There’s something special happening at Mia Dessert Bar. Nestled discreetly in a Sylvania strip mall – look for the adorable logo adorning the window just to the right of the Papa John’s – Mo Smaili’s Mia Dessert Bar is a modest bakery on the inside. But, don’t let that fool you. The bountiful french pastries on display in their two cases are some of the best you can get in the Toledo area.
The menu, consisting of macarons, croissants and other assorted pastries, rotates weekly and can be found on the Mia Dessert Bar’s Facebook and Instagram pages. The bakery is currently take out only, although the amount of available space in the shop suggests that tables and chairs may make their appearance at some point.
So, how was the food?
The croissants are the star at Mia Dessert Bar, but honorable mention must be given to the expertly made macarons. They pass the eye test with flying colors – beautifully round and domed with perfectly formed “feet” on the bottom, and equally strong in both flavor and texture. While the two more traditional macarons offered were slightly less memorable, the pistachio raspberry variant was something of a revelation. The raspberry jam in the center was a burst of sharp juiciness that brought out some of the pistachio’s more fruit-forward undertones, before giving way to rich nuttiness. It’s a truly unique combination that brought out the best in both ingredients.
Not to be outdone, Mia Dessert Bar’s croissants are uniformly gorgeous. The Instagram-ready pastries are enormous and flaunt every single buttery layer. The plain croissants were delightfully flaky with a delicious buttery flavor. If forced to nitpick, one might say the croissant was a little oily and the interior had less structure, coming off as slightly gummy in the middle.
The standout among the croissants was, once again, the pistachio raspberry with the combination singing every bit as much in that format as it did in the macarons. This time, the layers of the croissant were spread with raspberry jam and a luxurious pistachio cream was piped into the middle. The chocolate raspberry croissant also gets high marks, with a chocolate dough and the same combination of jam-spread layers and a piped filling in the center, this time a rich, dark chocolate ganache. Chocolate lovers, this one’s for you.
The final highlight was the lone savory offering I tried – the za’atar and cheese roll. Za’atar is a lovely flavor and the caramelized cheese brought a welcome crunch to the same croissant dough, now in an elegant pinwheel. It’s not as flaky as its crescent-shaped counterparts, but it was fluffy throughout.
The only less impressive pastries were the peach crumble roll and “crookie” – a combination croissant/chocolate chip cookie. In the former, the delicate peach flavor simply didn’t cut through as hoped. The latter was less than the sum of its parts: a phenomenal chocolate chip cookie topping their excellent croissant dough that left me wishing I’d just gotten one of each.
Despite its humble trappings, Mia Dessert Bar brings an inventive, stylish flair to its take on classic French pastry. Their more unique offerings are where they shine, so if you’ve got an adventurous palate, I’d recommend something beyond the traditional croissant or pain au chocolat. But, in the end, you can’t go wrong whatever you choose, because in a sleepy little strip mall in Sylvania, Mia Dessert Bar is baking up some of the best pastries in Northwest Ohio.
Mia Dessert Bar. 4024 North Holland Sylvania Rd Ste. 2 Toledo, OH. 9am – 5pm (or until sold out) TUES – SAT.
instagram.com/mia_dessertbar/. facebook.com/MIA.DessertBar1.
