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For our anniversary this year (one year), we wanted to get a delicious cake to share since we couldn't get our wedding cake mailed to us from back home. So, after researching a bit and from what I've heard from friends, we decided to go into Pistacia Vera. The decor is very modern and pristine. And, under the glass, there were delightfully colorful pastries and we couldn't really make up our mind. So, instead of buying one big torte ($35), we decided to try a few smaller ones. We ended up getting the passion fruit and coconut torte, chocolate bombe and the cassis flourless truffle torte. Then, we ended up getting two macarons: madagascar vanilla bean and white chocolate coconut.
I couldn't wait to get home to satisfy my sweet tooth so I convinced my husband just to share one macaron so we had the white chocolate coconut one. It was quite good but a bit too sweet. I was honestly a bit scared about how the rest of the tortes would taste after that macaron but I shouldn't have! After dinner, we decided to have a little bit of each piece. The top of the passion fruit coconut torte hasa rich passion fruit flavor and the rest of the layers have a rich coconut flavor. It's absolutely delicious. The cassis flourless truffle was dense but the chocolate flavor was deep and rich. It really tastes like a truffle in cake form. But, our absolute favorite is the chocolate bombe. It reminded us of this chocolate mousse cake we had in Riviera Maya for our honeymoon and couldn't find back home. Although we promised to only have a couple bites of each piece, we finished the chocolate bombe and literally left a bite each of the rest of the pastries. It was a sweet idea!
Wow. I dreamt about these last night. I had never had a Macaron before and so I didn't know what to expect. When biting into the strawberry macaron, I was surprised by the different textures. I ended up preferring the mint macaron because the strawberry was a little bit too sugary for my tastes. We also tried a vanilla bean torte and the chocolate dome dessert. Typically I favor one flavor over another in desserts, but I enjoyed both of these equally (my husband and I kept swapping bites). The vanilla bean torte was smooth, creamy, yet light. Every bite was full of flavor and bliss. The chocolate dome dessert fooled me again with the texture, and my first bite was a mixture of surprise and happiness for the chocolate explosion on my taste buds. The chocolate dessert was much richer and we could not finish that. We will return again tonight so we can try the pistachio thingy that other reviewers say is great. Honestly I was surprised at the price. Typically I would pay much more for something of that quality in Austin, TX. 2 big desserts and 2 macarons were only around 10.00. Not too bad at all!
The only criticism I have.....is that there is not a location at home.
Great sweets shop - super friendly staff and good eats. Only drawback is that is closes fairly early (before 7 p.m. during the week I believe) but this appears to be true for many Columbus joints.
Best dessert place in Columbus. Great service, atmosphere, and AMAZING food. The pistachio macaron is to die for!
Ever since I moved to Columbus from Chicago just shy of a year ago I've been searching for a bakery that would never disappoint me. There's Omega Artisan in North Market, amazing breads, but totally falls short of satisfying my very large and slightly snaggled sweet tooth. Mozart Bakery thoroughly defiles the name of such a prodigy, and Pattycake Vegan Bakery is... well, vegan.
Pistacia Vera lives up to everything that titillates my fancy. The huge assortment of multicolored French Macarons is simply a delight to the eyes, ears, nose and throat. I fell passionately in love with the vanilla bean and pistacio flavors. (The chocolate was not the best in chocolate flavor and will not be purchased again.) The nougat was riddled with Pistachios and surrounded by the delicate hint of honey. I could pretty much go on for hours about this place. But needless to say, I will be back, and often.
I'd been past here many times on my way to/from Katzingers and the shelves looked a lot busier than they were when you're inside.
So finally, I had dessert last night, something I'd never heard of. It was ramalamadingdong aka a seasonal frangipan. I have never heard of a frangipan but the owner (who is a charming lady) explained it to me. It's a little tart made with butter and flour and almonds and fruit. It was GREAT!
Oh, I asked for a glass of water but they have NO ICE. Can you imagine a restaurant without an ice machine? I was going to knock off a star but decided not to.
Dearest Pistacia Vera,
Since last we met, some several fortnights ago, I have been visited endlessly by cravings for your miniature macaroons. Part of me had dismissed the possibility of ever enjoying such decadent baked goods again, but thanks to these tiny, gluten-free delights, I can stuff my face uncontrollably with sinful sweets once more. Allow me to share my undying gratitude to you for this gift.
And to give you 5 stars.
Humbly and irresistibly yours,
~a
I can't even talk about this place.
No, really. I can't even talk about it. But I will.
