Bakerman’s Bakery

Smores cookie. Ooey, gooey bliss, medley of chocolate and marshmellows. The only thing wrong about it was the fact it was wrapped in saran wrap instead of coming piping hot out of the oven. I can’t even imagine how much more smorelike it would have been if I warmed it up. But man its awesome. And large. That cookie was the size of my friend’s face. And all for $ 1.50. That’s right. A face full of marshmallow chocolate goodness for the chunk change in your car seat. Go. Get. It. Now.

Ok, this review is of necessity partial.
Bakerman’s bakery wants the big ticket custom cake, custom magnificent dessert market. So a substantial part of their business is the special order trade for unique occasion desserts.
I don’t throw parties — even for my birthday … so I can’t speak to that whole part of their trade.
However, they do run a «lower ticket» walk in baked snacks and quickie lunch business to help even out the irregularities of the flow on the super-​orders.
How are they as a lunch spot or as a place for a cupcake or a scone?
The place is small and there are not a lot of places to sit.
Probably if you patronize them, you work downtown, you intend to buy a bag of stuff and take it to your office.
Sitting in their store was not terrible but not anything I want to do again soon. (The place looks two grades nicer than a fluorescent light cheap greek deli … but no one will confuse it with any of the great Austin coffee houses)
The food is bland but completely servicable.
This is a take-​no-​chances safe-​as-​houses lunch menu of chicken salad sandwich, egg salad sandwich, toasted ham panini, large salad etc etc.
The bread is thickcut, quite fresh and good as one would expect from getting a bakers’s home made sandwich. The fillings are generous, homemade and totally standard. If you made Chicken Salad out of the Joy of Cooking and took none of the suggested variations, you might easily get something quite close to their chicken salad. It was filling and pleasant.
My dining partner had the egg salad sandwich. Repeat previous paragraph.
I am not supposed to eat too many sweets, but how do you review a bakery without eating the baked desserts?
So I had their coffee cake. It is a cinnamon cream cheese coffee cake, cut low to keep the starch from overwhelming the flavor ingredients (a definite plus). Better than Sara Lee, Better than the Coffee Cake the Caterer in your office provides for morning business meetings. Not a raging orgasm of a dessert … but one that I was happy to scarf down.
There is somewhat more creativity in the baked offerings than in the lunches.
There are some unusually flavored cupcakes, some interesting scones, and some promising variations on the theme of chocolate chip cookie.
Good desserts are hard to get downtown unless you go into the four star or five star places and way overspend.
So this place could fill a necessary lack in Downtown diets.
I would eat lunch here if I had to and not cry. If I worked downtown I would be actively trolling for other options (and many of these exist.)
If I worked downtown I would certainly make some impulse purchases from the baked goods case.
You can do far worse elsewhere.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY on their lunch menu. Baked goods here are great and always consistent. The lunch fare has been on a steady decline over the past year and doesn’t appear to be recovering. I too sent an email to the contact address and received a prompt email back explaining that they were aware of the food quality and were looking for a new cook. I just went back after a several month hiatus with good hopes only to be thoroughly disappointed again. My panini was so sad, deflated, half toasted and scantily dressed. I will NEVER eat lunch here again. Such a shame, they used to be so amazing.

UPDATE — after sending this same letter to the «contact us» email on the Bakery’s site, I received a reply within 24 hours addressing all of my concerns with a commitment to address them immediately and offering a free lunch for the problems I experienced. I will frequent Bakerman’s again!
This place USED to be awesome…
I have been a big fan of Bakerman’s since I started working downtown 2 years ago. This was my go-​to place for lunch, almost every day. Now I only go when I have to and I’m continually left wondering «why the heck did I go there when I know the service sucks so much?»
The folks that were working the register when I first started going in July of 2010 were awesome, always friendly, knew my order, etc. Now the folks you have working there seem to be put-​out by having to serve me. I was there 3 weeks ago and ordered the wrangler. It was served without lettuce or cheese (menu clearly states there should be lettuce and cheese), which I didn’t realize until I walked all the way back to my office building with it. Last Friday we ordered muffins and bagels for an office meeting, got all the way back to the office and the bagels were not sliced in half and half the creamer we got with our coffee was curdled.
Today as I was on my way to Royal Blue Grocery I saw that the BLT was the special of the day, and I decided, against my better judgement, to go to Bakerman’s instead. I used to go in and order the BLT even when it wasn’t the special, but I got so much attitude about it I started going to Murphy’s deli whenever I wanted a BLT.
So today, I was in and ordered the special (BLT) from the put-​out girl who clearly wishes I hadn’t walked in the door. I asked if everything was standard on the BLT and if it was toasted. Her surly response was «yes, it’s toasted». So I take my sandwich all the way back to my office and it is not toasted. Unless you count the parts of the bread that are so stale they could break a tooth. I will go to Murphy’s deli from now on when I want a BLT.
I am beyond disappointed with this place. Has the management changed since 2010? What happened to the awesome girls that used to staff the counter?

