Isabella’s Bakery

Incredibly affordable, delicious and not too sweet baked goods. The owner (well, she referred to herself as the owner's wife) talked to me for a bit, and gave me a sample of something I hadn't tried from Guatemala and told me her family has run shop for 20 years. I'd much rather go here than the corporate chains down the block. And I'd love to try the Christmas tamales if I'm in town for the season—I bet they're amazing.

I came in today because a coworker told me to check Isabella’s out! I have never tried pan dulce before and asked the woman at the counter what to get. She was so helpful! I went home made some coffee and tried it… wow so good! I love trying new foods that were never accessible in my small town. I will be returning and trying more! Helpful, affordable, kind, and great food, what more can you want! This place left me with a big smile!

Small place with tasty treats. Not much room to sit or work. Sunday afternoon they had the few chairs they had put up to indicate no sitting down. More of a take out place for baked goods. I had a pineapple turnover that was fresh and tasty. And a Jarritos to wash it down.

we went to the counter three times in ten minutes if this is not a sign for you to go I don’t know what else to say

The food is so delicious, affordable and home made, the bread is fresh and very tasty. I'm so happy I got to try different items, definitely venture out and try some of their recommendations. The service is excellent, the ladies behind the counter made sure that we had everything we needed and checked up on us often. We got awesome recommendations and will absolutely come back to try all of the different food options they have. Cash only, but there's an ATM at the 711 across the way.

I’ve never had such a soft and delicious donut in my life. I will be craving these on and off for the rest of my days. I would take a picture but I ate it so fast and forgot. The lovely woman working this morning was so kind and patient to two dudes who had no clue what to order. Do not regret getting one of everything to try cause it was all so delicious. Can’t wait to visit again!

I was in Andersonville last week, and so I visited Isabella Bakery to get some sweet bread. The lady at the store was super nice and friendly. Their sweet bread delicious as always, also their Guatemalan tamales which are a little pricey, but they tasted good. I highly recommend it and always support small business.

Riquisimo el pan. They only take cash.

What a cute little bakery. I think it is Argentinian owned ? But l Came for coffee and a quick bite. I got a chicken empanada. Delightfully yummy and warmed up for me. Definitely come back if lm ever here again. Nice workers too !

perfect bakery with perfect bread, we went to the counter three times in ten minutes. Plus the lady working there is so sweet, warm noon during a cold Chicago winter and I'm glad I decided to stop by when we're in the area. $0.95 Happiness can you believe in this economy

Specialty Peruvian snack food to-go. Order at the counter. Very tasty. Not necessarily what you thought you ordered.

Went into there for coffee but their machine was broken. But the owners were friendly and nice . We got some pasties and they gave us extra ones . The Pastries are amazing . The breads are very soft and not too sweet.

We went for breakfast on our way out of the city on a recommendation from our friend's roommate and were definitely not disappointed! It's a little hole in the wall place with just one table by the window. It's awesome home cooked style Guatemalan food. I got the pan con frijoles (bread with refried beans). Super savory comfort food and I was totally stuffed. We also tried a sweet empanada and some other bakery items. My friend got the classic breakfast plate and my partner went all out on the recommendations of the women who worked there. Super lovely nice people.

Everything is so good! We went for a quick stop and were really blown away. We can't wait to come back! Highly recommend. Gaby was very nice and helpful.

amazing authentic Guatemalan baked goods! and the friendliest people work here! I will be returning and learning all the names of these sweet treats.

We really like this sweet little shop with authentic Central American pastries and lunch items. If you aren't familiar with something, ask, they are very helpful. My kids like everything cream cheese filled. The seating is limited, but the regulars clearly know it's good because customers always seem to be chatting with staff like they are there daily. It's cash only, which is the only reason it doesn't have full 5 stars. Cash only means I can't drop by on the fly (I gotta check my wallet first). We eat here for lunches and practice our Spanish with the host.

Fresh baked goods, yum! Can't wait to return!

I wish I took pictures of the actual food before we ate it all, but it was so good!! They have the cutest and sweetest women serving you. Hospitality was on point. My favorite were the Chile Relleno Sandwich and the Paches (tamales). The Atol De Elote was super tasty too. I'll definitely be back. :)

Okay, so maybe there is a little bit of a language barrier for me when I go here. That doesn't stop me from noshing on awesome strawberry empanadas and delicious cream-filled chocolate long john-type pastries. The woman that always seems to be working the counter is very friendly, and between her broken english and my horrible spanish, we work it out. The place is fairly small, but there are a few tables to sit at and eat. Bonus points for everything being dirt cheap!

