Jina Bakes

Stopped by on a Saturday morning after seeing this place on TikTok and arrived right around opening. There was already a small line, but the wait was only about 5–10 minutes. They limit the shop to three customers at a time, so I can imagine the line getting much longer later in the day. The bakery is located inside the Japantown mall and has a very minimal look to it. Staff were friendly and efficient. I picked up five pastries: almond croissant, orange chocolate bun, injeolmi croissant, hotteok kouign-amann, and a danish. The orange chocolate bun was the standout, super unique and absolutely delicious and would highly recommend. The injeolmi croissant was also excellent, the rice cake was soft and chewy with a nice soybean powder coating, though most of the powder fell off during transport, so I’d recommend eating it right away. The hotteok kouign-amann was pleasantly surprising with a nutty, sweet flavor and it felt really well balanced. The almond croissant and danish were solid and exactly what you’d expect from a top tier bakery. Everything held up well even when eaten later at home, and surprisingly tasted great the next day too. Prices felt very reasonable for the quality. Definitely worth checking out if you’re in the area and don’t mind a potential wait.

The matcha cream puffs are THE Best pastry I've ever had. The are so creamy and crunchy and so so so delicious and it's not that sweet which I truly appreciate. We got all 3 flavors and here's our ranking: 1.Matcha 2. Hujucha 3. Sesame We arrived at around 12pm on Saturday and had to wait for 10 minutes for the cream puffs. It usually there is a line but it goes fast.

TLDR: Solid pastries, but no more tipping until customer service improves…😢 Fantastic banoffee croissants - if u come early in the day (it’s less crispy if you buy towards ~ 3 pm on a Friday but there are still some left). Honestly it’s their banoffee croissant that keep me coming back, but after what happened today, they lost my brand loyalty. I mean I’ll still come back since I respect their patisserie chef’s technical prowess & that’s a testament to just how good their banoffee croissant is! But the moment I find a comparable banofee pastry, I think I’ll stand up for my dignity and likely take my business elsewhere unless things change. TBH I felt quite slighted today by the associate manning the cashier. I don’t think she meant to be rude, and to be fair I came in while still on the phone (with my work partner to help try to calm down a couple smoldering fires & wanted to get a bite to eat after having not eaten all day trying but ended up multitasking). There was no one in front of me in line & I did pause my phone call while I ordered, paid, and tipped in appreciation for the associate’s understanding - or so I thought. However, my surprise came after my transaction: I asked if I could store the banoffee I bought in their fridge while I picked up a couple more things around Jtown since it has heavy cream that usually perishes at room temperature after 2 hours. I asked this knowing you can order (7 days in advance) & pay online on their website for pastries, which will be stored for you until you pick up. So I’m stumped why my request was considered significantly different enough where it can’t be honored. I mean otherwise you’re putting the customer in a difficult position where they have to time exactly when to get a banoffee at the last min after all their shopping around Jtown (because the shelf life of a banoffee at room temperature is supposedly two hours given it’s heavy whipping cream content) & more realistically the customer risks missing getting their banoffee sold out towards the end of the day when they are forced into this position. It’s really a bad business model in my humble opinion - like lose-lose for both the business and the customer. Needless to say, you can probably figure my request was denied. And I think what made it worse was how the associate phrased it: just a flat out NO. Honestly I’m in customer service too and I know better than that when delivering bad news to a patron. At least softening the blow would have shown an attempt at being considerate of the customer’s feelings. Especially when they drove ~ 25 mi sometimes for your pastries. Eh o wells, 🤷🏻‍♀️maybe the associate was having a bad day felt stuck their towards the end of their Friday shift with poor AC in the old Jtown building, only to have to run into a customer who came in while multitasking with a phone call. I can imagine even feeling possibly annoyed. But I don’t believe in dishing out snappiness at customers without knowing or asking about their circumstances and even after the customer makes an attempt to ameliorate the situation. They could have at least tried to ask the why behind my request to show they were trying to hear me out or explained why they denied my request. Because now it just looks like Jina Bakes has contradictory management policies and it depends on your luck of the day on which associate you get. And to be fair: explaining the store closes at 4 when I ordered ~ 3 does not seem to be a reasonable explanation from my POV. I had no issue coming back before 4. But for additional context: Got their pastries multiple times before. Their injeolmi (~kinako and mochi) and kalbijjim (their sister restaurant Daeho’s signature meat dish + cheese) are pretty good too or my 2nd favs. 🥐 If you see their pear croissant, I’d also recommend getting that (if all the above are sold out). Their chocolate mochi is not bad either. Additionally their plain and matcha butter mochi’s are occasionally nice to have & can be frozen down for storage over time. Their crème puffs & panna cotta are above average.

This place is dangerous! The baked goods are delicious, and you'll want to eat everything before you get home. Located on the bottom floor in the Japantown mall, there's usually a line to get in and the pastries sell out quickly. We tried the popular black sesame creme puffs, croissant, and Kalbijjim Croissant. Savory or sweet - you won't be disappointed.

Very good and special crossiants with Asian flavors! We tried Kalbijjim crossiant, Injoelmi crossiant at bottom, and hojicha puff, spending ~$20 in total. Injoelmi crossiant is perfect for people who like (just a little) sweet bakeries and mochi. Not too sweet and tastes amazing. The soy bean flour on top also adds the flavor. The mochi and soy bean flour can be hard to digest, so just need to be cautious about the amount for people who have a weak stomach. Kalbijjim crossiant is savory and great for people loving salty crossiants. The hojicha puff is not too sweet, but the crust is not so soft and tastes a bit dry. The store is in a food court/market And doesn't have seatings. But there are seatings in the court inside.