Nashoba Brook Bakery — Restaurant in Concord

Ate lunch here on a Friday afternoon with my husband. My chicken pot pie was tossed on a plate and microwaved with lettuce under it. I didn’t know that microwaved pie crust would be the best part of this. The filling was dry and salty. His tofu banh mi was on inedibly tough bread and the flavor was also bland. Everyone working seemed miserable. I had to clean my own table to sit. Just not worth it. Go to Saltbox instead.

Edit in response:

Hi John,

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I understand that online reviews can impact a business, and I don’t take writing one lightly.

I’m the child of restaurateurs who ran a truly small operation, and I currently work in a restaurant that takes guest feedback-positive or negative-very seriously. I know what it’s like to pour your heart and effort into service, and also how critical it is to hear when something doesn’t land. My review wasn’t meant to harm your business but to reflect my honest experience, which didn’t meet expectations that had been set by past visits.

Nashoba Brook Bread is clearly an established operation with a wide footprint in the region, not a mom-and-pop shop scraping by. I don’t see transparency about a disappointing lunch as bullying—I see it as the kind of feedback that helps places stay accountable to the standards they’ve built their reputation on.

That said, I did go back and adjust the service rating from 1 star to 2. I don’t know what your team is dealing with behind the scenes-staffing shortages, long shifts, capitalism-and I realize there’s a difference between disinterested service and overburdened employees. It didn’t change how the experience felt, but I think it’s worth acknowledging that nuance.

All...

Let me start this promo off by saying I've lived in Acton my entire life and I have NEVER liked this place. Always full of pretentious and stuck up people who think that they're better than everyone else in a terrible location to boot.

Well guess what, my mom loves coming here because she doesn't drink coffee and they have a few other options including chai latte. Sure mom, whatever you want even though this place sucks lol. I put in an order for us this morning at 9:56 for two drinks and we live down the street so I got there at 10 thinking it would be close to done.

This place doesn't start making your drink until the estimated pickup time on the label apparently. Why on earth did you estimate a 30 minute pickup for 10:26 for two drinks when you weren't even remotely busy? You clearly saw me there for 40 minutes waiting for an order while people just waltzed in, ordered and got their order before I did. You didn't think to ask me what I was there waiting for?

Here's the cherry on top. When my drinks were finally ready at 10:41, I mentioned I had been there since 10. "Your pickup time was 10:26". Yeah and it's 10:41 and it just got handed to me. 15 minutes later than the estimate that was already 20 minutes overestimated to begin with. Beyond obnoxious and inconsiderate of you to say

I can't stand this place. I seriously can't. Never again. I could have ordered at every Dunks in Acton, stopped at Mickey D's for a McMuffin and gotten back to my house before you finished my order...

I had a very "meh" experience here for a weekday lunch. The place is hard to find, tucked away in a brick building sort of behind a gas station. The only reason I figured out I was in the right place was all the parking spot signs said "no bakery parking", luckily there was plenty of street parking.

Inside is cute enough, they had a couple of tables on a back porch overlooking a Brook but they were all taken. They had a decent sized menu, some breakfast options and bunch of sandwiches and pastries. I saw no salads on the menu but I saw some customers with salads, not sure what the deal with that is. I would have gotten a salad if I saw one on the menu (possible I just didn't read the menu thoroughly, it's kind of spread out all over their walls).

I paid $14 for a chicken salad sandwich, iced tea, and cookie. The sandwich was ok, it was the harvest chicken salad with cranberries and walnuts which I usually love but it was small and kind of bland. The bread was a little too chewy and my jaw hurts after eating it. For nearly $10 I'm a little surprised it didn't come with chips or something. The cookie was similarly "meh", it was the kitchen sink cookie and looked better than it tasted. Not nearly chewy enough and too much going on in a cookie.

They have free WiFi supposedly but it showed no network and I couldn't connect. Ultimately I might come back for breakfast for for some pastries but I wasn't impressed...