No way. I've been cake tasting like a mad woman lately, and a few months back, I came here to do the same. You see, I had a friend who used them for her wedding and she told me that for their tastings they give "real pieces"..not just little bite size pieces. Well I don't know..maybe I don't look like the sort of person who wants a real piece, because when I got there, one of the assistants came out with little slivers of cake on a saucer, and different jelly fillings on another. We had an appointment, and there were no questions about what flavors we had in mind, or anything of the sort. I was sort of embarrassed that I had brought my mom and sisters with me! When I asked for another flavor that we were interested in, she brought it out and then told us that it had been frozen in the back, and may or may not taste like that when it came time for the real thing. Just weird. So, yah...probably a no-go. They may do other things well, but I wish they cared enough about customer service to make me even want to go back and see if they do or not.. read more

I ordered a first birthday cake for my daughter. The exchange with the cake designer was over email. When I showed up to pick up the cake, the clerk told me, "You're really going to love this cake! Our email has been down for three days, so we couldn't access your order, so the cake designer just went from memory!". DISASTER. The cake was the wrong flavor, the frosting was the wrong color. The text on the cake was incorrect. The girl at the register tried to convince me it was OK. Um, no. She tried to convince me to take a different (non-birthday) cake from the cold case. No, thanks. She tried to convince me to come back another day (cake designer had gone home already). I left with no cake and a party in less than 24 hours. They didn't really seem to care. I refuse to believe that they could not have accessed and printed order details from a different location during the three days of internet outage. read more

Just got the cake for my bday. Sorry to say but the worst cake that I have ever eaten. It's raspberry cake with sugar frosting. Lady was closing the shop so I had to rush and pick up any cake. The cake is so dry plus filling is just like raspberry jelly in the middle. You don't taste anything but jelly. It must be just my bad experience . I went there without doing any research so it's my fault. Wasted $25 for 9 inch cake. read more

"Breakfast Pastries are among the delicious fresh-baked goodies we have daily" ??- I THINK NOT! I had an almond turnover, not bad. I also got a cream cheese pastry - which was HARD, maybe two to three days old - definately passing by this place. The donut shop less than a block away has "fresh baked goods"!. read more

I need an elegant birthday cake for the first birthday of my son, so I searched on yelp and found Hillcrest.I contacted them by phone and they were very nice to accept my order at very last minute,( I ordered in Thursday and took the cake by Saturday). I ordered a carrot cake and made a notice that please donot make it so sweet! The white cake with blue scrollwork around is rather nice, but the completion not perfect,just nice, carrot cake is ok but the butter cream is sugary, really very sweet to my taste as well as my guests!!! They complained with me a bout the cake so sweet, hard to eat!I just love the european taste, french taste that not so sweet and the taste of Hillcrest shocked me. I paid 80 usd for a 10inch double layer round carrot cake and was disappointed because the cake so sweet and my guests didnot like it at all :( Not a nice experience for the first birthday party of my son. I appreciated the customer service of Hillcrest that received my order and made the cake for me, however the taste was not my style, and beside that the butter cream melted a lot,I didn't put the cake in fridge because the seller told me not necessary to do that, I just left in cool area to serve by tomorrow but the cream has melted... I just recommend this bakery for those love sweet and sugary cakes.They actually had beautiful cakes ready at their store,yes they are beautiful but not really delicious to me, because it was so sweet. read more

Ordered a birthday and smash cake for my son. We opened the box and there was a dead bug in the box. GROSS. The cake looked like it was bought at a grocery store. I wanted a unique cake which is why I went to a BAKERY. After paying for my order and spending close to $100, the staff didn't say goodbye, thanks, have a nice day, etc. They were not friendly and were only worried about saying next customer in line. I would never recommend this bakery nor will I ever go back. Very disappointed after reading so many great reviews. read more

