IL Giardino Del Dolce

I love everything about this bakery! From the cookies to their pastries. I stopped in there today to get a few items for the Fourth of July. and for myself I picked up a lobster tail pastry. I am not a big custard, so I asked the young woman if she would put cannoli filling in there. She did hesitate at all, and can I tell you it was amazing . There is something about their cannoli cream. It’s legit, the best!! If you’re looking for an old world, Italian bakery, this is it. Best lobster tail, hands-down!!!!

Hands down my favorite bakery! I highly recommend their cannolis, strawberry cheesecake and tiramisu. The staff are super helpful and friendly. The atmosphere is good too.

First time ordering, and I wish I would have come in sooner. Beautiful decorated cake more than I expected, and the taste was amazing. Moist yellow sponge with a strawberry , banana custard filling. There was an abundance of strawberries that I had never seen in other cakes, which was so refreshing. We also tasted some of the fresh baked cookies, canollis, and strawberry berry cream boat. Everything tasted delicious. Our family orders at least 5-6 cakes a year. We've tried very popular Italian and European but extremely overpriced bakeries around norridge, Chicago, and hardwood heights. We've been surprisingly disappointed with price, taste and quality. I hope this will be our new bakery. Please to the owners keep your pricing and your quality as it is. It speaks volumes.

Amanda was very helpful in creating a cake for our 70th bday celebration! Guests raved about the taste, and it turned out beautiful. Priced right. Would definitely recommend and return for another.

Grateful for a gorgeous and DELICIOUS cake during a milestone birthday. Amanda was incredibly friendly, helpful, and professional. She made sure my cake matched my vision and exceeded my expectations. My guests raved about how beautiful and tasty it was, so please expect many new customers soon :) THANK YOU!

just stopped by after walking by it many times and had the tiramisu, chocolate mousse, and a chocolate cream puff. my fav was definitely the tiramisu. reasonably priced and friendly employee! she gave us plenty of time to look at what they offer. they have so many sweets to choose from! I definitely recommend. (:

I ordered a ton of amazing bite sized desserts for my daughter's engagement party and everyone LOVED them!!! They were delicious and beautiful on the dessert table. The amount of time and effort that went into making these desserts was obvious and I was so happy to see everyone enjoying them. I am going to use this bakery again for my next party. Highly recommend!!!!

Everyone at our wedding loved all of our cookies, pastries, etc. provided by IL Giardino; especially the giant cannolo and amaretti! The staff were so kind and easy to work with in person and over the phone. Would recommend to anyone who wants delicious Italian desserts for their special event!

I have been going to this place for cannoli for 16 years. They are the best in a neighborhood full of amazing bakeries. This local mom and pop bakeries has great fresh made treats for everyone. The service is great, though on holidays they tend to be super busy, as any place this good is. Be sure to order ahead for big days like Thanksgiving, Easter or Christmas. It makes it way easier to just walk in and walk out with the pre ordered goods.

Only place I can find with my crescent almond dipped cookies! They're so good! I tried finding bakeries closer to me that sells them but no luck. I'll continue to make the drive here!

This was the best lobster tail I've ever had! They are my go-to pastry at any Italian bakery. And the one from Il giardino was perfect, head to tail! I couldn't even get a picture lol Thank you guys! Nice employees too.

One of the best , if not THE BEST authentic Italian bakeries I've ever visited. Everything is so incredibly fresh, and the service is prompt and ever so friendly

I got a few dozen cookies and wish I had just gone to the grocery store and bought packaged. Not worth the money. Owner was unfriendly. Avoid.

Italian cookies of the gods! I nearly wept after I at a pine nut cookie! The fig cookie was amazing as we!l ...and on and on! Usually these types of all cookies taste the same, but not here! Yum yum! They make them right there, fresh - I peeked around the corner and saw multiple Italian women baking away! There were cakes and all kinds of goodies - I'll be back for that pignoli cookie - SOON!!

