Caramelo Bakery

This is a great little local bakery with a broad selection of different pastries, cakes, and other treats. They also have sandwiches and empanadas which are delicious! Limited indoor seating; it seems like most people get things here to-go. Prices are great for the quality. I'd highly recommend this place for a quick breakfast/brunch/lunch option. For the newcomer: most of the baked goods are in glass cases. Go to the front and pick up a little basket and tongs, grab what you want, and then go to the cashier to pay for your pastries.

Another good bakery in Wheaton, MD. Price is very reasonable. Anyway, the taste and quality aren't quite consistent, sometimes. There is a lot of Spanish pastries and bread styles. (I never try yet.) Their cake option doesn't has many kind but for me it's enough choices and most of them looks cute. p.s. Anyway I like Caramelo Bakery that they are closed quite late for bakery shop schedule and also beautiful graffiti art wall outside the building.

The cakes slices that were sold to my husband tonight are not edible. They so so dry I can’t even imagine for how long they have been there even the cream was dry and discolored. Please when people give you their money don’t sell them things like this. The strawberry on the top was completely rotten.

Stopped by for empanadas, tres leches, and horchata. All were delicious 😋

I bought a small cake here for a birthday, and it was a hit! It was a vanilla cake with fruit and coconut with a whipped cream frosting. It had they perfect amount of sweetness, and it was super moist, reminiscent of a tres leches cake. The prices here are great, too. This small cake was only $18, but a much bigger cake was only $45 and a medium was $30, if i remember correctly.

I was a regular but after getting stale food I stopped coming. I went back and the staff was rude. I will not be back, it's a shame because I really like the food.

I went to buy a tres leche I asked the lady 3 times are you sure the piece of cake is good To her thats the way a 3 leches should look like I got home and my husband told me this is not good but he kept trying to figure out what’s wrong I told him let me see and I taste this piece of cake and it was just wrong the bread and milk were rotten and it smelled like it was there for days and the jelly was bad and it smelled like rotten jelly Don’t buy tres leches there …btw try calling few times never answer

Truly delicious baked goods. Try the spinach and cheese empanadas, and be sure to get as many pastries as you can. Be careful though, that will be a lot because the prices are very very very reasonable.

Their empanadas are the best! The spicy sauce is a must to accompany the empanadas. The parking is not the best. To get a spot, I go during non-busy hours.

Another good bakery in Wheaton, MD. Price is very reasonable. Anyway, the taste and quality aren't quite consistent, sometimes. There is a lot of Spanish pastries styles. (I never try yet.) Their cake option doesn't has many kind but for me it's enough choices and most of them looks cute. p.s. Anyway I like Caramelo Bakery that they are closed quite late for bakery shop schedule and also beautiful graffiti art wall outside the building.

We randomly stopped by Caramelo Bakery to grab a cake for a last-minute holiday gathering. From the start, it looks like Caramelo is a the place to be since there were a lot of people were picking up their orders. I think there were about 12 people in line ahead of us. Although it was the place to be, I did notice that ordering and pick up was a bit unorganized. I think it would have been more efficient if one person was ringing up the orders, and the other two people were collecting the orders. I mentioned that because when it was our turn to order, we received two significantly different prices for the cake that we were interested in. Of course, the cake ended up being the higher of the two prices. For our order we went with the tres leches cake. It was kind of interesting because I've never seen (or made) tres leches in a cake form; I've only seen it served in a pan so the excess milk would not leak out of the cake. That said, the cake was AMAZING. It was so amazing that one of party guest who isn't a fan of cakes/desserts went back for seconds. I definitely look forward to trying more items from this bakery. Interestingly enough, I really want to try the bakery's roll. I said this because most of the folks picking up orders were picking up trash bags full of these rolls.