We ordered our wedding cake from Hillcrest Bakery in 2009 and we were in love. We have used them for every occasion since including our latest celebration, our daughters first birthday. I called and ordered the cake a week ahead and then confirmed the cake order 3 days beforehand. The person I spoke with told me the baby cake would be complimentary and I would only be charged for the fondant decoration on top. Keep in mind that I ordered a 1/2 sheet cake which was already $50. When my sister in law picked up the cakes the day of the party, I was charged an additional $10 for the baby cake totaling $70. I called today to confirm that I was overcharged and a woman told me that the cakes are never free and that they always charge for the smash cake! Talk about miscommunication among staff and she wasn't even apologetic and was wavering on rude! Needless to say this will be our last trip to their bakery. Sad to not continue our tradition, but customer service is definitely not their strong point! read more

We went here one Saturday morning not really knowing what to expect. Besides the traditional old school bakery atmosphere we really loved everything we got: apple fritter (this is really for 2 people, if you ate it all yourself, I'd be super impressed), bacon maple donut, sausage roll, loaf of French Shepard bread, orange cinnamon muffin. Everything was fresh and delicious. There just aren't any good places to go for things like this, and for the price (our whole order was $11) you can't beat it. The service was fantastic as well. Definitely better than any other places we've gone in Bothell. read more

We Love Hillcrest- Its the Bakery you remember from your Childhood. They have the REAL - Yes REAL- Butter-Cream frosting and yes its Yummy! I read another review and had to laugh to see they only gave 4 stars because the icing seems to be sugary. Just for the record I bet they use real butter too- so scandalous- LOL Its not Sugary Its's just the Old Fashion Home Made kind much unlike the frostings found in most grocery store bakeries- Only in the Seattle area can you lose a star for Sugar :) Check them out - (FYI- If you like Apple Fritters- you are in Trouble- They have the BEST! ) read more

I recently ordered 2 dozen cupcakes from Hillcrest Bakery for a party. When I asked if they had a cupcake tower they said yes, but a refundable deposit of $25 was required but I would get it back once I returned it. Ok. A few days later, I called the bakery, which was the day before my order pick up date, to verify my order would be ready. They said yes but now the tower deposit is $50 but I would get $25 back once I returned it. Ok.... Hmmm. They day of my order I was contacted and was told to bring $50 deposit in cash, that makes it easier to refund $25 once I return it. Hmmm, ok, I guess. I pick up my order and a trash bag of plastic tower parts. I discover when I get home that the tower had chocolate frosting smeared on each part so I had to clean it. Cupcakes were stale but the frosting was good. Most cupcakes were regular size and about 6 were much smaller, which isn't what I ordered. The next day I return a cleaned cupcake tower to Hillcrest Bakery and a young lady said that there isn't a refund, citing store policy. I made a complaint and I was told that the store manager would call me, they never did. I came back to the store the next day to give them a chance to make this right and they wouldn't. I held up my end of the bargain but I did not get my refunded deposit and the dirty plastic cupcake tower is not worth a $50 rental fee. They have lost my business. It's a shame as I host a lot of personal parties as well as order food/cakes for work birthday parties. Goodbye Hillcrest bakery and hello QFC bakery, who have better cupcakes anyways. read more

We have been coming here occasionally for years and have especially enjoyed the house specialty items and, until our last visit, the friendly service. Right before Christmas I brought in my young daughter, full of holiday cheer, to buy some gingerbread men to decorate. The woman at the counter didn't even look at us as she filled the order, all the while complaining loudly to a coworker that the previous customer was "sucking the life out of" her by taking so long to choose her cookies. Very unprofessional, very unpleasant. read more

