Excellent bakery all around--a neighborhood staple! First rate cakes that are the top choice in DC.

We selected KoGiBow bakery to do my daughters cake for her 13th birthday. What I realized, is that Korean bakeries often use far less sugar in their preparation, and since I typically make my kids birthday cakes, I wanted to mirror that. It is easy to contact them and place the order, they have a website where you can place the order and also if you need a design on top which I wanted you have to text it to the owner. My daughter is obsessed with anime, and this birthday was going to be a Kawaii birthday. First point, contacting them is difficult so you have to be persistent. Second point they have a very limited range of flavors. They have a basic cake with different fillings. I ended up selecting a basic vanilla cake, which is their birthday cake with strawberry filling. If you want a elaborate cake with fondant or designs like that, this is not your bakery. In my family, we hate fondant and we love whipped cream that is not too sweet. The cake was gorgeous, I did have a hard time explaining the design I want so I do not blame the method. Design was not actually exactly what I ordered, but it was definitely close enough. Everyone loved the cake, the sponge is light, fluffy, delicious very much vanilla and the strawberries were perfectly fresh. For having decided not to bake my own cake on Thursday I would say that I got a really good deal on this . This is a neighborhood, Bakery, and if you were in the area, I highly recommend . read more

KoGiBow Bakery - a birthday cake on a table - Desserts Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

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This review is for the bubble tea only. Right when you walk in the place is filthy. I wasn't going to get anything but my friend wanted to try a bubble tea and ended up throwing it out because it tasted off. I can't imagine getting anything from a place that dirty; they should at least try to present the front well. read more

I was craving boba and this place stood out to me on Yelp because people mentioned the fresh fruit smoothies. It's a simple, tiny little bakery specializing in wedding cakes that also happens to sell boba drinks. I was actually tempted to order the black milk tea, but realized that I should order a fruit drink since that was the whole point in choosing this place. I ordered the mango smoothie with boba. It was excellent and had great fresh mango flavor. While it is true that the boba are not coated with honey as some other Yelpers have commented on, this did not bother me because I don't mind it being a little less sweet. Plus, the consistency of the boba was perfect: extra chewy (or "Q" as we like to say in Taiwan), just the way I like it! Still can't compare to boba places back in California (or in Taiwan for that matter, where boba originated), but not bad at all! The drink menu is somewhat limited though. read more

KoGiBow Bakery - Desserts Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

This bakery is featured in How Do You Know movie! Not sure if Hollywood recreated this as a set or actually filmed it in DC, but still very cool. The phone number on the bakery's window is the same in both the movie and real life. read more

KoGiBow Bakery - This bakery is featured in "How Do You Know" movie! - Desserts Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

Ehhhh - very uninviting establishment with what seems like a lot of clutter and poorly placed menus. I ordered a black tea & milk bubble tea that left a lot to be desired. I can't see myself visiting again or recommending this place. read more

KoGiBow Bakery - Store front - Desserts Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

For an unassuming little bakery in Adams Morgan, Kogibow really blew us away with an amazing cake created for our wedding. Our needs were simple -- we just needed a sheet cake to feed 30 -- but the results were perfect. We brought in pictures of what we were looking for and they matched it exactly, and unlike many many wedding cakes I've eaten, this one was delicious. We probably should have planned to feed 60 instead of 30 because everyone wanted more. It was a great experience start to finish. read more

KoGiBow Bakery - a wedding cake with a bride and groom figurine - Desserts Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

Guess I'm in the minority, but I'm actually not all that impressed by their boba tea. I hear the fruit-flavored ones are pretty good, but the taro, thai tea, and milk tea are barely tolerable. For good boba tea, you're better off heading down the street to Spoon. Their cakes, however, are splendid!! As another reviewer mentioned, they're Asian-style (the owners are Chinese-Vietnamese), meaning they're light, not too sweet, and taste just as delicious on Days 2, 3, and 4. The limited flavors are somewhat disappointing; they have vanilla, chocolate, tres leches, and maybe one more. But what they lack in variety of flavors, they certainly make up for in choice of designs. For you Captain America fans, check out my son's birthday cake, as well as the Avengers design that didn't make the cut for a joint, mixed-gender birthday party, for obvious reasons. Bon appetit! BTW, the "Gi" in KoGiBow is a soft G, as in giraffe. read more

