Corner Bakery
Corner Bakery
Chicken Rosa Pasta, but with linguine instead. Not as flavorful compared to other locations
dessert, food
Storefront
Storefront
I was told that "sometimes" their expresso machine is broken so they put those sign up just in case.
I don't think they know how to wash utensils properly. Either that or they gave me really old utensils
What we found
Front door
Drink dispenser
Coffee
Employees must wash hands before returning to work
Prices have gone up :(
outside
Pastries next to the line to order
Order counter. They really advertise hard on their AYCE pancakes as you can see lol
Shrimp Scampi Linguine, but with cavatappi instead. The shrimp itself was flavorful. Wish the pasta was too
M&m cookie
To Go parking sign. This one looks new
Coffee supplies
To Go parking sign. This one looks old
Disgusting and they charge 2.99$ for bacteria included in your drink
Tiramisu favorites
Derek W.
Apr 4, 2024
I was debating between 2 and 3 stars for this Corner Bakery Cafe, but I'll be nice and round up here even though I'm still a little unhappy with a couple things.I arrived shortly before 8 PM, and a couple employees were heading out as I was heading in. They asked if I was here for pickup, to which I answered negatively, and directed me to the front counter where a female cashier was ready to take my order.I had a $5 off $15 reward on my account, and I gave her my phone number so she could apply the discount to my order. I went with my go to Choose Two: Chicken Rosa Pasta, Shrimp Scampi Linguine, and Mixed Greens Salad. This time, I decided to add some twists, literally. The Chicken Rosa Pasta usually comes with cavatappi pasta while the Shrimp Scampi Linguine comes with linguine (duh! lol). However, I asked if I could "switch" the pastas here, and the cashier had no trouble making it happen.After paying for my meal, I asked her how long it would take for the kitchen to prepare my meal. She estimated 5 minutes, but it was really more like 8. During that wait, I walked around the vast interior and was astonished at how many customers could dine in at once. It was about 1.5 times the size of the Lakewood location! As if that wasn't enough, they also have a nice outdoor patio where you get a nice view of the lights around the trees. If it weren't so chilly outside, it would make for a nice, cozy dinner under the night sky, but with so many empty tables inside, I didn't want to make the busser's job more difficult by playing hide and seek.The busser with my meal was trying to find my number placard, but I could tell it was my order because there were two bowls of pasta and the Mixed Greens Salad. I had to look in his direction and motion to him using the placard. When he placed my order on the table, he meticulously set the utensils on top of the napkins, but with the prongs of the fork touching the table. To make matters worse, both the fork and the knife, the latter of which served no useful purpose, looked pretty old that I question the back of the house's dishwashing skillset. I had to be a little creative in cleaning the fork a little more without making too much of a mess. Surely, there had to be better utensils than those, right?!I was only about halfway through the Mixed Greens Salad when the busser asked me how I liked my meal. Without having even touched either of the pastas? lol but the salad wasn't too bad, especially with the generous amount of dressing they gave.I've griped in other Corner Bakery reviews about how the Shrimp Scampi Linguine can never seem to bring out the flavor it so truly deserves to have. This one also could have used more flavor, but I'm happy to report that it was more flavorful than at the other locations, largely in part due to the shrimp. I wish the pasta was as flavorful too, but considering my greatly tempered expectations for this pasta dish, I wasn't too disappointed, even though I was a little dismayed at the large puddle of sauce sitting on the bottom of my bowl upon completion.However, the Chicken Rosa Pasta, a pasta dish I used to always recommend at Corner Bakery, may no longer be my favorite anymore. I've always boasted about how bold the flavor is, but the flavor here seemed to have dissipated well before reaching my mouth. I ate this one after finishing the Shrimp Scampi Cavatappi, and it was a good thing I did because the leftover sauce from the shrimp pasta added the flavor that my taste buds had sought from the Chicken Rosa Pasta. It certainly would have been a different story had I eaten the Chicken Rosa Pasta first. Don't get me wrong, the Chicken Rosa Pasta still tastes good as a whole, but the one I had here missed the mark for me.I used the restroom before leaving, and I appreciated how it looked upkept and well maintained like Buc-ee's in New Braunfels, IYKYK.The inside has plenty of tables as well as a good amount of decor on the walls. A lot of the decor said Costa Mesa, but this Corner Bakery is actually in South Coast Village Plaza in Santa Ana, just on the other side of Sunflower from South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. There is plenty of parking available, so you shouldn't have any issues finding an open spot.When I left, an employee in a green shirt, presumably the manager on duty, made eye contact with me and thanked me for coming. He was the only one I saw with a smile on his face, and such a simple gesture like that could really make someone's day. I would say that smile is a good representation of the glimmer of hope that remains in keeping Corner Bakery in business. What do I mean by this?Lately, I've been noticing that Corner Bakery Cafe has been on the decline, with prices going in one direction and quality going in the other direction. My recent visits have seen more emptier seats inside and outside, but this location seems to be hanging in there fairly well. Seriously though, find better utensils to lend to customers!
