San Luis Bakery

Ordered tres leches cake for my husband’s birthday. The cake was light with perfect amount of sugar! It was not too sweet! Everyone enjoyed it!

Best time to get the pastries is first thing in the morning. Otherwise the bread gets stale. Taste is okay, nothing over-​the-​top amazing.

This place smells amazing. Walk in grab a tray & a pair of tongs, select what you like then take back to the register. We had a couple cookies & 7 pastries & was only $ 6. The green pink & white sugar cookies are good not to sweet. The croissants are huge & delicious. My seven year old nephew said it smells like heavens.

One of the few places to get non-​chain food in Olathe. They make great bread, and even better pastries. Plus, they are soooo much cheaper than any grocery store, and put out a much higher quality product.
Add all of that to the fact that their staff is incredibly nice and helpful and they deserve 5 stars.

I had a very plesant experience. I called to order a cake, I really wanted a tres leches cake and really don’t know too much about them but the explained everything and I put in my order and picked it up when I needed to and everything was great! The cake was really good, not too sweet and not too soggy. Will recomend this place to anyone

The only thing wrong with this place is that I can’t stop piling pastries on my tray when I am there. Always fresh, always tasty, always cheap. Full grocery bag of rolls, turnovers, croissants, cream horns etc. will cost you $ 6 – 7. They also bake white rolls called bolillos but for some reason they are rarely on display, just ask for them and they will bring some out. People are always nice and friendly and the variety of baked goods is overwhelming.

The first thing that grabbed me when I walked in the door was the smell. It is clean and fragrant. You know that the baked goods are made right there, because you can smell them. Delicious!
Our family loves the oversized cookies, especially the tri-​color triangular Mexican cookies. They aren’t too sweet, have a delicate crumb, and are absolutely crisp. These are our favorites, although there have been no complaints about the other cookies; they are all good!
We also like to buy fresh tortillas there. These tortillas are made locally. The flour ones grill up to a superb flaky crunch. The corn ones make fabulous enchiladas and Mexican casseroles.
Service is good and the prices are reasonable. It is a family owned shop, not some soulless corporation. These folks are open 7 days a week, and I enjoy giving them my business. They make me feel like my money is appreciated, and they answer questions with a smile.
If you are in Olathe, look for the Price Chopper/Kinko’s strip mall at Sante Fe and Mur-​Len. In the parking lot, as you face Price Chopper/Kinko’s, to the right, the shops dip back to an alcove. As you are facing this alcove, San Luis Panaderia is on the left side near the Karate studio. It’s worth looking for.

Skeptic turned to BIG FAN!
I heard about this bakery on Unilocal,and I was really excited to try some good Mexican baked goods. While I was there picking up the most AMAZING churros I have ever had, I watched another customer walk out with a really yummy looking Tres Leches cake. I should tell you that I have had lots of versions of this cake, home made and store bought.
I decided, since I had a few cakes to order anyway, why not give them a try?
I am so glad I did! I ordered one small Tres Leches and one chocolate/​chocolate chip. The tres leches was so moist, but not overly so. It wasn’t too sweet either. Some of the versions I have had have been overpowered by sugar, vanilla, sometimes rum. This was was a perfect balance of moisture, sweetness, and in the middle it had a few fresh strawberries. It was the party hit!
The chocolate cake was really good too, very rich, moist rather than dry.
The service was very friendly. This is owned by a husband and wife I think, and I enjoyed doing business with them both. They were a little unprepared for my arrival, but the taste of the finished product awarded complete forgiveness! I will definitely be coming back.
Great place for your simple chocolate/​tres leches. Everything tastes homemade. I would much rather order from here than Costco or any other marketplace bakery! I loved it!

Thanks to Kristen L. for Unilocaling about this Mexican bakery in East Olathe (for the directionally challenged, it’s on Santa Fe, which is also 135^th Street). It’s in the same strip center as the Price Chopper, near Mur-​Len, which has a wide selection of Mexican groceries.
The San Luis bakery smells wonderful when you walk in. They have a large selection of pan dulce (sweet breads), plus bolillos and tamales to go. The bolillos were huge, which was a surprise. In Mexico City they’re smaller, more of a dinner roll size. These would be good for making big Mexican tortas (sandwiches). They’re a bit soft but should crisp up in the oven. I also came home with some Berliners (jelly-​donut-​style rolls filled with pastry cream). I shouldn’t have, but they were hard to resist! There are sweet, fruit-​filled empanadillas, and a variety of conchas, so you can easily load up here and have a great Mexican-​style continental breakfast with pan dulce and café con leche!
UPDATE 7÷14÷2011: Stopped in to look for some more Berliners! They seemed to be out, so I got a couple of conchas instead. I asked the sweet and friendly owner about the Berliners (I couldn’t remember what they’re called in Mexico; turns out they’re «enamorados») and he had some in back ready to come out, so I got a couple of those, too. I was hoping they had campechanas, a filled flaky pastry item, which he said they have occasionally. Apparently they’re one of the harder items to make, but he said if I came on Tuesday they might have them. My mom is very fond of them and it’s her birthday, so I hope they will! They also have tamales, at $ 7 for a half-​dozen. Haven’t tried them yet, but they’re on my list. There are both green chicken and red pork versions.

