In the middle of one of the busiest areas in Queens, in between local businesses and big chain stores, lies a small bakery passed by hundreds of locals everyday.
From the outside, you see Martha’s Country Bakery written above the door in script lettering and decadent pastries sitting on display in the window. Once you go inside when you look to your left there’s desserts as far as you can see. These pastries are often blocked by the seemingly never ending line of people waiting to place a to go order. Then if you look to your right there’s three rows of dark wood tables and seats.
Not many bakeries have people coming inside to sit down and eat. Martha’s, however, has quickly gotten used to the stream of people coming and going with the purpose of indulging in one of their many dessert choices. Their busiest hours range from 3-7pm and at that time there’s usually a wait time for a seat, even if there’s only two people in your party. This specific location in Forest Hills is open from 6am-12am, Sunday through Thursday and until 1am on Friday and Saturday. Martha’s also has multiple locations in Queens and Brooklyn where time’s may differ.
Martha’s dessert choices don’t just range from fancy cakes to cookies, but much more. On top of multiple flavors of cakes available, they have muffins, croissants, cookies, brownies, cupcakes, milkshakes, coffee, and gelato. They also do specialty cakes for birthdays that you can customize to be exactly the way you want with various sizing options. And lastly, they also have a to go line that’s almost always in motion. At times it goes all the way to the other end of the bakery.
The service was very good considering how busy they were at the time. My party of two was seated after not even a five minute wait. A waiter came and gave us water immediately. Then once we ordered our drinks and food the waitress came back with them in about ten minutes. Our desserts came in another ten or fifteen minutes.
They also serve hot chocolate, but instead of using milk chocolate like most places, they serve dark hot chocolate. Served in a teacup 3 times the size of the average teacup, it’s filled to the top with one of those cafe art leaf type of designs in it. At first glance it may look like a small serving, but it lasted the whole visit. The drink tasted heavier than what you would get at Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks, which sometimes even taste watery. The dark chocolate was rich and was the best hot chocolate I’ve ever tasted. They use Ghirardelli chips in the hot chocolate to give it that extra burst of flavor at the end. At $2.75 it’s a decent price for the taste.
After hearing great things about both their chocolate mousse cake and seven layer cake, and being a chocolate fanatic, I also decided to try their seven layer cake. The cake was served on a little white plate with chocolate drizzle and little sprinkles of sugar. The seven layers consisted of chocolate breading then a soft mousse type of filling on top. Then there was a hard layer of chocolate on top of the seven layers of bread and filling which had a grid like pattern on it. There was also a swirl of whipped cream next to the cake. The cake itself was so big that when it fell on its side it was almost on the table.
I had seen many other slices of cake and this one was definitely the biggest one they had. It was seven full layers of chocolate and very difficult to finish on my own. I ended up giving the rest to a friend. Even their other cake such as red velvet and tiramisu was full in size and was worth the $5.75.
Overall the visit to Martha’s was quick and efficient. The staff had a great attitude despite how busy they were and kept the orders going, which helped get the customers in and out quickly. The food definitely lived up to the hype I had heard from multiple people who go there regularly. There’s also that old school bakery aesthetic going on with the low lighting, which could serve as problematic for some. The size of the bakery is the only drawback. It’s small and when you’re trying to walk through the rows to get to your seat it’s difficult to squeeze through without avoiding hitting someones seat.
There were people who had been there when I got there and were still there when I left. Then there were others who came in and left before I was even done, basically meaning you can make your visit a quick eat and go or a relaxed, leisurely visit that lasts over an hour. Some people even seem to use it as a study spot despite how busy they can get. Martha’s Country Bakery can serve many purposes as well as a variety of desserts that are indescribably great.