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Melissa P.
May 10, 2024
This corner bakery is the only left in our nearby area, and they are very hit or miss with their food. As of now their customer service is pretty good; but the making of the food needs to be more consistent. I have visited here for all three meals; breakfast, lunch and dinner. I really like their scrambles and their pancakes, but when we order to go sometimes they're really bad about giving you everything you need for your meal. And this last time they put avocado on my scramble that was black/bruised. That was annoying because most of it was inedible. Sitting inside at breakfast is usually ok on the weekdays but on weekends it gets pretty busy. The food area has a bunch of outdoor seating with umbrellas, though. So that's a very good option. We like to bring our pup too, so this is perfect.
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Brenda L.
Mar 11, 2024
The good:My husband and I were craving dessert while we stayed at an Airbnb nearby so we stopped by here and ordered from their bakery section. It was our first visit to any Corner Bakery location and we had low expectations because every review of every location I've seen has never been fantastic. I tried the M&M cookie, pan au chocolate (called chocolate croissant in America), pecan spiced mini Bundt cake, and crunchy sugar coated raisin bread slices. Everything was yummy! My favorite was the raisin bread sliced because it was so crunchy without being hard and tasted freshly made. It wasn't too sweet and I could definitely see myself snacking on this. It was sophisticated and pretty too! It would make a great item in a gift basket. There's plenty of parking. The bad:The pastries were all on the sweeter side so if you prefer a more subtle and less sweet pastry then this isn't the place for you. The interesting:The original "corner" was in Chicago. You can buy gift cards online. They offer catering.
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Maddie R.
Nov 3, 2024
Ordered a soup and a hot tea on postmates from this location. When it got delivered, the tea was missing. So I got my $ back and ordered once again- just the hot tea by itself. When it was delivered the second time, they put another soup in the bag, NO TEA =_= how do you mess up that bad lmfao? Whoever packaged orders tonight, bravo man.
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Maria G.
Jan 19, 2025
Good food and wonderful service. Also, great choice of coffees. The cinnamon cake is superb.
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Rain M.
Mar 5, 2024
Very poor service, I order food for pick up. It took 18 min longer than the original stated. That's 35 min for sandwiches. This is the second time staffing is poor.Need friendlier employed.
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Johnny S.
Dec 29, 2024
Waited 40+ minutes for less than warm soup and sandwiches, it wasn't even that busy which is the craziest part. Understandably, I worked food service so I kind of get it, but I wouldn't even let it go to this. Shout out to Aiden though, kept it cool and nice although his manager's were clueless and incompetent. Will be back because the Tuscan grilled cheese was good, but hopefully it will be better.
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Andrew V.
Aug 11, 2024
Was greeted with a smile, even though they were busy the cashier made it feel like my time was valued.The meatball panini was delicious and great customer service!
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Kensley M.
Feb 5, 2025
I did an online order. When I arrived my coffee was not ready with the order. I had to remind them to get my drink. I ordered a truffle mocha latte. She did not put any coffee in it. It was basically chocolate milk. I should have known because she stepped away for less than 10 seconds to put it in a cup.
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Suzanne K.
Jan 22, 2025
I ususally love this place, but our coporate lunch (large order) 2 people had the power grain salad with added chicken, no grains or chickpeas in the salad, and the chicken was FROZEN, in fact, this was a to go order, there were 12 of us, and anyone who had chicken had frozen chicken.... wow.
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