Carlo’s Bakery

Information

Carlo’s Bakery
The Palazzo
3325 Las Vegas Blvd. S.
Las Vegas, NV 89109
702-607-2356
website
$5-$25
Daily 8am-11pm
Restaurant Type: Bakery
Vegas4Visitors Rating: C+

At a Glance

What is it?

A bakery from the star of TLC’s “Cake Boss” Buddy Valastro.

Where is it?

Across the hall from Buddy V’s, in the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Palazzo on the Center Strip.

What kind of food is served?

Baked goods of all types – pastries, cookies, cakes, and more.

What is the atmosphere like?

It’s a small shop with no real place to sit so order your stuff to go.

How is the service?

Friendly although with a bit of an assembly line quality.

What are the prices like?

More expensive than your typical bake shop.

What else do I need to know?

The lines can be epic.

What’s the bottom line?

Go more to say you did than for the actual food.

Full Review

Buddy Valastro is best known as the “Cake Boss,” the brain behind the pastries at Carlo’s Bakery in New Jersey featured on the TLC show of the same name. Valastro came to Vegas with his fantastic Italian comfort food joint Buddy V’s at Palazzo and has now opened up a branch of Carlo’s Bakery right across the hall.

My expectations were high. I love Buddy V’s and they have a whole TV show about the guy’s cakes so it had to be amazing, right? Well…

The shop is small, with a few display cases, a cashier stand, and a counter a couple of stools that could accommodate five or six people max. In other words you’re most likely going to be getting your goodies to go.

Of course that’s after you actually get to the place. At peak times they have lines that run all the way down the hall and waits can go over an hour just to get in the doors. I highly recommend going at an off time – mid to late morning or afternoon on a weekday is going to be your best bet. Go on a weekend and I’d stop somewhere on the way to get something to snack on while you are in line to get something to snack on.

They have a wide variety of options from breakfast pastries like turnovers and Danishes to cookies, cupcakes, tarts, tortes, individual serving fruit pies and cheesecakes, cannoli, Napoleans, small cakes, big cakes, and of course their famous “lobster tail” (a flaky pastry stuffed with cream).

Following my own advice, I visited in mid-morning and so I was in a breakfast pastry mindset. This was probably where I made an error in judgment; after all, if you are going to visit a bakery run by a guy known as the “Cake Boss” perhaps you should have cake instead of a Danish. Still, I expected more from said cherry Danish and from the apple turnover that I got with it. Both were room temperature, the pastry itself was dry, and the fruit seemed processed. It was the kind of thing you would expect to get in your local supermarket and not much else.

Just because I’m not a total glutton, I didn’t make it to the cupcakes or mini-cakes or big cakes or any of the other types of cakes they had there so maybe one of those will change my opinion of the place. If you twist my arm real hard I promise to go back for another sample or three!

Prices are significantly higher than your local supermarket. You’ll pay anywhere from $3-$8 for the individually sized items and $20-$30 for the full sized cakes depending on what’s in them and how extravagant they are. Worth it? After my first try I’m going to say not really but again, maybe the cakes will change my mind.