Grand Central Bakery - Wallingford cafe — Restaurant in Seattle

Favorite cafe to get work done in the neighborhood. Food is okay, but like many places in Seattle, it depends heavily on what you get.

FOOD - 3.75/5 I enjoyed the frittata sandwich ($10, maybe a dollar or two more than I'd like since it wasn't massive). I loved the fluffiness of the brioche bun and there was the perfect amount of mayo on the bread. Frittata was properly seasoned and they even have salad greens in the sandwich.

Chai tea was too sweet. I could drink it, but it wasn't what I was expecting nor was it what I wanted.

The Earl Grey tea they sell here is good. I forget the brand name they use.

Chicken salad sandwich was very skippable. The filling didn't taste like much, the chicken pieces were cut too large, and the bread wasn't toasted. The whole sandwich kept falling apart and tasted very mediocre. Maybe best to stick to the basic breakfast sandwiches.

The kale salad was surprisingly good though - salad pieces are bite sized and tender, and the parm + bright dressing was delicious.

Ingredients and produce for all dishes were very fresh.

Pastries are 3/5 - I've only tried the chocolate chip cookie, orange muffin donut, and coffee cake. The cookie was akin to something from PCC (ok, but not outstanding), and the donut muffin was too sweet and greasy for me. But the coffee cake was delicious and I would recommend it! Pastry portions are all very generous.

VIBES - 5/5 Love the cafe vibes - it's bright, woodsy, and inviting. Window seats all have charging outlets which is great for working, and wifi worked well (though I didn't try video streaming). Noise level was perfect - music and conversations weren't too loud or echoey. It is the perfect ambient volume, and I was able to get a lot of work done. I also love that I don't walk out smelling like food like the majority of cafes / coffee shops.

Seating is spaced well, and it doesn't feel claustrophobic even when it is busy on weekends. A spot or two usually opens up if you wait 5-10 mins, and there's also outdoor seating.

SUMMARY Of the dishes I've tried so far, the food here is average to good, but the cafe vibes alone bump up my rating. I much prefer this to Chocolati cafe or Starbucks for working. Just wish this spot was open past 4pm on weekdays. I'll have to try their other...

Honestly, I'm not quite sure what all the 5 star reviews are about.

I'm a foodie, I love trying new places and I go off of reviews quite a bit so I don't feel my money was wasted.

For Grand Central Bakery, my friend & I had high expectations. The reviews ranted about their baked goods. So naturally, we went there to get some baked goods at the Bakery.

We ordered an Ice Roll, a Cinnamon roll and quiche and a pumpkin spiced espresso.

I'm not sure quite how to put this. I felt, for the price, we would have been better off going to the grocery store and buying a Pillsbury cinnamon roll can and baking our own and that would have been 100x and I do mean 100 times better.

The Iceroll, tasted like it was icing put on a slice of white wonder bread. It was bland, and the icing lacked luster.

The cinnamon roll didn't have icing on it, it was an overcooked brick, that was slightly moist in the center and there wasn't really an existing gooey factor.

It tasted more like cinnamon bread, when you place butter on bread, ad cinnamon and sugar and bake it.

Except, this cinnamon roll seemed like it wasn't even made with butter. It was hard, with a ton of cinnamon put on top of it, and bland.

Now the quiche, the saving grace of the $20 experience. It was actually done pretty well, the crust was light and the egg was done almost correctly. My friend really liked the pudding like egg mixture where as I prefer my quiche to be a little more firm (similar to egg bites from Starbucks)

However, the flavor of the quiche was on point. I just wasn't a fan of the egg texture and look seeming slightly undercooked.

Overall, I wouldn't say a professional baker is responsible for these treats, it seems like someone who just started baking who doesn't taste their product or know what a cinnamon roll is supposed to taste like made these.

I was pretty disappointed. Hopefully they pay attention to their reviews and try to make corrections. If they reach out and make some adjustments, I'd be more than happy to give them another chance.

Grand Central Bakery, I'm sorry to say, you didn't make the cut. Please educate your bakers on how to properly prepare and bake their items better or I can see this business lasting only because of location, not...

Update 7/19/2019*

We've tried many of the sandwiches now. The worst was a breakfast sandwich with a meager egg and lonely slice of bacon in the middle of a croissant, way too many underpopulated bites. The better ones are more thought out, but the bread has been the highlight of each. Feels like they haven't done their sandwich development work - too many dry sandwiches. Make sure yours has some kind of spread or binding ingredient, get melted cheese on the breakfast sandwich, for example, otherwise you might feel disappointed by a seriously lacking sandwich.

Original review June 2019

A much anticipated and needed addition to the neighborhood! A nice largish bakery, seems to be becoming a community staple. Staff overall are helpful and friendly. Since they've opened, we've tried almost every pastry they have and a few other menu items. Some observations - baked goods are amazing and delicious, coffee good.

The current biggest issue is the line and the lack of it's management. On a more packed day, if there is a mixture of folks ordering baked goods and folks ordering just coffee and/or sandwiches, these two groups tend to split as the line reaches the bakery counter. This seems to cause confusion for both customers and the counter staff. On a slow day, if we are browsing the bakery case, just taking our time, people will cue up behind us and we have to wave them on or encourage staff to help them first. A few suggestions - 1) have a 'take a number' system, so folks can browse the bakery case and have their selection in mind when it's their turn 2) have someone at the counter guiding the line, asking people to step forward, aside, towards the counter, etc (us Wallingfordians are a leisurely, entitled bunch and tend to need more formal guidance). 3) move something around, either the rope that designates the line or the bakery case.

We love this spot and hope attention and effort will be put towards resolving the...