Askatu Bakery Cafe

Disclaimer: This is a review purely based on my experience of them on tgtg. They might be actually good at the store but I don't know.I got a surprised bag from them on tgtg. It was like $6. They claimed the items were worth $13. Guess what the items were? A very tiny cupcake and 2 tiny cookies. And they were super stale as well. What's the point of putting them on tgtg when I could actually buy these with like $6? Not to mention they don't even taste good.This tgtg experience really left me a bad taste in my mouth. If their intention was to have people have a taste of their bakery, they were doing a terrible job. If they wanted to make every single dollar out of their day old bakery and be greedy, they were doing a fantastic job then.

Such a cute spot! I felt welcomed the moment I walked in, and the staff smiled at me. I was able to indulge in my first ever gluten free moon cake (they had ube and red bean flavor available), and snack on some delightful tea cookies. I also ordered a breakfast sandwich with bacon and egg made from mung bean that I enjoyed. The woman/BIPOC owner has a daughter that grew up with a wide array of allergies, which inspired her to open this bakery/restaurant. Since the entire facility is not only GF/ DF, but free of many allergens - I felt very comfortable eating here.A few patrons came in while I was eating here to pick up a pre-ordered cake. Definitely the perfect spot to pre-order a cake for your friend with allergies!

It's impressive how their foods contain none of the most common allergens. The pastries taste decent, but I find most of it tasteless. I tried every flavored tea cookie and the only ones that got a speck of taste were the lavender and early gray. The cookies were surpassingly soft but it also had a weird taste and it felt like biting down on a sugar cube. Would I get it again? Definitely. They may not be the best cookies in the world but it's simplicity and uniqueness is enough to crave more. Except, I wouldn't pay $1.50 a piece and it's mainly the price that's preventing me from coming back. There's minimum seating and the inside is dim, so take out is more common. I appreciate an establishment like this but if you don't have any allergies it's not worth going out of your way for.

TL;DR:Food: spectacularDrink: OKAmbiance: dive beer meets bakeryValue: expensiveWe've been walking by Askatu it seems like forever. We're vegan, and I've been looking to get vegan mooncakes, so I contacted them via IG, and they said that during the mooncake season they generally have them available.So we stopped by. That day they had ube mooncakes. These are small Asian pastries -- maybe 4-inches wide? Full disclosure, I have never had these before, but these things were AMAZING. Just absolutely AMAZING. I figured they would be good (how can pastries NOT be good?), but these were full of flavor. My wife, who is much more critical than I am as far as baked goods go, also commented how great they are.We ate at the bakery. The bakery is a little hole in the wall. A handful of tables in various states of operability. It's a fun vibe -- think dive bar meets bakery. The person working the counter was super friendly.The drinks are average. My wife had a latte and I had a matcha tea. They're not bad mind you, just not anything memorable.Value: for two mooncakes, a latte, and a matcha tea, it came to just under $40 with 25% tip. The mooncakes themselves were $10 each. We live in Seattle, so I expect things to be expensive, but even I thought this was on the high side. YMMV.One thing that detracts is that they have a transparent shower curtain between you and the cash register, with a giant hole cut out. Presumably this was installed in early pandemic days, and frankly, knowing what is known now about Covid, this eyesore just should be removed. It doesn't extend all the way to the ceiling (there's at least a four or five foot gap above); there's a giant hole cut out in the middle so you can access the credit card terminal; etc. Therefore, there's no way it does anything to spread transmission of Covid. I respect people who are concerned about transmission, but it doesn't help anyone to have such ineffective measures.Overall, I like this place.

We got 2 breakfast sandwiches and a pop tart. All delicious. The vegan egg was delicious. Husband eats meant so he got the sandwich with sausage. Everything here is allergen free. It's was $36 for 2 sandwiches and a pop tart plus tip which is pretty steep but when your husband is allergic to gluten and dairy it's just nice to be able to find somewhere he can eat worry free.

We were excited to find a place that had vegan options, plus excited to see that it was accessible to multiple dietary needs. However, the food didn't quite match what we were expecting. +1 for meeting diets though! Perhaps it was just the items we ordered. Cookies: Got multiple varieties of cookies (6) but all of them is rather bland, and very very gritty in texture, dry, with a strong chalky aftertaste. Truffles: Also really gritty unfortunately. The best one was the white chocolate strawberry matcha.

Sadly the last couple times I've popped in here have not been great. I got a sugar cookie on Halloween and it was very dry. Then I went back in November and had horrible service. The person before me ordered and the cashier promptly turned around and didn't even greet me (disappeared to the back room). Weird, but surly the barista who was facing me making a drink would look up and say hi? Nope. I waited for 6 minutes (I checked the time) and then decided to leave. I'd rather not get coffee from a shop that acts like I don't exist. Also, I'm sorry but it's weird that they still have the covid shower curtain up! Research shows they don't even work and it looks ugly af!

Really appreciate the many vegan options :) some of the stuff was tasty and some was so so.

so glad this spot exists! i was headed to dinner with friends, one of whom has severe peanut allergies that can tend to make him understandably fearful of tree nuts and general food cross-contamination. this spot was conveniently near the bus i had to take, so i stopped in to grab desserts.their no nutter butters were a huge hit, and i loved that they offered to put the sticker with the ingredients on the package. that allowed everyone to fully enjoy and indulge in these chickpea cookies that were shockingly nut butter-y! so good. i also grabbed the rest of the freshly baked cookies they had in the display case, and all were really delicious. such kind service, too. thank you!

Oh my goodness, this is a really cute/nice little vegan coffee shop/bakery with nice people and good coffee and I really want to like them 5 stars so much!BUT THEY HAVE NO BATHROOM. I'm not sure how you can have a sit-down coffee shop with no bathroom. So weird. I had to use a porta-potty down the street, ick.If you are getting to go, great. If you are sitting down, be warned!