Still reeling from my Facebooking While Intoxicated incident (see review: Black Heart), my friend dropped me off downtown to pick up Kar so I could head back home to kick my own ass in private.
Before I left though, I realized I was thirsty. I was right by Bakerman’s, and figured they’d have a bottle of water. As I opened the front door, I was heartened to see a «People Love Us On Unilocal» sticker.
The place is tiny, but I swore I saw tables you could sit at if you so chose. I grabbed a large water out of the beverage case and waited in line. The woman in front of me was finalizing a larger order for a bridal shower, or wedding, or some big to-​do. The guy behind the counter seemed on the ball about the whole thing, so that was nice to see.
While they did whatever it is people ordering baked goods for big events do, I couldn’t shake the awful pit in my stomach that was some parts hooch, but most parts regret and embarrassment. Miserable, I decided to fill the void and eat my feelings with an impulse purchase of a pumpkin chocolate chip muffin. While he rang up my order, I glanced at the lunch menu that appeared to offer light sandwich fare. Ah. So that was what the tables were for.
The guy was friendly and he was really sweet, considering how much of a hot mess I felt like at the moment. I thanked him and left the shop.
Immediately outside Bakerman’s, I realized I wasn’t hungry. I also started to rethink the empty calories of a muffin that would most likely not turn my mood around. Pumpkin was out of season, anyway. I had pulled off one piece and from my little sample, I knew the muffin was delicious. Still, I couldn’t handle it.
I ended up handing my muffin to a homeless guy slumped against an office building. He thanked me profusely, but I wasn’t sure how well it would blend with the beer he had in a brown paper sack nearby. Oh well. I knew he needed it more than me.
In any event, I figured I could use the good karma more than the muffin. Here’s hoping, anyway.
4 Stars for Bakerman’s Bakery, and Nathan’s Muffin of Endless Regret.

My coworker and I was craving for a cupcake. She wants something really sweet and I want something not too sweet. We found this bakery through google with a zip code 78 701. Haha we found it! Since then, it became our favorite sweets/​pastry place. Again, i am not a big sweets lover but I do crave for it once in a while :)
I found their red velvet and carrot cupcakes!!! delicious! just what I am looking for «not too sweet but so yummy» !!!
So far, I’ve only tried one panini and it was the vegetable panini. It was good but hoping it would be bigger.

I had dropped by a long time ago to get a loaf o’ bread for the house. They bake everything but bread, I think. Correct me if I am wrong! Well, I know they sell sandwiches, so could it be that they do not sell out their bread? Ok, on with the review.
I put some of their baked goods that are common to the-​most-​important-​meal-​of-​the-​day in my stomach recently. They have a good variety, and I think they do a fine job in producing these American staples. The best thing is the pricing, as it all seems very affordable. They do mini muffins. I hate eating a large object that tastes the same; I prefer lots of small different things.
The Morning Glory was chockful of coconut, carrot, and a light portion of nuts. It was sort of chewy, texture-​wise.
The Blueberry was very buttery with a nice softness, but there was a limited amount of blueberries to go around, unfortunately.
The scone was perfectly crumbly and buttery. I think it was cranberries. There were a lot of cranberries. Not the band.
If you are hankerin’ for some classic breakfast starches, Bakerman’s will serve you well. Good location in the downtown sector, and its prices are low. Drop on in and give them a shot.

