Specialty’s Café & Bakery

Came here for a quick breakfast right across the street from Motif hotel. We ordered a sausage and egg breakfast sandwich, a roasted veggie sandwich and two coffees. The chai latte from Peet’s was amazing as usual! However, I think the lady who took my order mistook my order for a regular sandwich instead of the breakfast one. Still good, but it came on regular bread and without egg — at 9am I would think they would ask to clarify whether I wanted the breakfast sandwich or not. Other than that, great seating area to sit near a fire or looking out the windows. Orders were ready pretty quick too!

The guy at the register was giving me attitude. They don’t have 8 oz cups so wouldn’t take any small coffee orders. He rang us up for cash when we told him we were paying by card. We specifically asked for ceramic mugs and they said yes. I got the coffees in paper cups! Lol
The coffee and the café are just good. Service needs to get better.

This place is just mediocre. I don’t know what all the hype is about specialties. I’ve tried a few of their sandwiches before and thought it was really bland. The salads are simple and nothing special about them. This time, I ordered a chicken Caesar salad and it came with 2 pieces of chicken and cost me about $ 9. I ordered a bowl of thai soup and asked the cashier if it had chicken in the soup. She had to think about it and then said yes it does have chicken. The Thai soup turned out to be a Vegetarian soup with no chicken in it. They should train their employees to be a little more knowledgeable about their soups of the day.
I think that specialties is super expensive and the quality and the quantity of the food isn’t that great.
There are definitely a lot of other sandwich shops that give you way more bang for your buck.
It’s convenient because it’s right next to our hotel… but overall can skip this place is you aren’t in a hurry to grab something quick.

I think if there is a definition of a classy coffee lounge, this place nailed it. I have walked by here on numerous occasions and always thought of this place as a small café. Surprisingly, this place was waaaaay bigger than expected.
When you enter, you’ll be greeted with this cozy warm interior. Not only is the place spacious, but there are plenty of places to sit, tables to eat or do work on and there’s even comfy couches by the fireplace if you’re looking for a place to chat. Easily, I would recommend picking this place if you have work to do or meet up with friends.
As for the drinks and food, there’s a small selection of food items you can order and snacks /​pastries. As for coffee & tea, it was standard options without anything being too different. I ordered a small almond milk latte and overall, it was quite meh. You can taste the almond flavor but the drink itself was lacking an oomph. I will admit, a small size here is bigger than a tall at Starbucks or Tullys, so more bang for the buck.
Service was average, I did feel a little awkward waiting for my order since the staff (barista and cashier) makes no attempt at talking to you or even giving you eye contact. Maybe it’s an off day for service but let me tell you, the couches are soooo comfy to chill in so it is easy to forget the average service and drinks.

We had their food all week for work training and I thought it was horrible. From the coffee, to the sandwiches it was all awful. We had their sandwiches, soup, bread, pastries, fruit, oatmeal and coffee. The fruit was out of season and mushy the soup tasted like someone’s cupboard, coffee was bitter, and oatmeal overcooked I’m not sure why our company choose to use them everyday but one. Ingallinas was a million times better. I had never heard of specialty’s until this week and I would never go back.

Very good sandwiches but not really all that big for how expensive they are.
I got the Brie Apple sandwich and it was delicious. It’s rare to find Brie on a sandwich and it is pretty delicious.

OMG the barista couldn’t be bothered to have any sense of urgency whatsoever
Plan on at least 20 min to get your coffee on a slow day!
There was only one person in front of us and we almost missed our theatre

I am not usually one to review chains because, what’s the point? However, I order from the Specialty’s fairly often via their online ordering tool and find that they are always very prompt, even during busy lunch times.
I also had an issue with an order (their online system doesn’t tell you when they are out of baked goods) once and they let me know via text/​e-​mail and allowed me to pick up TWO replacement items — great customer service!
They also have stellar breakfast items, which I occasionally order for office functions.