I had read the reviews online about this place. When I saw the paper signs out, I asked roomie to go in. We’ve been a couple of times since.
We were excited to see the El Salvador quesadilla, but they were just not made right. Believe me, we were praying they would be. We don’t like having to drive all the way to kck for these treats.
Their selections is vast compared to most panaderias. As I am usually tolerant of eating pans (bread). This was more for my roomie’s benefit. Although on my first visit I did like the pecan cookie. On my second visit I was too early to get any.
We tried the tamales. They were dry and mostly dough. One thing I did love was the strawberry & cream frozen tube. Roomie also got a butterscotch kind too. She loved them both.

Super excited to see this little bakeshop open up. As you walk towards the door, the sweet small of warm baked treats, pan dulce heaven.
I spent four months living in Monterrey, Mexico. I loved all the sweet breads there and so I was thrilled to take my husband here and have him experience some food I so much enjoyed in mexico.
Walk in, grab a tray and tongs, fill it up (items are only about .40-.60 each) then pay. Great cookies, churros, and conchas. Haven’t tried any cakes.
Super friendly service. If you have questions or want recommendations just ask. When I was there they only took cash, no cards. I haven’t been there in about 60 days so not sure if that’s changed or not.

I was absolutely thrilled when I saw the tacky little handwritten sign reading Panaderia San Luis with an arrow pointing to the run down strip mall attached to Price Chopper.
What is a panaderia? Well, pan in Spanish means bread. Sooo… it should be a bread shop right? Well yes, they have bread, but it’s really more of a sweet shop. And yet, things are really not that sweet; or at least not as sweet as the typical American palate is used to. Panaderias are Mexican bakeries. As such, most of the good ones are located in less than desirable neighborhoods. However this one sits right in the middle of suburban Olathe.
San Luis is very clean and neat, a considerable upgrade from the façade that surrounds it. When you walk in you will be greeted by either a very nice woman, whom I assume to be the Mrs. Owner; or her young daughter. They will provide you with a tray and a pair of tongs. These are the tools of your adventure. Make your way over to the glass cases against the wall and go wild! You may find things that you like more than others, but I doubt you’ll find anything you dislike.
My only knock on this place is their tres leches cake. If you have never tried tres leches cake, you’re missing out. Think of it as a normal cake, except the cake itself is soggy with sweet milk. Hmmm… that actually doesn’t sound that good, but you’ll have to trust me. Anyways, their tres leche cake is only 3 stars. I’ve had much better, but tres leches is never really bad. I was just hoping for more.
Great bakery with delicious little treats made on site from scratch. I look forward to trying their house made tortillas next time I host the in-​laws for a carne asada.
Pro tip: If you purchase a churro, take it home and pop it in the microwave on med power for 15 seconds. Churros are always best warm!

For now I’m going four stars. I have only been in once so far, but the breads I got were awesome. I got 3 crescent shaped rolls. One was definitely a traditional croissant. Another was very similar to the traditional croissant, and the last one was not so flaky/​airy but was delicious and crescent shaped. I also got a couple soft bolillo rolls and a can of guava nectar. All for ~$ 4
There were so many delicious looking breads and pastries — I am definitely going to have to make a trip back.
Oops, I almost forgot, they have fresh tortillas too.
BTW, the place was very clean, and the woman who helped me was very friendly.

For as many Mexican restaurants as there are in Kansas City, you would think that there would be at least a dozen Mexican bakeries around town. Unfortunately, the panaderias are few and far between.
Sure, you can pick up Mexican style pastries at just about any of the little markets around town, but none of that is baked in house and most of it appears to be shipped in from Chicago. Pastries are meant to enjoy immediately, not weeks after.
Driving to my cousin’s vow renewal/​recommitment/​whatever it was, I saw a tiny hand written sign advertising a panaderia in the stripmall at Mur-​Len and Santa Fe. Let’s face it, family gatherings are stressful. You know what makes things less stressful? Carbs. Carbs and sugar.
This place brought me back to my time in Chicago, and I loved it. It’s clean, brightly lit and there are probably about 30 different kinds of pastries. Bonus is that the lady who was working spoke English, which is good when you are a confused gringa who needs help identifying the different fares.
Settled on a cinnamon roll type thing which was laden with raisins and coconut. It was great. Split this little pie-​type thing with my mom that was filled with chocolate/​cinnamon paste (think Ibarra, if you’re familiar). It fulfilled my desires for fat and sugar, and totally made me less stressed out at the wedding/​awkward family reunion.
I don’t know if I will be back, as I am rarely this far south. But next time I find myself in the area, I will be sure to drop by. Especially to try the Pan de Muerto.