Zak The Baker

Years ago, there use to be a bakery on Alton Road near 7th street run by a super sweet jewish lady, and there was nothing like the bread and pastries coming out of that place. Then one day she decided to retire and sold the place. Zak the baker kinda brought that back to me, but with a modern twist. You have to try their bagels. These bagels far exceeded my expectations. I daresay they were better than the bagels I had in Montreal. Added some of that nova cream cheese... Forget about it.Then there's their chocolate Bobka..... Oh my bobka.. daaaaang. Also, the size of it! Took me 3 days to finally finish just that one slice. Service couldn't have been better. Really friendly people, attentive, and courteous. I can't recommend this place enough.

I go to Zaks ( early AM ) for the bread and pastries, ( should be fresh in the AM.)lately the Almond Croissant ($5.00) is very dry, same for the chocolate Bobka slice.($5. - $5.50.)The olive oil cake slice is always good & moist with sugar icing.

Zak isn't holding back! This is a very special bakery in a not-so-great part of town. I love stopping by when they first open at 7:00AM. I've done this a few times now and I have to say, if aroma therapy heals you, you'll be cured before you set foot inside. This last time I went I got the chocolate bobka, the almond croissant, and the guava and cheese pastelito. I cut the ALMOND CROISSANT in half so you can see how dense it is. It's not the typical flaky almond croissant that I'm used to having at French bakeries, but not in a bad way--it's just a different thing. I'd call it more crusty than flaky (see my picture). The almond paste is also slightly sweeter than what I'm used to. It's less marzipan-like, more of a honey almond cream. Again, not in a bad way. It's delicious. Just know that if you're going to get the almond croissant, you're not going to have room for anything else. It's a substantial amount of food.The CHOCOLATE BOBKA was everything I wanted it to be. They're definitely using high-end chocolate here! The entire outer shell-- top, sides, and bottom--were crusty, crunchy, crumbly, and delicious. The inside was soft and lighter than usual, which worked well to melt in my mouth with the chocolate. Outstanding bobka!The GUAVA AND CHEESE PASTELITO was sublime. The flaky shell and the guava paste weren't as sweet as what you get at a Cuban bakery in other parts of town, but still a solid pastry. I'd get it again for sure. It's also one of their smaller pastries, so if you're not that hungry, get this and you won't regret it.

I can't say enough good things. Food is incredible. Great sandwiches and pastries. I could've had several meals here. Started with cappuccino and almond croissant which was spectacular. Had a melted gruyere cheese sandwich for lunch with tomato soup that was just so homey and delicious; sometimes the finest things in life do not need to be the fanciest, its basically pizza split into two different foods. Decor is in a hip semi rundown Miami area. Biggest regret was not having any of the chocolate babka (no slices were left and I didn't buy a loaf to go which was an idiot move). Other meals we sampled that were home runs included the lentil soup and the pancakes. Regret I didn't try the lox bagel which looked delicious. Grabbed a bunch of desserts to eat the next day before our plane ride home (lemon olive oil, another croissant, baguette and something I cant remember but swear was delicious). Hooked for life!

Kind of disappointed that Zak the Baker charged me $4 per starfruit when I asked to buy a few of their local Tiny Farms starfruit to bring to go so I could enjoy them while working at UM and Jackson lol. I was fine with the huge upcharge out of a fond sentiment for their wonderful staff even though I knew local markets sell regular star fruit for 0.50 cents and organic star fruit for 0.99 at Key Supermarkets without an additional service charge, but I still went ahead with it due to my rockstar waitress' kindness and wanting to patronage the bakery. However, looking back because I'm stuck with a moldy starfruit, I feel a bit unappreciated as a customer who already bought multiple entrees at the cafe and planned to come back often since I work at the local hospital system in the area- I was such a fan of ZTB and they could have easily charged a more reasonable price for buying uncut starfruit. Instead, they upcharged for 5 starfruits, and then I get home to find there's mold on one of my starfruits and 4 out of 5 of them had overly blackened edges. I'd like to give the benefit of the doubt, since the cafe and manager was kind enough to honor my unique request but... feels bad. Perhaps the edges blackened in transit? Perhaps the large area of mold on the tiny starfruit was missed during their packing? This weighed heavily on me and I waited, reluctant to post this updated review- but I have to be honest with my Yelp community and I find I'm sadly not as excited to come back or recommend ZTB after seeing the condition of the fruits they sold me for a whopping $4 each while also struggling with the HURT FEELS of understanding whether this happened by chance or by intention. Hopefully the former, so I can continue to rejoice about ZTB

