Lyndell's Bakery

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glugg

Joined 4 years ago

Best pastries by far in the North End. As a longtime North End resident, Lyndell’s is my favorite new business in the neighborhood. Lyndell’s is actually a venerable old pastry-maker with about a century of history up in Somerville, but they have a new location on Hanover St. in Boston and as someone who loves cakes and pastries as much or more than God and country, their presence has improved my quality of life immeasurably. Everything I’ve had there so far is of superb quality, and the variety is remarkable: the marzipan kugel they offer is as good as the original version you’d find in Germany, and the custard-fruit tart is just as fine as any Parisian bakery’s. I'm sure you’re famliar with Mike's Pastry down the street, which is a terrible pastry shop kept busy uniquely by its absurd reputation as some kind of magical Italian store that is "old fashioned," so that if you mention that you'll be having dinner in the North End, everyone repeats like parrots, "Oh, you gotta go to Mike's!" Like many of the Italian restaurants in the neighborhood, Mike's employs "shouters" to stand outside the front door and encourage people to come in. Only, with Mike's, they're sneaky about it: they have several "shouters," and instead of directly addressing people to tell them about the menu, they just stand there as if they were actual customers loudly shouting things like, "Oh, Mike's is the best!" or "This is the best pastry I ever had!" It's just obnoxious. And as for authenticity, it would be one thing if any of the employees were actually Italians; but of course they're always from Central America or Eastern Europe, so when they can't understand your English, you can't use any of the Italian phrases you might have memorized from your phrasebook in the mistaken belief that you'd get to talk to some Italian North End residents or whatever. Anyway, despite all this, I go to Mike's twice a year, at Thanksgiving and Christmas, to buy custard pie. I don't know who makes these pies. It's not Mike's, that's for sure. A delivery truck just brings hundreds of pies into Mike's a couple of days before the holiday, and this company that makes the most delicious custard pie I've ever had outside of France. They used to sell them for $4 apiece. I think the price has gone up to about $7 by now, but it's still a very good deal since the quality is excellent. I only wish I knew who baked them! Or that the same people would take over the whole operation at Mike's and actually start selling good pastries! But I’ll tell you what: this year I’m just going to Lyndell’s instead. As things stand, Mike's pastry is always mobbed with hundreds of people waiting in half-hour long queues to buy their lousy third-rate products, and down the street at Modern Pastry (the other "old-fashioned" crappy pseudo-Italian pastry shop) the scene is repeated, with people blocking the whole sidewalk as they wait for some crumbly, dry-ass puff pastry that's so cheap they don't even use confectioner's sugar, just regular grain sugar from the supermarket, so when you bite into the thing it just crumbles and shatters like wall plaster. Well, my advice for anyone who cares is to just step right around that crowd and walked into Lyndell's, where you’ll be the first in line, and get yourself a pieces of the glorious chocolate cake, moist and bursting with the flavor and texture of real cocoa butter, for half what you’ll pay elsewhere. And the staff is friendly and speaks good English, too!

Doesn't Recommend

Angelamou

Joined 5 years ago

Disappointed in cake!. We had ordered a birthday cake for my son it usually is very good but this time it was terrible! There was 80% whip cream and hardly no cake,the layers were paper thin as far as the cake was concerned. Our family was very disappointed.

Recommends

less

Joined 5 years ago

Best cream puffs and half moons.. Lyndells does a great job with everything. Their cakes are delicious - frosting is not too sugary. The cream puffs are excellent - they use real whipped cream and again it is not too sweet. Their prices are very reasonable.

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Contributor

Joined 10 years ago

Editorial Review by Citysearch Editors. Landmark Ball Square bakery is famous for its old-school pastries (half-moons, jelly rolls).

Doesn't Recommend

peiying

Joined 7 years ago

friendly service, but average pastry.... i tasted several pastries when i went there, but left feeling truly dissapointed. their cannoli and recotta pie are way too sweet, and not tasty at all...i wouldn't go back there anymore.

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mary_had_a_little_lamb001

Joined 7 years ago

THE BEST CAKE FOR MY CAKE. THIS BAKERY IS THE BEST AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED THE SERVICE WAS GREAT...THE CAKE LOOKED JUST HOW I WANTED IT....OH AND TASTED LIKE HEAVEN

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wedplanner

Joined 9 years ago

Worth the trip!. My family has been using Lyndell's for years. I now live in New Hampshire and still order from Lyndell's for Brithdays and special occasions! It's totally worth the trip!!!

And the family tradition carries on...everytime we go to pick up a cake we have to get two half-moon pastries to eat right away!

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zzee

Joined 10 years ago

WOW!!!!. I Ordered B-day cake for my lovely Mother without having a clue how it would be... Soon I was blown away when I got to see the Cake, which was Attractive with delicate carvings and it was very Delicious..... try em and u`ll love em!!!