Sidewalk Citizen Bakery — Restaurant in Calgary

This place always baffles me. Their food is great but I swear I have never gotten food available to me under 20 minutes. Even if you get a premade sandwich (which is supposed to expedite the prep?) it still takes like 20 minutes to heat it up? They seem to literally start up the oven like you’re in your apartment and are waiting for it to heat up.

Maybe invest in a Starbucks type oven or be explicit about wait times because the over counter ordering system doesn’t imply that at all. Or implement a non proprietary online ordering system because it’s not mobile friendly and requires constant input of my credit card and gives untrust worthy time estimates. I think I waited 40 minutes for a breakfast sandwich that I ordered awkwardly on my phone on my commute to work next door.

I get the sense that this business model is basically a traditional restaurant which cut the staff for waiters and justified the decision by making the front counter sell coffee and muffins to imply some hybrid model. When in reality you just wait for a $20 sandwich and regret every minute standing and waiting because there is no where to sit with how busy it gets.

A simple fix would be improving the menu system and empowering the customer to make an informed decision on whether they’re getting a fast or quick order.

The staff are amazing here and are very sweet which just makes the experience even more confusing. I can’t help but ponder if this place is making a profit, is funded by a disconnected investor, or being subsidized by a bloated east...

BEST CROISSANTS IN THE CITY, INCREDIBLE VARIETY.

I only started visiting this joint about 3 weeks ago and the croissants and other pastry paraphernalia are the best in Calgary, period. Believe me, I love pastries at a level similar to how a heroin addict craves another hit of smack, so I've had a disproportionate amount of high quality croissants and pastries over my adult life. I am qualified to judge these croissants!

Its so freakin' flaky on the outside it would make a Frenchman proud - more proud than winning a single Olympic event, ever. The inside of the croissant is soft and slightly chewy and the perfect amount of sweetness in the pastry, and always fresh. Imagine being flown in a time machine to an era where people lived or died based on the quality of croissant they could bake...Sidewalk Citizen would reign supreme in this land!

Danishes are amazing as well. Pizza is new everyday and typically bad to the bone. I usually have an aversion to vegetables, due to a terrible asparagus accident when I was 7, but even the salads are impressive and always rotating with new creations. I've become an omnivore once again!

Prices are very fair, I would reckon to say on par or cheaper than Safeway deli/bakery. Service is always pleasant and smiley, and they know all about the foreign fruits imported illegally to make the salads exotic.

Perfect place to stop by for a quick lunch on the go, delicious breakfast goodies, or when you need to impress your in-laws' Parisian tennis instructor. Go...

The food was fine (though overpriced). We tried the salmon sandwich, the brioche, and the veggie quiche. All were pretty good.

The problem was the service. I ordered the meat quiche. My partner started eating it to find it was actually veggie quiche. When we went up to the counter to ask, they said they'd been out of meat quiche for hours. Why not tell me that when I ordered? Strange. I also ordered a brioche and the girl taking my order said "I don't know what that is," looking very annoyed. But one of the pastries was labeled "brioche" - I had to go point it out for her. I had also ordered a coffee and when they put the food on the counter there was no coffee. I asked about it and the guy said "yeah it's down the hall" and walked away. I had no idea what he meant, I've never been here before. I guess the coffee comes up at a coffee shop down the hall? Not sure how I was supposed to know that. There was one employee who was great and he heard what happened and went and got the coffee. He also offered to fix the quiche issue. Poor guy was keeping the whole place running while everyone else was completely unhelpful. We asked his name and he said Leo or...