Strolling through the German Village, Mitch H. and I made this place a reality on Sunday afternoon. It's adorable inside. Very non-chaotic, very clean. Lovely staff. We purchased the ginger sable cookie, the chocolate chunk pistachio cookie, and various macarons (lavender honey, caramel, chocolate, vanilla, pistachio). Upon completion of our purchase, we proceeded to have lunch. I'm pretty sure all we could think about were the desserts that sat beside us on the table in that cute little white box.
Lunch = over. To the park! We sat under a tree and basically devoured everything we bought. I wouldn't get the chocolate macaron again (kinda bland) but the other ones listed above were phenom. Beyond phenom. You could tell that the vanilla macaron was made with real vanilla bean flavoring. The honey was so subtle yet present in the lavender honey. The pistachio had this amazing green color inside when you bit into it. Ugh. And who doesn't love a good sugared ginger cookie? So tasty.
So...if you came across two crazies sitting in the grass, eating desserts, pointing and laughing at everything (and potentially smacking each other on occasion), well...yah. Me. Mitch. Ha.
PS -- They have this awesome pistachio 'bust' by their front door. It's pretty much amazing. It's like a shrine to the delicious nut. Make sure to bow down and pay your respects to it as you leave the shop.
In an attempt to walk off some of the sandwich I had just consumed at Katzinger's Delicatessen I found Pistacia Vera. I am thankful that I was stuffed because there were so many things that looked delicious.
I settled on a dozen assorted macaroons. With the help of friends, we returned to the house, brewed some coffee and slaughtered the cookies. The tastes and consistency were amazing - I would have to go through another iteration (or 2) to determine my favorite - they were all excellent.
OH.MY.GOD. Chocolate chip pistachio nut cookies are to DIE for! I'm glad I don't live that close!!!!! The milk chocolate macadamia nut praline cake was MMMMMM.
Also, super nice and helpful people that work there. I asked them for a close-by restaurant recommendation, and the lady pulled out a book of menus and looked stuff up on the internet for us. Great!
Yes
Yes
Yes
everything here is good!
High quality ingredients and so well made. The portion sizes may -seem- small at first, but they are so filled will flavor that it's all you need. After you eat it you feel great. That's what dessert is supposed to do.
Wifey and I usually split a small piece of pistachio cake and get something else, like nougat. The other cakes are good, too. Every time I go here, it seems like they have the old standbys and some specials. We always try a new thing when we go in and it's always good. Keep meaning to try the marshmallows.
sometimes we eat our food here (instead of "to go") and we aren't sure whether to tip. We do, but is it customary?
Great place to buy gifts for people, because the presentation is very classy.
Go here.
Despite my mom saying that Pistacia Vera is simply 'a-okay' (Yelpism is contagious, what can I say?), I think the place far exceeded my expectations.
The presentation made it difficult to decide what to get and what to skip. It's tempting to just have one of everything, since bakeries like these do not exist in Toledo. The macarons were a hit-or-miss, although I found most of them to be delightful. The strawberry balsamic and the walnut marsala fig particularly stood out (and I'm not a fan of fig, to be honest.) The mocha praline torte was mind-blowingly delicious and was neither too sweet nor too heavy of a treat. I vowed I'll come back just for the chambord manjari feuilletine next time. The cannele was the only disappointing factor to my entire selection, as I found it a wee bit too dry and crusty.
It's a good thing that PV is a 25-minute drive from home-home (and a 2.5 hour drive from home) or else I'd be frequenting on a daily basis!
Gorgeous environment for a bakery. Sitting at one of their little tables when its sunny out devouring baked goods is pretty high up there on my list of fun things to do.
I'm not spendy-crazy lately, so I only had a ginger sable and a vanilla macaron, but they were both amazing. I would eat two million ginger sables if I could prevent myself from also gaining two million pounds and two million dollars in debt.
Helpful, friendly staff and many many delicious looking choices, available in minis for people like me to try, and full cakes, desserts, etc.
I will be back to try more once I can foot the bill.
Hands down my favorite place for dessert in Columbus! Their french macaroons are packed with flavor and are perfect for a little treat! I also love their biscotti. SO tasty. Oh and their cookies. What can I say...everything I've had here has been a special treat and I try recommending this place to as many people as I can.
I love how clean and perfectly displayed everything is in there. The presentation and detail of their baked goods is by far some of the best I've seen. The staff is also very friendly.
The best dessert in Columbus. The owner is very nice. We are addicted to their dessert for sure. Try their pistachio dacquise.
I'm always hearing good things about Pistacia Vera in German Village (formerly Pistachio in the Short North). I'd seen their products many times before I actually tasted them. Each dessert item is made with care and an air of aestheticism. The flavors are classy and refined.
