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Il Giardino Del Dolce
Rating Details »
Neighborhood: Montclare
2859 N Harlem Ave
Chicago, IL 60707
(773) 889-2388
2859 N Harlem Ave
Chicago, IL 60707
(773) 889-2388
10 reviews for Il Giardino Del Dolce
This business is a Yelp Sponsor
Updated - 5/21/2009
1 photo
10/2/2009
2/11/2009
1/11/2009
5/18/2008
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4/18/2009
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11/9/2008
One of the Business' Favorite Reviews What's This?
Il Giardino Del Dolce came through for me yet again! I needed a cake to feed 50..and it had to be The Nightmare before Christmas themed. My son had his heart set on featuring the three Jacks..Santa Jack, The Pumpkin King and Jack Skellington. I simply emailed the image that I wanted to use, the text, my info and 10 minutes later I was on the phone with their cake decorator with the final details. I ordered a fresh whipped cream frosting, 3 layers lightly drenched in rum with a custard filling. (See picture)
Best birthday cake ever. Delicious!
I also ordered another tray of their mini Italian pastries..I swear they are the best in the city. This is the only place that I do any pastry shopping now.
2 Previous Reviews: Show all »
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1/4/2009
I can not stress enough what an incredible bakery Il Giardino Del Dolce is.
We had last minute dinner… Read more »
Having an Italian mother and Italian relatives in NYC, I grew up eating the finest Italian desserts. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would find a bakery in Chicago that could compare to the authentic Italian bakeries in New York, but II Giardino Del Dolce pleasantly surprised me.
Seconds upon arrival, one is overwhelmed by the delightful fragrance escaping from the bakery, making you pick up your step quite a bit until you finally enter the doors. Once in the bakery, prepare to be overwhelmed with choices. Il Giardino Del Dolce offers a very large selection of pasties, cakes, and cookies. Everything I've had has been extremely fresh and satisfying.
Il Giardino Del Dolce even has a wonderful website displaying every pastry, cookie, and cake they offer. It helps people like me with an Italian mother constantly nagging me for Italian cookies. She can easily go to their website, make a list of the exact cookies she wants, and send me in (with list) immediately to make the purchase. Luckily for me, everything is reasonably priced as well.
The owner of Il Giardino Del Dolce is so friendly and helpful. I called to find out the closing time one night. He told me they closed at 5 p.m., it was 4:50, I was still 15 minutes away and moving slowly on Irving Park Rd. Without hesitation he told me not to worry, for they would wait for me to get there. My mother sure would have been disappointed and I am eternally grateful! He patiently assisted me with my order, we chatted about the city, and he showed me pictures of his latest beautiful cakes. He had recently made a gorgeous birthday cake for Michael Jordan's daughter.
One thing that surprised me about II Giardino Del Dolce is that they don't offer the delicious, melt in your mouth Italian bread that they offer at so many other bakeries. I love my Italian bread almost more than I love my pastries. However, II Giardino Del Dolce's delicious pastries, cakes, and cookies help you forget the lack of bread. I definitely recommend this bakery for those looking for authentic Italian desserts in the area.
5+ stars! If only I lived near Chicago, I'd have cannolis (and cookies..and ecclairs... and every other pastry) on a weekly basis from this bakery! They have this perfect texture and consistency.. not too sweet, not too boring - just perfect!
Last time I was in town visiting, I needed to bring a thank you gift to some friends I was staying with and they could not stop talking about the yummy pastry goodness. My mom always said you should never go to someone's house empty handed so here's my recommendation if you want to be the hit of a party!
Now only if they'd start doing some online ordering so I can have some cannoli immediate gratification via fedex. ha!
Ok any place that has chocolate covered cannoli's is right in my book.
As soon as you walk up to the place you can smell it! And when you walk in it was seriously hard for me to concentrate all the lovely pasteries and cookies in the glass case.
It looks super clean in there and the cake I got in there wasn't bad either! I got a birthday cake for my son and he loves our dog so I got a birthday cake with a picture of our dog and he loved it! they did such a good job!
The lady who helped me pick plan out my son's birthday cake was really nice and they are really friendly in there. It makes it pleasurable to go there. I will be sure to make more trips there in the future I just wish it was closer :( But
The Best Italian Bakery in the Chicago land area! Love it, love it, love it!!!
The people who work there are so nice. I went in there once and was given a dozen extra cannoli because someone had made too many. So awesome! I can go in there and ask them to personally make me my own cannoli. They are sold traditionally with nuts on the end. I can ask them to dip the cannoli in chocolate or white chocolate. I can ask them to omit the nuts and instead put cherries on the ends. How great is that!
You have to call in advance, but they sell trays of mini pasties that are so great to bring to family functions or even a friends party. People are always amazed at the variety of sweets. A huge hit, guaranteed!
They also cater weddings. They catered mine. To this day my friends won't stop reminiscing about the pastries. The cakes are terrific too. The cannoli cake is a huge hit with my family.
Not really sure why this bakery was rated one of the best in the Chicagoland area. The location was far off on Harlem, and totally not worth driving all that way for. They had some cookie samples, and maybe they weren't using enough butter or god knows what, but it was overly crumbly and there was no taste whatsoever. Sure the place was cute and I really wanted to support this bakery, but the deliciousness and the sweetness that anyone who expects to have when they step inside a pastry shop was not there. If you don't want an overly sweet pastry or a cookie, check out Artemio's. If you want a decent selection, go to Bennison's in Evanston.
My husband is half Italian and grew up in Rhode Island, a state that is more than half Italian (I exaggerate, but not by much). St. Joseph's day is a major event there, and for the entire week before, everyone, Italian or not, is putting in their orders for zeppoli, traditional St. Joseph's Day pastries (sort of like French crullers filled with custard and topped with a cherry)
When my husband moved to Chicago, he lamented that he wouldn't get to have zeppoli anymore. I got on the phone with my friend Frankie (an Italian guy who knows food), and asked him where to go. This is the place he sent me to.
I've never had the cannoli, though they look really good. Every year, though, we stop by for zeppoli, and they're better than the ones in Rhode Island.
...if only they were open 24 hours a day. ahhhhhhh, heaven is a cannoli at midnight from II giardino del dolce! mi fa pazza ci buonissimo !
Been going for a few years. Pastries are good overall (particularly, their Neapolitans, chocolate dipped cream puffs on a brownie and chocolate cake slices were my favorite). Cannolis (despite offering chocolate-dipped ones) aren't anything memorable. (check out my avatar) I also ordered a 12 inch Giandula (hazelnut liqueur) cake for $35 that was so beautiful that it was hard to eat. Customer service is a hit or miss depending on who you get.
The BEST pastries, cakes, and cannolis in Chicago by a landslide! Everything is so fresh and decadent. I wouldn't go anywhere else to get cakes or pastries.. this is THE place to go! Yum!
