Sweets by Shayda is one of my fave bakeries in Durham Shayda knows my face now. I purchased two of…read moreher AMZING chocolate croissants. Always a 10/10. She has so many great desserts to choose from and is known for her macaroons. They offer coffee and tea as well. They are so sweet and welcoming. It's such a cute shop, with pink and white decor.

This bakery is amazing! I stopped by here on a random weekday and loved the strawberry and cream…read moremacaron and it was SO delicious I had to come back for a box! Truly, these are the most delicious macarons I've ever tasted, and I've had way too many! These have a great bite to them, slightly chewy texture and the smoothest, TASTIEST filling ever. I tried the Bridgerton themed Early Grey one to the double chocolate and black sesame, my favorites are the nutella (not too sweet but tastes heavenly) and strawberries and cream. I think everyone in the rtp should try these at least once!! I know it's going to be the hostess gift I grab whenever I visit friends from now on. They've got also a great selection of baked goods and the chocolate crThey've also got a great selection of baked goods and the chocolate croissants are perfectly flaky and delicious!ssiants are perfectly flaky and delicious!

Beautiful, unique, delicious chocolates! Go! They made a lovely gift and we had so much fun trying…read morethe flavors!

Miel Bon Bons is a cute little artisanal chocolate shop and bakery nestled within Brightleaf…read moreDistrict! We got a pack of 8 chocolates (admittedly they did cost a pretty penny haha), which ranked from my most to least favorite are: 1. Horchata: So good, the horchata essence hit me as soon as I took a bite. Very cinnamony, very milky & creamy. 2. Passionfruit: I'm a sucker for anything passionfruit. The curd-like filling did not taste artificial at all. 3. Almond cardamom: Topped with a real almond, but more cardamom forward, reminded me of chai. 4. Hazelnut sassy monkey: Distinguished more coffee than banana, but it was there. Also liked the layer of crunch. 5. Raspberry lychee: The raspberry jam was strong and tasty, the floral essence from lychee was subtle. 6. Sesame matcha: Surprisingly citrusy? I did taste some bitterness from the matcha and appreciated the earthy sesame crust. 7. Ube: Sadly did not detect much ube flavor. 8. Earl grey lavender: Definitely the prettiest, but tasted like what I imagine soap would taste like. In terms of whether the chocolate is worth the price: I've never had this experience of trying such diverse and interesting chocolate flavors before so it was for me. Ambiance is nice, I think there was only outside seating. There's good parking nearby in the Brightleaf lots or on W Pettigrew St. Service was fast and friendly. 8/10 would recommend!

The bakery itself is cute, clean, and always a joy to visit. The food is delicious and the…read moreemployees are super friendly and polite! I love coming here even though it's a bit out of my way, it's worth it! Can't wait to try what we got this time! The pastries are great and the mini quiches and cookies are tasty too!

We had been here years ago and I was in the neighborhood at Costco and decided to stop by. I…read moreunderstand it is owned and run by an actual French baker although when I stopped in most of the staff appeared to be Latino. The location is a little hard to find but just GPS it. There were several patrons sitting and eating but there aren't many tables. I got a croissant and sourdough loaf to go. Croissant was good but the sourdough tasted more like refined white bread than the rustic kind that we prefer. We're not in this area too often but I'll need to remind myself this place is here.

Great vibes and great food! Stopped by for brunch on a Sunday morning. They don't open until 9…read morewhich was surprising. We got there early enough that parking and the wait wasn't an issue, but on our way out it looked rough. The vegan breakfast sandwich was great! I was impressed with the iced vanilla latte as well. Overall a great breakfast spot.

On a road trip with my friend and we wanted a light snack before lunch. We saw Guglhupf bakery and…read morerestaurant so we decided to stop by the bakery section. We went during early lunch hours. It is busy here,seems like a locals favorite for brunch. There is indoor and outdoor seating. The outdoor patio is beautifully decorated. The bakery shop sold alot of in house food products such as housed German sausages and jam. Also local made beverages;the kombucha "Lavendar Dreams" is light and refreshing to drink etc.. I tried the chocolate croissant (crisp but not too crispy,chocolate stuffed filling not jam) and the ham and cheese pretzel( delicous pretzel:ate everything;bread part is savory and soft). Our first visit here I'd say this place makes a great brunch place. You can either stop by for breakfast,lunch or a light snack from the bakery shop. Service wasnt the best here. We informed the cashier that it was our first time here. Knowing that,they kept on stating is that all?.. Everytime am asking about a item and deciding what to try. I understand it is rush hour and can get busy but I felt truly rushed.