I've been in the area for about 3 years and seem to overlook this bakery, but no longer. The smell was heavenly and the staff was very friendly.

Amanda went out of her way to accommodate a special order for a holiday party for me. All other places I called could not do it. This place came highly recommended and I'm glad I acted upon that recommendation! The cookie assortment and giant cannoli with the mini cannolis in it tasted great and everyone at the party loved them! Will definitely use them again in the future! Thank you

This is a review of their ability to handle a large event order. NOT their products. Product tastes great. This was a wedding order...emails leading up to placing the order were friendly but....super slow response times and questions were not fully answered. They also forgot answers we gave to questions they had asked us. They didn't have enough staff for a tasting. Ok.. but not even one free slice of cake to taste? We bought samples anyways and the quality was there even on a random weekday from their case. If I wasnt so dead set at having a cannoli cake and heard good things about this place I would have looked elsewhere regardless.... Then scheduling a delivery was a total mess. First it was they could only deliver 8 am to 12 noon. After begging them they suddenly could deliver 12 to 5pm. Then the cake didn't show up. Nothing showed up. We called. No answer. We emailed as a shot in the dark. They happened to read the email...responded an hour plus later and got the desserts there another 40 min after that. They said it was a new secretary who tagged the order wrong for the next day. My sister in law ran to Tony's before we had heard anything back. They ended up reimbursing us for the stuff we got from Tony's. Only after me asking them to. If we hadn't asked for that - they were only offering a 100 dollar VOUCHER. We had a large wedding cake and 2 trays that wouldn't have gotten to the event if we hadn't emailed them the same night...yet at first just a 100 dollar voucher? We lost the floral we had for the cake during the switch and thus il giardino cake looked naked because we werent expecting to need much frosting decor because of the flowers...... they did follow what we were looking for on the design of the cake but with out the flowers it looked wrong. I get it - its a small business but from what I know its been around for a long time. Must be because of the pastrys because it's not for the event order coordination or customer service.

This bakery brought so many good family memories for me. While in a different city, my childhood was spent fondly requesting my nonna bring me to our local Italian bakery. Since that bakery is long gone, I've been searching on my travels for a bakery that can bring that nostalgia back for me. I ordered my favorite Italian butter cookie, chocolate chip on top. The cookie had the nice buttery goodness I was looking for without being overwhelming. It also had a flakiness to the crust and the perfect ratio of miniature chocolate chips to butter cookie base. This key had me eating half the box without sharing. Their cookies are a great representation of this Italian American classic, great flavor and fresh taste. The staff was very friendly making it an instant hit. While I'm not sure the next time I'll flying into o'hare, their website offers national shipping so their delicious cookies are not out of reach.

This is my second visit to wonderful bakery. The first time was four days before St. Joseph's Day, and I wanted to purchase Zeppole. My goodness, they were awesome. I was saving one to take a photo on that day, but it was looking rather poorly. So. rather than show a photo it, I made a promise to myself to go back and take photos right away for the newer items I bought. I purchased six items. but only manage three shots. The two that I saved for myself, which were the layered raspberry cake and Tiramisu were outstanding. The Chocolate Napoleon that I gave the maintenance man was awesome. And my caregiver ate her Black Forest slice on the bus. She made the mistake of tasting it and finished it before she realized it was all gone. I treated the strawberry boats to two women at the medical center, because they always go the extra mile for me. Both loved it. The salesperson that helped me, Vittoria, was amazing. This place is definitely a place is on my list to frequent whenever I will be in the area. A great variety of tasty treats. Not only cake slices, but cookies and pastry cream, whipped cream or custard filled items.

Came here to get some Italian pastries. They offer a variety of baked goods at a very fair price. But most importantly, their customer service was amazing. They welcomed us in like if was their own home. The lady talked to us as if she had known us for a long time. Makes you want to return so you could continue your conversation! As for the pastries, we got a little bit of everything. Of course we had to get cannolis. We also took home some turtle cookies, fig cookies, sfogliatelle Napoletane, and napoleons. All were very tasty, but the turtle cookies were my favorite. Should be returning shortly to get some more pastries!

