John L.
Yelp
Opened in August 2010, this bakery cafe was the second Korean bakery in Annandale. It has a huge variety of store-made food and pre-made vendor food. Over the years, I've noticed that their store-made food can be hit or miss. They can be good, and sometimes they're not. That includes the same food bought at different times. That shows quality assurance and quality control problems. It was hard finding store- made pastries that looked and felt good. An explanation is in my last paragraph. My wife and I visited twice recently and got 6 items.
1) Cinnamon Twist
It was a breadlike donut that was deep-fried and coated with cinnamon sugar. Good flavors from the cinnamon sugar. The donut itself was incredibly oily and mildly sweet with a strong taste of old oil. This was the worst it's ever been. It was disgustingly bad!
2) Red Bean Bread
A bun with lots of red bean paste filling. The filling was slightly sweet and smooth with a moderate red bean flavor. The bun was soft with a hint of sweetness and a nice baked flavor on the outside. It was made well and tasted great. It was a vendor product.
3) Chicken Jalapeno sandwich
It had chicken, jalapeño mayonnaise, red onion, tomato, romaine lettuce, and muenster cheese in 10-grain bread. It came with a choice of homemade potato chips or house salad. We chose the salad. The chicken was sliced deli meat. It was moist and tender with a processed chicken and salt flavor. The bread was soft and moist with tiny seeds. It was nicely toasted. The cheese tasted fine, but the slice covered only 3/4 of the meat. The mayo was peppery with no jalapeños. Overall, it was an average panini that's not worth the price. Manoa bakery makes a better tasting sandwich at a lower price.
The house salad had spring mix lettuces, tomatoes, and red onions with a tiny cup of balsamic vinaigrette. The vegetables were fresh, and the dressing was balanced. A good tasting salad that needs more dressing.
4) Wildberry Yogurt Snow
This is their bingsoo. It had shaved milk ice topped with wildberry condensed milk, wildberry puree, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries with soft serve yogurt on top. The vanilla yogurt had moderate sweetness and tanginess. The strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries were slightly sour with no sweetness. The condensed milk and puree were mildly sweet. The milk ice was lumpy and had barely any flavor. I mixed everything together, and it was fruity, sweet, and too tangy. It looked delicious, but the sourness was too strong and off-putting.
5) Italian Blueberry Roll Cake
The cake was soft, spongy, and somewhat dry. It was breadlike. The blueberry flavor was extremely weak in the cake and puree filling. The sweetness was a tad stronger. It's the definition of bland and boring. The name was more interesting. Don't get this.
6) Peanut Cream Bread
It was a bun that was sliced open and spread with a peanut butter whipped cream. The bun was like soft white bread. The cream was incredibly light. The peanut flavor and sweetness were mild. It was decent but not special.
When you walk in, you'll notice a detector for theft prevention at the entrance. What items need tagging in this bakery? I've never seen a theft detector at a bakery. That's a first. They provide tongs, gloves, and trays. Return the trays and tongs at the cash register. The service was polite, helpful, and quick. The dining areas and restrooms were clean. They have dining areas upstairs. The spacing for customers is better than Tous les Jours. They have soups, quesadillas, salads, gelato, pastries, buns, etc. I wanted to try their store-made food, so I looked at the items that were not wrapped in plastic. While I was picking them up with the tongs, I noticed that they were very hard. So, I checked them all. They were all HARD except for the deep-fried items like the cinnamon twist, croquettes, and doughnuts. I avoided any of the rolls, buns, bread, or croffles that were hard, which is not the same as crispy. On top of that, some looked a little burnt. So, my choices were limited. I suggest buying only the vendor food because they look much better and have been consistent in flavor. You can get the same vendor food at the other bakeries for a lower price. Their quality is inconsistent, the food ranged from bad to average, the store-made food needed improvement, and the prices are higher for most things compared to other Korean bakeries in Annandale. There's no good reason to come here since there are 3 better Korean bakeries within 1.4 miles. I am saddened that the food has become this bad. If you decide to visit, they have a free parking lot.
![Breeze Bakery Cafe by Breeze Bakery [official]](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69187616/menu_bread_pastry_red_bean_doughnut_01.0.jpg "Breeze Bakery Cafe by Breeze Bakery [official]")
