Kneads Bakeshop & Café — Restaurant in Baltimore

My family and I ate at Kneads three times this week… all told, a breakfast, lunch and dinner, LOL. One might wonder why we would go to the same place on three separate occasions, if the restaurant only warrants a “middling” 3-star rating.

Let me explain.

Simply put, the restaurant loses two stars wholly and solely because of the service. Everything else about Kneads deserves 5-stars… or more.

We went to several high end and “Top Ten” restaurants in Baltimore this week, and I would rank Kneads’ food over every single one of them. Whether it was their omelets, salads, sandwiches, burgers or mains (even the vegetarian ones), and especially their baked goods, there was not one dish that I would have ranked below excellent.

Special kudos to their grits, which defy description.

The venue itself is likewise gorgeous. Spacious, with high ceilings, eye-attracting fixtures, comfortable furnishings and relaxing decor, an upstairs seating area separate from the dining area, for customers who order from the counter- even a glass-walled view of the bakery, where you can watch their talented artisans engaged in their craft.

So again… after all that, a two star deduction for service? Really? YUP. And here’s why:

1. The restaurant is horribly understaffed. Not nearly enough servers to cover the space, and literally ZERO table bussers. Wait staff is forced to clean, clear and set tables, in addition to their regular and expected duties. Unfair to them.

2. Because of this lack of adequate help, the wait time to get a table at the restaurant was ridiculous. We had to wait 35 minutes to be seated- and let me point out, during our wait, there were at least five empty and unoccupied tables at all times. Photos of said empty tables below. The staff just could not clean, clear and reset the tables fast enough. I watched at least two large groups walk out during our lunch today because of the delay. We decided to stick it out, however, because the food is that good.

3. The restaurant uses a POS system that their employees have not come remotely close to mastering. Entering orders is far too confusing and time-consuming for them. Writing everything down on pads the old fashioned way would be infinitely quicker. There is also no dedicated cashier. Again, the wait staff is held responsible for collecting and processing payment on their little hand-held gizmos that are interminably slow and tend to malfunction. On two out of three occasions, we never even saw our check, but were left to take the server’s word for the total bill. Not acceptable.

4. While the wait staff tried to put on a happy face and were all polite to us, they also wore a very noticeable attitude of exhaustion, frustration and resignation to their fate. Our server at dinner might or might not have been on the far side of the inebriation line (we arrived about an hour before closing). Even so, this person was personable, but also had no inhibition when it came to expressing their unhappiness with the current state of affairs.

5. We bought one of their store-baked breads to take home with us. Our server nicely offered to have the bread sliced- then returned to tell us with great chagrin that the bread slicer was broken. At a high-volume bakery. Oy…

I do not blame the existing staff for any of this, BTW. I blame the owners and managers who make the hiring and staffing decisions. If Kneads actually ran efficiently and corrected these multiple issues and flaws, they would stand to double their revenue and avoid reviews like this one. I wanted so badly to give 5-stars to them, but until they do right by their staff and customers and fix what is broken- they won’t get that rating from me.

Hoping that when I return to Baltimore, and to Kneads, they have taken care of...

