Big City Bread Cafe — Restaurant in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

Alright ya’ll, so the food here is amazing. This place is a true Classic City staple. I would give a higher review, but I cant in good conscience because of one particular person: Shannon. Pretty positive thats her name. I don’t know how to start this tactfully. Other than this woman seems like an absolute menace to be around. I don’t even want to come into this restaurant anymore because of her. I don’t even know her personally, she is just that awful. When I first saw her, I honestly assumed she was homeless, or perhaps someone experiencing a psychotic episode. She was behind the main counter and was so disorganized, so chaotic, it truly did not look like she knew what she was doing let alone work there. Especially at one point where she manically rearranged everything behind the counter. After i watched her do this, a younger guy walks over after her, and with an exasperated sigh, fixes everything Shannon just messed up. I felt so bad for him because you could tell he has had to do damage control behind this woman before. On top of that I could here her FROM THE KITCHEN just yelling and barking commands at people. And I mean YELLING! Literally no customer ever wants to hear that. Rude, uncouth, disrespectful, just not someone who you can be comfortable around by any means. If she was that bothersome for me as a customer, I cannot imagine what she must be like to work with! I hate how someone like this has left such a unfortunate stain on a fantastic restaurant. Big City Bread seems like the place where you should get that perfect relaxed vibe from a local restaurant. But Shannon makes this place feel like a bad episode from a tv show you really dont want to watch. Cringe. I would like to come back here, Id really like to bring my parents to this place. But theres no way if shes going to be there. So yeah, the food here is AMAZING but not good enough to make being around...

Lovely atmosphere, okay service, disappointing food. Everything, including the bread, was bland and under-seasoned. We ordered the cheese omelette with potatoes and toast for my wife and a biscuit for me. When the food arrived at our table the waitress let my wife know the toast on her plate was burnt, and asked her if she wanted it to be remade. It's srange to serve a plate of food acknowledging that it isn't done right, but sending it off anyway. It put my wife in an awkward spot, so she kept the plate with burnt toast. The cheese in the center of each omelette wasn't melted. Cold, dry shreds of cheese at center doesn't make for a good omelette. Wife asked to have hers heated and the omelette returned hot, but rubbery after its trip in the microwave. She couldn't finish it. The potatoes tasted as if they were made the night before: bland, cold and dry. Every aspect of our breakfast was disappointing. And the line of customers out the door by the time we left suggested it was worth waiting for! But our experience was anything but worth it. Maybe we caught them on a bad day, but given so many wonderful brunch options in Athens, I don't think we'll bother coming back to...

My wife and I had lunch and two breakfasts here.

Since we were going to a wedding rehearsal dinner after our first visit we both ordered salads. I had the Tahini and she had the House. The Tahini was such a great flavor combination that I wrote down the ingredients and will try to duplicate it at home. The ingredients in the House salad were nothing special but the balsamic vinaigrette was homemade and outstanding. Both salads were adequate for lunch and were served with a piece of French bread. Our breakfasts consisted of an egg, cheese and breakfast meat between a large, flaky biscuit. A real treat each time.

You order at the counter, they give you a number, you find a table and someone brings you your order. If you want a beverage refill, you get it yourself. This format seems to be coming increasingly popular. For this sole reason “3” is the most I can give for service, although I’m sure we could have gotten help if needed.

BCBC has a large patio shaded with old growth trees. It is secluded and on a barely traveled side street so there is very little traffic and noise. A real plus. They also have inside seating (we used it the morning it...