The best stuff! Always great bakery stuff, old fashion and authentic. Good prices and great quality. One of a kind.

One of the best chocolate cake donuts in the Midwest ! Their icings on there products are great.

A MUST every time we visit the in-laws in the area.....the Brownies are very good (a little sweet, can't eat a whole one), smiley cookies great, but the highlight is the apple and cherry squares,,,,I crave them every holiday!!!! read more

The donuts, pastries and bread are amazing, best I have had. The staff is not very friendly, I felt like I was bothering them. Try a smile and friendly hello!!! read more

Best brownies! Everything is fresh and delicious. We ordered a specialty birthday cake and it was awesome! We brought in a picture of a cake from a scene in The Godfather Part Two: Hyman Roth's birthday cake! What a hoot! read more

HORRIBLE experience! Placed a cake and donut order for my daughters birthday. When I placed my order I asked for a plain cake with rainbow sprinkles around the edges of the cake to match the donuts and with happy birthday writing. When I picked up the cake it had pink and green flowers all over it and pink sprinkles all over the side. When I expressed that was not what I ordered they explained that is there standard cake and they put flowers on every cake? How was I suppose to know this when no one told me that when I ordered it. They offered to give me a $5 credit for a $60 order. Very disappointed in the quality and there customer service. read more

The doughnuts tasted good, but the customer service was lacking. The staff at the counter don't seem to have much direction or oversight from the owner/manager. Also, one customer was having a hard time picking up a birthday cake (they couldn't find it, it hadn't been customized, etc.), while another had ordered a specific coffee cake but received something different. My husband got a handful of doughnuts. I only wanted a single, vanilla long john. The girl behind the counter crammed them all into a single bag. When we got home, I found that my long john was at the bottom of the bag, smashed; when I pulled the paper off, the icing came with it. Perhaps it's nitpicky, but if you sell doughnuts, then you ought to be able to package them so that they can be enjoyed post-transport. read more

Riverside Bake Shop - The doughnut packaging lacks a certain je ne sais quoi. ;) - Bakeries Near Me - Mchenry, Illinois

The best around. Kinda sucks that it's cash only, but I understand. The Ladies at front of store are always superb! read more

So overpriced! The donuts are so expensive and they just taste old all the time and just not right. Donuts from a grocery store taste better. Everything is just very dry and the staff isn't really friendly. Their pastries are ok and the fruit filling in most of them is decent. read more

Great place always has the best stuff here never disappoints. Always happy to stop here.

I love the staff and the baked goods are phenomenal! My favorites are the raisin bread, chocolate covered donuts and smiley face cookies!!

If you like freshly baked coffee cakes, cookies and bread you are going to love the Riverside Bake Shop!. I live in Crystal Lake and the few extra minutes it drive to Riverside is worth every extra minute. Their Flop Cake is sooo good! read more

A few months ago, my cousin's wife shared some donut holes with us while we were on their boat on the chain o' lakes. The donut holes were really good and when we asked where she got them, she said at the Riverside Bake shop in McHenry. We finally decided to go to the Riverside Bake shop for the very first time and we went way out of our way to specifically go there. We bought 6 donut holes, a loaf of rye bread, a small yellow cake with chocolate frosting (that was in the display case) and 2 paczkis (poonch-keys). The total for everything was $26 which is very expensive but not totally unexpected for a business of this sort. The donut holes were again good. The rye bread was average at best. I have not tried the paczkis but my wife did and she said said the one she had was good. The one she had was a banana paczki with fresh bananas and fresh whipped cream. The cake was for my son's b-day and they were nice enough to write happy b-day on the top of the cake. Unfortunately, the cake was awful! The yellow cake was dry as if it did not have enough oil. The texture of the yellow cake was "off" as if it did not have enough eggs to bind it together. And to top it off, the frosting (buttercream I think) was terrible as well. It was not creamy enough and it was not sweet enough either. The frosting was definitely missing something. How does a bakery let a cake like that leave the store? It should have never been sold and should have been thrown in the garbage! I could have bought a cake mix that comes in a box and store bought frosting and that would have been so much better than the cake from Riverside! That is a dealbreaker for a bakery and should never happen! Not even once! read more

Great bakery for Swedish Flops! Cash only but atm in store. Center of Mchenry so can enjoy the day

What can I say about this place. I grew up here and they make the most awesome donuts and danishes. My favorite are the long johns. If you have never had one, you need to get here and try one. The do also make breads, cakes, pies, and cookies. I must admit that I haven't tried the pies or cakes, but the cookies are also very good. I no longer live in the area, but anytime we come back for a visit, this is a must visit location, and like this last time, we were there for a week, and went 3 times! They are a cash or check only. You have to go down a few stores to find an ATM, so bring some cash or your checkbook with you. read more

