North Pole Bakery (Lucy)

An institution in the neighbourhood, North Pole is a classic old school bakery that offers pizza and pastries, and doubles up as a mini grocery. Pizza is pretty good but the pastries are great, with the standouts being the cannoli (piped fully) and rum ball (dense and chocolatey).

Their cannolis are top notch and deserve 5 stars, freshly piped at request. Tortellini however, with cheese wrapped in delicate pasta and then topped with more cheese and a tangy tomato sauce for that wonderful balance, is serviceable.

Best zeppole di San Giuseppe that I've had, even better than the bakeries in Montreal. Their almond cookies are incredible too. The ladies who work there too are super kind and friendly as well. I love this place.

Delicious arancini, very good pastries. I'm happy to discover this place. We will definitely come back for those arancini and to try some other things. UPD: We absolutely love their cannoli

I’ve been a loyal customer for 25 years. The bread is the only thing now that’s acceptable. The pastries are frozen bought. The food has become horribly bland and expensive. Lucy has a had a good run but it’s time to hang up the apron.

I have been looking for a old school Italian bakery close to Leslieville. The North Pole is on the Danforth, only 8 minutes away. I finally found good classic Italian cookies in the East end. The cookies are prefect. Small hot table, deli, bottled drinks and of course bread and pastries. No messing around they stick to the classics. All the favourite Italian items I want. This family bakery knows their stuff. Friendly Ladies, service with a smile. Cash or debit.

North Pole Bakery, located near Greenwood and Danforth, is a local iconic establishment. Anyone who's lived in the area will know North Pole Bakery. Like an iconic classic that it is, their discerning customer will be someone with an acquired taste for nostalgia because it doesn't have any shiny modern bells and whistles. It's family run and you go there for cozy, remind me of my Italian Nonna who's going to feed me with heaps of food, kind of vibe. I've seen people go in to grab their pizza, focaccia, pasta meals, and they all leave happy and grinning. They also have an assortment of breads and baked treats. Mixed reviews on the baked treats (some find them too dry, others love them, they're not for me and I'll leave that up to you to decide). One thing that everyone seems to agree on is their cannoli (see images provided here). The exterior cannoli shell is crispy and crunchy. The ricotta filing has just the right hint of sweetness with a dusting of icing sugar to finish them off. The ones I picked up on this occasion seemed a bit more golden than I'm used to but they were still delicious. Time moves differently at North Pole Bakery. I've seen regulars who go in just to have a chat with the owners and share a cappuccino while others seek this place out for the must-have Italian dinner.

The food was good quality.The coffee was perfect, well done the best coffee I ever had.The tart was delicious, and the service was great I will definitely come back here again. I recommend you to come here and try.

If you like cannolis then you've come to the right place. The small bakery is owned by a lovely elderly lady who is full of life and spunk. She's known and beloved by the neighbourhood. It's hard to spot at first because the signage could be mistaken as a convenience store at a glance. Took me awhile to find it the first time, didn't realize I walked past it every week since I moved into the area.

First time trying this place based on reviews. Was greated by a lovely woman who prepared my order of lasagna and veal cutlet sandwich. The price was around $15.00 for each item, which was a bit of a sticker shock to me because a menu photo on one of the reviews showed items around $7.00 each. I enjoyed both items. The lasagna used thin layers of pasta and a simple but tasty sauce. I find some lasagna pasta too thick, making it almost gooey. This lasagna definitely tasted home made delicious. The veal cutlet sandwich was also good. It came on an Italian bun, breaded fried veal cutlet, topped with peppers, parmasan cheese & tomato sauce. So I would agree with most reviewers this place is legit stomach satisfying food. My only con for this place is the price. In my humble opinion, it's expensive for the portions you get... so not good value for your money. The food speaks for itself, it's good... would I recommend? Also yes! Would I come back? ...Maybe if I was in the area.

Best Sicilian cannoli around and the chocolate cream cake is divine. Not too sweet. They make it fresh weekly and deep freeze it. You conveniently buy it frozen and let it thaw at home whenever and... perfection! Thank you North Pole Bakery I used to enhale the arrancini's and pizza slices as a local teen. Liza

Ok honestly. Wow! Fresh! Eggplant Parmesan gets the love eyes. Delicious red sauce! 5/5 Love these hole in the wall Italian bakeries with hot tables because they put most Italian restaurants in the city to shame. We also tried the freshly made veggie pizza and it knocked our socks off. 5/5. Huge and not salty like many other places ( eg Lamanna's on Kingston road / port union) Coming back to North Pole is not even a question. We also ordered a box of goodies including tiramisu , almond cookies, fried dough with ricotta inside, a cone shaped treat stuffed with chocolate (sorry forgot the names). I think this place is probably on par with the Agincourt Italian Bakery in Scarborough (same vibe and delicious taste) and I can't get enough of these mom and pop shops that simple do food right ! Come in for fresh hot Italian food, baked goods, fresh bread, Italian dry pasta, sauce, drinks etc you name it ! This place is probably a " in the know" for the danforth community but should be known by everyone in the city. Fantastic and fresh cannoli to order!!