I stopped by looking for empanadas, but didn't see any (close to closing time). For the time, they still had plenty of cookies and other pastries in the cases, so not sure how long they keep them in there. The items in my photo are: elephant ear, pastry with cheese, sugar donut. I was excited to try the cheese pastry, but it was too much bread and little cheese (deli cheese slice). The elephant ear was good, I would get that again. The sugar donut wasn't mine, but said it was good. All were less than or a little more than $1. Place was clean and employees helpful. Parking is tight, so park on street if nothing. I'll return someday to look again for the empanadas and see if the custard pastries have any more filling than the cheese one I tried.

I've only had the salteñas from here but they are very delicious. I've had the chicken and beef. Both are good. I've never been to the location though. They have always been brought to my house by my uncle.

I didn't find the pastry nice. It was extremely dry and dense (for the Mexican style bread). I also didn't find their cakes moist, they were either dry or soggy.

Prices were very fair, but the treats were just okay. We tried to tres leches cake and a couple cookies and they were not exceptional.

Very good but the order taker did not give me the Italian garden salad I asked for and it ruined my plans for my meal the next day! Idiot said the rigatoni (no pork!!!) comes with a salad and I said I know and I want an extra one !! I said add the salad I'll pay! I just can't stand when these morons don't take their job seriously and ruin people's meals

I only go here for the empanadas and I loveeeee them! They are very affordable (I believe $2-$3 each) and great size. My favorite one is the chicken + potato one, but I have also tried the chicken and beef one. The chicken one has a sweeter dough, while the beef one has raisins, which is great if you enjoy raisins in your empanadas. I definitely recommend coming early for the best selection because they do sell out at the end of the day. Fairly friendly staff as well and it's def a plus if you order in Spanish!

I've driven by the different bakeries in the Wheaton area so many times, and I've always wondered what the treats tasted like. We finally took an afternoon to try them out. The cinnamon sugar fried dough (kind of a doughnut) was amazing! We got a few other treats, but nothing else measured up to that. In all fairness, I had never been to a bakery like this before. You need to know your central/south American pastries by sight because there aren't any labels or descriptions. The price was absolutely right and it was a fun adventure. Before I go back next time, I'd love to try to find a guide to the pastries so I can have a better idea of what I'm picking between (though there was something really fun about it being a complete surprise)

Caramelo Bakery is a popular bakery selling pastries and cakes from throughout Central America. It's near the Wheaton Metro Station and there's a small parking lot in front of the bakery. When you arrive, they give you a basket to place your pastries in. Off to the side are a few tables for sitting and a coffee station. My daughter and I ordered a large coffee and three large pastries (the guava empanadas was the winner) and our bill came to $3.50. They took our credit card even for a small bill like that.

This my first time here and i am glad i have found it. The store is right on the corner so you really can not miss it. Thay have a good selections of sweet hispanic bread and some cakes. The person behind the counter was very friendly and nice. Definitly worth a repeat.

Love walking here to get the empanadas and my bread for the week. Would definitely recommend if you're in the area, they're baked goods are definitely very authentic South American style.

Caramelo Bakery is my go to place for breakfast to go in Wheaton: a Beef empanada with their green hot sauce. I ABSOLUTELY love them! I get my kids' birthday cakes there too; they are moist and not too sweet. Love this place

I'm a sucker for pastry cream, custard, or anything with a sugary white center. Which is why when I went up to counter and saw this truly honey-golden-brown donut-looking sub roll of a pastry, where if you look closely, you'll see was split and layered with custard; my heart melted a little bit. Likely of disease, but at the time it felt reminiscent of love. I asked for this baby arm sized contraption in addition to two waters. At first, I thought she was gonna get me 2 glasses of tap water, but after I had paid 4 dollars, which I assumed was for the mini-cake sized donut- she told me that the bottled water was in the ice cold refrigerator standing next to the door. Was it good? Yes Was it soft? Yes Was the custard delicious? Oh, surely Whilst looking at cases bursting full of $1.00 frisbee sized cookies, and large counter refrigerated cabinets brimming with layered cakes glazed with neon frosting, so bright that you could wear a single piece of this cake running in pitch black darkness and be safe and sound, you might not realize that this little bakery is also cooking up tamales, empanadas, and saltenas. Where they find the time, I have no idea. Empanadas are savory and quite tasty, but noticeably a bit old. Tamales are respectable and would be welcome in most Latino households. Tres leches cake here, of Yelp's Self Guided Wheaton Culinary Tour fame, is perfectly wet with balanced sweetness, served cold enough to replace lemonade on any of the upcoming brutally hot days. Parking is quite limited in front. You might want to venture around the corner to Elkin st for more bountiful options.

