Certified Kitchen and Bakery — Restaurant in Idaho

IYKYK. Brownies: Dense and oh-so-rich dark chocolate goodness served up in a square, slightly chilled. Just one ☝🏽 bite is enough to send your eyes rolling back into your head. Um, yeah. 🤤

Cookies: Dark chocolate chip “stars” ⭐️ are their TM cookie. Fresh baked daily (like everything); a delicious classic and staple for traditionalists! Don’t forget your choice of milk 🥛

Butterscotch Budino: Danger in the most deliciously smooth way. The dreamy cool butterscotch flavor will transport you to another place, where nothing else matters and voices fade into the background…if just for a moment. Served chilled. Don’t let the petite size fool you, it’s rich and worth the splurge.

An array of breakfast options, hot sandwiches and crisp, flavorful salads are offered (niçoise is my fav). They offer both made to order and some in chilled case for takeaway. Also known for their fresh baked English muffins, they sell packages to take home… but know that they go fast!

Seating: Bar top only along the wall. It IS limited and be prepared to sit close to others with the (typical) line of customers bustling behind you. There are NO tables with chairs

Staff: are consistently friendly and welcoming and always provide a smile or recommendation.

Atmosphere: Comfortable and fast paced. More often than not it’s bustling, especially on you guessed it, weekends and mornings.

Gifts and books? Yes. They’ve a small section upon entering where one will find greeting cards, cookbooks, children’s books and small, unique and curious gifts.

Place always...

Certified Kitchen + Bakery ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Located in Boise’s Hyde Park, I found this new bakery a bit disappointing. At first sight, the product looks somewhat reminiscent of Boise’s former bakery, Cristina’s. But looks can be deceiving. I purchased three items; banana cream pie cup ($5), criminal carrot cake ($6) and a chocolate brownie cookie ($3). The banana cream pie cup was not good. There was an excess of crumbled graham crackers, the few banana slices were not fresh and the banana pudding was too thin and relatively flavorless. Hands-down, this was the worst version of this desert that I’ve ever had. The carrot cake was good but not outstanding. The chocolate brownie cookie was much harder than one would expect. I don’t know why the word “brownie” is in the description because there’s nothing brownie-like about it. The overall flavor is that of dark chocolate with some espresso powder mixed in. The Boise co-op has a cookie with a similar flavor profile called Chocolate Gold, that is far superior. Of the three items I purchased, the only one I ate in its entirety was the carrot cake. But would I buy it again, no. I would be much happier with a piece of carrot cake from Costco or the Cheesecake Factory. I would like to return to try Certified’s signature egg sandwich made with homemade English muffins and I will continue to stop by from time to time to check out their bakery items, but I am still waiting for the day that Boise has another...

This bakery had been highly recommended to us, so we went a few days ago, but I was a bit disappointed overall and immediately turned off when the cashier, who handled the dollar bill and coins we gave her to pay for the Tahini and Raspberry Crumble, did not wash her hands nor wear gloves when she took our items from the display case. She merely used a bakery tissue, which it was apparent to see was not sufficient nor easy nor hygienic enough for her to easily acquire the items without touching the items (or even nearby items) with her bare fingers. I lost my desire to eat the pastries, and I immediately wondered if proper food handling practices were being followed in the kitchen of the restaurant portion of this establishment. I sure hope so.

I do hope the manager/owner reviews proper handling with the employees, particularly the ones who work at the front end, and I will likely come in and give this place a second chance to see if there are any changes to how food is handled by the cashier when "to go" pastries...