Stop!!!!!! Find another bakery!! I am not one to write reviews. I did read them before ordering and decided to try Hillcrest for my daughters wedding. I am so sorry we did. To start with we set a time to sample cakes. They asked if we wanted to try anything specific. We requested red velvet and white with apricot filling. We arrived at our appointment and neither one of our requests were there. They went in the back and came back with hot red velvet with a runny melting frosting. I think they microwaved frozen cake. My future son in law and I told my daughter we should go somewhere else for our cake. She just wanted to order it to get one more thing checked off our list. So we did. The day of the wedding the delivery person comes in asks if we need help setting up. We say no and he goes to get our cake and 120 cupcakes. 45 minutes later my husband comes to get me in the bride room. He says the guy came in to deliver and NEVER came back. We call them. Apparently he dropped the cake. No big deal accidents happen. It would have been nice if they told us though. They did get another one back in time. Kudos to them for getting the cake there. The cake they delivered was not nearly as pretty as the picture we brought in. In fact my daughter said it was awful. However the cupcakes were so bad it was a topic of conversation. People joked saying you could eat the bottom 3rd the rest was so dry. After the wedding we packed up about 80 that were left and brought them to the homeless. Our guest wouldn't eat them I called to talk to the manager a few days later. He was unaware of any of it. Said he would look into it and get back to me. He did a week later. He was willing to take 50 dollars off my delivery fee. Really my fee was 60. The least he could do was refund the whole delivery fee. I am stunned by how bad it all was. I am a restaurant manager as is my husband. This is not how you treat customers. I will be planning another wedding for our other daughter very soon. We will definitely not return to Hillcrest. read more

I could not believe how badly I was treated here. The service was AWFUL. The person made snide comments and was so rude the whole time. Will never come back. read more

Best Danishes ever. I had driven by the Hillcrest Bakery almost daily for years without stopping. Finally, I had to check it out, now it's at least a twice a week breakfast stop. The prices are a bit higher than many other bakeries, but there is no doubt that the pastries are fresh and made in-house. read more

The email customer service is horrible! I went in to inquiry about a potential order. I was given a book that showed very amatuerish photos of cakes that looked like I could make in my own kitchen or get at the local grocery store. I wanted something more elegant looking then that. After discussion with the clerks for further cake ideas or to get an idea of what the cakes looked like (they were not the bakers so didn't have any real info), I was told to send in an email with my request. I was told someone would contact in the next hour by phone. No one called or even bothered to send an email reply back. I had to call in the following day to receive an answer. Feeling very frustrated at this...so, I won't be going back when there are tons of bakeries out there... read more

My husband brought me a cherry pie. it looked amazing, lattice top. THE FIRST BITE I TOOK REMINDED ME OF MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER'S TART CHERRY PIE!!!!! Pie cherries are so much more tangy and flavorful. This pie is my favorite store bought bakery item in a very long time. It is fantastic! I love the flavor and it's not like anything you can get at chain stores. You can't even buy cherry filling that tastes this amazing.......Delicious! read more

Picked up decorated doughnuts today for our son's birthday party, they were a big hit. Michele is a real artist with the pastry and cake decorating. If you've never been there stop by and prepare to enjoy! read more

We chose Hillcrest Bakery to make our wedding cake. We could not be happier! We chose the 10" white cake with raspberry filling and 8" carrot cake. Everyone complimented on how good it tasted and how beautiful it was decorated. Hillcrest accommodated our need to travel to Ronald, WA, 100 miles away. The cake traveled very well and we were able to put together the two cakes with ease. We added a few flowers and it looked perfect! My only concern was that I think that the top 8" cake was really a 6" cake topper instead, which was a bit of a disappointment. However, we had enough cake to go around. Thank you Hillcrest. read more

I have to be Honest I am really hard to please and I am really picky so believe me this place is Fabulous! Super Friendly people that not only provide Excellent service but are Extremely Knowledgeable about what they have to offer to their Friends and Customers! Wonderful and Tasty breads, cookies and donuts! I am a bread snob and they have the Best bread ever! Their 60% Wheat and their New Garlic Dill are so Good! Fresh and no preservatives and Totally affordable! So far I have eaten their Gingerbread, Lemon Tea, Peanut Butter and Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies...Love them! I am sure that their other goodies are Great too. Love this place so much! read more

I can't believe I lived in Bothell for year before finally coming to try this place. This is the best bakery I have been to and I'm looking forward to making another trip to try more of their items. I got an apple fritter and a bacon maple bar. Both were amazing! It's amazing what kind of quality difference there is between this bakery and grocery stores. It is pricier at this bakery, but in my opinion it's well worth it for what you get. read more

Sugar sticks are delicious. Staff is really friendly. Nice local business to support!

