Specialty’s Cafe & Bakery

They have the best sandwiches at the most reasonable prices of all the sandwich shops downtown! I love their turkey pesto sandwich the best! It’s great you can order online and go pick it up later. Also, once you place an order, you can save it as a ‘favorite’ so you don’t have to re-​enter the details, in case you need to make slight modifications. I hate making any modifications, because the sandwich as described, is the most tasty. When I added or removed anything it kind of changed the taste from what they perfected it to be. Another tasty sandwich is the turkey with towering veggies, the BBQ chicken and bacon and turkey, apple, brie and bacon. They also have veggie sandwiches for those who prefer going meatless. Attached is the webpage with all of their delicious sandwiches.
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Headline: Great concept, poorly executed.
There’s much I want to like about Specialty’s, but all of it is so wrought with inconsistencies, it’s impossible to give it a favorable review. Here’s a few example:
Ordering: You can choose to order from a Kiosk or from a traditional cashier. In theory, this is great. The kiosk, saves your previous orders, let’s you re-​order and helps bypass lines. Cool, right? Not exactly. Orders from the kiosk, even if/​when they are placed before the orders placed with the traditional cashier, don’t actually end up being handled first. Let me explain. Let’s say you order a ham and cheese croissant from the kiosk. 3 minutes later, I order the same ham and cheese croissant from the cashier. It’s highly probable, I will get that ham and cheese croissant before you. If that’s the last one, you’re screwed. I know the feeling, it’s happened to me many time.
Assortment: On the surface you’re thinking, wow, this is awesome. We have something that’s better than fast food, but won’t take it as long as going to a restaurant. Here’s the problem, the food is again, woefully inconsistent. The quiches are just a salt patty. Do they even taste this stuff? breakfast sandwiches are massive (a good thing), but then inconsistently cooked (cold ham, hot eggs) because of how they make it.
The Very Basic: I don’t drink coffee. I do drink hot chocolate. Here’s something basic… if you use syrup to make hot chocolate, you need to stir it up as you pour the milk, so that it actually blends with the milk. If all you do is pour milk, over the chocolate syrup, what you end up with… is milk… and then a boat load of syrup at the end.
If there’s one thing Specialty’s nails it’s their catering. I’ve had many a meeting catered by them and it’s always fresh, on time and tasty. But, that’s it. It’s the only thing I can think of that’s consistent.

I am in LOVE with Specialties. Their roast beef sandwich is amazing, as are their salads. The cookies, however, are by far the reason I keep going back. I’ll waste an entire lunch hour walking to Specialties for a chocolate chip cookie — entirely worth it. I’ve had them cater business lunches for the attorneys I work for and they always get rave reviews. Love this place.

Great Peet’s lattes, very fresh salads, delicious baked goods. I really love their little quiches in the morning. The cheese one packs a flavorful punch but they are little (and filling) so they aren’t that many calories. The only drawback is that It is hard for me to get out of the place without spending less than $ 12 which is not cheap for a quick takeout lunch.

A co-​worker and I came here for lunch and had a very enjoyable and tasty meal.
Décor: It is kind of in a unique spot in the building that it is located, it’s a very wide open space with high ceilings and more than a handful of tables. The ordering process is just a tad confusing for a n000b like me but I quickly understood and got the hang of it. There is nothing but windows so, naturally (heh) there is plenty of natural light.
Staff: Everyone was friendly and, even though there was the standard lunch rush, they seemed to have our food ready relatively quickly.
Food: My friend had a salad, which looked really well made, and I had a sandwich w/​a bag of chips. I very much enjoyed my Club sandwich because it was made and tasted fresh, almost felt like I made it myself in my own kitchen! I would like to see the portions a big larger, however, or stuff the sandwiches with some more meat/​fixings.
Value: In order to have a «full meal» you have to add chips and drink/​water. Doing so, however, will put me over my usual lunch budget.
This was a nice surprise and certainly a place I will be returning to in the future.

Enjoyed the food — fresh, good potions at a reasonable price. Business seems to be busy and service efficient which is always a good sign.

Service is efficient, but a little odd, given they take no phone calls in the actual café. If you want to order ahead, you have to do so online and pay with a credit or debit card. if you have a change or a problem with your order, there is no way to call the store to address your issues. You have to email or call corporate. I find this to be annoying.
The salads are pointless, considering all they give is a bunch of lettuce with the tiniest, most minuscule bits of the other «tasty» ingredients, like corn, tomatoes, onions and cheese.
Much better value can be found in their sandwiches. My favorite is the black and blue sandwich. I requested fresh basil on mine, and it was perfect. They are very generous with the blue cheese –it’s all pressed into the both ends of the toasted ciabatta bun.
The cookies are fresh and tasty, but way overpriced at $ 3 each.

Pastrami Swiss sandwich was OK but the paper wrapping the sandwich was basically «glued» to the bun — not very appetizing!

I work across the street from this place and had a crave for something sweet. My co worker suggested I go here. While looking at the sweets the cashier loudly yells at the top of his lungs to step over to the next cashier. Very obnoxious and unnecessary. I decide to buy a macadamia nut cookie. As I get back to my office I notice I got a burned cookie. The cookie was horrible. Next time I’ll save my $ 2.50 for some cookies from McDonalds.