The food here is always good! I got a pork belly sandwich and a sweet pepper salad. Had to stop…read moremyself from getting their amazing ice cream sandos. Service was a little iffy but the atmosphere and quality of the food shone through. I got their pistachio orange cookies as a light dessert and they were crispy and sweet!

I have been to Rose's once before this and absolutely loved the food. They are vegan and vegetarian…read morefriendly, so when my colleague was coming into town, I was excited to take her here. I made a reservation for 6:30pm on a Friday. I recognize sometimes exact reservation times cannot be honored but I was a little concerned at how slow the service was and how crowded the already small space was. They could not really give us an idea of when we would be sat and so we had to just kind of shuffle around to keep trying to be out of the way. It took about 15 minutes before a table finally opened up and we were able to sit. From there, the service continued to be slow. I know the staff - both servers and kitchen - were working hard. I don't blame them as much as it feels like they are understaffed and stretched thin. Overall, it took a while for us to get our food, and we were all hangry by the time we had food. The servers were running around so it took a while whenever we needed something or ran out of water. The food itself surprised me. I know the menu was small and curated but I was actually surprised how little variety there was. And I don't know if I would consider this a vegan/vegetarian friendly place anymore. While they do have dishes and options, it is minimal. I got the pork and mushroom dumplings, pork bao bun, onigiri, and the housemade belt noodles. Both the dumplings and belt noodles were coated in a chili oil that made them almost inedible. And I like spicy! But this was too much. My favorite was the onigiri. Overall, between wait, service, quality, and price, I do not think I will be back.

We were visiting Raleigh, NC and stopped by Dulce Cafe since it was close to the museum we were…read morevisiting. I had the Italian Panini with avocado (the avocado is an extra charge), and it was absolutely delicious. I also tried the La Poire dessert, and it was so good. It wasn't overly sweet or too rich, just very natural and perfectly balanced. We came on a Friday around 1 PM and even though there were about 10 people ahead of us, the line moved smoothly and there was plenty of seating both inside and outside. The customer service was top notch, and the staff was very welcoming. We'll definitely be visiting again. Also... whoever the guy is with the bracelets, black hair, glasses, and accent, he definitely added a little extra charm to the experience aka very very attractive.

This is a place in Durham that I've been itching to try for a long time…read more.. Well, I was finally in the area, and here's the deal. I think this was an Italian bakery...and it had a truly sensational selection of pastry items, some which were quite arty and unique!! They were also somewhat pricey...but I wanted to try so many. I ended up trying this dessert called "The Fun Guy". It looked like a Mushroom, but inside, it was just heavenly bliss! (I included a pic with all the ingredients inside) Truly, it ranks as one of the best desserts I've had in a LONG time. That's saying a lot, given how I go to bakeries a LOT! I will say, however, that their Iced Latte, wasn't that great. Still, for the bakery selection, I'll be happy to return here any day!

"VERY hole-in-the-wall Middle Eastern patisserie"…read more This gives hole-in-the-wall new meaning. The location is in a strip-mall that's set back a ways from 55, so it's not really visible from the street at all. However, it's weirder than that-- you have to drive AROUND the strip mall to the back, past the various loading docks for other stores, and they you see this place is open just from the BACK of the strip mall. I heard the owner is Algerian, but there are many Palestinian references and flags around the shop, so if that's triggering, then know this in advance before coming in. Still, the place is brightly lit and airy, with tables to eat. They do custom cakes, cupcakes, and other desserts, but we just wanted to sample some sweets. Hours are funny-- just midday Friday through Sunday. We ordered a pecan brownie and a pistachio chocolate dish with kunafa (shredded Middle Eastern pastry), as well as a mocha coffee. The mocha coffee was rich and delicious, as expected. The pistachio chocolate dish with kunafa was to-die-for... SO delicious. Super thick and messy, as you'd hope it would be. And of course the pecan brownie was amazing. I will say the pastries are not "cheap". I got a single tahini chocolate chip cookie to go for a friend, and that was $4.50 for a modest sized cookie. The other dishes above were in the $6 range. But these are unusual custom-made dishes, so it's fair.