First off, their coffee is AWFUL. The espresso is poorly made and the drip coffee is incredibly weak. No bueno calling them a coffee shop.
BUT their breakfast croissants and lunch items are very delicious and yummy and amazing.
So in conclusion, don’t go for the coffee but do go for the food.
Oh, also, don’t plan on eating there, as they only have two teensy café tables.

I’m trying something new.
No, literally, I go here all the time but I’ve decided that since I always get the same thing, I will start getting something new each time. I always get the chicken artichoke panini which is HEAVEN.
I’ve been doing their sandwich/​soup deal. it’s a great deal at $ 5.50 considering i only ever eat half of my sandwich/​panini there anyways. this way, i get half a sandwich and i get to try their daily soup! It always varies I’ve so far had their tomato soup and their bacon/​corn chowder, both are SO great. sandwiches, i’ve had the pilgrim and the wrangler, again, very satisfying.
they will have my continued business.
only things i can complain about is that they run out of the tasty kolaches/​breakfast sandwiches too early aaand they close too early.

Today was a healthy sandwich craving day. The Veggie Slammer is what I ordered and my only regret is I had no one to share it with. Sooo good. Protip: have them grill /​panini press the whole sandwich.
This sandwich now ranks as my second favorite in town, only slightly under Wheatsville Co-Op’s popcorn tofu po-​boy.
You don’t need my superflous commentary on this sandwich. Go here. Order as I ordered and you’ll taste/​know that you’re eating something far better than most everyone else out there.
Veggie Slammer — Marinated Tofu, Hummus, Onions, Pickled Carrot, Spinach, on Wheat (grill it all!)

Bakerman’s Bakery is one of Austin’s little-​known gems. Situated in a mostly corporate area of downtown, Bakerman’s offers quality pastries, sandwiches, and salads that are clearly prepared with care and love. While the interior is small, the selection of delicious baked goods and lunch items is not.
Before going vegan I had tried just about everything on the menu and was never disappointed. Now that I am vegan I get the veggie slammer (consisting of marinated tofu, carrots, onions, red pepper hummus, and spinach on a homemade hogie), which I must admit is quickly becoming my favorite sandwich. The tofu has so much flavor! I dare any dedicated carnivore to tell me they need meat on this sandwich.
Bakerman’s also has a different soup and sandwich (sometimes a salad) on special every day, and they make it a point to offer at least one vegan soup every week.
The cookies, cupcakes, and cakes are all delicious. Bakerman’s also does custom cakes and can cater just about any event (if ordered in advance I presume). The other item I really enjoy (other than all of them) are the bagels. They do a true NY style boiled bagel (available in plain of everything flavors… and they are vegan) and they are crazy good. If you like kolaches they you will love the kolaches at Bakerman’s. They are massive and have a full link of kielbasa sausage inside!
I hope more people discover this great little bakery because it really is fantastic. Oh, and the owners Hope and Jeff are awesome as well. Do yourself a favor stuff your face with some tasty treats from Bakerman’s Bakery.

I was walking home today and decided to pop in Bakerman’s and try it out. It has been on my ‘to-​try’ place for a while, but I am rarely in downtown when they are open.
I was very happy with what I got, and I found the person behind to counter to be extremely nice and helpful. I showed up in that awkward «too late really for breakfast, but a bit early for lunch» time… I wasn’t sure what I wanted, and I asked them about a few things. She reccomended the strawberry croissant so I picked one of those up along with a vegetarian tofu sandwich.
I really like tofu and am a sucker for any menu with a sandwich with it on there. I have to say, they do a really great tofu sandwich for lunch. The tofu is either fried or grilled so it has a bit of a crispy texture. It had some veggies and a spread, but the star was the fresh obviously homemade roll it was wrapped up in. The combination was very good for a lunchtime meal and I was quite a happy camper.
The croissant was very good too… not as good as Cinnamon’s (oh lord theirs are good, but I shudder at the butter content) but a very well made one. The strawberry was nice and served as a nice dessert at the end of a fabulous sandwich.
For what they do, the place is very good. It is a great option if you are downtown and looking for a breakfast or lunch.