We visited Kneads on the second day of operation around 10:00 AM, so, with that in mind we knew that there would be a wait. We were greeted by a very friendly woman who told us that it would be approximately 50 minutes wait time for a table. Our intention was to have a proper breakfast, so we waited. The day was beautiful and we probably would’ve walked outside but it seemed as though you needed to be present to be sat, as she said she would call my name. It’s a bit uncomfortable to wait because the to-go line was so long we barely got to browse the items for sale. We waited awkwardly against the wall squished with all the others also waiting for table. We finally got sat after 40 minutes or so and it was at two armchairs with a low coffee table. I knew right then and there our experience would be affected. We wanted to eat breakfast, not casually sip coffee and eat a donut. I am unsure why they would offer table service like this when they are primarily serving breakfast and lunch. The cafe tables at Starbucks are even more comfortable. It took at least 10 minutes to be greeted by our server who brought a bottle of water but no glasses. We asked her to bring them when we placed our order but when she didn’t return after 5 minutes, we asked the manager. We ordered coffee, just regular black drip coffee that came after our food order and only after we reminded the server that we never received them. She came back and the coffees were served in to-go cups. I would’ve like a refill before we left but couldn’t bare to spend another minute waiting for something that would probably never come. The food order: I wanted the shakshuka but without yogurt. The server told me that wasn’t possible as the yogurt is mixed in and they don’t offer substitutions. On the fly I just ordered the chia seed pudding and bagel with strawberry preserves. When the server repeated the order she said cream cheese at which point I corrected her and said preserves, I don’t eat dairy. My boyfriend ordered an omelet and side of potatoes. When the food came out, I did not have a spoon and I did not receive my bagel so I asked the food runner for the bagel. I had to ask another server for a spoon to start eating. The runner brought my bagel when we were halfway through the meal and it was accompanied by strawberry cream cheese. I informed the food runner that I ordered preserves and she looked frustrated. She went back to the kitchen and returned without preserves. She said they were out of preserves. I considered not eating the bagel and asking for it to be removed but eventually I just took a few bites of a dry bagel. When the server came by to present the check I let her know about the preserves. She asked me if she can get me another type of preserve. I responded with I thought you were out? Also, at the point breakfast was over and the bagel was half gone. That would’ve been acceptable when the bagel was hot and first brought out. When I said no, she said well I need a manager to remove this, again waiting more time for her to do take care of. We spent an hour and half not including the time we waited for the table. I will say the food was pretty good for what we had. The server that we had, definitely needs more training. I understand that they were busy and it must be overwhelming for her but she was making more work for herself by not proactively setting herself...

I’m extremely disappointed that I have to write this review. My family and I have been eyeing Kneads for quite some time now. We always pass it by when we’re on our way to Whole Foods, so today, we finally decided to try it out.

Upon first glance, we noticed that the building and its products were very beautiful/well made. It was somewhat packed at 10AM on a Wednesday, but it wasn’t too bad and the line went fairly quickly.

….The problem was when we began to order.

We ordered four things. A blackberry matcha (16 oz), drip coffee (16 oz), a cheese danish and a bagel with cream cheese—all of which were delicious by the way. We had no problem with the product itself, but only the service. However, keep the sizes of the drinks in mind for later on in my review.

Right off the bat, the lady at the cashier seemed uninterested and bored, almost passive aggressive as she spoke to us. It seemed like she was trying to have a good attitude but was getting annoyed as we spoke and explained what we wanted to get. I told her what I wanted to get, and allowed my mom to explain the rest as I didn’t know what she wanted.

As soon as my mom said “may I have a drip coffee..” I noticed she began getting the coffee from the airpot as it was just drip coffee and nothing too fancy, like she was going to hand it to us as soon as we were finished explaining.

We pay for everything yet she does not hand the coffee back, but we sit there and wait thinking that she was just busy with another customer. However, it eventually just turned into a long waiting game to the point where ANOTHER worker has to come out and tell us that the drip coffee was gone and they needed to brew more. I observed that a man behind me, who was dining in, got the same exact drip coffee she claimed was “all gone,” yet forget about my mom and her drink. Mind you, this was way after she told us to wait.

She finally gave my mom the coffee after our long wait, and we were so relieved to finally get SOMETHING that we didn’t even notice that she gave her the wrong size at first. Remember, she ordered a 16 oz, but we were left with a 12 oz. They have distinct cups that are different looking; the normal 12 oz one is just plain white, but the 16 oz cup is black. So not only do you want to act stuck up and passive aggressive, but you also just stand there with no urgency, AND you get the size wrong? What in the world! If the hostesses would’ve just told us that they were brewing more drip coffee from the beginning, I’m sure we wouldn’t have been as agitated; it was a whole 20 minutes for some basic drip coffee while the rest of our order was completed.

Overall, it was a questionable experience. The food and drink were great, and they have a lot of variety. However, the management seems to be extremely poor with people that likely don’t want to do their job. Being tired is one thing, but using that as an excuse to have terrible service to customers is not an excuse. They also didn’t wear any hair nets in an area around food. It wasn’t the kitchen, but they were still around an area with pastries and other food items as well as drinks with very long hair. It should be a hazard to not wear nets.

We may possibly try this location one more time, but if the service is bad again I recommend that you do NOT come here and try another Kneads location instead or another cafe...