Finally got to try La Recette Patisserie, a Middle Eastern-French bakery in South Durham! We got a…read morebunch of pastries (Apricot gateau, Opera cake, Tahini majesty, Makroud, Ghriba, Mchewek), all of which were delicious. To drink, we got the Sahlab (only comes warm)- this was so delicious (milky and perfectly floral, very comforting). This spot has a very unassuming exterior, but the inside is pretty cute and spacious with lots of seating (you actually need to walk to the back of the building to find the entrance). Would be a great spot to hang out and do work at. Service was fast and friendly. 9/10 would recommend!

Shop was clean and pretty. All of the macarons and desserts…read morelooked yummy. We got 3 macarons to go- as you can see in the picture she must have grabbed ones from back- the were nothing like the ones in the front of the case, they were small and uneven. The orange chocolate tasted mostly like chocolate.

Pricy, unimpressive desserts. While walking Franklin street we stopped here for a quick dessert…read more The store was open, bright, and welcoming. No customers were at the counter so we ordered right away. The display case was full of desserts that sounded delicious. We decided on 3 macarons. I wish I had ordered only one since the total came to over $9! Plus they were not uniform in size or quality. The two orange chocolate macarons we ordered were significantly different in size. The rose macaron was my favorite. It was pretty, texture was okay, and the rose flavor came through. The orange chocolate macaron surprisingly lacked flavor and did not look good. They were definitely not worth the price paid for them. Unfortunately I would not recommend going here for macarons, but perhaps the others desserts are better.

Obsessed! I need this in the Chicago area!…read more I was meeting up with a friend while in Chapel Hill and told her I'd love to grab coffee and take a walk. And she knew just the place... She brought me to Caffe Driade where we grabbed coffee (ice latte with almond milk for me) and then made our way down to trails where we enjoyed our coffee walking in this amazing wooded area. It was a hot June day, but between the shade and it being morning it wasn't too bad. There's also some tables up top by the cafe, but I personally prefer the walk/hike. The coffee was fine, but the hiking/atmosphere was amazing. If i make it back to the Triangle area I'll be here every morning!

I have driven by Caffe Driade so many times and never knew it was there because it's tucked away…read morebehind the trees off of a main road in Chapel Hill. This is an interesting place to have coffee at any time with friends and enjoy nature. There's so many places to sit amongst the trees and to relax it's quite enjoyable. They have a pretty decent selection of coffee and they offered some food items as well. I really enjoyed my time here. I just wish they had more comfortable chairs. The metal small chairs are not comfortable so we weren't here as long as we would've liked to have been. I tried something completely new out of my comfort zone, a golden milk latte. This was absolutely delicious and I would get this again. I was able to add honey as my sweetener and really enjoyed this different cup of coffee.

The store is unique but pricey. We love the truffles of variety of flavors -it feels like a…read morecombination of its sugar store and a Godiva store. It is a great feeling for kids in the candy store. The good The boxes that they put the truffles in look super nice and luxurious - so it is great for one of a kind gifts. The truffles taste awesome. In terms of improvements - it would be nice if everything had a price shown, so you don't have to go and ask. Also expiration date on some of the item is missing - so it is hard to know if the item is going to reasonable quality. The service is bit slow - one of the cashier is always on the phone and line can grow up a bit. It is a bit frustrating the even the price questions need to go to one of the cashier since store decided not to put price on most of the items.

This is a high-end, or maybe just high-priced, candy store. If we're at Southpoint, we always stop…read moreby for their popcorn and cotton candy. They've got lots of options, and we've enjoyed them a bunch. In the back, there are even more candy choices. Prices are higher than I think they should be, but we still buy stuff.