KoGiBow Bakery - Happy Birthday, Captain America! - Desserts Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

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Ordered a cake from here for a friends birthday. Was delicious, inexpensive, and looked wonderful. read more

KoGiBow Bakery - Fruit Cake - Desserts Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

Ko Gi Bow made the bday cake we got for my friend and we were even able to have her face printed on it! Just to let you know, asian bakeries make cake sort of different. It's lighter and spongier with less sugar. It's worth trying and if you're from california or nyc you're probably used to it. The folks at ko gi bow make the style of cake pretty well so if you have a hankering go on down read more

My family has been getting cakes from here since before I was born. The cakes are good but not the best. The designs are super old school. Also they didn't update the times online I rushed to place an order because it says it closes at 6:30! I get there and the door says 5! read more

Amazing cakes! My friend would always bring a cake from this bakery to birthday parties and they were always a hit. I finally asked where to buy the cakes so I could have them myself. I highly recommend the tres leches cakes! read more

Found Kogibow Bakery on Yelp and Facebook. Ordered a cake for my daughter's 1st birthday. The cake was super moist and delicious! Not too sweet with lots of fruits which was great! The owner was very nice and helped me find the right photo (Squirt in Finding Nemo). The only down side to this place is the location and parking was hard to find. read more

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Just tried this place and had the fresh fruit boba... best boba in the city. This place also gets busy. Very popular for cakes. And they are super skilled and detailed. Give this place a try if you are looking for a beautiful cake or if you want a boba tea. read more

Delicious cake! Wonderful owner and family. Very accommodating for a short turn at round.

I say this with all confidence. KoGiBow bakery is the best bakery in Washington DC! I've been to plenty of bakeries in the DC area and KoGiBow is by far the best! Friendliness of the staff, pricing "you get a lot for your money" I ordered a 1/4 sheet cake doubled layered and with a custom image for a fair price. YES you can show them any image and they can add it on the cake, as a edible image. They have either Vanilla, Chocolate or Tres Leches as the cake flavors and you can add a variety of fruits as a decoration. Check out the picture of my amazing cake I added. I highly recommend this bakery for weddings, birthdays or any parties. read more

KoGiBow Bakery - Desserts Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

"What? There's a Chinese bakery in Adams Morgan?" Yes there is, a little hole in the wall next to, of all places, Adams Mill Tavern, with styrofoam cake models stacked up in the grimy windows, a macabre array of dead-eyed cartoon dolls ranked on the countertop behind a low display case. I ordered a cake from Ko Gi Bow to bring to a potluck Chinese New Year dinner. In my typical tardy way, I didn't get around to ordering it until 3pm, when I needed it for 6pm that day--it was ready by 5:30pm. The cake was delicious, fluffy vanilla sponge cake, not too sweet, smothered with voluptuous clouds of whipped frosting and rosettes of fruit. The proprietor expertly painted "Happy New Year" in Chinese on the top of the cake in slender, graceful, lucky red strokes, before gently chastising me for not speaking any Chinese myself. The 15" cake, serving 10-15 greedy people cost about $38 including tax. I do not recommend the bubble tea. It's far too sweet, the texture of the tapioca is far too gummy, and there's always a chalky residue at the bottom from the drink mix. read more

