Mei Mei Bakery
“Activate your sweet tooth at this fine establishment at little cost!”
“I come here for my daily breakfast prior to boarding the train, and for a late lunch after my trip home.”
“Also, when there's a long line, you don't have to wait that long because it's only a 1-2 minute wait.”
Mei Mei Bakery
Price range.
$ Price range Inexpensive
3 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
In the old days, before Chinatown got on the D train at Grand Street and got off in Bensonhurst, there weren't many places around to get bubble tea (provided that Gino and Gina from 18th Avenue even knew what it was). Then Mei Mei Bakery Incorporated (Please don't forget "Incorporated") came along and voila, we had a place to get bubble tea, butterfly cookies and all the other butter-soaked ("butter"), tapioca-filled, sugar-laden joys we usually had to go to Chinatown in Manhattan to procure.
I haven't tried some of their specialty items like the hot dog pastry, although the pastries with red bean paste are lightly sweet, and as I mentioned, they make great bubble tea (and they have a nice assortment of other Chinese/Asian drinks).
Atmosphere-wise, it's dull as dishwater, but you don't go to Mei Mei Bakery Incorporated for the cafeteria-like atmosphere and wall calendars with Chinese women holding pomeranians while swooning at Lamborghinis. It's an in-and-out kind of thing since it's right below the 79th Street D/M station and it does brisk business which tells me that someone must like it.
In my experience, the employees there speak little English which can kind of be a wrench in the gears when you're trying to order, but some clever pointing and yelling usually does the trick. Even the New Utrecht High School set has discovered this place, so perhaps their English is improving (or not).
Rating is for their rice rolls. This neighborhood Chinese bakery is everything you'd expect this sort of place to be: homely, worn, primarily takeout, and carrying the usual suspects, an assortment of savory and sweet buns, along with some hot items. They seem to bake and make most of their goods onsite. Service is to the point, but perhaps because its not very busy, certain staff always seem to be in training or unsure of what they're doing.
In Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, Mei Mei makes one of the best fresh rice rolls I've had, and along with their beef meatballs, account for the 4-star rating. They make the rice rolls periodically throughout the day so depending on when you go, they may be out of them or freshly made ones just came out for sale. My fave is the dried shrimp rice rolls, which I've had multiple times and are consistently good. Their beef meatballs served with Worcestershire sauce are excellently made, very tender texture. Others are less reliable; beef rice roll was mediocre one time (bad rice rolls), and really good another. The rice rolls with spare ribs was terrible the one time I tried; spare ribs all fat and oily, the rice rolls hardened. Siu mai also mediocre. Their buns are ok but nothing special; feel the same about their drinks, hot or cold.
So in sum, come here for fresh rice rolls and beef meatballs. You're on your own with everything else.
I'm more Chinese than this place! I walked in here with my bf and we were wanting some bubble tea…bad. So, we settled for this place and figured, how hard could it be to make? The girl made the drinks very hastily while no one was even in the place, and she just threw ice in. The drinks were room temperature – so much for getting 'refreshed'.
Give me a day in here, and I'd pull in more service after a good scrub down.