They have definitely improved overall since my last review. The flow of ordering and picking up is still confusing for new customers, I see it every time I go in. I had a salad there the other day that was pretty tasty. Also tried some of their pastries which was either too bland or waaayy too overwhelming. Nothing special about them.
But I usually go in there for my daily mocha. There is one girl there that knows what she is doing and makes one of the best mochas ever. But I got a different barista today and it’s really medicore. Wish I knew the girls name so I could give her kudos.
Still some minor issues, like someone else mentioned, no one wants to hear other employees talking to eachother about their personal lives and complaining. We also don’t want to see you guys taking your break in front of the coffee area and chatting with other employees. It just comes off as unprofessional.
Anyway, as long as that barista is still there, I’ll continue to go and hope she is the one making my drink.

I had the egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast. There was pepper in the egg and it tastes amazing! The egg was smooth and fluffy. The whole sandwich tasted amazing. The fruit cup was smaller than I expected for the price. But the fruit was crisp and tasted great.
I also had the spiced tea apple cider. It was super hot so I had to wait a bit to drink. After it cooled, it tasted great and the cinnamon stick came through. Would definitely recommend this holiday drink.

Remodeled and much larger now. You can order online for priority pick up. they have fireplace seating, lounge chairs, sofas, wifi

What a difference a remodel can make– this store is amazing now. The tables in the large dinning room have USB charging ports built in the wood– what a fantastic idea-​. Drink stations are kept clean and stocked with lids and straws. The location is very busy but they keep it well organized, managed and clearly demonstrate amazing team work to keep the store running. The food quality is decent, prices are a bit high but competitive and the coffee bar has fantastic quality drinks. A great upgrade over the other location. This makes Specialitys looks like a 5 star quick service– a huge improvement from the horrible 1 star location that closed at Bellevue (if only the Bellevue manager cared as much as Seattle they may have not closed)

Re-​opened and way bigger. Gorgeous layout but confusing. The customer service at the *new* specialtys is TERRIBLE. Took way too long to get a salad to go and when it came off the line, I watched the girl at the pass say to the cook «wow this is only like 4 bites of salad» and then continue and box it up and give it to me. Oh, wait. She boxed it up, put it down, and then sit on the line for a few minutes until I finally had to ask someone to just give it to me.
The low boy in front of the registers is awkward and the drinks in it aren’t even cold.
The food (especially sandwiches) is still good but the customer service needs a serious overhaul.
Nobody likes to listen the people who work at the establishment complain about each other and their work.

Hate the new Impersonal self order kiosk. Hate the new more chaotic atmosphere. Nobody seems to know what to do; employees or customers.
Bigger noisier atmosphere is cold and Uninteresting even though it has a fireplace.
The food is the same, and it was pretty good.
Wow, I cannot overstate how much they need to work on the service and expanded place.

Good: beautiful new décor
Not so good: only 1 person ahead of me waiting for an order and still a long wait to get my food. Can’t imagine if it were actually busy in here how bad the wait would be! Also if you are watching calories be careful here!!! Egg, sausage, and cheese sandwich is over 1k calories!

The new space is gorgeous! Their new menu items look good and as always their pastries are yummy.
The only thing now that they have reopened, is that it is so chaotic in there now. There are people every where and it is hard to navigate around the crowd and employees. People seem confused on where to go to order and stand in the most awkward places, staring into oblivion. They must be wowed by the new space!
They can not seem to keep up with the amount of people coming to order. I have been twice since they reopened, once for a quick breakfast before work and once for lunch. Both times I had to wait over 10 minutes for my items and the lunch visit, they were out of everything I asked for off their menu. The sandwich I was able to order was good. I hope they work the kinks out and as time goes by the hype will wear off and it wont give most people a panic attack walking in there to order.