I passed by this purple-signed building about a thousand times, and for some reason, I always dismissed it as another randomly mediocre Thai restaurant. I don't know why I got it in my head that this was Thai food, because it turns out that it's actually a friggin BAKERY. Stupid me for my preconceived notions. They make Asian-style cakes, which are lighter than the typical American fare, and they're filled with the fruit of your choice. I was particularly intrigued, however, because they also sell BUBBLE TEA. Also known as PEARL TEA and BOBA, this is basically a milky tea of your choice with HUGE TAPIOCA BALLS in it, served with a HUGE STRAW. I'm talking BIG. The store itself is NOT cute. And the boba turned out to be ok, but I haven't found too many other shops in DC that sell it. So... I'll probably go back if and when I get the craving. And a guy walked in while I was waiting to order two pieces of cake and a couple drinks. I always take it as a good sign when I expect a place to be dead but patrons visit while I'm there. He was obviously a regular. I'd probably change the odd photos they have of the Pillsbury Dough Boy randomly posing with their various drinks. Weird. There are a few more things I'd adjust too, but I applaud them from giving me a place to go for my bubbles. read more

Warning: This post will reveal to the world that I am, in fact, Asian. As I sit here trying to suck up the last few tapioca balls in my first ever state-side bubble tea, I am appalled that it took me three years of living in/near Adams Morgan to come here. And I think the reason why is because they only recently set up the giant Chinese flag outside. Had it been up before, I'd have gone in much sooner. Have to help out the countrymen, is all I'm saying. Anyway, I ordered the green tea bubble tea (what better flavor?!), and it came out pastel-hued and frothy, with elegant black bubbles floating along the bottom. The domed lid of the Einstein Bros. Bagels (zuh??) plastic cup provided a large enough opening for the straw that it wasn't pinched, and the tapioca balls shot up smoothly. The consistency was quite nice, too, firm and chewy, but not too firm or too chewy. As for the flavor of the tea, it was just sweet enough, and the tea aftertaste was subtle, but pepped me up during a late workday afternoon slump. It costs $3 for the tea/soy milk based drinks, $3.50 for the fruit-based. Ko Gi Bow is not much to look at aesthetically, but the space is utilitarian enough. Big cardboard cutouts of cake sizes hanging from the ceilings, action figure toys everywhere that you can purchase to go on your cake (including Harry Potter). I haven't tried their cake, but if I know anything about Chinese pastries, it's that they'll be light and fluffy, not too sweet, with real buttercream frosting. Don't take my word on that, though... read more

Delicious Boba AT LAST!!! I found it really by accident one afternoon walking to grab some lunch in Adams Morgan...and I saw the sign for Boba out of the corner of my eye. I've been complaining about the lack of good Boba (Tapioca Pearl Drink) in this city really ever since I moved here from the Bay Area. Now, they don't have the wide varity of flavors, teas, slushes, smoothies, jellies etc. BUT they do have fresh tapioca pearls a few great flavors (psst try the peach fruit smoothie). I'm happy at last- definitly a full step up from the Boba at Snap. They also have some pretty amazing looking cakes, but I wasn't there for the cake so you will have to check that out on your own! read more

It's almost a year after the fact, but I wanted to highlight KoGiBow as a great place to get wedding cakes. We wanted an affordable cake that looked like a traditional wedding cake (nothing kooky for us) and tasted GOOD. Like CAKE, not like fondant. KoGiBow delivered brilliantly. The cake was affordable (about $275 for a cake that fed 100 people, including delivery and set-up), lovely, and highly delicious. We got a three-tiered cake with the biggest tier being chocolate with tres leches filling (very creamy, not too sweet), and the two smaller tiers being white cake with lemon filling (nice and tangy, not processed-tasting). I brought in a picture of a cake style I wanted (white, with little rows of white candy disks, which I supplied to make his life easier), and Mr KoGiBow (the owner, can't remember his name) recreated it. They can also decorate their wedding cakes with fruit--ask to look at his book of photos. The only reason I'm taking off a star is that communication can be a little challenging, as the staff doesn't speak great English. I recommend getting everything in writing for a big order like a wedding cake. But KoGiBow is a fantastic local alternative to high-priced froufrou wedding bakeries. Yay! read more