In my decade-plus of living in Miami I'm ashamed to say I only ate in at ZTB once! It's a very popular place that usually has a line out the door. Note for the visitors - if you don't get a chance to dine in, you can also order pickup or purchase some of their products at Whole Foods or other local stores. Decided to treat myself to a solo brekkie on a Thursday morning. No line, no wait. Then again, it's just me. I picked a table next to the bakery and got to watch the bakers at work while sipping my coffee and waiting for my order to arrive. Peaceful. Then comes my nova platter, an enormous serving of cured salmon with cream cheese, capers and dill atop a plain bagel. I'm a bit of a nova connoisseur, and other places tend to overdo it with excess toppings and seasonings. Not this version. I loved how this was simple yet filling. It was devoured.There will likely be a lot of tourists given ZTB's popularity -- there was a hungover yet rowdy group of bachelor party bros seated not too far from me. Parking is available around the restaurant, but make sure to pay! Parking guards were up and early on duty and towed a car while I was there.

Came here on a Monday and the place was busy! I want to think it is because it is a kosher place in wynwood and there are not many around. Additionally, they sell great bakery items. We were immediately seated at around 11am However, service was a miss today because it was busy. We put our order in and only some of the order came out. We finished eating what came out and still the rest were not out yet. At that point, we were waiting 40 minutes and opted to cancel it. The manager was nice and accommodating and apologized for that. That made things a bit better. In terms of food, what we got was good. Being from NYC, I know my bagels! This one was good as it was kosher. The cream cheese was also light and tasty. I would recommend that and the French toast.

This is one of the most crowded places in Wynwood to have brunch, and for the weirdest reason, they don't work on Saturdays. You won't be seated if you don't have a reservation, and it works terribly.  We were running late for 5 minutes past the grace period, and on Resy, it is said to call the restaurant in this case. Well, no one will respond to you, and you'll have to listen to a standup comedy from the answering machine. When we arrived, the not-so-friendly hostess said they gave away our reservation and that we had to wait for 30 min. After 30 min, we said that we would leave if we didn't have our table, and after that, we were finally seated. Let's leave this situation aside and talk about the food. What is really worth going through the reservation struggle for is the Nova bagel. The house-smoked salmon is incredibly good, the bagel is perfect, and even the tomato tastes farm-grown. Hazelnut croissants have a lot of rich chocolate cream and are covered with amazing hazelnut chocolate. Also, I like the chocolate babka. Basically, all of their bread is delicious and very fresh. On the other hand, every other dish on the menu was mediocre: tomato bisque with grilled cheese, a labneh + eggs plate, and rock-hard crudite salad.  Zak the Baker is a super-hyped place and is recommended in every Miami guide. So you'll need some patience if you want to have that bagel in the morning.

Completely exceeded my expectations!!! Seriously obsessed with the food here!We started off with mocha lattes with almond milk which were amazing. We had the nova on a sesame bagel. The bagel was crispy on the outside and chewy and flavorful inside. The cream cheese was so fresh and lox was not overly salty. The addition of pickled red onions and crispy capers made this sandwich bomb! We also ordered an everything bagel and fluffy scrambled eggs. For dessert, we had double chocolate babka and I can say I'm addicted! Rich cocoa filling in the most fluffy dough with a crunchy exterior. Service was great! Table was ready at the exact time of the reservation. Def coming back for brunch and to stock up on bread!

Great coffee! Pastries look deicious, didnt get to try them, but very gourmet. The mood and feel relaxed!