El Manantial Bakery

Love this place. They make my favorite ham and cheese sandwich. It’s my go-to. The coffee with steam milk is always perfect.

Mystery!!! I can’t understand how 9 times out of 10 you walk in this store and the lines are out the door and yet when try the food it has that not so fresh taste to it . That said they offer a wide selection, the flavor’s on point & the coffee’s pretty good

This store should be taken down. When I walked in I saw a bread I use to eat during my childhood so I decided to get 2, just when I was about to pay I notice how the lady took my fresh bread and exchange it with old ones. The bread was hard and bad just disgusting not even eatable. If that wasn’t enough they had roaches every where and yes even in the show case.

Poor packaging and wrong cakes put into 1 bag with disregard on how they will be arriving. Lacks engagement with the client and poor service.

Cake taste old, musty and like dirty refrigerator. Gave you a bad old after taste.

I think this place is very popular if you know what to order. I had a slice of chocolate cake and a slice of yellow cake. Both were hard and stale. The tres leches was fresh but not great. The line was out the door, so there must be something good—I just didn’t find it.

I ordered cake for birthday from there. The cake was worth the price but it has lots of cream on it. When I went there to order cake, lady on the counter was just talking on Spanish even though I told her I do not understand. This gave me trouble while ordering so its better to have somebody who understands language that the every customers speak. Also, the waiting time was long. I guess they need more staffs to work for fast service. Giving 3 stars for the cake only.

I went to the bakery today March 20th. I ordered 2 slices of pineapple filling and 1chocolate. The woman behind the counter packed them and I paid. When I got home I discovered that she had packed the 2 pineapple slices upside down and she had put the Chocolate slice in a paper bag instead of a plastic container. All three slices were crushed and the frosting was smeared. The worst thing of all is that all three slices were stale. They were hard and dry. I will never buy from this bakery again. .

A TRULY OUTSTANDING bakery. Excellent cafe con leche, delicious tortas, wonderful pastelitos. Good, friendly service. One of my "must stops" every morning when in the Heights.

I'm not from the Heights but I do frequent the neighborhood. This is one of my absolute favorite places in the whole world for an amazing cup of coffee. Be prepared to place your order in Spanish because the staff speaks little to no English. They have a variety of different pastries and they even offer a few selections of sandwiches. The Cuban sandwich is very tasty; filled with meats and cheeses and then pressed. I love their guava and cream cheese pastry, it's the perfect breakfast snack! It's sweet, savory, buttery and the right amount of flaky. The tres leches is also a very big hit but they sell out quick so bring your luck. Ultimately, I love how inexpensive they are which always makes me want to try/spend more than I should during my visit. Sometimes the pastries can be too doughy, dry, and/or stale but the prices make me not mind as much. For instance, I ordered a chocolate frosted donut the other day for 50 cents and it was way too doughy so I only ate the chocolate frosted part. It can be a hit or a miss but it's an experience nonetheless... a cheap one thankfully.

I walked in ready to buy few things. On the lower tray where cookies are, dying full size roach upside down I said no thanks. It has an A rating.

I've been buying cake and many other things from this business for over 7 years (preferably cake). Sure I've had a few errors along the way, but nobody's perfect. They never fall off and my guests ALWAYS compliment me. I live in a different borough and still manage to drive out there to buy my cakes.

Thanks to this place, my blood sugar has risen to a record high. After trying some of the excellent bakeries in the neighborhood along St. Nicholas, 181st, and Broadway, I was up to my eyeballs in sugar - but El Manatial still stands out as my absolute favorite. Sure, the pastries at 5 Estrellas are a teeny bit flakier, but the pastries here are bigger and cheaper - something that I appreciate as a poor, hungry grad student. This bakery offers the best ratio of price to quality - in fact, it's one of the cheapest ones I've found, with a guava empanada running you a mere 85 cents and coffee for a buck. I don't have a favorite - everything here is comfortingly and solidly amazing. It's like having your own Dominican grandma making treats for you - which I obviously don't have, so visiting this place is the closest I'll get to renting one. The pudin de pan is amazing - at only a buck, it's a really solid piece of bread pudding that weighs at least a pound, and I tell myself that the workout I get from carrying it two blocks justifies me eating the entire brick. Now it's time for my public service announcement - get the majerete! I've always been a fan of the puerto rican version, but this place has given me a corn fetish. I can usually be identified as that awkward girl trying hard to balance six cups of it to consume in my dark cave over the course of the next few days - that's how good it is. The good: cheap enough that you can get everything, and delicious. I haven't had a problem with stale tasting pastries so far, and if you go mid-afternoon, usually any leftovers from the night before have been sold out, and you have a fresh batch of choices to select from. Go too late and things like the pan colombiano might be sold out. The not so good: Be prepared to speak spanish. There are two ladies that speak english, but the rest have looked me full in the face and continued en espanol. This was very awkward as I was trying to recall from my spanish classes whether sesenta was the name of a patron saint, or if it was how much I owed. Additionally, some of the other customers can be pushy - if it's your turn, and you hear the word SIGUENTE!, go claim that glorious baked good that's yours! They are cash only, so be prepared with several bills in your pocket - you won't spend all of them, but you will spend!