Since 1973 with nonna, Lucia(Lucy). Painfully slow service though. But their Sicilian Canoli with homemade ricotta cheese filling (large-$3.50)was worth waiting for! Cannoli shell was super crispy because they only add filling once ordered. Filling was so heavenly, not too sweet and creamy/rich enough. I wanted to have another one but saved for later on. It was like 5-6 hours later and it got all soggy. So eat right away!!! I thought I knew most of Italian sweets and I have been missing this in my life.. all this time! Iris or Inis con Ricotta. This humongous fried doughnut filled so much with their housemade ricotta cheese and choco chips, dusted with breadcrumbs and sugar. I dropped by again a few days later to try their lasagna and told Lucia how great her inis(iris) was. She said it was only available on Saturdays. Then she went "Can you imagine if we had that everyday?" Also their housemade ricotta ($6.50) was warm and fresh when I bought it. I also tried their croissant, lasagna($8 inc. tax) and cookies. I was not crazy about these items.

North Pole Bakery has the #1 best cannoli in Toronto, according to celebrity Chef Rob Gentile. Authentic Italian food with a rotating daily menu of offerings, including lasagna, gnocchi, eggplant parmigiana and more. I tried a slice of pepperoni pizza, it had a nice crunchy crust and good quality pepperoni. Spoke to the friendliest lady named Lucia who has been running the place for decades. Great place to pickup sweets for your events, like cookies, pastries, cannolis or biscotti too. They also carry all the Italian cheeses, spices and Sicilian gelato too.

The best cannolis I've ever had. They will even custom make them for you with custom fillings.

This place is a goddamn gem. The food - so good. The pastries - SO GOOD. I ordered a coffee and idk what it was that the owner made for me but it was absolutely delightful... sweet, caramely, milky, bitter, oh, my, god. We accidentally stumbled onto this place while driving down Danforth and my goodness, it has immediately became a favourite.

Small family owned bakery. The cannolis are my favorite with a nice soft shell and smooth ricotta filling. I love how it's always freshly piped when you buy it. I can see why this is a top 5 cannoli in the city. Their pizza is surprisingly good and big for the price. They also serve lasagnas on Monday's which everyone goes crazy for. I'm not as big a fan as I would have liked more meat and less noodles. I also would have like it to be a bit tastier. Overall, a nice Italian bakery on the Danforth. I'll be back, especially for the cannolis!

I went to North Pole Bakery to buy cannoli shells. I read on Yelp that they sell them. They do not. When I walked into the store, someone abruptly asked if she could help me. I could not see the person, and I could barely hear her. After trying to hear what this "voice" was saying, I told her that I could not hear her. She was hidden behind the cappuccino machine. I asked her if she sold cannoli shells. Her reply was quite rude and advised me that they do not sell the shells. I told her that I would buy the cannolis instead. She kept telling me that she does not sell the shells. After repeating myself four times that I wanted cannolis instead of the shells, she yelled to a person in the back to make me some cannolis. I didn't want to argue with her any longer. I purchased the cannolis and left the store. They costed $3.50 each. When I got home (30 minutes later), I wanted to try the cannolis as they are one of my favourite desserts. The shells were somewhat lightly crispy. Parts of the shell was lightly soggy. The shell should not have become soggy within 30 minutes of filling the shells with the ricotta. It tells me that they did not properly drain the ricotta cheese. They did not have the snap or crunch that I was hoping. The ricotta filling was light and lightly sweetened, but I have had much better cannolis. Overall very disappointed with these cannolis. I expected better from a bakery who claimed to have authentic pastries. I would rather go to Little Italy and buy pre-made and packaged cannoli shells. I would also rather make the ricotta filling myself. I would rather go to Loblaws at Church and Carlton and purchase their cannolis than these. They are cheaper, have the crunch and snap that I like, and they have a tastier filling than this bakery. I am very disappointed with North Pole Bakery. I will not be returning to this store.

