Frances Bakery & Coffee
| Address: | 404 E 2nd St, Los Angeles, CA 90012, USA |
| Phone: | +1 213-680-4899 |
| Rating: | 4.2 |
| Working: | 8AM–6PM 8AM–6PM 8AM–7PM 8AM–7PM 8AM–7PM 8:30AM–7PM Closed |
Location
Photos 15
Reviews 8
TI
Tiffany Cheung
The macarons were in the freezer display immediately upon walking in. They have a list of flavors available on top, and I was disappointed to see that more than half were already sold out or not available. I really wanted to try the rose and lavender, but instead opted for strawberry, sesame, salted caramel and green tea. Each macaron is $1.85 and comes in a nice little plastic baggie with their logo stuck onto the front; however, you are also able to order these macarons in a gift box or on a stacked display if they have a special occasion sale (i.e. Valentines Day). The next few freezers consists of cakes and cheesecakes and their popular cronuts. Im not really big on cronuts, but I do regret not buying one since I was already there! They looked delicious, but I was already spending about $7 for macarons, and didnt want to spend an extra $3 something for a cronut. Ah well ... I wasnt able to eat the macarons until that night and the day after, but they were still very fresh and tasty when I ate them. I like that the filling is very soft and fluffy. It basically melts in your mouth the minute you put your tongue on it. Also, their filling is a lot creamier and lighter than other macaron places, but the shell of the macaron is much more crumbly and cookie-like. I personally like my macaron to be chewier and of a thicker consistency, so when I chew, I feel like Im getting that chewiness of the shell mixed with the cream. Overall, I thought these were okay - I didnt enjoy them as much because I didnt like the shell of the macaron, but the taste wasnt bad. Sesame wasnt too special and I couldnt really taste the sesame. The green tea and strawberry were my favorites. The strawberry had real strawberries blended into the filling and the green tea had a good filling. The salted caramel tasted more like chocolate with a hint of caramel inside of it. I didnt really like that. I thought they had given me the wrong flavor at first! tl;dr: Macarons were just okay for me. As much as I liked the filling, I really didnt like the shell of the macaron (it was just too soft and crumbly for me, but I know people really like that so its really down to preference). The desserts and cronuts looked delectable, but also a bit too expensive for my liking. Probably will stick to Lette and other macaron places for my macaron fix.
JO
Johnny Wang
I love doughnuts. I love croissants too (and other flaky pastries). So, naturally, I should love a combination of the two, right? Not quite. Having had a wide variety of cronuts over the past year now, the fusion of the two things still has yet to appeal to me more than its individual parts. That said though, Frances has been the only place Ive tried on this side of the Pacific thats managed to elicit an "ooo" from me. Calling in to reserve an order a few days prior (this is highly recommended, lest you run the risk of them having sold out), I managed to stop myself at three, getting their chocolate, strawberry and custard, and blueberry flavors. The best one, by far, was the blueberry, followed by the chocolate, and then the strawberry cream. While the croissant portion of them were all equal, something about jam and pastries just... works. Though, to be fair, the blueberry one was also the only one I waited long enough to take home and toast. I suspect that, had I allowed myself the same delayed gratification with the other two, they would have been almost equally as delicious: almost, because, well, I do really just love jam. ***Accessibility Info*** Venue - A small-ish bakery, with some two to four tops along one side, and the display cases and ordering on the other. As is usually the case with bakery display cases, the topmost shelves may be a little difficult to see: that said, their display cases are a bit shorter than most, so this isnt as much of an issue. Bathroom - Didnt try them, so no comment.
WI
Willis Wong
Parking: They have their own lot but you can probably find street parking to avoid paying the fee Seating isnt that ample. They designed the place to look like a 70 year old English womans lonely apartment minus the cats or an English tea place. Frances Donuts (basically a Cronut that fortunately hasnt been patented) are expensive as heck. Around 4-5 bucks for a Cronut depending which one you get. They have different flavors. I splurged and got one that is split and has strawberries and cream in it. It tastes like what it is, a croissant and doughnut. I still prefer my doughnut not only because the price of a Cronut is equivalent to a dozen donuts, but also because a Cronut fill the void of crispy fluffy texture that donuts and croissants cant do. Havent tried the NY doughnut so cant compare. The macaroons are quite expensive as well which is expected. We got the sesame flavored one. I was expecting it to be black like the Chinese sesame dessert but it was white. Basically it was a vanilla macaroon with sesame sprinkled on it. There was a slight hint of sesame but the vanilla definitely overpowered it.
A
A Private User
I really just stumbled on to this place because I wanted was some coffee. Initially I was going to starbucks but it was so crowded and I couldnt wait in that long line so I try to explore another place and thats when i saw Frances. Underneath the sign it said, coffee so I thought ill give it a try and when i went in, I saw all these beautiful cakes that were just too good to eat. As I was getting my coffee I decided to try their chocolate croissant and that was just the beginning. It was so good, i decided to take my friends and family to try the cake and it never disappoints. Prolly not the best of decors but the service is nice and the pastries, excellent. Its worth trying!
LI
Lily Tran
Im not sure what else I can say that hasnt already been said in previous reviews, but YES I LOVE THEIR CRONUTS TOO! It took me awhile to try these babies out because Ive heard about them running out really early so I never got around to trying it. However, i decided to pop in the other day when I was in the area and luckily, they still had a good amount of cronuts left. I tried the blueberry, original, nutella, and some upgraded strawberries and cream one. Surprisingly, I think I liked the original the best, but there werent any that I did not like/hated. I think their cronuts are way better than DKs and I will be back to try their macarons and other pastries.
LA
Laverne Shy
Ive loved their strawberry/banana cake cakes for as long as I can remember and was a staple at our birthday parties. Parking though can be a challenge...I remember my dad would drop off my mom and then circle around the block a few times and then my mom would load up the cake and we were on our way to devour this tasty treat. :) And to carry on the tradition, weve been buying this cake for our son as well. Aside from their strawberry/banana cake, the baked pork bun, pineapple bun, sponge cake and egg custard are super yummy too. Cant go wrong with any of the pastries/baked goods they have there.
IZ
izumi park
お誕生日等の記念日のケーキは絶対此処で オーダーします。 個人的にLA一美味しいケーキ屋さんだと 思います。 苺のショートケーキの9inchホールは 軽くて甘さも控えめで苺もたっぷり入っています。大きくてもペロっと頂けます。 ナポレオン等の他のケーキも美味しいです！
VE
Vegas and Food
Ive been here several times, back in 2008 and 2011. I tried macarons and cakes before. They were just ok so I never went back. I came here to try their cronut today. They had 3 different cronuts; custard, chocolate and blueberry. I got blueberry cronut. Its blueberry jam inside. I thought its gonna be filled with blueberry jam but it wasnt. Very tiny amount of jam inside and the donut was extra greasy, like eating dough soaked in sugar oil. It was tasteless. I like DKs cronut better.