One time the FDNY had marked off the building with caution tape because of some sort of smoke condition upstairs. But I had pre-ordered a birthday tres leches cake for my friend, so the FDNY let me through and the staff unlocked their door to let me in. I felt like a great friend, and that cake was delicious, as always.

horrible!horrible! first of all my cake was supposed to be ready by 12 i got there at 12:30 and it took them an hour. Not even the worst part. The cake i ordered and gave a picture, did not match at all on the cake. they tried telling me a whole bunch of lies and said they did not have purple icing but they had a cake that was purple. then a worker there tried to fix it and she just made it worse. don't ever go here.

Excellent. 1) I love coming to Washington Heights and finding these Dominican bakery. 2) Got the tres leches and kipe. The tres leches is fantastic. 3) Also, the price is unbelievably affordable. 4) Gotta love Washington Heights for best Dominican bakery and awesome ghetto fried chicken spots.

Cheap, delicious. I tried a few things - I can't remember what they were called exactly but one was filled with cheese and was slightly sweet and delicious! I also tried some of the cookies which I also really liked. Besides the sweet treats they offer, they also offer freshly baked breads and some savory pastries (much more my style). If this was on my way to work/school I might stop by more often because they have a large selection of goodies.

3 stars for amazing coffee and cupcakes. Their breads were kind of dry -- not sure I believe they were made same day. Cinnamon rolls were way too sticky and cinnamon sticks on the flaky side (can be good -- matter of preference). It is also very cheap -- 3 or 4 small loaves of bread and most treats for under a buck. I think the cupcakes were ¢50. If I found this spot in most other neighborhoods it would be in the very good category. The shop has very steep competition in this neighborhood -- have a hard time giving it anything other than a fine grade. I go when passing by for other things (going to Highbridge park, going to nearby labcorp) but it isn't a destination bakery like other spots I frequent. It also has lines at exciting times, so be mindful of that.

Washington Heights home to more Dominican salons, barber shops, taxi companies, and bakeries than anywhere else in the world...at least according to me. On the one hand, one might think the over-saturation is ridiculous but one should also appreciate the (theoretical) competition and subsequent low prices that it seems to create. Take El Manantial for instance, where quipes and pastelitos are still $1, rellenos $1.25, jamon y quesos $2-3, cafe con leche a buck... I could go on and on. In my new home of Albuquerque, I can't find ANYTHING at these types of prices, and my inclination is to suspect that it's because there's not enough competition. I'm probably wrong but I don't give a shitake mushroom. Anyways, yeah, there are tons of bakeries in the Heights but I like this one because it's around the way and does it's pastries and fritura right. Everything I get here is good and cheap and the employees are friendly and quick. In true New York fashion, you can get in and out of here in just a few minutes with a coffee and some pastry goods to eat as you walk or ride the train.

My favorite Dominican bakery! I used to go here at least 3-4 times a week when I lived in Washington Heights. The pastries are delicious, made fresh everyday, and very cheap. I don't know their names. I just point to the counter to indicate which ones I want. Whenever I stop by I order the bustelo cafe con leche. Its delicious coffee that wakes me up. I also enjoy the oatmeal made Dominican style. They serve in coffee cups so you can slurp it during your train ride. The staff is attentive, fast, and very friendly.

This place is a gem in Washington Heights, and it's 1 block away from where I live! Not sure if this is a good or a bad thing. The first few times I went I'd only get the coconut/ pineapple slice cake because it was the only item I could pronounce (it's delicious by the way). Today I was determined to grab something from the mouthwatering snacks they have by the storefront. I pointed at a delicious looking fried ball which was mashed potatoes stuffed with ground beef (croquettes basically but I forget the actual name of it). I still got my coconut pineapple cake (it's irresistible, and it's $1!) and coffee. Everything was outstanding! Also, I didn't know there was a Latin version of Kibbeh (quipes)! Definitely trying that next time.

I wouldn't even give this bakery a 1 star. A vanilla filling cake had mold. It was disgusting! NEVER buying anything from there ever again! There were bigger blotches of mold everywhere. I did go and return it and they acted as if it was not a big deal. I got my money back though. If you do purchase a cake from this bakery or anything else, make sure to inspect it.

Very good prices, the cashier didn't speak English but was friendly. I tried their corn bread slice ($1), tasted a day old and was slightly hard, it was ok, just the right amount of sweetness. They have a nice variety including ginger bread with raisins, cakes by the slice like carrot, tres leches, and danishes. The guava pastries seem popular with the local customers as there are a few kinds. Hope to try other pasties next time.