Ohhhh yes. This place is great. It's incredible how many baked good they manage to pack into this place. Everything you could want, plus lots of things you didn't know existed but should want. 5 stars for the empanadas. They have chicken or beef. I had the chicken, and it was perfect and flavorful inside, with green peppers and peas (I think) and wonderful and crispy on the outside. I saw that another reviewer buys them by the dozen and freezes them, and that's actually an awesome idea- I bet they freeze well. We had tres leches cake, which my phone has insistently autocorrect to "leeches" several times now. It was very good, although it had a layer of strawberry flavor that I didn't care for. Not sure if it was usual, or just a daily variation. I just didn't eat that layer. We tried a croissant-like thing filled with custard, which was amazing, and a sort of cookie sandwich with caramel and anise flavor (not my fave, since I don't care for anise). They had literally dozens of other items, piled high, both sweet and savory, although heavier on the sweets. There were napoleons and pre-cut layer cakes in 8 different flavors: chocolate, coffee, cappuccino (which is different from coffee, I guess), strawberry, caramel, "fruit," Oreo, and others that I can't remember. They also had a large selection of full sized cakes. Nothing is labeled, and knowing some Spanish would probably be helpful, although the woman at the counter made a valiant effort dealing with my lack of Spanish skills. Not sure exactly what the prices were, but everything was extremely inexpensive. Two empanadas, tres leches cake, croissant, cookie, and two sodas cost me $11. I docked them a star because the seating area (3 tables) was unbearably cold, due to constant door traffic. It is probably much more pleasant in milder weather.

Can I give ten stars!!! The place is so affordable!!! I was so so so so shocked I got a whole tons of baked goods for $15. The place is a little tricky to find because the name outside the store is not what the bakery is called. Would be back as this is my new fave spot and obviously it is no french bakery but it takes me back home. I highly recommend!!!! You can come sit down and have your baked goods or take it to go.

Oh my goodness The best bakery in town and the empanadas both fried and baked offf the hooook best empanadas ever!! And don't forget the green sauce with the empanadas the cakes are amazing and cheese bread

Caramelo Bakery is a ray of sunshine on a rather dismal strip of Georgia Avenue in Wheaton, known for its diverse dining options. This little shop serve authentic Venezuelan and Latin pastries. The quesillo, a rich Venezuelan flan was very good, but I absolutely loved their tres leches. They also had a large selections of cookies and muffins. The guava bread (or tart) looked appealing and convinced me to return to sample it on another day. One of the other things I liked about this place was that it had a nice neighborhood feel. I can't wait to return and sample other treats. The wedding and special occasion cakes look beautiful!

When I was on the hunt for an ATM in Wheaton, I stumbled upon this little bakery on the corner, just off Georgia Avenue. I walk into this quaint and clean bakery and I'm not really sure what to get because nothing is labeled and there is no real menu listings anywhere. Oh well, carbs, glazes, sugars, icing...can't go too wrong! I see tongs to pick up the selected baked goods, but no plastic bags. Ahh, that's because I'm supposed to pick up a straw basket and place my selections in there! Gotcha. I opted for a lightly sugared croissant looking treat. I played it safe this time. At the check-out I decide to ask if they had any tres-leches cakes. Si, claro! Muy bien! She goes behind the counter into another refrigerator and places a sizeable slice of cake into a plastic container and tells me that both items will cost me only $3 and some change! What a deal! I take a bite of the cake when I get into the car - delicioso!! Moist and sweet just like tres leches should be, with a lightly whipped cream icing. What's interesting with this cake though was that it has a strawberry shortcake twist to it. This place is authentic, delicious and reasonably priced. I'm glad I don't live too close however, because it could really start costing me!

