The Swiss Bakery and Pastry Shop — Restaurant in Annandale

Love this place but last 2 purchases were definitely not up to their usual standards. I just found this phenomenal place last year, even after being here for over 20 yrs! Originally from Scotland, it's been very difficult to find decent bread, let alone minimally processed/homemade bread anywhere here ...... the Swiss Boule reminds me of home! The smell eminates the room, the crusting on the bottom is perfect and the Fluffy interior is heaven. The Swiss Cheese bread is also great. My sister, who lives in Ohio, even grabbed a few Boules to take back with her and freeze. The pastries and cakes, so far all phenomenal, especially the apple danishes! Also the baguettes with brie and walnut/fig are out of this world. However, the reason for 4 stars instead of 5, is due to the last 2 Boules we bought. On two seperate Sundays, we got our usual order of Boule and Cheese loaves. But the Boule fell below the usual high level this bakery has achieved. The first one did not have the right texture or fluffliness inside, almost as if it was baked 2 or 3 days beforehand ...... the second one we got was this past Sunday ...... there was NO awesome freshly baked smell emanating at all. The crusting on the bottom was barely done, the interior was not Fluffy at all, in fact, it was more like a wet sponge in the middle, doughy and under baked completely and just smelled more like dish soap..... definitely not edible. Either the weekend bakers are different, or the baking times were much shorter, or lack of quality control ...... or all of the above. Usually the Boule is sold out by lunchtime on any given day, so I sometimes call earlier in the day to reserve one but this last Sunday, I wasn't able to this time. I went in around 2pm with fingers crossed, phew they had plenty of them, even the lady putting my order together said they had a ton of them.......which was unusual. Anyway, the last 2 Boules were disappointing, the last one wasn't even edible, so I'm probably not going to buy any loaves over the weekend and will hold of until mid-week and fresh out...

Love this place. You can find so many cool things you wouldn't find elsewhere, all kinds of European treats (packaged and fresh), breads, wines, etc. In the bakery case there's a nice assortment of cookies - great option for throwing together a quick plate for parties - breads and other baked goods like danishes and fruit tarts too. I'll say they're not my choice for cakes because they're drier and less sweet than I prefer, but that's just European style so if you enjoy that this is a great choice. But you can't go wrong with their hot menu (unique choices like bratwurst on a pretzel bun) or coffees (the Swiss mocha is my favorite).

The atmosphere is also cozy, with lots of seating options for single I'm not comfortable dining in right now (COVID) but they do offer limited dine-in seating and typically I like to go and work for while - the bar that faces the window makes for a nice view and they have free WiFi. I can't wait to start doing that again.

Lastly the staff... Not everyone is super warm but that makes it feel authentically european too ha... But I will say there are a couple stand-out people. I've had some great customer service experiences but today had one that prompted me to write this review after so many visits to Swiss Bakery. I brought my 2 year old in for a treat this morning because we'd been at the post office in the same shopping center, where they were having problems and we had an unusually long wait. I mentioned that to the woman who was helping us, because she was being so patient while me daughter decided what she wanted - and after ringing us up she tucked an additional little candy in my daughter's hand and praised hey for being such a good kid. That was just such a kind gesture and it's that kind of thing that makes it feel like a real...

This is the first time that I made it into the store. I was so excited. The previous visits, they were closed by the time I got there. They have so much chocolate, wine, baked goods and other things. By the time I got there, they were no longer serving food. Apparently they serve it for lunch only, and I got there right before closing. I got some chocolate for the office. I haven't tried them yet. I also picked up some cookies for my dogs. They are very finicky. My girls took them and ate a little bit of one. I have a feeling that the cookies will sit there for days. Basically, they probably won't eat it ago. Oh well, I tried. The 2nd peanut butter cookie I took out of the Sam's doggie cookies bag had a hair baked into it. Kind of gross but it happens. I just broke off that piece and tossed it. They really need to work on their quality control even though the treats are for dogs. I got some desserts, and because I was too late to get food there, I ate the desserts instead. They were good, and the cookies are delicious as always. One of my close friends always get me swiss bakery's baked good for Christmas. The male employee who was working today was so helpful. Even though the store was closed and I was the last customer there, he was so patient in helping me shop and answering my question. I never felt rush, which was nice. The items can add up fast! I spent $110+ today. The jar of honeysuckle honey was $15. Bags of dog cookies were almost $10. Chocolate bars were $5.50 each, got 20. The rest was cookies and desserts. They are all...