This is one of those reviews that are hard to do. Why? cause the food is actually good... the service is unbelievably lacking. Yes it's a small biz that is family run but there is a real disinterest to even serve the 7 people in their bakery. So 4 star for the cannoli... 1 star for the service. For a traditional Italian old school bakery, the name is kinda funny. The family bought the bakery and never changed the name. Don't let the name or the street fool you... it's not some generic Canadian bakery and it's not Greek either. It's as old school Italian as a Vespa here. The spot itself almost feels musty going in... a bit dingy, unkempt, and with a lot of random Italian groceries tossed into the shelves everywhere. The actual bakery area is quite barren... empty empty cases. The real gems are held in the back ... if you can get them. The only reason why I'm here is cause the word of mouth that these cannoli are legit amazing and from a Sicilian recipe. Is it that good? well... lets put it this way, when I was there for the 25 minutes of waiting for someone to come OUT of the back (yes ... you read that right), there was at least 8 other people. 5 other people left throughout the time so 13 people in total were hoping to buy something or pick up cause they paid already. There is an eldery Italian woman cooking at the stove for a gentleman who was picking up some catering dishes paid 2 weeks in advance. He arrived on time and he said they started to cut up the meat when it came in. I left before it was even done cooking on the stove. Also, there were 3 other gentleman in the back... one who didnt speak English but was piping on a cake, 1 man who did nothing and was the son of the woman at the stove, and the husband who was slowly taking care of things in the back. We all made attempts to get their attention ... including walking into the back. No attempt was made to serve until one guy asked for a refund for his pre-paid cannoli. Cannoli - ricotta freshly piped into crisp shells. Lightly sweet and with good crunch. Are they good? Yes. Are they worth the aggravation? No. Still looking for a good Toronto spot for cannoli. I would love to support the local business but not when they actively dont care about their service.

I've been a hunt for arancini for a few years, happy to have stumbled by North Pole, wonderful owner, delicious food.. the kids and I loved it. Will be back to pick up some ice cream, pizza , sandwiches and more arancini .

I love this place, I used to come here pretty often since I lived a block down. It's owned by a really sweet lady that freshly makes a pasta of the day everyday. You get a huge takeout box for around $7-$10 and with every order you get freshly made bread as well. I could eat her food for the rest of my life tbh, it's that amazing. I haven't had the chance to try the wide variety of pastries, except for the cannolis (which are sooo good). Definitely a hidden gem. If you're in the area during the taste of danforth, I would definitely give it a try - that is if the owner's not on vacay ;)

The hot table is as authentic as it gets old school and fresh. They sell some grocery items as well that are all high quality. Lucy is the sweetest little nonna and is the heart of the place. I buy a lot from there, desserts, dry pasta, pizza dough and it's great. Danforth is a mess now because if the bike lane situation but hopefully I can still get there.

Not a fan. Bread is dry and tasteless. Desserts arent great either. Only thing worthwhile in my opinion is the pizza. I have been told the gnocchi is good but I dont even bother going back anymore

Best cannoli in the city hands down. Very authentic Italian food with service to match. The hot table selection is delicious and the bakery is amazing. They pipe the cannolis in the moment for you and everything is very fresh. Super great prices too! Definitely check it out if you want some really good inexpensive Italian food

Will recommend any day of the week. Best cannoli in a long time. A coworker has been talking about North Pole bakery for over a year and a half. She brought a box in and we all took a trip to cannoli heaven. They don't cheap out on the ricotta like other places do and it's the perfect balance between the crispness, creaminess and sweetness.

I used to love the cannolis at this place. One day I went and the owner woman was so rude and upset when she served me (she had been complaining re. her staff having to leave on a family emergency and so she was tired). I would have let it go but the pastry she sold me was stale and a disappointment. I decided to dismiss it as a one off situation and I have gone back and still tried to like it again, but sadly it's never been the same for me - I think the food is probably still good but not as delicious as it once was.

We bought 6 cannolis and one Tiramisu. The Tiramisu was stale and bitter and after one bite, we had to throw it out. The Cannolis were dry and didnt taste like much. Generally it seemed like they sold us a couple of days old pastries, and we pretty much threw everything out.

I never had a cannoli until I went to North Pole with a fellow mom-friend. WHERE HAVE CANNOLI'S BEEN ALL MY LIFE???? I want to fill a bathtub with them and bathe in their creamy goodness. My mom-friend says that they have the best she's had, and I'm just going to agree with her because shes Italian and must know what she's talking about and because I really have no other comparison. They're. $1.25 for small and $1.75 for large made fresh to order. I also got an apple pie there for $6!! If only they had a little patio or seating, it would be my perfect little cafe hangout.

