Came here on Saturday and had a scrumptious brunch👌👌👌. This place never disappoints. Seriously, anything you order will be delicious. Originally we found this place because of the authentic macarons and other French pastries. The raspberry macaroons are the best!! But so are the buttery chocolate croissants. We ordered the frittata with fruit and the egg sandwich with strawberry macarons. If you've never tried this place it's worth the drive. The staff is great and quick to take your order. 💥 Update 2/4/2023: Came for lunch and we had the last two Croque monsieurs they are absolutely delicious. They come with a salad. A bit disappointed that there wasn't any macaroons in the display at 12:30pm and the pastries were limited to cookies and some croissants and some coconut small pies.

Sooo good! The Almond Croissant 🥐 was to die for. 🤤 I enjoyed the French scrambled eggs with baguette, some of the afore mentioned croissant, a vanilla bean coffee, and bought one of each of their huge macarons for later to enjoy with the wife. Everything tasted delectable! Will be back again for more macarons and to try something new!

We had the Essence French scrambled eggs, and vanilla lattes. Good and satisfying.

What makes a great bakery? Pastries or experience? Or both? Before visiting Essence, I’d say excellent pastries. After breakfast, I say it’s both, because Essence’s service was lacking. Standing in line on a November Saturday around 9 a.m., the queue went out the door. However, after looking inside, the line wasn’t very deep. The line was moving at a sluggish rate due to staff. Even with two people at the register, each order took awhile. Once we finally ordered, the person behind the register seemed rushed. We order brioche French toast, quiche and granola to stay. She left and came back with a bag of dry granola even though it was clear we wanted the granola to eat in restaurant. Once we sat down, it took 40+ minutes for us to get our food. Once we did, it was disappointing. The French toast was soggy and not tasty. I literally thought they ran out of bread so went to the store to get Wonderbread. It was nothing special- not worth the wait. The redeeming factors were my wife me granola. She enjoyed it as did my daughter with her quiche.

I think we caught them on a bad day, short staffed and the one’s working must have been brand new. Maybe first day? I don’t know, but they CLEARLY have not been trained. The girl taking our order was very sweet and was trying very hard. She simply didn’t know how to do her job. I ordered the French toast (on the menu it said “with fruit compote and chantilly crème”). It came out dry. No butter, syrup, fruit, cream, ANYTHING. Had to ask for butter and syrup. The cook brought me frozen butter and cold syrup. I asked about the fruit and crème and she said, oh, you have to order that separately. Sorry, I forgot to tell you that. But she did get the warm pear fruit compote and a small package of cream that was falling flat. My daughter had the special which was scrambled eggs with chives and a ham and cheese croissant with a latte. Her meal had great flavor but was not warm. Seemed the croissant was prepared earlier (which is fine, but PLEASE WARM IT BEFORE SERVING!). The eggs were great. So for $50 we had a cold breakfast that was made of clearly great ingredients with recipes that would be outstanding had the preparation been taken into consideration. Needless to say it was very disappointing.

The food is hands down five stars - EVERYTHING is excellent. Best croissants I have ever had - buttery and flaky. The macarons are fabulous, I could go on. So why only 3 stars? The service is as bad as the food is good. I have been here about a dozen times, and every time they seem unorganized. The counter staff are, at best, unfriendly and at worst, plain rude. It is truly a shame that the service is not even close to being the same level as the food.

This has been my favorite place to get macaroons for years!! If your in the area and what some sweet treats def stop by! They also have a small box of mixed treats that are amazing!

First time guest. They misplaced our order; unknown to us. 40 minutes into our visit I asked when our food would be served; they were dismissive and stated they were busy and it should be out soon. At this time other diners who arrived after us had been served their meals and I informed them of this. When I reapproached to ask how much longer 10 minutes later, they realized that our order was not prepared and they didn't know where it was. They had to retake the order. I should mention that diners are required to prepay for their meals. The tables were not cleared timely after diners departed. This left multiple diners waiting to be seated and made the small diner look disheveled and unclean. The first table we sat at was a safety hazard. The tabletop was unstable and unfit for use. This table was so unstable that there is no way that wait staff or others could not have known. This was not like unbalanced pedestals one has experienced from time to time; it was the mounting of the tabletop itself. We alerted the staff about the table and cleared a dirty table so we could sit elsewhere. Shortly thereafter one of the wait staff attempted to sit a blind diner at that same table. I reminded them the table was unstable and it would be unsafe to sit the blind diner there or anyone else. Once we were served about an hour after placing our order, we were informed that they were out of several items we ordered. Our order was standard, with no custom requests. The meals were not visually appealing and the sliced tomatoes looked gritty and unfit to serve or eat. If it was an option to leave a zero rating, I would have since it is most fitting for the experience. The tab was over $60 and the overall experience was not enjoyable. We are intentional to choose a new restaurant each time we go out for breakfast on Sundays so we can support our community restaurants and experience something new. This one was a dud!

