Carlo’s Bakery

Was NYC for the first time and decided to make the trip to Hoboken to go to the original Carlos, was more than excited when I arrived. To my surprise the place was not busy at all. I took a look around trying to decide what to have. I wanted something not just to eat but to have something that actually said Carlos Bakery on it . I decided to get the red tin filled with cookies that had the Carlos logo on it. Win win cookies and a keepsake tin. After reluctantly paying $40 for just the tin of cookies I was extremely disappointed!!! It seems to be nothing but stale tasting left over Christmas cookies.

Ordered a classic 6” Carlo’s Bakery Chocolate Fudge Cake for a loved one’s birthday. Oh my god I was so disappointed. I don’t normally complain and always keep my reviews honest, but I really can’t recommend this.

First of all, I chose expedited shipping and paid extra for this. It still arrived late and contacting customer service all I got was that it was in transit. Thanks. I should’ve just gone with getting another chocolate fudge cake locally and just dashed my dreams of trying Cake Boss cakes.

When it arrived, it was packaged well in dry ice. The instructions are very clear with how to defrost the cake and serve it. Let me tell ya it really was a block of ice. Left it at room temperature for 3 hours just like it said. Sliced into it and it was still sorta frozen so we took a first bite just to see. It was so dry and the frosting was disgustingly sweet, huge mass produced and store bought vibes. God, I was dissatisfied.

Then I was like why don’t I try warming it up and see if that’s better. It was a tiny better, but the cake layers are just dry and lacking a rich chocolate flavor. But also the frosting got semi-slimy so I ended up scraping it off to be able to actually taste the cake again. Such a let down. I have no other words. Almost all of it ended up in the trash. No one liked it and it was so embarrassing.

Please don’t buy a cake from here. Grew up watching Cake Boss and I’m sorry boss, but this wasn’t it.

Carlos Bakery was honestly a let down.

The whole shop is basically a fast paced cash machine. They move you through really quick and you do feel rushed. There was almost no one in the store.

I asked for a cannoli – this was not good. Too thick and flavor was only peanut butter.

I was excited to try the cake as it is what they’re known for. It came prepackaged and was not fresh tasting at all. Big let down.

I wouldn’t recommend this at all sadly 🙁

I came here for my bday but I thought they was going to have a big selection, nope I was wrong and disappointed. But at least I got me a cake and souvenir. The strawberry shortcake was delish

Tourist trap? Sure. Best strawberry shortcake? ABSOLUTELY. Always super fresh, the cream is perfectly sweet, and the sponge cake is superbly moist. Not available every day. Sadly, this is far from universal – tried twice from the Times Square location and honestly – it’s trash there.

Shortcake by the slice seems to only be reliably available Friday/Saturday/Sunday – and randomly other days. Can usually get an entire cake.

Staff are generally super nice – but sometimes seem dead inside. Poor kids, probably worn out by the tourist crowd.

I admittedly have not watched the show. Used to seeing tourists take photos – but the lines generally aren’t that long. Apparently you can skip the line if you show your Hoboken ID but that seems obnoxious.

They do offer pizza now – haven’t tried it. But after seeing all the Carlos pizza vending machines in Vegas – I may have to commit the sin of trying.