Goguette Bread — Restaurant in Santa Rosa

Over the course of the last year or so, I've been working my way through the Goguette menu. Now that I've tried pretty much everything on their standard menu, I thought I'd update this review.

First off, in these pandemic times I just want to say how impressed I am with the measures they've taken to minimize the opportunities for viral transmission, at least between customer and staff. They've arranged their store front so that you interact with the staff through Plexiglas. If you can pay by contactless means (e.g. Google Pay) then you just wave your phone over their reader and they push your baked goods through the slot in their Plexiglas shield and you're on your way.

Next, every time I've been there (and I'm a pretty regular customer) the owner gives an enthusiastic "Bonjour monsieur (or 'madame'), comment allez vous?" to every customer as they approach the front door. I've never seen a business that so consistently makes EVERY customer feel welcome and special, like they are genuinely overjoyed to see that customer. Personally, I'm a pretty jaded and cynical personality, so I tend not to see that kind of thing as genuine, but somehow she carries it off. It feels absolutely sincere, every time she greets a customer.

Finally, we have to address the breads. They are absolutely delicious. From their dessert like offerings (e.g. the Péché Mignon (cute sin?) or their Coup de Coeur) to their Pain de Compagne, everything is spectacularly hearty and delicious with extremely robust thick crust and tasty crumb. I think I'm settling in to making their Pain de Mie and their Pain Nordique my standard order. But, truly there are so many breads that are clamoring for a place on the standard line up that I don't know how static that standard will turn out to be.

One downside is that the place is popular. I've been in line when they opened, only to find that by the time I get to the front of the line the bread I wanted to by had already sold out, I believe that that's because all the loaves they baked had already been pre-ordered. And, I've tried to place an order for Pain de Mie before the store even opened, only to find that that bread had already sold out for the day. So for some of the more popular breads, you might want to order your bread the day before...

Ok, so this place was amazing food-wise. The bread was good, fresh, and obviously homemade. I loved their pastries and the variety they had. They looked well crafted and they definitely tasted well crafted. I, personally, got two flat pastries. The first one is a strawberry dessert with blueberries in the center and the second is a flatbread-type pastry with caramelized onions, baked cheese, and parmesan. Both were amazing. I will say, this is not a proper lunch place so definitely keep that in mind before coming. As for the service and atmosphere? Somebody came out to give us samples as we were waiting in line, which is already a plus, and the style was so very "little French bakery" that I loved it. Let me tell you, this place was better than some of the places I went to in Paris. Now, on to the couple things I didn't really enjoy. The first being when they open, because, opening up at 1:30pm can be really difficult for customers to come by especially when they live out of town but work in town and they just don't have time. The second is the way our cashier packed our bag. I don't know why she did it, but she put my two flat items (easily crushed items) on the bottom of the bag and put five different items on top. Getting my strawberry pastry out of the bag became an excavation project. Please please please bag this better! The third and last thing is probably the price. A single pastry was around 8-9 dollars which can be a lot of you add more things. Definitely a pay-for-the-quality place. Overall, I loved this place and it has earned its spot in...

After having a surgical procedure on my stomach, I couldn't eat bread. It made me feel very lethargic and nauseous, like I got punched in the stomach. I thought my bread eating days were over. Along comes the challah from Gougette. Oh happy days!! I can eat bread again! I try to get one or two loaves every Friday afternoon by pre-ordering by Thursday, two because one is almost gone by the time we get home..🤦🏼‍♀️😊, and then we have one for the rest of the week. If you can't order it by Thursday for Friday's baking try to be one of the first in line when they open at 1: 30. They WILL run out, count on it!! I once ordered two loaves, but then couldn't pick up, two weeks later I went in to buy some, they were out. I. mentioned how sad I was that I hadn't been able to pick up the two I bought on line, especially as they were out that day already, and they said, Oh! We saved those and froze them!! 😲😲😲 THEY WRAPPED THEM UP SO WELL AND FROZE THEM FOR ME!!! That's all you need to know about the superior customer service they provide!! Above and beyond and the best bread I've ever put in my face, EVER!! GO HERE, EAT THE STUFF!!...