Tandem Bakery & Cafe — Restaurant in Missoula

My family and i are visiting from out of town and my wife has celiac disease so we were really excited to try this place out. The food was excellent but I’m only giving two stars because our experience was completely marred by the service we received from the tall cashier with a big beard and glasses (unfortunately did not catch his name). He was incredibly impatient with each member of my party and when I went back up to the counter to ask for a latte, he rolled his eyes and goes “small? Large?” as though I were an idiot for not specifying in the first place. I truly wish I had at that point said never mind and walked out, not giving him another dollar of my business. I don’t know when we’ll be back in Missoula, but I can guarantee I won’t be returning to Tandem, all thanks to his poor attitude and awful customer service. After posting this review, I’m stunned to discover several other customers who have posted reviews with this same experience. Management gave a piss-poor excuse that “everyone has bad days” or “lives outside of work?” Let’s be real here - if I spoke to my clients like this employee speaks to so many customers, I wouldn’t have a job. It’s sad to see that management clearly does not care that he is costing...

When I first learned that there was a gluten friendly bakery in town, I lost it. I was so excited, my best friend even got me gift certificate for my birthday! But my first and only visit left me completely devastated. The male presenting cashier with the really nice mustache and cool glasses took all my lil gluten free dreams and crushed them under the weight of their stache-wax. They were so unpleasant, it made me want to crawl out of my skin and set it on fire. The monotone voice, dead pan stare, the short answers. Zero customer service was had during my visit. I thought maybe this person was having a bad day. I get it, I've worked in customer service for years. The general population will beat the kindness out of you real quick, but reading the low star reviews confirms that this employee has a history of being off-putting towards customers. Those dead eyes behind the thick windsor glasses will haunt me forever. 0/10, I definitely cried in my car and messaged my therapist to ask her if I was the problem. Also, the donuts tasted fine, but were absolutely poisoned by the hipster travesty that...

Their bread has always been really good! But the front of house staff was unfriendly, start to finish, which put a damper on an already damp day. Was excited that they had a vinyl setup, but this was not utilized and actually the only music was played by one of the cooks in the back of house, so tunes were only sort of present in the dining room. Lots of cute stuff in here, used books and the like.

My sandwich (the BLT, or really a CLT because the fake bacon was coconut shavings) was not good, though there were good things about it. It was rather saturated with coconut oil that I had to rinse out of my mouth after, and the coconut flavor with BLT ingredients was...not a great combo. If this sounds overly precious, please understand that the concept of a vegan BLT is overly precious. Should've read the menu better. I suspect the best vegan food is not veganized food-that's-usually-not-vegan, but rather food that is already good and happens to be vegan. I grew up in Missoula and this feels sort of emblematic of one of its less flattering traits: all the best intentions, weak results. But seriously...