The bright yellow awning over the entrance caught my eye on my way home today so I parked and pit stopped in. The first thing I saw when I walked into the little corner spot was the hot glass case of some good looking boxed rotisserie chicken with corn on the cob and a huge hot pepper on top and grabbed one. Looking at the baked goods, I wasn't too impressed so I just got a loaf of dinner rolls and about four pieces of baked goods. When I got to the car, I showed her the chicken, "Dude this looks good hu!?" So I suggested we try it right quick cause it smelled too good to not have a taste... "Hm!! It's really good! I'm gonna get another one!" and went inside to get another for her. So basically, The Isabella Bakery got 4 stars for the chicken (otherwise it would've been 3)...

My husband and I live just around the corner from Isabella and we come here multiple times a month to get their breakfast. The staff here is so kind and fun - always happy to see us and welcoming. The food is soooo goooood. Delicious plantains, eggs, black beans, crema, and cheese.

Very nice people. No frills. Authentic Guatemalan bakery with delicious food and treats. Can't go wrong and everything is priced very reasonably. It is cash only but who cares. Haven't tried everything yet but what I have tried was very tasty.

Moody people I feel unwelcome. I went on eastern afternoon with my family been a guatemalan myself I was expecting a better attitude...boy I was wrong I heard so many things about this place ..good and bad...I see for myself now ...horrible service ...the goods were good though but not worth the aggravation....sorry..I will never comeback...

This is a nice bakery to have near by. Isabella is a very nice person and so is everyone that I've dealt with there. My favorite thing to get is the tamales. They are not 100% like Mexican ones. These have a solid piece of pork meat and are wrapped in banana leaves as opposed to corn husks. They also make a great pound cake that they call 'quesadilla' which has nothing to do with a Mexican or especially a Spanish quesadilla. They have another kind of pound cake as well, the name of which escapes me. Both are dirt cheap. As for the rest of the pasteries, I have to say that they are not too appealing for me b/c most all Mexican and Central American pasteries use margarine and not butter. That makes them cheap but it also leaves a thick film of grease in your mouth where as butter melts at body tempurature and of course tastes much better. But if you dont care about that and are looking for some cheap (and I do mean cheap) pasteries, go for it.

Woke up this morning waaaaay too early due to the child, and realized he was Not Going Back To Sleep. So I left daddy to snuggle him and searched Yelp for a bakery, hoping for morning pastries. It appears that many bakeries in this area think that late morning is an acceptable time for a bakery to open. This is false. I want a pastry when it is too early for anything else. If you are trying to sell me pastry at brunch time, you have already lost. Yelp listed no hours for this place, but seeing as it's about a block from my new apartment, I decided to just walk over and hope. I showed up in front of the doors at 6:40am, and though the doors list hours as 7am-8pm, Isabella ushered me in anyway. The empanadas looked good but inscrutable (from the outside, strawberry, apple, and pineapple all look the same), so I did what any good scientist would do: got two of each, plus two coffees. Isabella took pains to explain the rest of the menu to me - I'll be back to try a ham sandwich later in the day, and maybe a tamale. She also tucked a small bag of cookies in my order to try for free. Six empanadas and two coffees (plus the freebie cookies) set me back a whopping eleven bucks and change. The coffee was tasty - strong without being bitter. It's no Metropolis, but it's both better and closer than Starbucks. I ate a strawberry empanada first and the husband had an apple one; he said the outside of his was a little dry, and I wished mine had a bit more filling, but they were also tasty. Overall, good food with a star upgrade for the warm, overwhelmingly friendly service.

Cappuccino's to die for. An absolute must if you can't make it to Metropolis. Also while you are there, take a crack at the strawberry empenadas. You won't regret it.

Authentic sweet breads at a great price! It fees very homey and I always love supporting local businesses.

This is a sweet and savory Guatemalan bakery - a hidden gem with a passionate owner. This is not like a Mexican bakery with dry, unsatisfying sweet breads. The ingredients are higher quality, my favorite is a rice flour cake they call a "quesadilla" not to be mistaken for the Mexican tortilla stuffed with melted cheese. It's gluten free, hearty and just sweet enough to not need anything. This place is a treasure, ask questions, try new things, the menu is not always well documented. Enjoy!