So my company ordered in lunch from Specialty’s today for what will certainly be the last time. We all ordered basic salads and about halfway through mine I look at the fork about to enter my mouth and notice a bug. As soon as I shout that there’s a bug in my salad it starts to crawl around. This is clearly unacceptable but what happened next was equally as disappointing. One of our employees called to complain and was told that they would refund the charge for my salad, but not for everyone else’s food, which at this point obviously wasn’t being eaten. We were told the manager would call us soon to discuss it further, but for the time being we are charged for bugged food. It doesn’t deserve 1 star as a result of this, but 0 isn’t an option here…

I work down the street from specialty’s, so I am always here at least once a week. I usually go with the classic mixed greens salad, and am always impressed with it. Today I decided to try a new dressing, the poppy seed. I was unfortunately pretty disappointed, considering it was completely drenched in the dressing. The lettuce was really soggy, i wasnt even able to eat anything but the croutons. The reason I’m giving 3 stars is because I have never had this issue before, but after today I may be finding a new salad place.

I’ve been to Specialties several times and the thing that keeps me coming back is the bakery selection. I love the Peanut butter chocolate chunk cookie and enjoy all 470 calories of that one cookie! On my last visit I notice they are selling the cookie mix to make on your own at home. I’ll stay away from that though cause I’m sure I would eat all of them. As for food I usually stick with the Roasted Turkey with no mayo. Nothing too special about the sandwich, but it’s decent. Definitely stop in to enjoy a delicious cookie though! This location has a pretty decent size seating area. For those of you looking to go al fresco though there’s a spot right next to the restaurant to take in the fresh outdoor air.

Decent sandwich, pretty average iced coffee, and quite expensive but it’s right downtown so that’s to be expected. I like the kiosk ordering system but I wish they’d include your coffee drink on the same tray with your other stuff. I got a turkey with brie and apples that was quite tasty, but definitely needed more turkey and less than two entire apples on the sandwich.
Best part of the kiosk is you can easily see how changes to your sandwich impact the nutrition info. Changing from ciabatta to herb toast saved about 200 calories.
They do have wifi and the speeds weren’t terrible.

The cookies here are amazing! There is a lot of seating and yummy sandwiches and soups. The food tastes a lot fresher than another sandwich place across the street. I give 3 stars instead of 5 because it’s a bit pricey (~$ 12 – 13) for lunch and they never get the order online items correct even though it’s explicitly stated. If I could rely more on the to-​go and online ordering than I would come more often.

Good–
Ample seating with a fair amount of plugs. Good mix of hard and comfy chairs and nice large tables. Free Wi-​Fi. Best part of the place is that you can stay there for hours without being disturbed, a least for the most part. Also the Pete’s coffee is the best, my favorite is the Dark Chocolate Frideo. Friendly staff, appears to be clean. Great place to work, study, meet or just waste time.
Bad/​Mixed–
Food is marginal, I’d skip it, unless you are fairly hungry. Also they close at 6PM which is too early and, are closed on weekends. This said, I’ll be there a lot this semester as, I have a lot of time between my 3^rd year law classes and work.

Thank you for the sweet sweet nectar that is coffee.
Thank you for your smiles and friendliness so very early in the morning.
Thanks for using my name multiple times (studies show this makes a consumer feel more connected, I don’t know where this study is but that sounds about right).
Thanks for passing it on to me so by the time I leave i’m a little less grumpy.
PS. The coffee is strong and the mini quiches are the perfect size for the morning hunger monster.

Cookies cookies and more cookies !!!
Omg! They are delicious! I have tried the black and white, peanut butter, oatmeal germ, all of them equally good. Be it a day old cookie (you get them for half the price) or be it fresh, it’s just awesome. When you are ready to eat, heat it up for 15 – 20 seconds and you get to enjoy the most decadant cookies! One good thing about their website is you can check if a café has freshly got cookies out of the oven on their cookie radar. I use it all the time ;)
Great place if you are a cookie lover. Only downside though is that each cookie is atleast a whopping 500 calories :(but portion control is the key ;)

Good morning Michael! He’s the cashier who made me feel like his BFF when helping me order one morning. I got a croissant:
(watch two minutes in)
And my croissant was extra buttery, flaky, and all kinds of indulgent.
That combined with my matcha green tea latte with coconut syrup was a solid start to my day. I super dislike how the food and drinks come out at polar opposite ends of the ordering counter. It makes me kinda spazzy trying to catch my food order coming out at one end and dashing back to get my drink at the other end (or vice versa).
The seating area is HUGE. There are tall benches that look out the window, a lounge area, and two-​seater tables among others. The other day we sat at a table that had a row of outlets down the middle.
I usually get a sandwich also. The sandwiches are good. They’re better than Panera and have tons of options. It just so happens that the two selections that I’ve gotten from this particular Specialty’s Café & Bakery aren’t quite my style (one with peanut butter and another with cheese). I *know* that they have other sadwiches that ARE my style because I’ve had a super good one (turkey with cranberry) at another Specialty’s.

I stopped by for a quick, healthy lunch. The mixed greens salad was pretty good, and I liked that it came with avocado. The salad came with a small bread that was REALLY good; savory and soft, yet with a sweet crunch on the top crust. Specialty’s is the type of place where you would order bread to go, or opt for an in-​house sandwich. I can’t wait to try one of their scones or cookies — they all look amazing!
Also, Specialty’s has some of the best customer service in the city! They’re so friendly and helpful. Ordering was fast and my lunch was ready within 7 – 8 minutes, even with the lunch rush starting at 11:30. I’ll definitely be back!

So, went to Specialty’s today for the first time. Saw their bundt cakes on line and decided to get one. Went at 12:30 and all sold out. Great inventory management.
Not to worry, Corner Bakery had plenty so I’ll skip not-​so Specialty in the future and stick with reliable.