Avalon Willis St - Detroit

Avalon is the place in Detroit to buy bread, pastries, grab a latte or soup or a delicious and warm foccia (bread, veggie toppings). Vegan hot foods, cookies and soymilk lattes are offered. Inner city Detroit is changing, and Avalon is one of the best things to happen here. In a funky neighbourhood near Wayne St Univ. No evenings, but Sunday brunch has just started.

I had only Mexican hot chocolate with almond milk, but it was very delicious, slightly spicy. Place is beautiful and beautiful to spend some time sitting and watching people. I saw several vegan cookies offered.

I enjoy Avalon a lot. Their bread is healthy and made from few ingredients- they don't sneak preservatives and unnecessary ingredients in. They always have a wide variety of vegan desserts and sometimes vegan foccacia. On top of it, they treat their employees well and pay them a living wage. Last, the atmosphere of the Midtown location is on point. Totally adorable. Updated from previous review on Tuesday July 29, 2014

As others have noted, it's mostly a bakery. When I visited this week they had half a dozen or so vegan pastries, all on the sweet side. I had the apple pie pastry, the granola bar (which was so sweet it was mostly like dessert , a chocolate chip cookie, and a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie. Unfortunately it was breakfast, and I would have liked to see more savory vegan options. (In fairness, I don't like sweets much. So I got the stuff to go, and ate it on the train later on. The one vegan What I had was delicious, but both the apple pie and the granola were a huge mess, and totally fell apart. Not easy to eat with your hands (at least without making a big mess of it. The one vegan foccacia available was, in a word, boring: just a vegetable foccacia without cheese. So I passed. Several of the things I got were 16% off to celebrate their 16th anniversary, so the total price for four pastries was very reasonable: just under $6. I'd definitely go back, just with a clearer sense of what might be available for non-sweet breakfast food.

What a find! This place has a great vibe. Outdoor seating and a few small tables inside. It's a true bakery, so it's mostly cookies, muffins, brownies, all sorts of loafs of bread. They offer a few sandwiches and usually have a pizza or flatbread offered. The smoothies are outstanding as are their espresso drinks. Not to be missed are the vegan cookies. They taste better than their non-vegan cookies. It's on a small side street. Limited free parking right in front, but plenty of metered parking on the main street (Cass). Avalon is less than a mile from the Detroit Institute of Art. So if you're going to DIA or any of the museums, stop at Avalon! Take Woodward or Cass to Willis St.