I wouldn’t say «A-​OK» but 2 stars seems a bit harsh. There were lots of cookie options. My grasshopper cookie was dry and not very flavorful.
My turkey panini was pretty delicious though. Fresh veggies, plenty of turkey, not greasy. Yum.
A coworker had the egg salad sandwich and said it was puny, not much lettuce and the lettuce was brown (she tends to be a little dramatic when complaining about food though :)
Another coworker had a cherry turnover and said it was mostly turnover without much cherry :(
Another coworker also had a dry cookie experience. Peanut butter and snickerdoodle… both crumbly dry :(
Disappointed. Should we try again earlier in the week? Are the cookies ever fresh?

Maybe my expectations were too high? Maybe in my excitement of finding a place that serves my FAVORITE sandwich ever I just got overly hopeful that it would come close to the sandwich I spent my college years eating in a far away state long long ago? I dunno, but that doesn’t change the fact it sucked.
I will prefice this by saying that I am aware that this is a bakery, and I have not tried any of their baked goods, like cupcakes or cookies and they did look tasty. However, I did just eat their thanksgiving turkey sandwich (the Pilgrim I think) and it was quite possibly the nastiest sandwich I have ever put in my face. The ONLY thing decent about this sandwich was the bread, and good on ya, you’re a bakery.
The cranberries were sour and tart to the point I almost choked. Couldn’t tell you if the turkey was decent because the cranberries basically smothered it. And cheddar cheese? On cranberries? How about a soft provalone? Cheddar and cranberries do not go. No mayo? No optional cream cheese (try it some time, it’s incredible, but not here)? You don’t ask what sort of toppings or condiments I would like?
Anyway, maybe their other options would be better, but I’ll never know. I’m pretty sure my face is going to be puckered for the next hour.

I’ve worked a block away from Bakerman’s for the last 9 months and never tried it until today. Tired of Chipotle, Jimmy Johns and my favorite, Athenian Grill, I decided, why not try it out. What’s the worst that could happen? Well, turns out, ALOT.
I ordered the soup and sandwich combo. Comes out to around $ 5.50. I was impressed but how cheap it was. Well, you get what you pay for. I picked the chicken salad sandwich and Mushroom and Barley Spinach soup. Yikes. The sandwich came on what tasted like store bought multigrain bread, cafeteria-​style smashed chicken salad with no celery, grapes or almonds to be seen. Just smashed, ground chicken with mayo, two tomatoes and a sad piece of lettuce. The soup… don’t even get me started. Two mushrooms, a piece of lettuce, and a cup full of bland broth and penne pasta. Horrible. I could make a better soup pouring a cup of Campbell’s into my pot at home. I don’t even know how they’re able to sell this.
The woman who helped me was very friendly, but, never again. Sticking with Athenian Grill.

If I could give something less than 1 star I would.
We ordered a cake for our friend to celebrate surviving cancer. We go to pick up the cake to find out that they are closed due to weather. Any other respectful business would have called the day before, had the cake ready in advance or thought of a way to not let something like this slip through the cracks.
I’m assuming this biz cannot help weather conditions, but you can always leave a voicemail — especially when you claim to have ‘called’.
Will never go here and will always talk about the time that they dropped the ball on a cake for my friend surviving cancer.

I went in today for a quick lunch as I’ve been meaning to try this place… with a quaint interior and a few tables outside– it seems like most people come here on the run! The girl behind the counter was super friendly and patient yet she had that sense of urgency anyone who’s been in the service industry appreciates. I opted for the lunch special which was a turkey/​bacon sandwich on white with avocado and all the fixins. While most sandwich places only offer chips as a side– I had the choice of chips or a cucumber/​Roma tomato feta red onion salad with a delicious but not overpowering vinegarette! Of course I went for the feta salad! So fresh and crisp!
I didn’t get to sample the chocolate, desserts, or pastries the place is known for, but have no doubts I will return!
The best part about this place to me was how quick and efficient the service was PLUS I got a sandwich big enough for two– a fresh veggie salad and a tea all for only 7.95 — it might be a little more expensive than t-​cloud or jimmy johns but it’s completely worth it! Check this place out! I’m even ordering a pie for my family party!!!