Friendly staff. Beautiful and tasty assortment of pastries, cookies and cakes. Authentic. This bakery is incredible. It has become a bakery I regularly visit. Tip: Only parking is street parking.

Wow wow wow what great pastries. We purchased a few cannoli, chocolate horn, lobster tail and assorted cookies and were very impressed. Everything was fresh and delicious. The folks behind the counter were great to deal with and the price was reasonable. This place is a drive from where we stay in Warrenville and it was worth the drive. We will be back.

You don't ask a customer if they can pay for a LB of anything! Horrible service and the cookies were not that great at all

Another year, another cake, another beautifully delicious job by Il Giardino del dolce! Seriously the best.

What a lovely place! Always clean and beautiful. High quality service plus delicious sweets. Go and try! Great place to get a yummy threat for a special day.

Thank you IL Giardino for your outstanding cake and Pastries for my Goddaughter sweet 16 party. I received many many compliments on your desserts. You guys are truly the best!! Thanks again!!

We had an unbelievable cannoli cake for my wife's 60th birthday. It was so fresh and delicious . The yellow cake was very moist and the cannoli filling was perfect. They also did a great job decorating the cake. We were thrilled to enjoy this cake with our family.

This place has something for everyone. Too bad they aren't open later in the day. Tasty desserts

Love this place. I live on the south side and travel almost 15 miles just to get their cannolis. The huge cannoli shell filled with around 50 mini cannolis. We also can not get enough of their apple slices, turtle cookies and crescent cookies. It's family run and you can feel the sense of that with the way you are treated when you walk thru the door. If I can give it more than 5 stars, I would.

I have a very picky sweet tooth and do not eat sweets often until I find something delicious. IL Giardino Del Dolce is a place where I've found the perfect brownie. I love chocolate! To me, a brownie should have the perfect balance of cake and frosting. The brownie here takes me back to my childhood where I ate from homemade recipes in my mother's kitchen. This brownie had a great consistency to it and was not overwhelming! It does make you want that cold glass of milk after, but in the best way! After that, I also had them make a simple cake for my friends birthday. I showed them the picture of the design I wanted, the frosting the colors etc and it came out beautiful! They accommodated the last minute order for me (this is an exceptionally busy time because of the holidays) and I was so grateful! If you are in this area and see this place, make an effort to place and order and grab something amazing (which is anything)! Great bakery with great service! Will keep returning!

When I travel, I head to the Italian markets and bakeries. I've had cannolis all over the world including Italy. The cannoli I had here is one of the best I've ever tasted. I will definitely be back here all the way from WI. The pistachio cookie was amazing!!

Another beautiful cake decoration and fabulous taste. We have had many delicious cakes over the years but this has to be tops!! Thank you so much for your remarkable ability to please!'

I ordered my daughter's first birthday cake and it was amazing!! It was supposed to be a smash cake, but luckily we cut slices before she smashed it!! Little girl ate the whole slice! Not only was it beautiful, but delicious!

Stopped in on a recommendation. Service was friendly and prices were fair. The pastries look good, but taste like they've been frozen. Based on all the hype I expected so much more from this place.

Want authentic Italian Cannoli Cake? Go no further. This family run place is FANTASTIC! They have such an array of options.... Italian Pastries /Cookies are plentiful at this spot! Always our family go to for any special occasion .