Got a special cake made for a bachelors party event and I am so impressed with the final product. It was exactly how I wanted.This is definitely one place I would consider ordering any custom cakes in the future. read more

Their cookies are absolutely outstanding. I would definitely recommend checking this place out for that reason. Prices are also very reasonable. read more

If I am in downtown Bothell I stop to pick up a few goodies to bring home for the family. Always something delicious, I've also experienced good coffee with the treats. read more

I drive out of my way to visit this little Bothell institution. They know how to fit into the community. The chocolate cake with mocha frosting is to dye for. Don't overlook this family owned bakery. read more

Incredible bakery! I've never once been disappointed. Owned by a great family, who makes fresh pastries every morning. If you can, go when the hostess, Katie, is working. She has the warmest demeanor, and I've never seen a customer leave anything but ecstatic when she is working. read more

Hillcrest Bakery, did the cake for my daughter's wedding. The couple had chosen different flavors for each layer; I refrained from sampling all of them, but the chocolate with the buttercream frosting was delicious. The man who delivered the cake was very helpful, he got it all set up and told us how to move it for cutting etc. The cake was simply, but elegantly decorated as requested by the couple. All in all I was very pleased. Wish the bakery were closer to my house, because I have heard they have amazing apple fritters. read more

This bakery is wonderful. I always get the rum balls or marzipan rolls so I haven't tried much else because they are perfection. My husband loves the danishes. I had a piece of their cake at a baby shower and it was fabulous. The buttercream frosting was amazing. I wasn't surprised to find out it was from Hillcrest. Highly recommend. read more

Hillcrest Bakery exceeded our expectations. I recently ordered a groom's and wedding cake from Hillcrest. I had had their cakes before, so I knew the flavor would be delicious. I worked with Michelle to design the cakes so that they would be unique for the bride and groom. When it came time to pick up the cakes I was totally delighted by their presentation. It was just what I had hoped for. We picked up the cakes and delivered them to the restaurant - but unfortunately the eighty degree weather - gravity and speed bumps did us in. The one cake did not make it to the restaurant in one piece. When I called the bakery to tell them what happened they said they would make another cake and get it to the restaurant for us. I could not have asked for better service or concern. My hats are off to Michelle - Barbara and Claire for taking such good care of us. Thank you! read more

We ordered our wedding cake from Hillcrest Bakery. It was beautiful and delicious! The entire process was easy and the head baker sat down with us to make sure she knew what we wanted. They were easy to work with, on time, and the cake was beautiful. We heard from so many guests that both flavors used in our 5-tier cake were delicious (we ordered the chocolate with bavarian cream and the white cake with lemon). Also, their cake was about HALF the price charged by other bakeries, and I really can't imagine other bakers' cakes being better. Thanks, Hillcrest Bakery! read more

We used Hillcrest Bakery to make our wedding cake and we are extremely happy with the overall product! Everyone from the consultation to the delivery day was so easy-going and a blast to work with. They truly took the importance of listening to us and creating our dream cake. The taste, the appearance and the overall product was fabulous and we're so very grateful! We highly recommend them! :) read more

SPARE YOURSELF and DO NOT bother visiting this supposedly "family friendly" bakery. These guys are only "friendly" if they think you're going to blow $200 or more. I originally sent them a picture of a 2-tiered cake I wanted for my son's baby shower. After they didn't respond to my email I called them and spoke with Michelle. She told me she could make my cake for a little under $200. This was a bit much so I ended up finding a design that was less complicated. I emailed a picture and get an email back from Chazz saying for just buttercream I can expect to pay $315...if I want fondant I can expect $450. Why the price suddenly rose I have no idea. So I go in and speak with Chazz and inform him Michelle quoted a much cheaper price for a more complicated cake. Then Chazz quotes me $160 just for a buttercream 2 tiered rounded cake. It will be another $25 for the small fondant pieces to be made and added to the cake. And another $20 for a fondant baby to be put inside the cake. This is after Michelle said she wouldn't charge me for the fondant baby. So I end up finding a bakery that will make a 2 tiered buttercream cake for $99 but they don't use fondant. So I call Hillcrest and see if I can pay them to make the fondant pieces and the bakery who is making the cake will place the fondant pieces on the cake. Chazz says he needs to speak with someone about it and call me back. So about 20 minutes later I get this call from Chazz giving me some crappy excuse about how they want to ensure the best quality service so they will only sell fondant pieces to me if I'm buying the cake from them. In other words, because I'm not buying their overpriced cake they don't want to sell fondant pieces to me. But they didn't want to actually say that so they lied and tell me it's a quality service thing. So I will not be going back to this bakery. The staff looks like h.s. kids and after reading from more than 1 reviewer that there were flies on the goods at Hillcrest...I most certainly won't be visiting this bakery again. Do yourselves a favor and visit one of the many other custom bakeries around. Update: I just saw a picture of my son's baby shower cake and it turned out better than I could have imagined...and for about $100 less than what Hillcrest bakery wanted to charge me. These bakers were friendly and willing to work with my budget. Thanks to the people at QFC on Hwy 99 in Lynnwood! read more