My first bite was a gift, a small thank you from a co-worker. It was the lemon pistachio macaroon. Small and light, I was almost afraid to pick up this delicacy. The macaroon may have looked dainty, but its flavor was strong. I was hit over the head with lemon. It was like inhaling lemon air. That was where I found my qualm. The texture was the pitfall. It was too light. Usually, the desserts I go crazy for are rich and moist, ooey-gooey good. This macaroon was something new, and I wasn't sure if I liked it.
My next encounter with Pistacia Vera was at a birthday party where an elegant pistachio cake was served. I was over the moon! I was about to chomp into the basic namesake of the bakery. The cake was lovely and decorated very professionally. The layers were even with big divisions of icing in between. I thought, "Sugar, sugar, sugar!" But the taste was super light, almost undetectable. If it's not one extreme, it's another. The cake was okay. I ate it without complaint. The chilled icing was actually quite good. But I don't think I would intentionally order a slice again.
I would describe Pistacia Vera's products as frou frou.
Next time I have a run in with Pistacia Vera, I hope it involves chocolate. Then we can really get down to business. Until then, I'm mainly aesthetically impressed.
The French macarons are very flavorful and perfectly made. I was very impressed. My husband loved the chocolate dome dessert that he had and he is the pickiest chocolate snob that I know. I was extremely impressed with the friendliness of the staff. What a wonderful experience!
First of all, Pistacia? How can you not walk into a place with Pistacia in the name. Mmmm. So when you do walk in you will immediately be blessed with the sensual scents of sweet baked wonderment. Then open your eyes and notice how clean and proper it is. I don't want to use the work pretentious, because that it most definitely is not!
It's not your typical neighborhood bakery. You will not find glazed doughnuts, danishes or apple fritters. Instead you get to experience the pistachio honey nougat for $1.50, the orange clove shortbread tea cookie for $1, and the walnut marsala fig macaron for $1.25. Oh...the thought of it all makes me want to make a special trip right now!
Don't be shy. Tell them what you want and ask to try it. They are more than willing to share the wealth with you. In fact, they are so eager to make your tongue dance with glee, they practically beg for flavor suggestions. I think they just like to (love to) experiment. Someone has to eat the oops.
The Macaron's are gluten-free too! Made simply with sugar, egg white, and almond meal. The different varieties will add random other ingredients. But no wheat!
Closed Monday's.
Pistacia Vera is an upscale dessert house in German Village. It can seem a little overpriced on the surface. But I'll be honest here: For what you get, Pistacia Vera is very reasonably priced. We're talking gourmet tarts for $4. That's tough to beat.
I do miss the old Short North incarnation of the shop, but I'll take what I can get.
This place offers dessert as high art at a budget price. Rad.
Insanely amazing. I had the praline based cake and I can't remember eating a dessert that wonderful in Columbus. I hear they left the Short North for the German Village, and as a resident of the Short North who doesn't feel like gaining weight at some type of record pace, I suppose I should be happy about this.
You walk in to a beautiful open space. Gorgeous marble countertops are covered with the most beautiful deserts you can imagine. Next is a gleaming display cabinet filled with even more amazing deserts. Everything is spotless and clean, with the finest destails attended to. They even keep the wax paper in a decorative tin, lest you be distracted from the food by a *gasp* ordinary cardboard box.
And you haven't even tried the deserts yet. There are seasonal deserts made with perfect fruit, peppermint chocolates with glittering blue peppermint sugar on top, macaroons so light and fluffy, yet rich and creamy at the same time.
Ideally the next step in this food fantasy would be to sit in the perfectly chosen chairs by the windows and enjoy your amazing purchases. But wait! There is NO SITTING AREA!! You have to go back outside, get into your car and take them somewhere else! Surely they must have a perfect little plate back there to display this artwork on while you eat it? No? I have to take it home and put it on an ordinary old plate? (Oh who am I kidding, I'll eat it out of the box on my way home...) I guess Pistacia can still have 5 stars, although I would take them down to 4 1/2 for no place to sit!
After walking by this German Village boutique over twenty times without giving it a second thought, I finally ventured in after work a few days ago to see what all the slick glass surfaces and clean, bold lines of this storefront were containing. Much to my surprise, I found out the wares that were on display were not, in fact, overpriced shoes or trendy designer couture items. Instead, they were some of the finest desserts my humble Ohioan eyes have ever embraced. And they were cheap! This came as a complete shock to me, especially after I just spent $2 on a stale cookie at the Cup O Joe two blocks down the street. "Screw it, " I said to myself. "I'm not on any kind of diet, so why not indulge my curiosity?"
