Vine Sourdough Bakery — Restaurant in Gainesville

First time visiting this local bakery. I was originally looking for a homemade pie store and when that turned up results that were too far from Gville, I settled for baked goods. I was actually searching for office party snacks and ended up here from all the good reviews.

Theresa, co-owner of Vine, was behind the counter on this very rainy Thursday afternoon. She was very accommodating and friendly. Her husband was busy baking in the back area.

The baked treats looked great and were slightly low in supply already despite the gloomy weather. About 3 people were sitting and eating in the small café area, and there was 1 customer who was in the store waiting for us to finish.

My husband and I spent about $70, including tip for: 3 large cinnamon rolls, 5 large brownies, 1 very large cranberry scone, 3 chocolate croissants, and 3 cinnamon chocolate chip bread pudding slices. Top quality was well-worth the price.

My co-workers really enjoyed the cinnamon rolls and brownies. The chocolate croissants were also gone pretty quickly. I personally liked the bread pudding and the brownies since both weren't too sweet nor too bland and went well with a cup of hot tea. My husband's favorite was the cinnamon roll, which appears to be a best-selling item here.

Even if it's around the newer section of Gainesville, this bakery / eatery has the nostalgic energy of a French-style vinyard café (the store name makes a lot of sense as they also sell wine here), especially with the gray stone section walls outside the bakery. The outdoor patio area was soaked since it was raining all day, and the metal on some of the furniture was oxidizing, but don't let that rustic exterior turn you away - the baked goods are amazing....

Discovered this place by accident, I was driving by and sauce three words that made me want to stop. Vegan, Organic, Homemade. I was sold right there. The place itself has that local community charm with pictures on the walls of all the fun days that customers spend there. It is filled with books, plants, and wine bottles. The employees are always welcoming and happy to help. They do offer limited capacity but still have a decent amount of food. They make homemade pasta 🍝 , sourdough bread 🥖 , pastries 🥐 , and many more. I tried their carrot 🥕 pasta and that was delicious. Since I live in Orlando, the next time I went I bought a bunch of pasta to take home. I froze it so it does not go bad, and it still tastes great! Their bread at first looks hard, and the first time I was there I was hesitant about getting one. The second time I came in they had a jalapeno onion bread, I couldn't stop myself from trying that combination. The bread tasted amazing! It does have a harder shell but I think it is just how sour bread is, but the inside of it was soft and yummy! Their croissants are just as good as everything else there. They have a good amount of stuffing and its actual natural ingredients versus a paste. I tried almond croissant 😋. Vine is one of the MUST Visit once you are in Gainesville. They can always ship the food to you if you want to which is amazing if you leave further away. They also offer some special bread or pasta to order if you want a specific filling that they do not have...

I've been to Vine many, many times over the 13 years they've been in town. It is consistently average, occasionally exceptional, and too often disappointing.

-bread is often full of holes (air bubbles)

-sandwiches are usually pretty good if you happen to catch their lunch menu; speaking of, a pet peeve perhaps, but their lunch menu is awkwardly printed on a tiny piece of paper RIGHT BY the cashier so you have to awkwardly stand there to even read what's on it. Why? The ambiance of this place is... whack, but that's another story.

-I've had REALLY mixed experiences with the quiches -- on a good day the quiche is okay, a 6/10, but I recently ordered both of their rotating quiches-of-the-day and they BOTH were inedible due to being overloaded with large chunks of under-cooked onion

-croissants are large and fairly priced but too dense

-MOST IMPORTANTLY is that I've known many friends who've worked here over the years and nearly all of them did not enjoy their experience as an employee, the management sucks apparently. So they seem to have a high employee turnover and a hard time maintaining quality and consistency.

This place must survive because of it's convenient location on Main Street. It is mediocre through and through. If you have a few extra minutes, make the trip across town...