Il Giardino Del Dolce means The Garden of Sweets and as far as Italian sweets go, the name couldn't be more accurate...a garden indeed. You will be AMAZED at the vast selection here. Your eyes are immediately drawn to the abundantly filled cases of eye catchy, gorgeous desserts. Nothing here looks or tastes boring or mediocre. Simply the BEST selection of authentic Italian sweets I have found anywhere in Chicago and I've been around... Don't let the unassuming storefront or small yet simple old-school interior fool you. They take baking very seriously here. Walking in on a weekday afternoon I could not believe the selection on hand. Even though it was a few weeks prior to St. Joseph's Day and Zeppoles were ready for the taking - cases were filled with all Italian sweets known to Italians. Overwhelmingly filled. Cookies, pastries, cake slices, tarts. I dare you to stop here and leave with only two. All desserts display a name tag, brief description and price. You will appreciate this, I sure do. Ultra organized and very clean bakery. While I've been coming here for years, it had been some time since I returned. I've tried virtually every Italian pastry you could think of, but have my favorites: Cannoli, Napoleon and Sfogliatelle. I NEVER pass up the yearly Zeppole either, BUT one stand out for me is the cannoli filling here..hands down, Sensational. Ricotta is not overwhelmed by sweetness, it shines... Superb texture, delicate. Amazing Cannoli filling. They offer 4 cannoli varieties. Yes 4. Crispy, flaky golden shell. The traditional has citron peel and crushed pistachios generously adorning each end. Citron is subtle. A chocolate dipped shell, white chocolate dipped shell and one with mini chocolate chips versus crushed pistachios...If your searching for a phenomenal cannoli in Chicago - I highly recommend Giardino... As far as custard goes, I must admit Reuter's still makes the best. Custard here is more 'gelatin like' and thick. Not that smooth, light and creamy texture I love. Nothing close to Reuter's, and once you've tasted Reuter's you will notice the difference immediately. Don't get me wrong, the custard is tasty...I've just been spoiled. When I tell you the cases are abundantly filled, I'm not kidding. They will offer two or more varieties of the same pastry. For example, the Sfogliatelle Neapolitan is filled with custard while the Sicilian version is filled with a whipped cream. Pastry shell is outstanding and made with ricotta. You can't taste the ricotta, but it makes for a very tender bite and the beautiful layers are noticeable. The custard filling is overflowing..Lobster Tails are on its own here. They also offer Cannoli Cartocci's - light fried tender dough filled with cannoli or custard. Cornetti, Cassatine, Rum Baba, Monachini, Pasticiotti, Chocolate covered Horns, 2 types of Napoleon's - Chocolate and Vanilla and they are layered with custard. Custard, cannoli and French cream Zeppoles with various fruit toppings. Expertly made and exceptionally good. Cake slices galore. Yes, you can grab a cannoli cake slice...Chocolate Mousse, Strawberry, Double chocolate, Lemon, Tiramisu, a variety of Eclairs and Cream Puffs, Cake roll slices, Carrot cake, Cheesecake, German chocolate cake, fruit tarts, cherry & apple slices....They make mini versions of their pastries when you need them for a celebration. Incredible selection of Italian cookies. So many types of Biscotti. They even have Cuccidati; an Italian fig cookie. These are hard to find and alot of work to make. My mother makes these and although I picked up a few here, I have to say mom's killed it. There is no competition. The dough was a little dry and filling was not as moist. They have Lemon Taralli cookies as well. I have never ordered a cake here but heard they do a great deal of wedding biz as well as party cakes. Considering the quality and presentation they are VERY fairly priced. Pastries start at $1.75 - $3.00. Cookies ranged from $8 - $10/lb. I must note the sweets here are not skimpy at all. Amply sized. If I had to compare Il Giardino to Reuter's (my two favorite bakeries in the city) I'd say both offer excellent cannoli, while Giardino is a notch above. Reuter's has the best custard and offers superb pastries & cakes, just not the best Italian selection. You'll find more American-Euro options at Reuter's such as danishes, coffee cakes and scratch made breads. If your looking for that hard to find Italian treat you grew up with, I can almost guarantee you'll find it here...truly a gem worth checking out..

