Rose & Joe’s Italian Bakery
“The bread portion is not as thick as some Sicilian slices you might find, and it may not be as crisp, but taste is what's important to me.”
“Look no further than Rose & Joe's, quite possibly the cutest little shop in one of the busiest areas of Ditmars.”
“However this place gets 4 stars for the cannoli – it is rare nowadays to find cannoli filled to order, and such great quality to boot.”
Rose & Joe’s Italian Bakery
Take-out: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
8 reviews
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In an almost wasteland of good pizza neighborhoods, Rose & Joe's is a welcomed surprise. I grew up in Brooklyn and I took for granted that I was a stones throw from many great pizza places. Ditmars just doesn't have a lot to offer in terms of good pizza unfortunately.
Rose & Joe's is a great place for bread. They are baked fresh and I often drop by just to grab a roll or two. However, one day I ventured to the back of the store. There hides a small glass case with Margherita pizzas and square pizzas. This isn't your normal NY slice but the bread was really good obviously. The secret to good pizza is definitely in the bread. You have to get that right.
Overall a cute little place to grab a small specialty slice. It still doesn't satisfy the classic NY Pizza cravings but for what it is, it's a decent slice. While the pizza is only something I get once in awhile, I come for the breads!
Oh it's good. It's so good. That cannoli is some of the best I've had. It's SOFRESH, which means a crunchy shell (that manages to stay that way for a day — I bought a few so I had leftovers the next morning) and creamy filling with hints of cinnamon deliciousness. My friend got a slice and I had a bite and it was yummy too.
I also sampled their rainbow cake, which was light, crumbly (but not too much so), and SOTASTY. I bought a cinnamon crumb cake which was also very light, buttery and sweet but not syrupy sweet like so many bakery cakes.
I was floored. It's been a long time since I've had legitimately good bakery cake that wasn't heavy or overly-sweet. I'm comparing this to the "top" places too, like Magnolia, Crumbs, Momofuku, etc.
And that cannoli. Deargod.
I think this place is great for cheap and affordable baked goods but not like a go to place for a pizza slice. That's probably where the negative reviews come in. I didn't even notice they sold pizza to be honest because we were in a rush and late to a birthday this weekend. Picked up some cupcakes near the cash register. I noticed they had a wide array of rainbow cookies, italian cookies, cannoli, cakes, fresh loaves of bread. The cupcakes were cheap – about $4 for 4 of them. Nothing bougie but pretty simple on decoration: vanilla and chocolate icing with sprinkles. I split a chocolate with light yellow cake later in the night and it was super moist and delicious.
Location: Take N, Q, get off at the final stop. Go straight 500 yards, you will definitely somehow find this place. Yeah, it is a small place that you can easily miss but if you are craving some pizzas in the morning like I did, you probably won't risk any chance to miss it.
But to be honest, this place is just too small to be recognized at the first time.
Its decoration is very shabby and poorly designed. Or I would argue that there is no design at all. When you stepped into the store, the inside would be a huge bake oven and there are one counter responsible for pizza and another one for bakeries.
And they don't offer pizza in the morning… Why?!
Food: so I ended up taking all their black and white cookies…
And it is just very stale like they made it 3,000 years ago.
Service: the lady was so serious and agitated that I felt a little bit unsure if she's trying to sell me cookies or give me a lecture of something..
I don't know.. She's just tense…
Overall: ugh.. maybe I won't come back for the pizza round tho.. it's far from Manhattan and … its not that good
Like all the little bakery joints on Ditmars I love Rose & Joe's because you can order two cookies for less than a $1 and walk away happy. What makes Rose & Joe's even better though are the pizzas they serve out of the back. I wish they were open later because their margherita pizza is perfect. The crust is crispy and not too thick, the sauce is just faintly sweet, the cheese is thin and melted and doesn't slide everywhere while you eat it.
This is a staple of the Ditmars area and it's conveniently located right under the train. You really can't go wrong.
Anyone who follows my reviews or knows me understands that I am not a cheese or margherita slice dude. They bore me, as I've rarely found one with enough going on to tantalize my taste buds. Gimme at least pepperoni and sausage, if not meat lovers, AND a buffalo chicken slice. Now we're talking!
One bite of R&J's margherita slice has firmly locked it as my favorite in the city, more so than my cherished meat-laden slices. I was sad when I was done with the slice, because I'd only purchased one. I could have devoured an entire pie on my own.
It was pizza perfection.
I also tried all Sicilian options they had (pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, and olive). Damned fine slices…and I am usually not a fan of Sicilian slices. I kept wanting each new bite. Tons of flavor. Just good, handmade awesomeness.
The stromboli was fine. Weighed to determine price. Nothing to write home about. But solid. Didn't need extra sauce on the side, per my usual.
Four Sicilian slices, one marg, and a heavy slice of stromboli came out to $23.50. With the flavors and joy I received, I have no problem with that pricing, especially to a local merchant.
Is the little lady behind the counter rough around the edges? Yup. Is that par for the course and part of the charm of this area's home grown mom & pop joints? Yup.
Truth is, she's actually a tough softy. I threw back a little polite/jovial sass, and she was smiling, laughing, and calling me sweetie at the bat of an eye. When in Rome, people. When in Rome.
I was very tempted to pick up some bakery items, as they looked amazing, and the breads smelled so good. But I was short on cash. Next time.
Destination spot? Not sure. But MOST definitely a spot to try if you're in the area!
We popped in here on a whim when I saw the sign across the street from the restaurant we were out here to try. I'm glad I did – after hitting up a quite lackluster bakery in Manhattan yesterday, I was very happy to be eating a pastry that was actually worth eating. Specifically, we tried one of their vanilla cream puffs, which was pretty much perfect, and some kind of chocolate twist, which I was expecting to be soft like a cream puff, but was actually crumbly. Still very chocolatey and all around tasty, though. Everything was about half the price the same thing would probably be in Manhattan, too, so that was nice.
Would've given it one more star if not for the mold I found inside one of my cream puffs (see pic). I did not want to believe it, because I really enjoyed my Sicilian slice which I ate first, but that little green monster stared me in the face after I bit into my chocolate cream puff. What gives??! I'm still sort of in denial. Maybe someone can analyse my pic more and tell me I was actually hallucinating, and I'll come back and edit my review with one additional star.
((I still ate the other 3 cream puffs and ate as much of the infected one as socially acceptable))
Besides that, the Sicilian was delicious. Just the right level of cheesiness and not greasy at all. I appreciated that they wrapped it up for me in aluminium foil to keep it semi-warm. The cream puffs, the fungal surprise aside, were yum. Not to mention, everything came out to be a little over $5.
Service was pretty quick; maybe a 3-minute wait for them to heat up my pizza (they'd ask if you wanted it warm for people who want to eat it right away). Staff weren't too smiley but they were courteous and helpful. You order and pay for pizza in the back, bread and pastries up front.