I drove from Columbia to check this place out, we are Mexican and miss having the sweet breads,. Covid ruined our trip to Los Angeles,, so I been looking and I'm so happy, the breads were yummy, allot of pastries and cakes, tres leches, pineapple bread,. They sell empanadas too,The staff was friendly, we I'll def be back,,

The best empanadas!! The pastry they use is so thin and delicious. The fillings are spiced so well. The pastries are good, not mind-blowing, but this place is 100% worth it for the empanadas and breakfast. the sweet breads were good but I wish they had more savory breads. I got a cheese bread from the case but it was stale/not great. Also the prices are good.

This place is so gosh darn cheap! You can get some baked good for $.50, fifty cents! You can't get anything for fifty cents anymore! YOU WILL NEED CASH! They accept cards after a certain amount only. Personally I am all about their cake! The tres leche cake and flan is like a guilty pleasure for me. Their fruit tart is okay, not the best but it taste homemade. I haven't tried their empanadas or other baked goods because their cake is too good for me to resist. It's really close to the Wheaton Metro, almost a block or so. I live really close and I have to resist the temptation to go here. A hunk of cake is like $3.50, its great and really filling. They have whole cakes as well that you can purchase, that are so much better than those pre-made things in grocery stores. Try this place, your tummy won't regret it.

They have the best empanadas I've ever eaten. (I'm saying that as someone who's lived in S. America.) I order some chicken and some beef by the dozens, keep them in my freezer, and microwave them as needed. Great for meals or snacks. They also have many other goodies such as desserts. I did need to speak a little Spanglish to place my order. They do take credit cards.

Caramelo Bakery is pretty damn good and very cheap. For Halloween I was looking for goodies to bring to the office. It was close by so I gave it a shot. I'm used to buying desserts in D.C. which are a couple of bucks more than the ones in Wheaton, MD. so I was expecting a certain dollar amount. I was very pleasantly impressed by the size of the desserts and the prices of them. I ordered some tiramisu looking pastries that came in different flavors. I got the Oreo, Mocha, Chocolate and Caramel. They were a big hit in the office and some of them had to cut them in half because of the size. They were quickly devoured and the crowd gave it a thumbs up! A big thumbs up.

If you want fresh baked Latin pastries and breads- this is the place to go! LOVE coming here in Sunday after church to pick up fresh sweat bread and empanadas! Staff speaks little to no English, but are very friendly. So just walk in, pick up a basket and thongs and pick out your Fav breads from the tempting display of baked goods....go up to the front and pay-- and then just enjoy!

The tres leches is EVERYTHING. Although the staff couldn't speak English very well, they greeted me with friendly smiles and tried their best to explain the different pastries they had. I bought several, all of which are great, but the Milk Cake is out of this world amazing!

The tres leche cake is very good. Their empandas are also pretty good. Too bad the service sucks.

Pan dulce, alfajores y otras galletas, pasteles, empanadas, todo a buen precio, recién hecho. Tambien ofrece desayunos y almuerzos. El servicio es rápido, en una ubicación accesible.

Get the empanadas. Seriously. Get them. The chicken are delicious. Beef are cool, but chicken is the winner. You won't regret it. Enough said, for real. I make empanadas Dominican-style. These are different- definitely not like mine, but it is a welcomed different. Seriously- go get 2, and thank me later. I've had the papaya milk shake which is apparently a new thing they're doing. Eh! Not great but not terrible either. The prize winner.....the empanadas. I'll wait for the thank you's!