My family and I have grown up having riverside bakery and even when we moved an hour away we'd still make the drive. These donuts are amazing and the custermor service is great. They catered my wedding and did an amazing job. Everyone loved the sprinkle donuts especially! I wish I could give them more than 5 stars. read more

Riverside Bake Shop - Bakeries Near Me - Mchenry, Illinois

Best cookies and donuts in town! Been going here for years and the staff is always so sweet and helpful! Awesome stop for anyone not from around here, worth a try! read more

Amazing. The best. Can't be beat. Real bakery. Consistent. Chocolate Cake Donut is #1. Pie's & Bread are natural. Apple Fritter best I've had. read more

Let me first start by saying that I was referred to this bakery I did go and try it out and we really enjoyed the bakery goods.Needless to say, I will not be returning nor will I refer Riverside Bake Shop to anyone I know and I will also share my experience with them. To make a long story short, their bank had made an error and they handled the situation very unprofessional and RUDE!! (trailer trash, to say the least!) read more

I've been coming to this place since I was young, and I take my brother there a couple times a year while driving him to school. To be honest though, we seem to do it out of habit rather than out of real desire. The donuts here are good, don't get me wrong. They just have offered the same exact baked good options for approximately 400 years. I wish they would switch it up every so often, offer a holiday donut or two. It would also be nice if McHenry had the kind of bakery that was trying to keep up with all of these cool donut trends: cronuts, maple bacon donuts, old fashioned donuts. This place has a lot of potential! The prices aren't wonderful. A couple of donut holes, a cookie for my brother, and a small cranberry juice ran us about $7. It could be worse, but for what they offer, I'd expect it to be cheaper. On top of that, the people that work there aren't always very friendly. I don't think I've ever walked in to a "Good morning" or even a smile. For a place that's open early in the morning where people are stopping in before work, I really wish the employees would perk up a bit. Overall, I like the donuts that they offer here, and I'll keep coming back, but I wish they'd expand their horizons a bit and smile once in a while! read more

I've been to many bakeries of all stripes in my life but this is my all time favorite. I think it's fair to say I'm addicted to their chocolate iced cake donuts. The apple fritters are phenomenal as are the cherry and apple slices - to say nothing of their outstanding pumpkin donuts (my kid's favorites). I've tried almost everything they bake and love it all. The staff is a friendly team that seems to have been there for years. They open early (4:00am) but don't take plastic. Bring cash... If you like your pastries loaded up with large doses of icing (I do, I do!), this will be the place for you, Even though there's a great upscale German Konditerei in my neighborhood, I drive 50 miles round trip about every other week to get my fix of fresh donuts from the Riverside bakery. Highly recommended. read more

BEST. SMILEY-FACE. COOKIE. EVER. Totally moist, ton of flavor -- it is a McHenry staple, IMO Donuts are just as good, always super rich with flavor and lets not forget, prices are totally reasonable!! Staff is always really nice and helpful, I know my mom ordered cupcakes for my Bridal Shower and it was a seamless transaction. Also, I don't know if this is the regular, but last time I was in there (quarter beers in July), it was Cash Only. read more

One of two back to back reviews that I preface with this... Living amongst the bright lights of the big city, I make it out to the suburbs infrequently, and the distant suburbs rarely. But something work related had me driving out to McHenry for several days in a row. Lots of long driving stints and many hours waiting around in the car made it feel like a continuous road trip, sprinkled with brief stops at home. Naturally, I searched for places to sate my roadhead snack cravings. Sweet little classic bakery. Wonderful donuts, awesome bars. Large plate of various tasters every morning, nice big chunks, good for sampling. They're so genuinely friendly here. I love places like this. The guy gave me an extra slice of cheese bar because the end slice was a little small. Must be my lucky day. Off to buy lotto tickets... read more

I've been coming to the Riverside Bakery ever since I can remember. My mom would take me there, buy me one of their famous "smiley face cookies," and we'd go down to the river and watch the ducks. I'm emotionally attached to this bakery and always takes me back to when I was a kid. Having said that, it's not just the nostalgia that keeps me coming back though. It's the quality of their food. They use NO preservatives and every single thing is made in-house. It's not like Panera where they get their dough shipped from their corporate bakeries. Nope. It's all made the night before and served the very next day. Very fresh and super tasty. I'll always support this small, family owned bakery because it's of a dying breed. Jewel, Dunkin Donuts, and Meijer can suck a fattie. My favorites are the chocolate and pumpkin spice doughnuts, round cinnamon swirl bread, and their sprinkle butter cookies. Make sure to bring cash when you go! They don't take debit or credit. read more

