I supposed to drink it without a straw ? And yet I paid for pastries that's what I was most excited about to not even recieve them !

When I go here to National City to visit my sister and my mom, I pretty much go here all the time. Great selections. I've been to 4 different 85c's and this is my favorite. It's big with wide selections. I've tried everything. I love the 85c coffee, sea salt coffee, and everything on the menu. This place is the best!

Love it. Besides the line normally being long, food and drinks are always great. Workers are nice.

If it were Farenheit, it would be 185 degrees. A very popular bakery, a good counterpoint to Goldilocks across the street. Crowded in the morning, crammed with inventory, not so busy in the PM, and lots of empty shelves. A typical bakery. Prices are still reasonable, but who knows about the future?

Fresh baked goodness for a reasonable price. If something's not out just ask and they can check in the back for you.

Was craving something sweet today. Decided to head over to the bakery after grabbing some sea food boil across the way. It wasn't busy as I thought for a Saturday but everything was in stock and super fresh! Quick check out service and cheap goodies! Clean store. Helpful staff. Plenty of parking.

Honestly, this location kinda sucks. There were about 6 employees there today but no one seemed to want to work and did everything very slow, even though no one was in the store. They ran out of boba, which is fine, but the girl who went to the back to "check" never came back, and made us wait a while until we were able to modify our order again. The guy helping us at the cashier was nice but I thought it was odd that he clicked a different pastry (brownie instead of cookie) bc he was "lazy" to look and said it was the same price anyways. I thought it'd be helpful to put the accurate one to check inventory and ofc as a customer, I wouldn't know it was the same. When I received my drink, my Thai tea had some spillage so I asked a girl worker for some napkins and she rudely told me it was in the back of the store, then when she realized they were out (yet another thing they weren't stocked on even tho there were no customers at the time), she asked me if I wanted napkins anyways. OF COURSE, my drink was dirty. I don't think she should be working if she's going to be this rude towards customers... My Thai tea drink was kind of milky and the color was so light for a Thai tea. I wouldn't say it was disgusting though, if that's someone's preference. The passion fruit green tea was good though! The chocolate cookie is also really good too, so I'd recommend. The only reason why I would not and am not coming back is because the service sucks. I think the employees need more training in how to do the bare minimum.

Is this shop even open? Sign said 03Feb2024. Still nothing. I've been trying to order from them all week...

I'm addicted to this semi new Sea Salt Chocolate Milk Tea and this review will be focused mainly on raving about this drink! It's the 9th day of this new year of 2020 and instead of hitting golf balls at National City where I dropped off my boyfriend to hit balls, I took off to satisfy this strong desire for this drink to avoid being out in the cold of San Diego's 59F. I know my counterparts in New York would be wearing shorts out there at this temperature but I'm always cold! but I tried this drink cold a while ago skeptical of a chocolate tea combination. It just delightfully surprised me how the flavors worked so well. I didn't even taste the tea part of this drink! I highly recommend this tasty delicious drink and can't wait for the opportunity to return for another! Awesome drink!

This is specifically for the customer service experience I got today. I came in to get a cake, the display was very bare. I wasnt sure if it's because they're still putting things out or if they were all out of cakes. 2 emplyoees were talking while putting some things away. I said excuse me and apologized for interrupting their conversation and asked if there were anymore cakes. One of the girls got annoyed but assisted and said theyll look on the back. They came out with a red velvet cake and said the display and the red velvet is all they have. There was a cake on the top corner with no display so i asked her what it was and she stared at me annoyed and asked which one, i pointed to the only one in the corner and she grabs a name display inside and just puts it in front. Seriously so freaking rude and no customer service personality what so ever.

I've been going to this bakery frequently for over a year. I always purchase pastries, and every once in a while, I get drinks. This time, I ordered a medium Milk Tea with Boba and a large Milk Tea without Boba. The boba on the medium one was all clustered together, and the big one had a stem looking stick (see picture). I never had issues with drinks before, but this might make me stay away from them for good. My second issue is that the workers acknowledge military discounts but do not apply it. I have contacted them about these issues through their website but never got a response.

Always use to come here however always super low staffed during peak hours and always out of items.. This is the 2nd time I come in around 10am and they have no passion green tea and no boba. I mean if they know those are there big sellers why not have in stock!

I come here like at least once a month, and when I do, I always get a big box full of yummy treats. I recommend the matcha bread, milk tea boba bread, the cheesy hot dog buns , mango panna cotta, and if course the iced milk teas! But you can't go wrong with anything, honestly, and so reasonably priced!