KoGiBow Bakery - Ko Gi Bow made our wedding cake! - Desserts Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

I'm really glad I checked this place out. I came to get bubble tea. I got mango and avocado. They were made with real fruit, instead of the powder. This is how bubble tea is suppose to be made! The bubbles were not coated in honey as other places do. I was fine with it not overly sweet. In my opinion, this is the best bubble tea in DC! A must try! read more

KoGiBow Bakery - Mango bubble tea! Yummy - Desserts Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

Really good black milk tea with tapioca. It's actually made with real tea. $3.30 for 16 oz. I think it is better than Poppabox and the nearby Spoon. The man working there is very friendly as well. The pearls are a good texture but I think they could be sweeter. read more

KoGiBow Bakery - Black milk tea with tapioca, 16 oz., $3.30 - Desserts Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

I've been going to this place for a year now but just for the bubble tea. As such, this review is solely based on the their bubble tea and not their cakes. For what it's worth, this is the BEST BUBBLE TEA in DC simply because they use real fruit instead of powder or syrup. You can take the chunks of fresh fruit in your drink. SO DELICIOUS! read more

Still best bubble beverage (tea and smoothie) place in DC area. They don't use powder or syrup which are loaded with artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives. This establishment actually uses fruit! read more

Only had drinks there... (though the cakes look amazing) This is the bakery from that crappy romantic comedy released last year featuring Paul Ruud! + Good quality boba - chewy (not overcooked) but with soft center (not under cooked) (which is surprisingly hard to find... there are just a ton of places now that manage to mess this up) - Limited selection, (gf and I had the soy milk and strawberry smoothie respectively) read more

A wonderful neighborhood bakery/bubble tea shop. I was served by the store's owner who said he owned this little establishment in Adams Morgan for the past 20 years. My friend and I both got mango bubble teas (their most popular flavor) and the taste of real fresh mango and perfectly chewy boba was such a treat. It was very easy to request a vegan version made with non-dairy milk. read more

2.75 stars Not sure how it should taste like as I have never been to Taiwan and they don't have this in China, at least the places in China I went to... but a friend from Taiwan said this was solid...Tasted so so to me. The bubbles are just these cheap tasting chewy little candies that go through the straw. They do not use real fruit either. read more

I just went to my friend's bday dinner and they bought the cake from this bakery. It tastes just like Philly chinatown's cakes filled with fresh fruit and so light and yummy. The icing just as light and airy. I will definitely be coming here for cakes in the future and check it out. read more

I looove bubble tea and I recently found out that this place has them, and since it's in my neighborhood I decided to give it a try. Well, the place is very odd. The inside looks sort of abandoned, empty fridges and display cases, and no one working visible. After a couple of minutes someone showed up and took my order of 1 mango bubble tea. I was sadly very dissapointed in the drink. It was unlike any other bubble tea I've ever head, very thick and just not too flavorful. Don't think I'll be coming back. read more

KoGiBow Bakery - Mango bubble tea- not very good, too thick - Desserts Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

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Review for bubble tea with milk black tea ($3). The pearls were a bit too chewy to easily go down and they needed to be slightly sweeter. The black tea was fine, but left something to be desired. You can order fruit smoothie flavors ($3.50) or a combination of tea & fruit smoothie flavor ($4). I absolutely LOVE bubble tea, so my review is based off my favorite places in the Bay Area (Fantasia & Verde). It's kind of random this Asian cake shop sells bubble tea, but considering there probably aren't any other options around it can probably satisfy a craving if you have one. I didn't eat any of their baked products itself, but the shop looks old and is kind of messy for a baking establishment. Looks like they mainly sell whole cakes, but also have some slices and other not very appetizing baked goods you can buy. read more