I've been to the Riverside Bake Shop a handful of times now, and usually leave a very happy camper. Their chocolates and fudge are divine...great to give as treats for your special someone (I also gave fudge, chocolate dipped orange, and chocolate froggies to my boyfriend's parents for Christmas). I was recently in to get some goodies to ship to my brother, who is in the Army and currently stationed overseas. I chose some chocolate-covered pretzels (white chocolate/milk chocolate variety) and some Snaps candy - his favorite since he was a kid, and VERY hard to find. I was disappointed that they only had ONE movie-theatre candy sized-box of them, but then again I guess there probably isn't a huge demand for black licorice-flavored hard-as-a-rock candy. In all, it's a cute little shop with fresh products. I've never had anything that didn't make my mouth water. In the future I aim to try some of their chocolate dipped fruits (bananas, strawberries). read more

Jim is fantastic! We called asking for a last minute birthday cake from several states away, and Jim accommodated ABOVE AND BEYOND! We can't thank you enough for making a long distance family members birthday special. THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING! read more

I haven't been 'in shop' since I was a little girl, so I can't comment on customer service, etc. , But my aunts & cousins bring these home to us whenever they come down from McHenry. What I can tell you is that their chocolate iced Cake donuts are the worlds best and most perfect for dipping. Their sprinkled donuts are an experience of pure sugared bliss for your kids, and their filled long johns were the equivalent of Santa Clause on Christmas morning when I was growing up. I have been eating their donuts since I was 3 and I'm now 32...They are still my absolute favorite. read more

This place has great donuts, they are definitely bakery style. If you have only had Dunkin' Donuts type donuts...you need to try this place! They also have great, fresh smiley face cookies. I have to force myself not to stop in and get one when I drive by lol. read more

I love the spirit and idea of this small town bakery. Unfortunately, the pastries aren't good and it's expensive. The reason I won't go back though is the lack of sanitation on the part of the employees. When I went in on Pazcki day to buy a few, the woman picked them up with her bare hands. It was nasty. A few weeks ago I went back and there is no way to stand 6 feet from the many other customers inside. Nobody was enforcing Covid standards and it was crowded. You can only pay with cash. Then the girl put a donut in a bag for me, dropped the bag on the floor and tried to use the same bag for the 2nd donut. Yuck. She looked offended when I asked for a new bag and said it had fallen right side up and was fine. Nope. Can't trust it again read more

I love Riverside Bake Shop! I used to work at a local business and Riverside would deliver our baked goods. They were so delicious and our customers spoke highly of the bakery. The delivery driver was always so pleasant. read more

Wonderful delights and great service. Ruined my diet, however well worth it. . I really like the variety of pastries and breads available. Parking can be tricky on Saturday and around the lunch hour. read more

Nice to shop an old school bakery instead of mass produced bakery goods. All was fresh and tasty

The donuts are good, before covid we would pick up some donuts at least once a month. I went there the other day and when I went to pay I was told they don't take plastic, cash or check only. I don't carry cash any more but not to worry, they have an ATM. They charge you over 3 bucks to get the cash to buy their products from them. Yeah, their donuts are good but Meijers are not bad either and they won't scam you to get more money from you. I won't be going back. read more

My girlfriend and I always come here for donuts and smiley face cookies, we ordered our first cake for my 23rd birthday which came out even more incredible then I could have fathomed. Truly amazing and more than happy about it. read more

Riverside Bake Shop - Cake - Bakeries Near Me - Mchenry, Illinois

Came in for the first time today with my little ones. It was you classic bakery that I remember going to as a kid. The lady behind the counter you could tell enjoyed her job and immedatly greeted us with a smile. The kids were so excited to see everything so yummy! All at their eye level. We got doughnuts and cookies both which were great. Also the prices were great. We will for sure be back! Thank you guys! read more

Have been going here since I was 7. I am now 41 and my kids love it to. This is the real thing when it comes to hometown bakeries. Everything is always fresh!! My favorite since I was a kid is the smilie face cookies . read more

The best donuts I have ever had along with a few other items can be found here! These apple things are amazing! Definitely recommend stopping in here early Saturday morning. read more

Can you say YUM? Their prices keep going up, but the quality and flavor is 2nd to none in the area.

The donuts are delicious. The bake shop is a gem of McHenry and is a must for at least one breakfast when we are in town.

My husband just picked up the 50th anniversary cake we ordered and it is way beyond my wildest expectations. It is perfect and more than I hoped for since I had to describe my dream cake to the baker with just a picture of a cake sort of similar to what I wanted. He nailed it. I have already taken multiple pictures of this masterpiece. I am very happy. read more