Hall Street Bakery — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

I am at Hall Street Bakery at least once per week, and often joke that instead of a Spotify Wrapped at the end of the year, I need a Hall Street Bakery Wrapped.

First things first: the staff here are so kind, some of them know my name and greet me like a friend. They’ve always been happy to correct mistakes if they happen. They are chatty and warm.

The minestrone and roasted red pepper soups are the real MVPs on the hot food menu. The Caprese Grilled Cheese is a close runner up.

Pastry wise: the vegan chocolate chip cookies are amazing, and the bear claws could end wars. Bear claw day is my favorite day of the week!

I do wish there were more vegan options on the menu: I prefer to eat vegan, but in the interest of supporting my neighborhood establishments will flex for some dairy once in a while. They used to let you bring your own vegan cheese to make a pizza, but I don’t think that’s been allowed for a while now, and they never gave you a discount for providing such an expensive ingredient.

I do love their bread selection, and the bread punch cards as gifts!

Their salads are admittedly not great.

A lot of reviews here talk about incorrect orders: this has only ever happened to me when ordering takeout through a third party like DoorDash. When I order from the staff directly, in person or over the phone, I’ve never had an incorrect order! When I’ve ordered from DoorDash for delivery, the order is almost always wrong. I take it as an incentive to cut out the third party and make sure the entire sale goes to the local establishment.

I love that they host local artists in the bakery, by the...

Hall Street Bakery has the best scones in town along with quality breads, pastries, and brick-oven pizzas. If it were just about the bakery items themselves, I would give this place 5 stars! However, the servers there seem to have no idea what they're doing. On several occasions I have asked them specific questions about different items and they seem to be absolutely clueless about their product. I went there for a breakfast sandwich once and was expecting it to be amazing since it was served on one of their croissants, but whoever prepared it drenched it in oil and threw it on a panini press for about 30 seconds so the outside was warm, but the inside was cold and the cheese hadn't melted. It was one of the most offensive breakfast experiences I've had since moving to Grand Rapids 4 years ago, and I used to eat Calvin College cafeteria food daily. I'd also warn against getting the coffee since the servers are equally clueless in that area as well. I would still recommend getting your bread and pastries there, but absolutely unequivocally counsel against dining in if you're getting anything other...

Well, I was here for lunch recently and I'm not sure if I'll ever go back. I must say that the food was delicious. I got the Cuban sandwich with the house salad. My friend and I went on our work lunch. Although when we arrived, it wasn't that busy, there were three people ahead of us in line. We proceeded to sit there for 55 minutes and wait for our food. It definitely wasn't just us... there were other people going up to the counter asking why their food wasn't out yet, but the people that were ahead of me in line had already gotten their food, eaten, and were gone from the restaurant. They proceeded to just say that it was busy and they were backed up. I'm really unsure if this is how slow food always comes out here, but if it is, I really cannot afford to waste that much time in my life on a sandwich.

Maybe I will stick to just getting Bakery items, as the chocolate chip cookie that I had was delicious. I certainly will not be stopping for a breakfast sandwich on my way to work.

I'll definitely not...