We picked up four different pastries last night, and I could tell if two of the ones we selected came straight from the oven that they would be nice and fluffy as opposed to hard and dry. The pineapple pound cake was quite good though.

Worst experience ever!! My husband bought me a tres leches cake here for my birthday, trying to do something nice for me.... half way eating my slice, I start tasting this awful cheese curd like taste.... I ran to the kitchen and started vomiting! It was awful to be vomiting on my birthday I took the cake back and just got a fake apology and a refund but that doesn't make up for what I went through. I gave the manager my name and number and asked for the owner to call me so I could be sure they knew what Happened but they never did, makes me feel even more upset that they don't care about their customers. I still can't bring myself to even look at a tres leches cake...

DO NOT EAT HERE - THEY SERVE RAW POULTRY. My coworkers and I ordered lunch from here today and WOW, I had the worst experience with this place. Wish I could give zero stars. I ordered a breaded chicken sandwich with a side of fries for take out. It was delicious until 1/3 of the way through, I bit into raw chicken!! I examined the rest of the chicken breast and the entire middle of the breaded cutlet was not cooked. I called the bakery to report this, and the person on the phone was very nice and agreed to prepare another sandwich. However, when I went into the bakery to return the chicken, the cashier took my tray, went to the back, came back out and told me, "we only replaced the chicken. We left everything else the same." I explained to her (ALTHOUGH SHE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN) that the raw chicken had touched everything in the sandwich and that it was all contaminated and that it all needed to be replaced, not just the chicken. She went to the back of the bakery and a man I assumed to be the cook came out and told me he could only replace the chicken because only the chicken was raw. I told him, Sir, this is cross contamination, you CAN NOT just replace the chicken because it has touched everything in the sandwich, it is all contaminated. He became argumentative with me, and told me, "well, you ate the chicken, so you are contaminated too."(THIS IS NO JOKE, HE ACTUALLY SAID THIS TO ME). I responded, "well, if I am contaminated and get sick, then it is this restaurant's fault for serving raw chicken". I repeated that he needed to replace my entire order as it had all been contaminated by the raw chicken, and that they could get into serious trouble with the health department by doing this sort of thing. The cook told me that his boss would get mad because another woman came in a few months ago complaining of the same thing. Then he just waved me away and told the cashier to replace my entire order. I could not believe the treatment I received in this place, but what really was outrageous was how blatant they were about not following safe food handling practices. A lot of people could get food poisoning or Salomonella from improperly handled food. My coworkers and I will never eat here again because of their poor customer service and poor food handling practices. Hopefully I do not get food poisoning from this place. Customers: Beware.

I loved the bread here, but not so happy about the cleanliness. I have observed them not washing the utensils they use to serve the bread between customers. Also, I saw a lady drop one of the tongs and gave it to the lady behind the counter to wash it, but she didn't and she gave it to another customer without cleaning it. During covid they should be more careful and clean between customers so this is unacceptable.

This place is fantastic. The baked goods are all incredibly fresh, cheap, and delicious. My birthday cake came from here. It was Tres Leches. My Mexican friend tried it and said it reminds him of his mother's. There was not a crumb of it left. It was truly incredible, and it made my birthday extra special. Other highlights include various buns and bread products that are stuffed with cheese. Also, so many different types of cookies. Every single one I tried was delicious. I love this place. Get the tres leches cake. Get a basket and try a bunch of different cookies and buns. A basket full of baked goods will probably run you $10 if you REALLY fill it.

FYI - they only speak Spanish - Called to get some cupcakes delivered/ordered and I asked the woman do you speak English and she said IN ENGLISH - "I don't understand what your asking" I had to ask 4 times, and then she hangs up.... Go there at your own risk.

Drove all the way from NW DC but they were CLOSED. The listed hours of operation should be updated. Smh.

