Metropolitan Bakery & Cafe — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Food is not bad. I enjoy their plain bagel with cream cheese and lox. My boyfriend likes their sandwiches and vegan donuts. Their bread and raisin bread crisps are good. I don't care for their seeded bagel, but that's just my preference.

Coffee is awful. I've had it twice. I forgot how awful it was the first time, and made the mistake of ordering it again.

Generally busy weekend mornings, as is expected, but the wait can get excessive.

The reason they have one star though and not two or three is because they have gotten my order wrong more than once.

The first time was on a weekend morning, we got a bagel, sandwich, and a couple pre-prepared items to go. After waiting an eternity for our pretty simple prepared order, we received the bagel; then after another eternity we received the sandwich. We got home to find we had 2 bagels, one on the type of bagel, and no sandwich. So, after a trip back to the bakery, we received the sandwich, were told to keep the second bagel, and offered a cookie.

The second time, all I ordered was a bagel with cream cheese and lox, got ten steps out of the door and checked it to find it was on the wrong type of bagel. They replaced it and it was delicious.

They've not given me a hard time about fixing their mistakes, but I shouldn't have mistakes for them to fix.

I don't believe we'll...

I love going to the Metropolitan Bakery & Cafe. It's a tiny space with a very cozy and authentic vibe. The wall behind the counter is filled with freshly baked bread, a display case shows off the baked goods, and a hand-written blackboard displays a menu. I usually go for bread as I'm a huge fan of all their whole grain loaves. On any given day, it's a bit of a toss up as to what will be available, but I don't mind as the variability has encourage me to try several varieties including multigrain, whole wheat, cracked wheat, and spelt. While they are all good, the dense and nutty spelt loaf remains my favorite. I've also tried a couple sandwiches here, which courtesy of the great bread on which they're served, have also been quite good. While I'm always tempted by their cakes, which are available by the slice, the only sweet bakery items I've tried have been the muffins. Like the bread, the muffins were delicious, and I especially liked the...

Hard pass. I started coming into this establishment because it made me happy to have a local small business close to where I work/study. Unfortunately, they’ve gone through some changes on the menu, supposedly fresher ingredients etc. But the quality has just become more subpar: pastries are stale, sandwiches are tasteless (not sure how fresh the ingredients are). The staff is inefficient so be ready to wait a while for the most basic order. They just can’t keep up with the demand. I recently ordered a sandwich, waited 15 minutes for a wrong order (though I appreciate they give a heads up that they are slow but that’s over the top especially because of they’re not understaffed). The cashier is lovely and courteous, but not the other ones so that’s just rubbing the wrong way.

Overall don’t go! Walk a little further on Chesnut to get...