I walked in and was very impressed by the selection. Lots of interesting cookies and treats. I was excited to try the grab bag of goodies that I created for about $7. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a case of my eyes were bigger than their quality. Such a disappointment. I'll start with the good - almond macaroon. Closer to the French style macaroon than the dense coconut version. It was crusty and chewy, and totally delicious. Next, the okay - florentine cookie. Nice texture, but a little flat (tastewise, not in the obvious physical sense). Last - the not good. Nanaimo bar - I've had better. Everywhere. Nanaimo bar cousin-looking caramel hazelnut thing - sickeningly sweet and lacking any depth of flavor. Most of those two went in the garbage. Raspberry meringue - I will preface this by saying that I haven't had a meringue in years and don't really remember what they should taste and feel like, but I'm thinking the answer isn't LIKE FIREWORKS and hard as a rock. I'm not kidding. There was a distinct gunpowder taste. I have no idea where that came from. The rest of the assortment consisted of cookies that tasted about a week old. Dusty, stale, hard in the center. Yuck. I don't care that it was late Friday afternoon. Don't sell old, stale cookies. I plan on giving them another chance, if for no other reason than the almond macaroons and the loaves of dark rye that I missed until I was on my way out. Perhaps earlier in the week. read more

After hearing and reading nothing but good things about this place, I decided I was going to get a custom cake done here. After we found parking (there is lack of parking for this place, you might have to park on the streets) we went inside - small, maybe 6 people in line before us and the place was feeling crowded. I told the woman behind the counter that I was interested in getting a cake done and was inquiring about prices, flavors and so on. She hands me a sheet of paper and the first thing I see is their pricing and flavors. Ok cool, so I went back to ask about the process, how far in advance should we place an order, what kinds of designs they offer.... Just trying to find out more information than what the paper could give us. The lady with the lazy eye seemed annoyed, she wasn't smiling, obviously wasn't willing to help us because she said "... Its on the paper" when I asked about decorations. First of all, the paper only stated that one small design cost x and any additional would be more... Could you show us what exactly a "small" design is since every bakery's perception of small is different. Nope, she just said "..its on the paper." Didn't bother asking what event this cake was for or what kind of design I had in mind so that she could give us a better estimate ... Nothing. So we left empty handed and disappointed. read more

I usually don't write reviews but feeling duped, I almost feel obligated to. I live in Lynnwood, work in Kirkland so Bothell's on the way but off route, especially when there's loads of traffic. I didn't want to waste my time so I called 1st, and asked about their cannolis which is the only reason why I went there. The lady said yes, they have "custard filled" white or chocolate which is so weird since they're made with ricotta cheese so I asked her, how do you make the chocolate since the ricotta's white. Now I don't know if she just works there and doesn't know squat or was simply playing the "I don't know" card well but apparently she didn't know what the filling was made of, just that it's "custard filled". I honestly feel bad about saying this but they're not good, and it's totally false advertisement. They're basically selling a cannoli shell with frosting as a filling, and powdered sugar all over it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not the cannoli expert but I don't believe you can use whatever you want in cannoli shell and call it a cannoli. The ricotta cheese is what makes the cannoli, not the shell. Also there shortbread cookies tasted like sugar cookies, I nearly lost a tooth with their cream puffs. The only thing that was good was there muffins & danishes but unfortunately, that's not enough to make me come back. read more