Caramelo has some of the best cake I have ever tasted!! I came to this bakery after my boyfriend wanted me to check out a few local bakeries for our son's 1st birthday party and from the moment I stepped in, the smell alone had me convinced! The inside is very clean and neat & the woman i spoke with, Maria, was very nice. They have 2 books for you to look at with ideas for cakes and a huge display case of yummy looking desserts right at the register. I couldn't resist so, I bought one and only paid $2.94! I mean, these are huge pieces of cake! We went with a mickey mouse cake, ordered the day before and it was ready by 11 am the next morning Will definitely be back for more! Thank you, Caramelo!

I've been to this bakery several times when working in Wheaton. I've had both savory and sweet items. Dishes I can't pronounce or know how to spell. They have one thing on their menu though that I find to be absolutely incredible and it's the cheese empanadas. It's simple. Fried dough with cheese inside. The staff, who is excellent, provides cups of House made green hot sauce upon request. That hot sauces compliments the empanada flawlessly. To get five stars with me a restaurant has to bring something to the table that I regularly crave. That I would consider driving long distances for. A dish that I would plan a Saturday around just to satisfy my craving. I don't know if anyone else has had this experience with the cheese empanada from this bakery but I honestly can't get enough. Everything else I've tried has been high quality as well. I always wash down my meal with a Mexican Coke which tasted better to me than American Coke because of the natural sweetener and the cool bottle.

I live in VA and will stop pass this bakery any time I'm close to Georgia Ave. Their beef empanadas are the bomb.com and the green sauce that come with, sets them off even more. I normally will clean out their supply. I always ask, "how many are available?". Once I bought all 8, last week only 5 were available, bought them all. Love this place, I have bought a few of their other bakery items, but nothing stands out quite like the empanadas.

I love this place!!! the pastries are so delicious and fresh, can't wait to grab more and more

I try to stop by this Peruvian bakery whenever I'm in the Wheaton area. It can be hard to find a parking spot being that it's on Georgia Avenue, but other than that this place is awesome! They have the best beef and chicken empanadas at a very reasonable price. They also have these chicken pot pie type chicken empanadas that are also really good. If you like sweets, they also have an enormous selection of baked goods. They look good but I haven't tried them.

The flan is huge and looks like a flan, but doesn't taste like a flan, they add something pink or so, but it taste very very different, I tried to buy one every month and same thing over and over

Their cakes are delicious. If you are buying something that's pre-made then this is one of the best places. If you are ordering a cake with specific instructions then good luck to you! The problem is language barrier. I wanted a cake for a birthday party. They messed up my order real bad. Instead of Minecraft theme they had some couple's picture on it! Was supposed to pick it up at 10 am and got it 4 hours later. I am never ordering cakes from them again. It's not worth the stress!

Can always count to have fresh pan dulce from this bakery, the beef empanadas are also very delicious they have this side green sauce that's nice and spicy that ties the whole thing together. When you come by gran the pastry that has cream filling and red fruits preserves its amazing.

I've been here twice now. I love tres leches cake, but theirs has some strawberry thing going on with it that I don't care for. I wish they offered plain tres leches or other flavors. The last time I had some cream/caramel/layered pastry that was good but suuuuuper sweet. I also wish they labeled the desserts so you don't only have to go by how they look. They are reasonably priced. I'll go back on occasion.

I love this place. The empanadas are world class. The pastries are amazing. Even coffee is good. I love their sandwichs, all made with fresh homemade bread.stour can a filling breakfast with coffeeyou less than the price youd pay for fast food. We ordered a two-tier cake from them and got a beautiful surprise. To top it all off, they are the friendliest people on earth.

Love the cheese bread & jelly rolls. So delicious! Their cakes are not the best I've had but pretty darn good. Saltenias are amazing, they taste homemade. I wish I could give them 4.75 stars. Staff is always friendly!

The cake was not ready on time. I waited about 25 minutes after I got there. I specifically asked for colors (turquoise,pink,purple) it's a kids birthday not a damn wedding. They overdid it because it was soggy and dripping out the box. The side of my pants were wet after getting out the car in about a 15 minute drive.