For a paltry $1.50, the fine young lady dressed in all white behind the counter set me up with one of the Lime Sugar cookies that were stored carefully behind the bright glass case that anchored the display area. to my surprise, it was both luxurious AND tasty. I'll admit that my taste in food and drink is incredibly lowbrow, which usually lends me to assume that food presented in this manner is more for show than it is for enjoyment. Boy was I wrong! The cookie was soft, rich, and tasted almost like a piece of key lime pie. And at $1.50, it was an absolute steal.
I sincerely wish I had the stomach to take on more of the desserts here at Pistacia Vera, as I'm sure they're all a pleasant surprise to even the most uneducated taste buds. Don't let the looks of this boutique fool you- the price and the taste at Pistacia Vera are just right.
Still the best dessert bakery in Columbus, even with a new name and location. (For those not in the know, Pistacia Vera is the reincarnation of Pistachio, so look it up for my previous review.)
I am saddened that they have moved farther away from me and no longer have tables to sit at, but nonetheless I may now have to invent excuses for going to the German Village.
"We should go to a coffeeshop and do work... no no, not the 10 coffeeshops that are nearby, we should go across downtown to the German Village Cup o' Joe!"... which happens to be a block from Pistacia Vera. Yes, I see this in my future.
I was sad when Pistachio closed in the Short North but Pistacia Vera is an impressively elegant space. Their desserts are delicately hand crafted with care and precision. It is like eating art. Everything I have had is delicious. I try to go here as often as I can.
Easily the best bakery in Columbus, this place is really an amazing bakery. The desserts are sophisticated and complex. The macaroons, for instance, are usually really delicious mixes of flavors like apricot turmeric. This place manages to pull that off. The cakes are gorgeous looking and amazing tasting. There are full sizes and single servings. The cookies are all fantastic and really not any more expensive than any other bakery. My absolute favorite is the petit four, which I've had as both guava and apricot. The service is very nice and always wraps boxes in pretty ribbons. The store itself is also absolutely beautiful. There's a really small lot that could hold three cars right next to the building.
Pistacia Vera is one of my very favorite place in Columbus. This patisserie has beautiful, elegant and above-all, utterly delectable pastries and cookies. All of this in an amazing, light-filled building that now happily has chairs and tables inside it (it didn't initially). I have thoroughly enjoyed everything that I have had there, but here are a few all-time favorites:
*Pistachio Chocolate Chunk Cookies. So much better than toll-house, and practically a steal at $1.50
*Lemon Pinenut Tart. I could eat immensely flavorful, yet surprisingly light dessert every day.
*Apple Financier Tart. They introduced this in the summer--at the insistent behest of customers hankering for apples--even though apples are fall food. Having tasted it, I would say it's worth breaking the seasonal routine.
*Lavendar Honey Macaron. My favorite macaron. It tastes like May in Provence.
I would come here just fo rthe pastries, but I have to put in a good word for the service here. Everyone who works here, from the counter staff to the patry chef, to the owner/manager are such infectiously friendly, happy people that it makes you feel delighted to be there.
I enjoy coming here whenever I'm in town visiting. Everything I've tried is very good. I love the location and the decor as well. I had a blueberry muffin cheesecake concoction last time. DEEEEElish! I'd love to try the cakes, they look divine.
This place is already reviewed, wonderfully, by myself and others here: http://www.yelp.com/bi...
By any justification, this is a 5 star dessert shop. I've eaten at Bouchon and Jean Philipe as well… Read more »
I was so disappointed when Pistachio moved from its old location. I still visit on occasion, but not as often as I would like. The staff is always courteous and happy to help you out with a selection. A wonderful alternative to that mid-shelf bottle of wine your accustomed to bringing to a party.
Pistacia Vera calls itself a dessert boutique, and the name is fitting. The storefront looks like it belongs to a Chanel or Coach store on Madison Avenue. And of course the desserts are gorgeous - a bit pricey, but with great ingredients and flavors. The portions actually serve one, not like the seven-layer triple chocolate cake that every chain restaurant has nowadays. I'd prefer one of their tiny tiramisus or mini chocolate bombes anyday!
Every day on the weekends I come in and get a coffee and pastry or two. This place is amazing. Usually when you walk into a bakery and they have a classy setup where the baked goods are on display for all to see you expect that the actual taste will be lacking (at least this has been my experience), nothing could be further from the truth here. What looks great is often better when you are eating it. During the winter months they have hot dark chocolate which is the perfect thing to have while walking around in the cold. If you feel like something savory I highly recommend their rosemary parmesan scones. Their prices are very reasonable and worth every penny.
Neighborhood: Upper Arlington
Category: Bakeries
Neighborhood: German Village
Category: Cheese Shops
Columbus, OH
Category: Bakeries
Neighborhood: German Village
Category: Breakfast & Brunch
Neighborhood: German Village
Category: Delis
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