Leli's Bakery & Pastry Shop, Queens NY

This place is truly a gem. Their pastries are delicious and they have a good range of sweet and savory. Pastizzis are their specialty and those are excellent, with a crisp pastry and an abundance of filling. I recommend the spinach and cheese one. They also have a good array of breakfast options and their omelettes are solid and come with a coffee.

What inspired me to write this review however is how impeccable the customer service is. I remember the first time I ordered delivery and they forgot to include my coffee that comes with the omelette. I thought no big deal since I mostly just wanted the food, the coffee was a happy addition. 20 minutes later the delivery person was back with the coffee and an apology for forgetting!
Last time I ordered, my order was incredibly late due to a back up on their end then later a miscommunication with the delivery person. I ended up canceling my order on Seamless but 10 minutes later the delivery guy shows up, apologetic and explained what happened and insisted I keep the order on the house anyway for my inconvenience. I think these small gestures and the quality of their food, I will be coming back for a long time!

I gave it 3 stars for the nice man working with a broken arm behind the counter with a sling and cast on.
However:
Coffee was mediocre.
Certain cookies were better than others.
The pecan pie was a challenge. I tried to like all of it. There's a lot to choose from but my choices had to have been met with: better recommendations. Rode from Ditmars to this place with hopes of a good pastry experience sadly it wasn't worth the stars on Yelp.

My go-to bakery in Astoria, their baked goods are always delicious and they have great all-day breakfast options.

First time at this shop and I’m now considering moving to Astoria. The selection is so wide, the classic style is so delicious, the baker let us try items and we got way too many items and will NEED to go back soon.

Purchased 2 Cinnabons today.
The baker/owner pointed out 2 in plastic containers for the girl to sell to me. Both hard as a rock.
First bad experience I had there.

I’ll say it’s a normal bakery in this area. Not that outstanding and not that bad. But I do feel bad feelings when I visited. The person (I guess the baker or owner?) seems no patient to me when I asked about the flavors of their scone.

Absolutely wonderful local bakery. Has been supplying birthday and other celebration cakes for my family for a long time.

Always try to stop by to have a quick guilty treat.

I can't imagine my mornings without healthy and delicious breakfast. I'm lucky to live in this neighborhood because Kareem does the best I ever had! He can prepare whatever you want. You have to try the coffee as well! Love the place

Hello, honestly I don't want people to know about this place ; it is a very small and beautiful and anything I want anyway I want.it's magic and karim's attention is so lovely, and I feel that I won't have the privacy.like it won't be for me this place when many people know about this, thank you very much for reading this, my friend asked me to write something, otherwise I wouldn't, have a beautiful
Life

This bakery is one of the reasons I love NYC so much. It is the only Maltese bakery in NYC, and therefore a must try destination for the culturally interested foodie. Today was my third visit and I can't wait to go back. The pastries are extremely fresh. The cheese danish is amazing, and you must try the traditional Maltese Pastizzi. Special shoutout to Karim who always makes me feel welcome. Thank you for making this such a great place! I highly recommend everyone give this place a try. These are tough times for the food industry, so we must support family businesses such as this gem now more than ever which help make our city one of the most diverse on the planet.

Love leli's the best food and desserts! And everything is always fresh the best! And Kareem is great i feel like I'm at home!

I was doing a short dessert spot tour of this area of Astoria. I stopped at comfortland and chip and happened upon Leli’s along the way. I purchased a small lemon and coconut cake for a birthday. The person working was extremely kind and even let us taste a fresh brioche bun out of the oven. This is a traditional bakery spot, not a new or instagram buzz worthy location, but this had the best selection and quality out of my three stops. Will definitely recommend this place and come back for more

Walked in trying this place for the first time and it was awesome. Super easy was greeted immediately and was taken care of. The gentleman working was awesome and funny. Real class A business owner. I ended up getting the red velvet cake it was on point. Give this place your business

I am not surprised and dissapointed with the owners, they don't advertise as the authentic croissant bakery but the actual reviews here. One person said, "the best croissants outside the Paris! ". After tasting one and filling it in the garbage bin i assume she thought of Paris, Arkansas not France! They say It is fresh, sure compared with pyramids it is.
The only butter they use is the generous amount to grease the customers into buying their pastries and certainly not any inside the croissant. Phyllo dough rolled into shape of what aims to be croissant with egg wash that is as real as the honesty of the owner. There is one similarity this abomination shares with croissant from Paris and that is price. To be honest the mistake is all mine, expecting to find decent wholesome bakery in the middle of Astoria where decent is spelled " deceased" is nothing but laziness from my side. I bought few other items of their meny and i feel i will soon be " decent " from food suicide. If you wish to treat yourself to something nice, dont be lazy, go on train and head to manhattan.
Trust me, you are not that hungry!

I love this little bakery. The owner is so nice and passionate about what he does. There are pastries made here that aren’t made anywhere else in the city, his craft is unparalleled. We’ve gotten cakes made here for birthdays that came out exquisite, and every bite we’ve ever had has been divine! So lucky to have this in the neighborhood.

Everything is so fresh. Karim is an amazing human being who puts his heart into his business. From his fresh baked bread (sourdough, baguette, whole wheat, challah, this list goes on.) to birthday cakes & pastries, it's all there and amazing

Maltese bakery like the old country. My family has been coming here for 4 generations and the 5th will go and the 6th will go and so on and so on. No one is gonna beat this place and id put money on it

Cute quaint store. Had been searching for frozen pastizzis for a while, as they're everywhere in Australia, and was told to visit leli's given nowhere else in the city seems to have any. Unfortunately I'm not sure I'll be returning as a dozen frozen cost roughly $35 which is obscene. I paid given how much I've missed them but might limit my consumption to twice a year.

Decided to stop in to buy some pastries and bought the lemon and vanilla cake. When I went home and cut into it, immediately it smelled yeasty. The outside of the cake was hard and there was mold in the cake. I went back and the owner did give me another cake from another part of his cake display. The problem is this cake wasn't that fresh either but at least not moldy. I will stick to the the pastry shops in Ditmars instead like La Guli, Marthas Bakery and Lefos Pyrgos all of which blow this place away. Stay away from the cakes in this store, they are NOT fresh even though they look nice in the display.

Love this bakery because it makes Pastizzi. If you are Maltese you know what I mean. It is made with phillo dough and stuffed with ricotta cheese. My father made this all the tine. They have come the closest to my father's version. They also make it with cheese and spinach. They have a very good selection of baked goods.