La Luz Bakery

The cases are full of enticing pastries, yet the ones we selected were nothing to rave about.
We snatched a vanilla cream filled churro, which was the winner compared to the croissant we also tried. The churro was crunchy from the sugar coated exterior and had a soft bite and creamy finish thanks to the filling. The richness of the filling paired well with the intense sweetness of the sugar dusted outside.
The croissant was more reminiscent of challah bread in that it was quite dense and visibly yellow from an abundance of egg yolks. The texture was not bad, simply unexpected for a croissant. I’d imagine this bread would taste great when warmed and topped with some butter.
One high mark is the prices at La Luz. It cost us under $ 3 for a croissant, a churro, and a large butter cookie.
They also serve Mexican ice cream, which means flavors like the deliciously caramely Cajeta, as well as horchata.
I would certainly return to try more of the many options they bake up and for the temptingly unique ice cream flavors.

I have worked in Mundelein for a long time and I’m not sure what took me so long to get in here! I was lured in by their fresh donuts sign and it was such a good decision. Everything in their cases looked delicious, but I settled on my original goal of a donut. It looked like a regular yeast donut, but the texture was actually more of a combination of yeast and cake, not overly sweet but it was amazing. I really can’t wait to go back and try everything else!

I have been a customer of La Luz bakery and have been buying Tres Leches cakes for myself and friends. I have about some 25 cakes in the past one and half years and I have never been disappointed. Recently, I bought a half sheet Tres Leches cake with chocolate filling and with Spider Man theme yesterday. It was THE best cake i have ever eaten. It is super impressive given that I am a restaurant and bakery enthusiast who not just gets satisfied with good but looks for the best in every category of food!

You gotta try trés leches! I have been a customer of La Luz before their Mundelein location, meaning I would drive each Sunday before church all way to Round Lake and back.
Their bolillo with cheese and jalapeño iss pretty good, a bit too much for me to handle because of the jalapeño but I still eat it. Their cheese empanadas has been my favorite since small, they’re the only Mexican bakery in the area to offer cheese empanadas — everyone else just offers piña (pineapple).
When it comes to cake what better than chocolate frosting … As in chocolate all over ?! Their très leches cake is the bomb with a nut filling, but you can order regular non-​trés leches cake if you like. I usually buy their $ 10 mini cake for small occasions. You can have them write on it as well for no extra charge.
If you’re in a hurry, try their fresh orange juice! You’ll love it!

All around fantastic. Real ingredients. Great prices. Some people are disappointed because their expectations weren’t met — what they need to realize is that this is a Latino bakery, which tends to produce ‘blander’ sweets. Everything that I have tried has been right on the money. Hard to find anything this good outside of Chicago city limits.

This isn’t a bad bakery. The baked goods are almost shockingly big, and the prices are super low, especially considering the portions. However, the taste and quality isn’t great. Much of it just seems empty and like fluff. But if you want some cheap basic baked goods it’s a good option.

El Roscon más rico y fresco que hemos probado en mucho tiempo! Y el precio no estaba nada mal ! Tienen mucho otros antojitos latinos también … Oh y helados también

great place for sweet tooth like me … they have great collection of cakes and other goodies …
BUT
OmGGGGG!!! Delicioussssssssss Tres leche the milk cake … 2 $ hugeeee piece …
Damn it now i want one !!! gotta drive…

Incredible tres leeches cake… great flan and killer churros. What more could you ask for. Great prices and good service… they’ve got that too!

I don’t think Mexican bakeries are for me… which stinks because everything looks SOOO appealing! The colors, the smells, the ease of grabbing what you want, the great prices…
The bad news, everything fell kinda short for me… the cheesecake was not what you’d expect, hard to explain but no cream cheese flavor! Looked beautiful though… the glazed/​shiny donut looking bear claw was only so so, and the sugar cookie was crumbly with no flavor. The little bread looking things with colored tops were not for me either. I just wouldn’t go back. Had the same experience with the bakeries in China town. I guess it could be that you love what you are accustomed to?

I was in the area and stopped in to try some of the local foods!
Location & Ambiance:
The location is nothing special, and the ambiance is good. The ambiance is created by the dozens of baked good surrounding the shop!
Pastries:
This being a bakery, lets talk about the pastries! First off they allow you to grab your own, so look around and put everything you want on a tray! This was really cool, and it made me want to keep buying more pastries!
Service & Staff:
The service was average, and the staff was nice. Not much else is needed to be said, because its basically self serve.
Overall, I would recommend giving it a shot! They have some unique pastries which I would have never tried, and the prices a so cheap!!!

BEST HOT COCO! Everything is amazing and almost always open– 5 am to 9:30 pm 7 days a week. The pastries are amazing and the staff is very helpful. I am not familiar with mexican pastries and he went around and explained what everything was and was very nice!
I also got my 25^th bday cake — it was the mocha one– and everyone loved it. They decorated it so nice and my family was so impressed. The price was very reasonable.
I am def becoming a regular there!!!

Huge selection, and so far it’s all been delicious and resonably priced

Amazing, amazing bakery. My husband is from Mexico, and when we lived in the city it was easy to find Mexican bakeries where we could find his favorite treats from home. However, since moving to the suburbs, we had not found much that had impressed us and just made treks into the city when we wanted a treat. We tried an «oreja» at a friend’s house recently and had to know where they had gotten it, and we were so glad to find out that La Luz is just 5 minutes away from us. We went there for the first time ourselves today, and we were blown away. They have SO many options– much more than just traditional Mexican breads and sweets. There is a ton of that of course– conchas, telera, bolillo, empanadas, etc, but there are also amazing cookies, eclairs, chocolate-​covered strawberries, beautiful cakes, etc. They also had some suprising savory options, like «huaraches» by the counter and empanada-​style cheese-​and-​jalapeño filled rolls. I could not believe how many choices there were. I literally couldn’t even wait to leave the parking lot before diving into the bag– and everything we tried was even better than the next. The man who served us (who might have been the owner) was SO nice and even gave me a pastry for free because of how excited I was about the place :) If you’re looking for an authentic bakery in the north suburbs, I’ve never tried a better place. Go and get the huge elephant-​ear-​type-​thing– with-pecans…it was life-​changing.
PS– The prices are amazing too. I didn’t see labels for individual items, but I had at least 8 items and my total was just over $ 8.00. Also, they do take credit cards, but ask that the total be over $ 5.00 to use one.