I usually order from a different bakery but had heard from a friend about Il Giardino and gave it a try. Sorry to say I am disappointed. I ordered both iced and uniced fig cookies. The cookies that are not iced are not very good they are so dry that when you bite into it they fall apart. The iced cucidati are better and more moist. Will place order with my usual place tomorrow

As a baker I am very picky. I recently attended a bridal shower they catered the sweet table. The cake was truly amazing. The pastries unbelievable. So great I need to buy some chocolate almond horseshoe cookies to share with my daughter. Need to kerp this in mind for future events. Highly recommend!

This is my fav Bakery. Once again you guys exceeded my expectations by making this amazing super heroes cake. My son and everyone loved it ! Can't wait to order again. Thank you so much!!

This review is for service only Called this location Thursday to see if I could place a 1/4 sheet cake order for Saturday. Lady said it was totally fine, but to come in Friday morning because they close at 6pm and couldn't let me place the order at 5:45pm. First thing Friday morning at 9:15 am (they open at 8 am), I walked in to place my order. The lady at the counter said she couldn't place it because it was too late. It was still like 30 hours in advance. I didn't bother arguing, I just said I spoke to someone the day before and they told me it was fine. She said she couldn't place it and asked if I wanted to purchase cookies or something else. Ummm, no, I need a cake. Walked right out to run across the city to a different bakery who was more than happy to fill my order. Update: Based on the bakery's response, I would encourage they ensure potential customers are fully aware of their policies before confirming orders outside their norm.

I feel like Enzo and his team are my personal bakers, that's how they make you feel. Celebrated my 50th and the cakes made the affair the talk of the town !!! I will never, ever, go anywhere else.

Somehow our cake topper never made it home with us after our wedding last year. I didn't realize we didn't have it until the week of our anniversary! Il giordino made us a small complementary cake (same filling and cake as at our wedding) for our anniversary that was absolutely beautiful. I cannot say enough good things about this bakery and their customer service!! The cake was delicious. Thank you!!

Hands down the best Italian pastries in the city and I've tried other bakeries, they don't come close. Our family has been ordering cakes from Il Giardino Del Dolce for over 25 yrs and we have never once been disappointed with the taste or quality of our cakes. I love the added rum flavor, it gives the cake a perfect moist texture because there is nothing worst than a dry cake. The staff is also very friendly and the proces prices are far. They also do a great job customizing cakes. They've such a great job that friends and coworkers now order from them. Trust me, it's worth it.

It's Christmas Eve. I procrastinated. I slept in. I'm supposed to make/ bring dessert tonight. It's 1 frigging pm. I have to be out the door by 3pm and in the suburbs by 4pm!!! Sweet Baby Jesus I failed with a capital F! Il Giardino Del Dolce, I love you from the bottom of my heart! The bakery closed at 1pm, but the owner would not allow Christmas Eve to be ruined. They were willing to wait for me and put together a beautiful assortment of mini pastries. Thank God I live only 5 minutes away. I have tried other bakeries and no other bakery compares with their 5 star customer service, care, compassion and taste!

Il Giardino Del Dolce and I first met at last year's Yelp Summerfest and it was love at first bite! Who knew I would meet the Italian Cannoli of my dreams at the Irish Heritage Center?! Seriously...the BEST Cannoli in the Chicagoland area! So much so, that for my daughter's 21st birthday I ordered a Cannoli Cake that was so moist and delicious...total hit of the party! And as if that wasn't enough, I later ordered their Cannoli Dip (bowl of whipped cannoli filling surrounded by yummy cannoli shell chips) Ya think I'm kidding?!? Look at the pictures...this lady doesn't mess around! True Chicago Italian family bakery...the staff is always welcoming and aiming to please. Great selection of cookies, pastries, cakes and assorted yumminess. This has become one our family's favorite bakeries.

Have gone to this bakery for years!!! Always great service and obviously great bakery items. Just bought a birthday cake that was fantastic. Thank you Enzo.

