Vanilla Bean Bakery and Cafe

The panini was dry and not much inside. The soup however was wonderful, with a little salt. The atmosphere is cute, but when the door opened it was chilly. They were out off roast beef which was a main ingredient in dinner of the menu items.

This is certainly the best bakery I’ve encountered in any state! Everything from the hot sandwiches to the whoopie pies and the daily soup are delicious. The fleur de sel cake is exquisite. quiche is amazing. Even the espresso is worthy. I would order a wedding cake or just a pan of brownies from the Vanilla Bean. Prices are reasonable and I always enjoy supporting a local business. However, the service is terrible; unfriendly staff are often standing around or washing dishes while there is a line. I am rarely even greeted with a hello, certainly never a smile, and I’ve been a dedicated customer who has brought the Vanilla Bean residual business from my friends, family, and colleagues. It is often hectic and unorganized during lunch rush, I’ve even had to give my order twice on several occasions.
But overall, you can’t miss the delicacies found at the Vanilla Bean Bakery!

The panini sandwiches are the reason I usually come here … and then I leave with a box of treats because I have no self control! Don’t really have any favorite treats because I’ve yet to find one I don’t like enough to call another a favorite. All I can say is try it all.

The food is delicious. The atmosphere is quaint and charming. The service is good but has room for improvement. A perfect place to grab a mid-​summer lunch aside from the one down fall of this restaurant, the location. Rodney St is not a very friendly location. In fact I was here at about noon on a nice sunny day and after watching the foot traffic out side I was hesitant to come back. Between the bar across the street and the many «Gangsters» walking around I felt like I should have a weapon on me just in case. But the good food and coffee brought me back. This restaurant could easily double its business at a different location.

I recently made an imprompto trip to Helena to sample wedding cake flavors for my upcoming wedding. I didn’t give the owner much notice but she accomodated me and made up a nice plate of the cakes that she had on hand and answered questions for me and helped me brainstorm other dessert ideas as well. The cakes were delish! Moist and light cake, creamy and not overly sweet buttercream icings and fillings! Everything had that homemade taste with a really high quality flavor! She even offered to add ingredients to her Carrot cake for me!
The decorated cakes in the coolers were beautiful! We also decided to grab a sandwhich and pasta salad for lunch while we were there and they were to die for! I can’t wait to go back to sample my other flavors and have lunch again! I’ve been practically dreaming about their lemon/​orange chicken pasta salad! The customer service between the girls at the till and the owner were top notch, the girls at the till even re-​filled our personal water bottles for us before we headed outside into the 90+ degree heat!
Can’t wait to see and eat my wedding cakes!

I’ve been here about 3 – 4 times. The soups & desserts are very good. However, I went to get something to go on a Saturday afternoon 15 minutes before their posted closing time. I was told that they weren’t making any more sandwiches that day because they were closing in 15 min. I asked if there was any soup. Yes, there was soup already in to-​go containers, cool or cold in the front case. I guess the customer was supposed to still pay full price for cold soup. I’ve been in food service for a lot of years, and not one place I worked were we allowed to refuse customers anything until the doors were locked. In my experience, you start to clean up and put away what you can when it’s almost closing time, but you don’t tear down everything and totally clean up and refuse to serve customers certain items before posted closing time.

Service has improved dramatically. I also recently tried a quiche, which I had neglected before, and it was superb: light, custardy, and not overly eggy, with a nice flaky crust.

Highest quality desserts in town! They are ALWAYS every bit as good as they look, and they’re beautiful. I’ve bought these blissful treats many times, and they’ve never let me down once. These bakers are artists.