This Minneapolis Bakery Is Home to the “World’s Best Cinnamon Rolls”

At the beginning of 2025, a cinnamon roll-ranking website—apparently that is, indeed, a thing—announced that its 2024 winner for the "World's Best Cinnamon Rolls" is a confection with which folks from the East Isles neighborhood of Minneapolis are well acquainted: the cinnamon buns at Isles Bun and Coffee. These delights have been not-so-secretly warming tummies and putting smiles on people's faces for more than 25 years. I live in the west Metro, and I know plenty of folks who regularly make trips into the city for a box of Isles Bun's wares.

Yet, when this latest accolade was announced, the cat (or, more aptly, Puppy Dog Tail) was out of the bag. Local media picked up the story, and people started lining up around the corner—even in winter—for a taste of the baked goods Isles Bun was serving. I'd had their treats on a few occasions, and I did recall that the shop's coffee is quite good, but I hadn't visited in a while and certainly not since their cinnamon rolls had become the world's best. So, I decided it was time to make a trip.

In doing my... let's call it research... for this article, I made two trips to Isles Bun and Coffee over two separate weeks. Both times, I went on weekday afternoons to avoid the morning rush and, hopefully, to dodge any lines. I went one-for-two. My first visit was in the early afternoon on a Wednesday in summer. There were a few customers enjoying the shop's airy, open seating area, and I was able to step right up to the counter. Fortunately, all the crowd-pleasers were still in stock for the day—a worry, as they regularly sell out of popular items—so I ordered a cinnamon bun and a cold brew.

I was not disappointed. The cinnamon buns are massive, and when you order one—or a dozen—you're offered extra frosting. ("Would you like extra frosting?" is one of those questions that should always be answered in the affirmative—in my opinion, anyway.) My roll was still warm from the oven, and the frosting melted tantalizingly into its swirls. The bun was tender, without being heavy, sweet, and offered just the right balance of cinnamon. Isles Bun and Coffee bakes all of its products from scratch, in-house, and often, right in front of the customers. You can taste the care in every bite.

On my next visit, on a Tuesday just before 1 p.m., I had to wait in line for about 10 minutes to order a tray of Puppy Dog Tails (and a cold brew, of course). They had what I wanted, and it seemed everyone was getting what they ordered. Puppy Dog Tails are Isles Bun's twist on cinnamon twists.

They're made from the twisted ends of the cinnamon bun dough and baked until the outside is golden brown with a slight crisp. They're $2 each and served with a dollop of cinnamon bun icing—and they are delightful. I assure you: My tail was wagging as I ate. It's easy to see why these little sticks of heaven are the most popular treat at Isles Bun and Coffee.

I also learned that a couple of Puppy Dog Tails make a perfect snack on a stroll around nearby Lake of the Isles, the Minneapolis lake for which the bakeshop is named. Does Isles Bun and Coffee serve the best cinnamon rolls in the world? I honestly couldn't tell you—I haven't eaten enough cinnamon rolls. Will I be back for more? Most definitely. And the coffee's damn good, too.