We ordered a cake for a baby shower from here. They were very accommodating to what we wanted the design to be offering various suggestions. They provided us with samples and help us pick and design the perfect cake. We had the cake delivered to the venue and it arrived at the time we asked and perfect. Everyone was so impressed, not only with how beautiful it was but how great it tasted! They were by far the cheapest and the best service. I will be using them again and recommend them to all my friends and family.

I got the tiramisù cake for my mother's birthday. It was awesome. Very tasty and also beautifully decorated. I highly recommend this bakery. I tried some of their cookies too and they were pretty good.

Such an amazing local spot they always have the freshest pastries delicious treats and make the best custom cakes! I've used them for my daughter for five years and every time they make me a cake I'm more surprised about how amazing it is from the last one!!!just ordered a cake today for my father-in-law , they are so kind and so accommodating if you're in the area stop by it's the best bakery joint in town!

The owner was nice enough to bake another cannoli cake for me; this time with out the rum flavoring. Let me tell you, I am SOOO happy I gave them another try! It was everything I was hoping for. Fresh, moist & tasted like a great cannoli! I loved It & would definitely order this cake again. I just need to remember to order it without the rum flavoring. My kids & husband really enjoyed it as well. Not a slice went to waste. Thank you Angela for the delicious cake. Can't wait to pick up some more goodies! I have my eye on the cannoli dip! :-)

My 5 star rating is only for their custom cakes as that is all I've had from there. Amazing!! These guys are really good at what they do. They can practically make a cake look like anything and fit any theme. My family has ordered numerous cakes for all sorts of events from here (birthday parties, bridal/baby showers, engagement parties, baptisms, etc.) and everyone has always raved about how yummy the cakes are! If you need a custom cake for an event, this is the bakery you need to visit!

I love this place! From the staff to the goodies everything is top notch! We normally get the baked goods like cannoli, cookies and other desserts but recently decided to order our son's birthday cake. I am so thankful we did because it was decorated so nicely and tasted great! We received so many compliments on the cake that we are sure to order again!

If you want traditional (read: AMAZING) pastries, you have to go to Giardino. They set the standard for Italian pastries in Chicago...and probably the midwest. Other bakeries may try, but theres no comparing them to The Garden Of Sweets. I've never had anything I disliked at Giardino, everything is extremely fresh and never dry or tasteless. Just like fine wine, the more time that passes, the better Giardino gets. You'll be hard pressed to find another Italian bakery this awesome...so what are you waiting for?

I've been coming here for years. They do such an amazing job with personalized cakes using any photo you want. Their cookies and sweets are so awesome! I used to live near the bakery. Now I live further away, but I still drive all the way here to get sweets and cakes. Absolutely the best!!

I decided to try this bakery after reading it's reviews on yelp. We had a very pleasant experience and the cake was very tasteful. I opted not to have the rum flavoring in the cake. The cake and buttercream had the perfect balance of sweetness. I paid $29 for a 10 inch cake. It was definitely worth the price and I will try this bakery again.

Huge selection to amazing looking cakes, cookies, and pastries. We ordered four pieces of cake to enjoy at home, and they were all lovely. I cannot wait to order our next birthday cake from this bakery. Very clean and organized in side. Helpful staff. Easy parking. Great find!

My wife ordered my birthday cake outta here yesterday and i definitely have to say that this bakery has to be the best bakery ever in Illinois not just the Chicago area because i have been to a lot of different bakeries in town and tried their cakes on different occasions with different varieties but i am speechless after trying a fancy fudge chocolate cake from them it felt like i was in heaven i have never ever in my life had tasted a cake like that before which was so damn delicious and was full of flavor and the enormous selection of baked goods they have is amazing anybody could go nuts by seeing such a huge selection of baked delicacies i would say this place is a definite recommendation for anyone who have never tried them before. We love you "II Giardino's"

I'm almost afraid to write this place a Yelp review because I don't want it to get overrun with tourists, but it is so far from where they'd be that I don't think I need to worry. I grew up on baked goods from this place. Every Saturday - arancini on sight. I overwhelmingly recommend everything, just make sure they're open before you head over.