Best cannoli's I've had. Very small shop and it can get busy really fast. Made fresh to order $3 for a large cannoli.

**Situated on the seedy side of the Danforth just east of Greenwood. What I don't get about this strip between Greenwood/Coxwell is that I live in one of the houses south of the Danforth we paid big bucks for this real estate, so did our University Educated NDP neighbours,,,,,,why why do we have nothing of interest to go too.(I know there is a small contigent of places but when your paying over a half mill for you house!! we do have money to spend) **it was one of those Tuesday mornings when all was going wrong, I burnt the Tomato soup on the stove and the kids needed lunch, North Pole is my go- to for lunch **2 spaghetti with sauce and parma cheese, one taglitelli w/rapini for me. $15 comes with bread ** the portions are huge, drop off at school before noon, the kids share with starving friends who don't want to eat bologna sandwiches for the 100th day in row. **lucy and all the girls are sooo nice, have had other things but the pasta of the day is the best deal **only take-out, good for re-heating,,,,if your in the hood and stuck for lunch (go only between 12-2 the food sits in hot counter after that) $15 cash, they do have interac not advertised

Old school goodness in every way. For the longest time, I would walk into North Pole, pick up a loaf of delicious Italian bread, exchange the most brief of pleasantries with the owner and would always leave feeling like a chooch. That's how it was when I grew up and a manga cake like me bought anything from an Italian bakery and it felt just like home. However, after mentioning that I made my own calzones, my chooch status was revoked and I was offered their own calzone recipe, a hot cup of cappuccino and a free ball of pizza dough. That's amore! A few more conversations later and I end up with a discounted and delicious hot veal sammy off the hot counter. Bellissima! It wasn't the best veal sammy I've ever had, but it was damn good and really filling. So, if you're willing to put up with a little indifference in the name of good bread, check out North Pole and don't be a chooch.

A huge hidden gem. From its unassuming storefront, for the past several years I have dismissed this place as just another bakery- I was very wrong. There is a varied selection of baked goods (had the cannoli today and it was great), as well as pizza slices (for 3.50!) and other main dishes that vary from day to day. It's crazy how I have been around this area for so long and only now discovered how special this place is. It's the real deal and the owner is very kind.

Went here en route to my friends house. Super cute little bakery that is unassuming from the outside. So many delicious looking breads and baked goods stacked up and displayed. Around 5 or 6 people came in and spoke to the woman at the front (I believe her name was Lisa). It was super friendly and they all spoke about Italy or family or the holidays. It seems like a real community hub. I got 6 mini cannolis and a Venetian loaf. The cannolis are stuffed fresh and are worth more than the $2.50 each. They were absolute perfection. So crisp and sweet and creamy. The Venetian loaf was so soft and well flavoured. Perfect crust and I'm kind of mad I gave it to my friend as a gift. I spoke with Lisa about some other great looking breads they had on display and how they make them (mix of starter and yeast for timing and boost) and the shaping methods. My friends husband said that when he's gone he has always had great bread and desserts from there too. Would absolutely go back.

After reading some positive reviews, I stopped by North Pole yesterday and picked up a variety of little cookies to treat my coworkers. The guy working there was friendly, the cookies were cheap, and most importantly they were a massive hit with the foodies at my office! People were raving about these amazing cookies all day. These are really something special. I will definitely be back for more!

I recommend their Pepperoni Pizza as best in Toronto. Crust being very natural tasting also. much better than Fast Food Pizzas. This Italian Bakery is definitely worth a visit!

This place is about as Italian as it gets. Everything from the people working here to what they have in the place. Everything from traditional cannolis to pizza slices! This place is packed with Italian goodness. Don't waste your time or money at other "Italian" places that aren't actually Italian. Go here.

My father has been going to this bakery since he was a teenager. The bread is freshly made, and the pizza is delicious. I've also had them cater a couple of parties.

I work down the street so I'm here a lot - it's one of my go-tos for lunch. The owner is like the nonna you never had, and everything is just so classic Italian. I don't know much about the actual baked goods - I come for the hot lunch - and it's totally reasonable; a filling portion of pasta or rice with veggies, a roll, and a drink for about $7. There's usually a veggie and a meat option. Love this place, adore the owner. Highly recommend!

Went to the North Pole Bakery last Saturday evening. The place was packed and the clientele and staff were super friendly and made helpful suggestions. We came for cannoli, based on reviews found here. The dough was great but the ricotta was average, with a weak flavour. I'm anxious to go back to try the deli (huge meat and cheese selection) and more of the other pastries but I will not be ordering the cannoli again.

Good size rice balls for a good price but personally not enough cheese for my liking.