We heart La Luz! The selection is huge and everything is so good. I am a clueless American and wasn’t sure how Mexican bakeries worked or what anything is so I just hovered a bit and am still working my way through the ample selections. First you grab what is basically a pizza tin and a pair of tongs. They’re located on a cart at the end of the counter. (Being clueless I thought the cart was left there by a staff member who suddenly had to answer a phone or went in back to retrieve something.) Then pile it with the goodies of your choice. Easy peasy.
There are a couple of tables to sit at and coffee that I think is free. I’m usually in and out of there so I haven’t inquired but I’ve seen a few folks help themselves now and then.
Huge cream horns! My daughter’s favorite. These have a crunchy-​munchy sugar topping. (They also have custard filled horns that are just okay.)
Smiley Face Cookies that the kids actually eat! Also they come in all colors including rainbow.
The Elephant Ears! Too good. I had one with nuts in it. I meant to save some to share but I was home alone and before I knew it I had eaten the whole thing.
Those gelatin molds must be mentioned. I didn’t try one but they are beautiful to look at and just $ 4 for a small. My sister thought they had real flowers in them! I really need to get in there and take a pic to post. It’s clear gelatin and the «flower» is made by injecting (colored gelatin?) into it.
The chocolate covered strawberries are awesome and the cheapest around.
Churros! Okay I don’t really like these from anywhere and I have no idea why because they seem like something I’d like but my sister and niece swear by them. They come with different fillings.
The savory choices are very good too. In fact there is just case after case of so much delicious food that you just can’t go wrong.
Tres Leches cake! I’ve obviously never bought this myself prior to La Luz coming to town but have eaten it a few times. This one was by far the best.
I don’t know if the prices are typical of a Mexican Bakery but they sure beat any American bakery around. I buy giant bags of this, that and the other every time and have never paid more than $ 10 for the lot.
They have big display cakes that my grandson is always amazed by. One is a giant ship that sells for $ 2500. There are a few more impressive designs including a baby in a bassinet and so forth. Keeps the kids busy while we wait our turn at the register. Service is quick and courteous.

This bakery was a very nice surprise. I was not expecting the tres leches cake to be as good as it was. I also bought one of the gelatins that has the flower design inside, very pretty and delicious. And the best part, it was only $ 4! This was for the small size although it can very well serve four people. The larger gelatin was about $ 35 or $ 36? This was much bigger though.
After reading the reviews here I think I need to go back to try the churros.
There was also a little mexican restaurant next door that caught my eye. Will try that next time I go back for the churros.

The Best Tres Leche north of the Rio Grande! I came by on a dessert run for my department and bought 8 slices to share with my coworkers. It was a HIT!
PS — The Chocolate Covered Strawberries are dynamite as well!

Just discovered that this bakery is open at 5:30 AM (I think they open at 5). It’s nice that there is an option for the morning munchies rather than Dunkin’ Donuts, McDonald’s and snicky-​snacks from gas stations.
I just love those big smiley-​faced sugar cookies.

La Luz is like a candy store for adults.
You grab a tray when you walk in, and then proceed to open whichever display case you’d like and fill up on delicious baked goods. Just like a candy store, it’s hard to choose just one specific item, so I tried a regular churro, some sort of jelly filled churro, and an elephant ear. The churros were doughy (in a good way), and as good as a previous review explained. The real highlight, though, was the elephant ear. It was huge and addicting, which is never a good thing when it comes to sugary treats. I kept telling myself one more bite, but the only thing that stopped me was an empty bag, and I still dug around for crumbs like a hobo. If an elephant ear is this good, just imagine what an elephant drumstick would be like… ziiiiing!
To misquote the movie Poltergeist, «Listen to me. DO go into La Luz»

Good churros are hard to find. Fantastic churros, even harder. Until now that is.
Cookies, churros, tres leches, flan, chocolate covered strawberries, custom cakes, pan dulce… oh my! Did I mention churros yet?
I took the day off and visited my mom in the suburbs, aka Mundelein. There are several panaderias nearby and I’ve been to some of them but it was nothing I felt I needed to Unilocal about. The first time my mom and I drove past here it wasn’t open yet, but it had promise so we knew we had to swing by eventually.
Ladies and gents, that day was today. Oh. Sweet. Heaven. Haaaaaaallelujah! Let me tell you, I just inhaled my churro and want to cry it was so good. It’s what every churro should taste like, sweet and sugary, doughy perfection… zzzzzzzomg.
They had cabinet upon cabinet of sweet, sugary goodness. Pan dulces in every shape, form and flavor, sugar cookies in all sizes, brownies, cakes, ugh just think of everything that can be baked… it’s all here, I promise you that.
I had three paper bags FULL of sweets, some for me, some for work (because sharing is caring) and some for my mom, literally, the platter I had was covered in sweets — and our grand total was only $ 14. They were really friendly when bagging my goodies (I don’t like cookies and pastries in the same bag) and yeah, probably THE BEST panaderia y pasteleria I’ve ever been too, and that’s including the city.
I’ve just made a mental note to visit mom more often, and uh, to hit the gym maybe twice a day now.