Majar empanadas = yummmmmmmmmy dulce de leche. The pineapple empanadas are also great. They are quite cheap, and taste almost like the almond cookies you sometimes get at Chinese restaurant, but filled with wonderfulness. Service was friendly and helpful. There is a $10 minimum to use a credit card, though.

I just tried their meat empanadas... They are just okay...I've had better...but the customer service is excellent.

I go here nearly every morning for a croissant with my friends from work. They always know what I'm there for and practically have it waiting for me. I can't recall ever having such a tasty croissant, and it's soooo cheap as well. I'd give it 5 stars but they're essentially cash only (credit requires at least a $10 purchase which here requires about 6 or 7 items just about), and sometimes you get unlucky and get what can only be described as yesterday's baked goods. If they were just a bit more consistent I'd go for 5 stars.

I was drawn to this Bakery for the first time, by the enticing signs on the window. But when I went in, I had to wait for some time before anyone appeared from the back. There was little to be said about the description of the food, written or verbally. So I winged it, and ordered by looks. Unfortunately a few hours later my gut also disagreed with the food. Sorry for the bad review, but I was disappointed on a few levels.

This is a small, unassuming place with good baked good options. They have savory stuff like chicken and beef empanadas as well as cookies and breads. You can get a sandwich and chips for under $5! The staff is friendly and there is plenty of street parking on Foster and the side streets.

Okay, so this place doesn't look like anything special when you drive by, but they were friendly enough, and the empanada's were delicious. For people like me, with no self control, go ahead and try the strawberry, the pineapple, and the apple empanadas. I brought a bunch of them to work to show all my suburbanite yuppie coworkers a little culture.

Two other lovely things: 1) The weekend breakfast: Sweet plantains, eggs your way (I generally get sunny side up), mashed frijoles, light tomato salsa, cheese + bread + coffee. 2) Whatever tamale special they got going on.

A cute, Guatemalan bakery tucked away where you might miss it- walking west on Foster St, between the neighborhoods of Andersonville and Ravenswood. Isabella's pastries are delicious and inexpensive, and when their espresso machine works, they make lattes that easily beat Starbucks in both taste and price. Spanish speaking customers congregate in this tiny shop, engaged in friendly conversation while sitting on wooden barrel seats next to walls plastered with green quetzal birds and photos of home.

Great little Guatemalan bakery. The customer service is good. The staff is friendly and the food is very inexpensive. The pastries in there are really great and delicious. I really love their sweet bread. I would definitely say go and check it out.

This place was fantastically fun to go into! Not just for the yummy's but the wonderful corky staff! The fruit empanadas were good. We were asking the man working what the other cookies tasted like and he said they all pretty much tasted the same. Gotta love his honesty. Needless to say, we bought a huge box of stuff and it set us back a whopping $9. Great deal. Did not eat it all. But it was fun and different. I think it is Guatemalan.

The staff was friendly and the food surprisingly cheap. I enjoyed trying out the Guatemalan pastries. They could use some more descriptions of their offerings on a menu or chalk board, and outdoor seating would really help (although the latter may require costly city permits). It's a nice place to stop for a portable snack during a walk in the neighborhood.

I used to frequent this bakery when I worked in Ravenswood. It had great baked goods especially the empanadas. I also would get to choose from some yummy lunch choices (limited amount and not always available): croissant ham sandwich, rotisserie chicken plate, or tamales. I would go back each time to try each choice and return to get the same thing over. It was cash only unless $10 minimum to use credit card I think. But the cc machine did not always work. There was an ATM there too just in case. Abundant street parking on Foster was free at the time too, not sure about now. It is a great family owned shop with great service as well.

Bad service, we came to have breakfast we order tamales they where extremely watering when we told the waitress she got mad and her answer was they are not bad my mom order a pan con frijoles it barely had beans in it, the bread was very chewy we the owner came and we told him our complaint he got very mad and start yelling to us that we where big complainers so we got up and try to pay to leave, and he got furious and say leave and don't come back in my part I will never come back there because of the bad service and bad food !

Shorten review since my browser crashed and deleted my longer post. In short, very inexpensive, great service, delicious treats. Too cheap to pass up.

Great coffee, friendly workers, wonderful community vibe - in a city that seems to specialize in cafes, Isabella's stands out.