Balzanos — Restaurant in Cambridge

Fantastic. I've just moved across the road from Balzanos with my little dog and son. All 3 of us are die hard Balzano fanatics already. The bread is beautiful... Both the sour dough and regular bread. The panatonne is out of this work and they have a wide selection of panatonne. Perfect with their illy coffees or their hot chocolate... Which is not too sweet sand hits the spot.. Spot on! Then there are the cheeses! From every kind of cheddar to fetas, all sorts of other cheeses, my fav being the pecorino. They have a couple of pecorinos and I can't remember the name of the one I like the most. Will update. Its beautiful on toast or on its own, or shaved on a salad. Thru have shelves full of sinfully amazing delights, cookies, biscuits, pastries, cherries in syrup, honeys... Its a foodie heaven. A bit expensive.. but so so worth it. Oooh did I mention the fresh vegetables and fruit and fantastic selection of pastas! If your a foodie and your in Cambridge... You need to have been here or visit. Its foodie heaven. Love love love Balzanos ❤️

Had a new Panatonne from my fav cafe today and my mind is blown. From the Bonifanti collection, of which there is an extensive selection at Balzanos, it has the softest, airiest base/sponge, huge candied cherries, that burst in your mouth, with the dark chocolate melting against the palate and a hint of vanilla berries. The outside has a lovely firm, strong overdone edge. It's perfect. It's the Ciliega e Cioccolato. Also tried their soft buffalo mozzarella cheese. So fresh! I am...

I really want to like this place but it’s always been very disappointing. A great range of produce but everything is extremely overpriced. For what they charge, it needs to be a lovely treat and experience. But the coffee is appalling (Illy) and the staff are pretty gruff. And a bugbear of mine is that I’ve experienced poor hygiene standards. At the deli counter the guy was handling food directly with his hands, after wiping his face, with no gloves on. I picked him up on this as it was a cheese & Parma ham croissant I had ordered he was fiddling with as he put it in the toaster and he responded- oh I’ve touched all this food as I made it. Marvellous. The hygiene score of 4 out of 5 was no surprise to me which I only noted on leaving. If they want any tips on boosting that score to a 5 I have some ideas- but finally, after several attempts at coming here, each after an interval to forget the previous visit, I now definitely...

I would like to support Balzanos, but I’ve had too many not so good experiences to rate it any better. The coffee is good, but the owner is not pleasant and while I know that running an independent business is tough these days, if you don’t make an effort people like myself will not return. And how difficult is it to put a croissant on a plate at the same time one orders a coffee? This has happened a couple of times, and I’ve had to remind the staff that I ordered a croissant with my coffee. Some staff are pleasant and make an effort. I have also shopped there many times, willing to pay extra for their food. It pains me to write a negative review as I’m of Italian origin, but there are other Italian based cafes in town that do make an effort to make you...