Bear Buns Bakery and Cafe | Serra Mesa

When we were at Maggie’s Cafe, I noticed this funky retro looking building across the street called Bear Buns Bakery. A little Yelp reading lead me to believe that we had to try it out for breakfast one day. So we did. And here’s how it went.

I thought I had taken a further away shot of the exterior so you could see how steep the roof is, but I did not. It’s quite a pointed roof though! It’s got a really retro feel to me. There was a line out the door the entire time we were there, but it moved fairly quickly. It seemed like most people just walked over from nearby to get their morning breakfast and coffee. It was busy in here! 

There are a few tables and armchairs inside so you can enjoy your food and coffee. There is also outdoor seating on the patio so you can bring your dog along. Maya stayed at Jake’s that morning since we had a bunch of other errands to run and we didn’t want to leave her in the car for that long.

Here’s a peek at the first case. There is so much good looking stuff here at Bear Buns Bakery! I wanted to get one of everything but I had to be practical and only choose a few things. I like the variety of baked goods they have here and the muffins are a really good size. 

The other side of the case had quiches, croissants, sticky buns, and cinnamon rolls.

Another case with more treats! These looked to be the treats that needed refrigeration. 

And they also had dog treats! In retrospect, I should have gotten some for all of the doggies. Oh well. 

In addition to baked goods and coffees, Bear Buns Bakery also has breakfast sandwiches. 

[lemon poppy seed muffin / $2.95]

Jake wanted to get this muffin for his momma. I got to try a little bit of it the next day it was quite moist and had a wonderful lemony flavor. There was kind of a crumb topping as well along with the nice glaze. 

Breakfast overview.

[bennie breakfast sandwich / $4.25]

The Bennie breakfast sandwich was my choice that morning – a sandwich with hollandaise sauce on it? Yes, please! It also comes with ham and a nice slice of cheddar cheese on a homemade roll. The rolls are dotted with bits of herbs throughout. 

Here’s the cross section of the Bennie sandwich. The eggs were SO fluffy and light that I actually enjoyed eating the eggs. 

The hollandaise sauce gave the sandwich a nice tangy flavor that complimented the cheese and ham. The roll looked a little like a biscuit but it was very soft and fluffy. Even though the roll was very soft, it was still firm enough to stand up to the sandwich and not fall apart. Jake thought sauce had a sour aftertaste which he didn’t like quite as much, but I loved the whole thing. Especially that homemade roll! I could just eat the rolls without anything in them.

[birdie breakfast sandwich / $4.25]

Jake actually wanted to get the same sandwich as me but he decided to order the Birdie for variety’s sake. This one came with egg whites, turkey, spinach, pepper jack cheese, and mayo on the same homemade roll. Jake ended up liking his sandwich better than mine because he preferred the pepper jack cheese – but he liked the egg on mine better. If this had the normal scrambled egg, this would have been the perfect sandwich for Jake. I liked that extra kick of spice from the cheese and liked the turkey and spinach combination with the whole sandwich. He loved the roll just as much as I did!

[cinnamon roll / $3.75]

I can’t resist trying out a cinnamon roll. The folks at Bear Buns Bakery asked if we wanted it warmed up and we said yes, since we were going to eat it there. This is a breadier type of cinnamon roll. Not as fluffy or light as other cinnamon rolls I’ve had and a lot more dense – like a loaf of bread with cinnamon in it. There also wasn’t a whole lot of cinnamon in the roll, and frankly I thought it just did not have enough cinnamon. I did like the tangy sweet cream cheese frosting that covered the top of the roll. It was sweet but not tooth achingly sweet.

Here’s a peek at the inside. You see there’s a lot of placed without any cinnamon. Oh well. 

[pepper pig croissant / $3.75]

Jake spied this one in the case and asked the man at the counter what a “Pepper Pig” croissant was. He told us that it’s filled with sausage and sweet chili sauce. Jake immediately wanted to try it, so we got one to share. This croissant had a flavor explosion inside of it!

Here you can kind of see in the middle of the croissant. The filling was only in the very middle of the croissant but it had a wonderful sweet chili flavor. It was a nice twist on a savory croissant. The only downside was that the croissant was too soft and had no crunchy bottom. It did taste really buttery such as a croissant should. I just wished it had more crunch.

[bread pudding with caramel sauce / $3.10]

The last item I got was the bread pudding, which we had packaged in a to-go container since I planned on trying it later. The folks at Bear Buns Bakery asked if I wanted caramel sauce on top and OF COURSE I said yes. YES, PLEASE! 

The bread pudding is SO DARLING in this cute little heart shape. They make a little dip in the top so the caramel just gets nestled in there. When I finally had a bite of it later I immediately had to have a second bite because this sucker was just so damn tasty! It was incredibly moist and it tasted like banana bread! But banana bread that had been soaked in delicious bread pudding batter to make it extra super duper moist. The caramel sauce gave it a little extra rich flavor. I loved it! I’d come back here just to get this crazy good bread pudding again. 

I also got a mocha but it didn’t look exciting so instead you get a photo of me sipping on the mocha. I drank half of it and stuck it in the fridge so I could enjoy it the next day. Yum! 

If you’re looking for a cute little spot for breakfast or baked goods, I’d definitely recommend you head over to Serra Mesa to try out Bear Buns Bakery. It’s so cute and quaint! 

Bear Buns Bakery and Cafe
3251 Greyling Dr.
San Diego, CA 92123
(858) 573-2327