Visited Essence Bakery Cafe for the first time with a friend the other day while on a quest to find the best croissant in Phoenix! Essence had an amazing, fun and yet classic style, fabulous baked goods and very friendly staff! We definitely enjoyed the buttery croissants, Gruyère cheese croissants and the strawberry fruit danish! We’ll definitely be back to sample some more of their baked goods!

Wow!!! We were in town for a day and decided to try Essence cafe. We love French pastry that crackles when you bite it followed by the taste of buttery flaky crust! And I think these pastries may be some of the best anywhere in the world! We tried several things but the best was the raspberry chocolate croissant! Also tried the Parisian hot chocolate - it’s like drinking a cup of chocolate from the Willy Wonka chocolate factory river.

Pastries are delicious!! Their twisted sugared croissant were pure buttery goodness, similar to a kouign amann, but less sticky. Unfortunately, their prepared foods don’t live up to the pastries and the coffee is awful, organic or not. Would be back for more pastries!

This place is delicious! We stopped in to grab a latte and some pastries and everything was absolutely delicious! The croissants were buttery and flakey, and every layer of dough is visible and there's a ton of them! We got a chocolate and a passion fruit croissant along with a small box of macarons. Everything tasted amazing and honestly, some of the best pastries in Phoenix.

This bakery leaves a lot to be desired. The service is slow and the employees seem uninterested in actually helping anyone. We ordered the pancakes that were raw in the middle when they finally delivered them to our table and when we had the temerity to complain, we were told that we didn’t understand French baking and that’s how they were supposed to be. And we weren’t even asking for our money back! This location is not easy to get to so they should be more concerned with convincing the customers they do get in the door to come back. Needless to say we will not be returning.

Best pastries I’ve ever had! My latte had real vanilla in it too. Going back again on our short trip in town!!!!!!

Wow! Blown away by the flavors, portions, and presentation. It's rare to have every single member of our lunch party love their meal, but they did. I didn't try the desserts, but everyone else raved about them. You can't go wrong eating here.

We have been visiting Phoenix for the last few days and just happened upon this bakery after visiting Hole in the Rock. The breakfast was delightful, not too heavy, the service we wonderful and the pastries were AH.mazing! We had the macaroons, raspberry chocolate pastry, and the walnut strudel pastry. If you are near here, go, so delicious and memorable!

High quality bakery that has a good attention to detail. I've been here a handful of times and I always forget to take pictures because of how excited I am to eat. The pastries are all airy so when you eat a lot of bread you don't get bloated. The chef specials are my favorite because they're always unique dishes you won't find elsewhere. My wife has a gluten sensitivity and this place doesn't activate her sensitivity like other places. Best macrons in the valley as well. The design inside is also nice because it gives a different feel, with the high ceilings, industrial floor, and wood to balance it all out.

Amazing menu top to bottom. The pastries are renowned in Phoenix. This time, I met a friend for lunch. The quiche was perfectly seasoned, and the crust was the best I've ever had. It wasn't quite puff pastry, nor quite short pastry. Deliciousness! The rye/cherry cookie I bought for my to-go dessert would have been better chilled with a glass of milk, but I couldn't stop eating it in the car.

The food is tasty but the price does not match. We didn't get everything on our plate that was on the menu and a side of sausage should be more than just one link for almost 4 dollars. Pancakes are unique and also tasty. My advise is stick to the coffee or pastries when coming here, those seem excellent.

I’ve been here several times and always return for the macarons. All the other food has also been tasty. Staff is always friendly. It is a tad pricey but you get what you pay for

Food is always delicious here. Menu does change a bit due to the season, but the chicken Pot Pie is always a staple. Make sure to try the fresh made macaroons

Great Food, Slow Service. There were 3 People in the cafe and it took 15 minutes for 2 coffees to be made, each came out 5 minutes apart. Had planned to spend the morning here working but there was no wifi available to guests. Ambiance was great, food was great but won't be returning with so many other amazing cafe's around who provide A+ service.

Delicate and delicious like real French food. Very nice staff staff cozy to sit there and read while you enjoy your coffee. 100% perfect.