Grand Central Bakery - Beaumont cafe — Restaurant in Portland

Grand Central Bakery--- a bit of a mixed bag , foodwise with an absolute SUPERSTAR standout. Conveniently located on Fremont in the middle of the Beaumont area of Alameda, Grand Central seems to be a neighborhood nexus. Lots of great vibes and friendly buzz. Being from across the river in Vancouver we decided to walk through the beautiful neighborhood after taking care of some business on Fremont. Walking past GCB , on the way back to the car , we were intrigued by the sandwich board advertising a BLT sandwich made with heirloom tomatoes ( we love them) . That was enough to rope us into GCB. We ordered one of the special heirloom BLT sandwiches and a peach hand-pie. While waiting for the BLT, we split the peach hand-pie as an appetizer 😁. While the crust was flaky and flavorful , the peach hand-pie was definitely short of peach filling.......pretty disappointing , since peaches are in season right now. That said, the heirloom BLT definitely DID NOT disappoint. OMG----that BLT had to be one of the best BLT's ever----and we've had our share. GENEROUS heirloom tomato slabs, great bacon , just enough mayo on some great toasted bread. I have to say , the BLT rectified any disappointment in the underfilled hand-pie --by leaps and bounds!!!!👍👍👍👍 Service was super friendly and welcoming. Water station was conveniently available. Handicap doable and recommended. Final take---- Highly recommended for the over-the-top...

Today was apparently the wrong day to come here. We ordered two sandwiches for "here" and then sat down and waited... And waited and waited. No one was getting their orders, only two had come out of the kitchen in 15 minutes.

At the 20 minute mark I asked to have our sandwiches changed to "to go" because we had an appointment to get to.

I could hear the kitchen staff barking at the rest of the staff that it would be at least a 20-25 minute wait. The front counter staff said they had been telling people... We were never told. Had we been told we would have taken our business elsewhere.

Multiple people walked up asking about their sandwiches and while the barista and counter staff were absolutely trying their hardest the bad attitude and lack of service from the back of house made this the WORST experience. You could feel the tension in the place as customer after customer walked up to ask when they would get their food.

It took 35 minutes to get our sandwiches. We made it to the appointment on time, but I will not be returning to this location for any reason. I am horribly disappointed at the attitude and slow back of house. To make matters worse somehow both of our tuna melts tasted like bacon.

Oh, by the way... It looked from my perspective that they were prioritizing online orders instead of in house. Serious time...

I had a uniquely poor experience for a place I love to frequent. Ordered a sandwich to go, and was told it could be a 25 min wait. No problem, and was running errands so was told I didn’t need to take a beeper. Friendly folks upfront. Note to self - Always get a beeper.

After returning and asking if the sandwich was ready, was chastised by management for not getting a beeper (I told them that wasn’t my call and their staff approved it), then after some back and forth, let me know they’d call my name when it was ready (much appreciated, thank you, no problem).

50 minutes later, I walk back up to the counter to ask about the status, to find heartbreakingly my sandwich had been sitting there for at least 20 minutes (came out with Martha’s to go order, heard her name 3X, never once a shout out for mine).

Really Hard to imagine this wasn’t done on purpose for the annoyance about the beeper earlier (management was the one running orders). Just a really really deflating experience on a place I...