I don’t usually eat cookies for breakfast, or at least I try not to, but this morning I was presented with a Smores cookie from Bakerman’s and I had no choice!
Though my passionate affair with Bakerman’s is rather recent, in the short time that we have known one another, I have come to a very important realization — only fools do not eat cookies from Bakerman’s. So if someone gives you a Bakerman’s cookie at breakfast time, it’s in your best interest to go ahead and eat it — that way no one else will eat your cookie and you can even eat another one for lunch.
Under most circumstances (read: non-Bakerman’s circumstances) I will go for the old standard — a chocolate chip cookie — because it’s tried and true and you can’t really mess it up too much. However, if Bakerman’s is baking the cookies, I will throw caution to the wind and try anything they want to bake for me. Their cookies are as big as your head, dense, chewy, crunchy, interesting, and chock full of stuff.
They’ve got a cookie called The Kitchen Sink as in «Everything But the Kitchen Sink» and it lives up to it’s name. I have found M&Ms, chocolate chips, and pretzels in there. When I’m eating a Kitchen Sink cookie from Bakerman’s I feel like I’ve got a king cake with a thousand babies in it and I get to find them all !
The funny thing is, I thought that the Kitchen Sink was definitely my favorite cookie from Bakerman’s until I tasted a Smores cookie, and now I love them both. I would not usually allow someone to add marshmallows and graham crackers to my perfectly good chocolate chip cookie, but Bakerman’s has built my trust and ruined me for other cookie bakers.
I like Tiff’s Treats just as much as anyone else — who would turn down warm cookies delivered to their office? However, Tiff’s Treats are a little like a large-​scale easy bake oven. All of you Otis Spunkmeyer fans out there know what I am talking about. They’re good, but they’re industrialized. Bakerman’s cookies, by comparison, are more down-​home and proletariat.
I know I may be jumping into things a little too quickly, but I would ride off into the sunset with Bakerman’s if it meant a lifetime of cookies.

Great service, great king cake!
I ordered the small kingcake… it was HUGE. :P
I will order one again from them next year and again force my neighbors to help me eat it.

The sandwich I had here today was lackluster at best. First off, they gave me the wrong sandwich. I asked for turkey (lettuce, cheddar, mayo), but they gave me ham (swiss, mustard). The counter gal even asked me, «Turkey and no tomatoes, right?» I ate the sandwich anyway and expected to like it, but I unfortunately didn’t think it tasted very good. And you know how the edges of ham cold cuts are a different texture, a texture almost like paper? Bakerman’s ham suffers quite horribly from that malady, and this is why I typically don’t get ham sammiches at any deli. That’s not the only reason I disliked the sandwich. I’m not a huge mustard fan, so that turned me off, as well. Sometimes I like mustard, but usually I don’t. So I didn’t even eat half of this sammich before I threw it away.
The sandwich was, at least, affordable. $ 4.25, which is cheaper than Jimmy John’s, but you don’t get nearly as much sandwich at Bakerman’s. However, the sammich was put on plain white bread, which is something I can oh so easily do at home. [see picture]
Thankfully, I also bought a s’mores cookie, which was incredibly good and incredibly huge. ‘Twas a great value at $ 1.55. I highly recommend getting one of these cookies.
If Bakerman’s had a soda fountain, I probably would have stayed there to eat (and thus would have been able to get my sandwich corrected). The reason I didn’t stay is because I didn’t see any drinks in the fridge that I wanted. Coke, Diet Coke (ack!), some bottled tea that I had yesterday but didn’t particularly like. I didn’t even see bottled water. I felt like a kid from one of those old-​school Sunny Delight commercials where the brat opens the fridge and rifles through it, dismissively muttering, «Soda, OJ, purple stuff… SUNNY D!» Only I didn’t find anything comparable to Sunny D in Bakerman’s fridge, so I took my ball and went home. That is to say, I took my sammich and went back to the office.
The counter girl gave awesome service, so there is that.
I might actually try out their soup, provided I can go on a day when they feature a soup I might like.
Had I not gotten that s’mores cookie, I would have given this place one or two stars. Luckily for them my gluttony got the better of me today.