Deb's Artisan Bakehouse — Restaurant in Middletown

TLDR: Amazing small batch bakery offering both sweet and savory baked goodies. Come early or call ahead because very limited amounts of each pastry are made each day. Come for the quiches and savory croissants!

Vibe: 3/5. Located on a small side street in the quaint town of Middletown, Deb's bakery is a pickup counter only bakery. The shop has a handful of parking spots in front as well as ample street parking nearby. The storefront is very small, so Deb's only allows 5 people at a time inside the building. The interior is very utilitarian by design. Baking sheet racks and ingredients overflow into the storefront area as well as call in orders line the adjacent wall shelving. Front and center in the shop is the display case which shows what's available for the day. Once you get to the front of the line, you can gaze over the bountiful array of baked goods before telling the staff what you want. It truly is the most visually striking piece of the bakery.

Service: 5/5. Even with how busy the store was during our visit, the staff at Deb's did a great job at making sure every customer leaves with a smile on their face. We arrived at 9:45am on a Saturday (they open at 9:30am) and the line had already formed outside the store. Once in line, Deb's staff did a great job ushering new customers inside the bakery as others left. For orders placed in advance over the phone, the staff would bring the orders out to customers waiting in their cars up front so not to further congest the line. After 10-15 minutes of queuing, we made it to the front of the bakery counter to make our choices and what appeared to be the owner Deb was very helpful in making our choices. It was out first time, so she gave us some good recommendations based off of her favorites as well as what items typically sell out. Everything was then boxed up nice and neatly and we're given instructions for reheating and storing if not eaten immediately. All in all, stellar service from start to finish!

Food: 5/5. Unbelievable pastries that rival some items I have had at posh NYC bakeries. It is incredibly hard to choose only a few items to try at Deb's, but we managed to settle on a Reuben crossoint, a bacon, egg and gruyere quiche and brown sugar banana Biscoff pastry. Each item was absolutely delicious in their own rights, but the quiche took best in show. We were told when ordering that it's one of the fastest selling items on their menu and we could definitely see why. The quiche stands around 2 inches in height and the size of a bar napkin. The quiche egg are incredibly fluffy (think French scrambled eggs fluffy) and perfectly balanced with the smokey/saltiness of the bacon. The gruyere rounds off the flavor profile with a nice creaminess that goes well with the hearty baked crust. The Reuben crossoint did not disappoint either. The light airy layers of the fresh baked crossoint was the perfect vehicle for the rich and hearty swiss and pastrami. Finally, the sweet brown sugar banana Biscoff was the epitomy of decadence. The over ripe bananas, similar to what you find in banana cream pie, brought serious flavor to the whippy toasted meringue topping and flaky crust. Like the quiche, our serving towered in at 2 inches in height and the size of a bar napkin. Overall, we loved everything we tried at Deb's. With each item ringing in at around $15, on paper this would be considered a pricey splurge. However, when you see how generous the portions are, you will be quick to spend a cool $50+ on some of the best baked goods on this side of...

My wife just stood in line for over 20 minutes to get a few pastries and bagels. I'm not in to pastries, so I can't speak to them, but this is the absolute worst salt bagel I've had in my entire life. I was born in New York City and raised in New Jersey, so I know how a bagel should taste like and this isn't it. The color was slightly brown, which was my first indicator something was off. It smelled and tasted somewhat like rye bread, but didn't contain any of the seeds. So I'm not sure what it was made of. If you're going to make bagels at a "high end" bakery, I'd suggest a trip to New York city to see what a bagel should taste like. Frankly I've had some frozen brands that taste better then these. If you know what a bagel should taste like, don't waste your time and hard earned money with this place.

Update: Thank you for your response. I have no desire to drag anyone down, I’m posting my opinion based on my experience. To be honest, I never thought to contact you about what I consider to be a terrible bagel. If I had, I suppose the only thing you could offer is to refund my money, which I would have appreciated, but would have passed on. I don’t expect anything for free. The fact is, refund or not, it was a terrible bagel. And this didn’t run my day at all, sorry if it ruined yours. If you’re going to place yourself out there on sites that customers are going to post reviews, you have to expect some will not be...

I don’t really write reviews like ever but if you live even semi close to here you gotta go! Take a little road trip even and grab some goods because they are honestly that amazing. Today my mom and I went in and almost got one of everything to bring home and everything was incredible. Their Ham and Gruyère croissant and their bacon havarti and cheddar croissants were so incredible, nothing is ever soggy or weird it’s perfectly crispy and you can just taste how much care is put into them. Even just their butter croissants, which is just to hold me over on the ride home, are incredible. First they’re huge and second they’re never doughy in the middle or completely hollow like other large croissants are, they just have amazing buttery flakes and are so fluffy in the middle. I also tried a peach Melba and I think I saw the light when I bit into it. The peaches were so fresh and the filling to pastry ratio was chefs kiss. We had several other pastries and each one was just incredible, I think anyone reading this gets the gist. It’s definitely a treat and out of my day to day budget but it is so worth the price. They use high quality ingredients and shop locally so they’re giving back to their community. Deb and her team have so much talent and great energy, I get so excited when we decide to...