Only been here for the boba. aka bubble tea aka tapioca pearl. There is a limit selection for tea drinks. I believe its green, black, and soy. The boba is pretty chewy but its kinda small and the tea was on point. It didn't taste like syrup and i feel like they brewed it made to order. There is a bit of foam ice on the top but thats okay with me. I think this is the best overall boba spot in D.C. read more

Kogibow made our wedding cake and they did such a wonderful job. It was a beautiful cake, it was delicious, and our guests really enjoyed it. I was a little nervous because we wanted to use my great-grandmother's crystal cake stand, so we left it with Kogibow when we placed the order a few weeks before our wedding. I shouldn't have worried -- they took great care of the stand and the cake looked fantastic. read more

Awesome bubble tea. Got both the mango and the coconut. You can tell right away it's made with real mango and real coconut. The flavor was amazing. I had the coconut and it was exactly what I wanted not too sweet either and the bobbas were the perfect consistency (and I am very picky about my bobbas). The mango was a bit sweet for me but I don't like my bobba tea very sweet however my friend who got it loved it. Definitely worth going. Can't wait I go back. The place is a little hole in the wall and doesn't look very tidy, etc however don't judge it by that. Also purchased a few slices of cake to go. Have yet to try them. But will let you yelpers know. :) read more

This was one of the worst visits I've had in the city. Stay away from this fraudulent place! This review is in regards to the "bubble tea" that they serve. I asked if it would be ok to have an orange/mango mix, as they don't have lychee, and the lady said it was fine. She disappears. I hear nothing for ten minutes...not a blender, no sounds of fruits being placed anywhere, nothing. Another lady finally comes out and says $4.50. I didn't think the price was right, and she said that she charged extra for combining flavors. I asked why I wasn't told about this beforehand, and she just repeated that she is charging for the mix. I then taste it, and it was literally the worst bubble tea I've ever had. I know she didn't mix any real fruit in. I didn't hear anything going on. She basically went in back, opened up some mango nectar or pulp (which you can find for next to nothing at the market) and stirred in some orange juice. I don't even know if she really mixed any orange flavor in because I didn't taste any of it. I told her that I'd write a review about how ridiculously overpriced and misrepresented the product was. She didn't care. Seriously, had I wanted a mango lassi, I would have went to the Indian grocery store to get it for a dollar. I should have walked out when I didn't hear the blender or any chopping. Why trust a place that doesn't show you what they're doing to your drink... Some hipsters might like this place because it has a watery organic feel to it, but if you are craving a real Bubble Tea, don't come here! The cakes they had also looked disgusting... read more

This review concerns solely the bubble tea at Ko Gi Bow. I would avoid. The tapioca was stale (tough and dry) and tasteless. The tea itself was poorly mixed and tasted like a powdered drink. It's certainly not worth the $3.50 we paid for each drink. There's really not much more I can say about this place. Maybe I'll add an essay about bubble tea (also known as boba tea) in the near future. read more

KoGiBow made our wedding cake. Very light and tasty, arrived on time for a good price. Fresh and yummy.

Great cakes and affordable prices. I always get my cakes from here. The "3 leches" with fruit is delicious. The cakes are never too sweet/plain. They are just perfect. Also, if you are in the mood of a bubble tea, I also recommend this place (especially the coconut flavor). It is a small shop. However, they are well organized and have a very fast service. I highly recommend this bakery! read more

Yelp has let me down. This place was a bust. If you like real bubble tea, avoid at all costs. The green milk tea was not actual tea but grossly-flavored artificial tasting matcha. The cantaloupe drink I got was better because it was fresh fruit but it still was pretty gross. The boba balls were the worst. They weren't sweet at all and they tasted horrible. If you're craving the real thing, go to Rockville. Avoid getting anything here. read more

I came here for a bubble tea, but didn't get one. The place looks dirty and they have a $15 cc minimum. Who doesn't take cc in 2014? Both of the shop attendants were indifferent and didn't even try to get my business. Luckily, I found a great new froyo and bubble tea shop, Spoon, down the street. I took my business there. read more