Pastelaria Adega

This is the finest bakery with the finest pastries on the South Bay Area. I salivate just thinking about their breads and their special little Portuguese pastries, the name of which I have forgotten. I cannot go to Portugal during this pandemic, but I can vicariously go there, actually to three Portuguese restaurants, all owned by the same people. Adegas is in our own Lttle Portugal on Alum Rock Ave., and it has a Michelin Star! Patescos,is on South First street at the center of the SOFA District. It is my "go to" restaurant for great food and service, and it thankfully has outdoor seating for the Pandemic wary. I am a Professor at SJSU, and if I want to eat out with colleagues or a visiting Professor, Pasteleria would be a special choice for coffee and pastry, Patescos for most occasions, and Adega, well that would be beyond our Department budget, but,for a special occasion with a group of four or five, like celebrating achieving Tenure, it would be perfect.

After seeing their videos all over my Instagram, I decided to try them and see what the hype was about. Went on Sunday afternoon, the line was not that bad and they took our order pretty quick. I have to say that very very impressed by the quality of the pastries. Everything I tried was really good. I also ordered an iced latte which was also phenomenal. Overall if you're not patient then you probably have to be there early but if you don't mind the wait for some good treats then it's worth it. I like the ambience on the place, some nice downtown places around, luckily I found parking pretty close.

I highly recommend the Pastel de Nata 9.5/10

Went on a Sunday afternoon. The line was long and extended outside the door but it surprisingly moved pretty quickly! The inside is super cute with the display of all the pastries. My friends and I ordered different flavored egg tarts (classic, passion fruit, blueberry and strawberry) as well as a lemon malasada.

Egg tarts:

Classic (8/10): Can't really go wrong here. Delicious.

Passionfruit (10/10): So delicious and had the perfect amount of passionfruit flavor! Will def get this again.

Blueberry (6/10): Was hoping to taste more of the blueberry flavor but we could barely taste it.

Strawberry (9/10): Perfectly tart strawberry on top that complimented the pastry really well!

The lemon malasada (9/10) was so yummy and tart and the perfect amount of sweet. Knocking off 1 point bc I wish it had more of the stuffing inside.

I'll definitely be back when I'm in the area again!

I personally think this place is overhyped and overpriced. $4 for a very small tart which is way too sweet... not worth it

Parking is also challenging, I prefer my tart less sweet!

If you have a sweet tooth... give it a try! But if you are just like me... sweet without being too sweet... this might not be a place for you :)

Came here after seeing all the advertisements on social media. Decided to come on a Sunday morning and there was a line. Waited for approximately 30 mins or so.

Finally got to order my treats. Order two croissants and several of the malassada (strawberry, matcha, hazelnut chocolate, vanilla,dulce de leche). ($5 each with a filling, $4 plain). Took them home and tried them out with the family.

Overall, they were good. Just a bit too pricey.

Waited 45 minutes and had to pay for metered parking to finally try these.

Before you start to send me hate letters, let me say that 3 stars is considered average and that it's not a terrible score. Remember average.

So I bought a box of the portuguese tarts in a variety of flavors. Strawberry. Passionfruit. Plain. Every one seemed to have too much sugar in the custard. I thoroughly enjoyed the crust, but the overly sweet custard was too sweet for us.

The fluffy doughnut thing ( Malasada) was pretty good. You can get your choice of filling. I chose coconut. Decent, but not worth coming back for.

Absolutely scrumptious! Hands down the best pastries/desserts I've had in the South Bay. I'd been wanting to try this Portuguese bakery for quite some time and it did not disappoint. It was 10am and they were pretty busy, but the employees were friendly and efficient. We didn't wait too long!

I got a variety box with the dulce de leche and matcha malasada and 3 of their pastel de natas: hazelnut, blueberry, and original.

I got the original to see how the flavors are elevated with different fillings and the original itself was amazing. The blueberry is my go to flavor, but there's nothing like the original.

The shop was bigger than expected and not too loud considering the size of this spot. There were plenty of tables to share a quick bite of your dessert and be on your way.

I am a sucker for donuts and I couldn't wait to try some malasadas! These are Portuguese donuts and they were absolutely fluffy and delicious.

Vanilla filling malasada (1/5):
I usually love plain sugar coated donuts but I was very curious about the vanilla filling. However, when I bit into the malasada, it was empty. There wasn't any filling for this vanilla malasada, unless that's how it's supposed to be? If it was the plain malasada then it would be perfect but I was expecting vanilla.

Sweet egg cream malasada (4/5):
Sweet egg cream sounded so delicious and the taste was exactly how I imagined it to be. It had a wonderful yellow custard filling and the malasada was so warm. The custard was a bit too sweet for me but that isn't something a hot coffee cannot fix.

Each malasada is $5 (excluding tax) so it's on the pricier side but definitely worth the try!

Saw this spot trending on social media and was super excited to try! Came here around 10:30am and there were about ~10 parties ahead of us. You would think that a bakery line would go by quickly because all of the pastries are displayed and just need to bagged but it took us an hour to get our food. When we entered the store we noticed that the employees weren't moving with any urgency whatsoever and that's why the line took so long. They were standing around chatting with each other and helping 1 customer at a time, despite having so many staff. They were super friendly though but I'd rather be in & out quickly.

We were pretty hungry by the time we got our pastries but were extremely disappointed the moment we tasted the malsadas. I've had the ones at Leonard's in Hawaii before and was expecting an airy/pillowy soft dough. This doughnut was SO dense. It almost tasted like a dense bread/bun and not a doughnut. Also the menu advertised "chocolate hazelnut" filling so I was expecting a house made filling since it didn't outright say Nutella. It was literally just Nutella :( I love Nutella but it was a bit too thick for this type of donut.

Amazing service. You can tell they love the customers which is so refreshing after a long wait. Line was out the door on Saturday morning at opening.

Pastel de Nata stayed crisp. My friend liked the crust better than Mr Bread in SF!

Malasadas were good but not as amazing as I thought they would be. We got coconut and vanilla. Liked the coconut one better.

Ham and cheese croissant was ok. Croissant was less buttery than I'm used to. Very crisp but too dry for me. Good value though for the combo with drink and pastel de Nata.

Small inside, a few seats but can be cramped if there's a line. We took our food and ate at San Pedro Market:)

Pastelaria Adega in San Jose is a hidden gem where the pastries are not just food, but a celebration of Portuguese culinary art. Every bite of their delicate, flavorful treats transports you to the streets of Lisbon. The ambiance is cozy and inviting.

After seeing all the buzz on social media, I had to taste what the hype was about. While the malasadas were good, they didn't quite capture me. However, the egg tarts were a different story, with their crust crunching impressively on the first bite. I regretted buying only 12, as their perfect balance of flavor, texture, and filling compelled me to return for more. Sharing them with friends and family, I received unanimous praise. I highly recommend the Original tart and am eager for my next visit.

Pro tip for visiting Pastelaria Adega: Order online the day before and complete your purchase before closing to secure next-day pickup. To bypass the weekend crowd, walk in, head to the left, and inform them of your pickup. This strategy ensures you get your treats without the wait.

#PastelariaPerfection #EggTartEnvy #LisbonInSJ