Re-​opened and remodeled… and it’s great! Specialty’s has expanded both their kitchen and seating area, and has completely re-​vamped the ordering experience with touch-​screen kiosks, video monitor menus, «express lines» and vibrating pagers to let you know your order is ready. Many more new food items are available, including all kinds of salads, wraps and hot sandwiches. Peet’s coffee and a great selections of pastries are available, just as before. I think they’ve got just about everything covered in the breakfast/​coffee/​soup/​salad/​sandwich kingdom. This is truly a flagship store… very friendly and helpful staff, and great food!

I did not taste the sandwich but some random orders.

I have been to multiple Specialty’s around the west coast and pretty much they are the same. I came to this one for a cookie and it was a delicious cookie. Got in, order, received, and got out fairly quick. Can’t really rate the customer service since we didn’t stay long but the cashier asked how we are doing and what we would like. They serve other items like sandwiches, soups, and salads. This place was near our hotel so we walked here. Not sure how parking is but maybe street parking is available.

Located at the corner of 5^th & Union, its a few blocks or so walk for me. I come here once in a while when I dont feel like Starbucks or whatever.
They have pretty good breakfast sandwiches to choose from, morning pastries and Im glad they serve Intelligentsia Coffee which is pretty good! Lunch sandwiches are available too with soup options, salads, different sides, fruit, chips and especially their delicious cookies! My office has gotten their boxed lunches before and its very convienient and perfect for working lunch meetings. They offer catering as well and will come to your office to set everything up for a nice spread.
Their baked goods is pretty darn delicious and that’s what keeps me coming back! Always freshly baked and a good selection to choose from.
Staff has always been nice and effecient with getting through the morning & lunch rushes. One time they forgot my coffee order and offered me a free pastry for the long wait. Thanks and nice touch Specialty!
Dining area inside is usually pretty tidy but if not, the staff is somewhat quick to clean up those messy people that have no house training.
Pricing is on the higher side but not ridiculous. Overall, a pretty solid breakfast and lunch spot.

Efficient process, good service, food and coffee are not bad, it’s clean, and open early. We came as a large group and it all processed quickly and everybody was fed. Well done to accommodate a group :)
I wonder how the day old cookies are priced?

Love the chocolate almond cookies, would recommend to grab couple of them :)
Pretty busy during the lunch hut if you’ll pick up around 10AM or later around 2PM not much crowed.

My go-​to spot for salads during the week!
I just finished scarfing down my nth spinach, berry, and goat cheese salad with raspberry walnut dressing, too. I feel so refreshed every time I eat this!
Specialty’s isn’t a cheap joint. Large salads are $ 9.99, small ones are $ 7.99. A side of soup is $ 3, a regular is $ 4.99. They have a pretty decent variety of sandwiches, of which my favorites are the turkey cranberry and the turkey pesto. I can probably save more money and make everything I like here at home, but Specialty’s makes their stuff really well. Fresh ingredients. And shall we talk about their cookies? They’re colossal. They’re in your face. They’re INESCAPABLE.
Online ordering is convenient, but you need to register an account. You would want to anyway because then you get rewards points. Baker’s Dozen, baby! After 12 orders, you get credit for the average amount you spent on those 12 orders, and you can go treat yourself to another delicious Specialty’s lunch! I have to say, however, that every time I pick up my food that I ordered online from this location, I’m pleasantly surprised. I just never expect it to be on the shelf. I mean — how is it not stolen yet? This is Downtown Seattle, and staff members never look to see who’s grabbing bags from the shelves. It gets crazy packed here during lunch hours as well.
Three stars because of their imperfect record in fulfilling my online order specifications. They’re not going to lose a customer in me, though. They’re too solid and convenient!

Specialty’s is definitely good. And maybe it’s a product of me having Specialty’s way too many times, but the breads, soups, sandwiches, all of it really, can begin to have that food court taste.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the turkey cranberry sandwich and the simple smoked ham are great sandwiches for a quick bite. What I appreciate is that they load them with fresh veggies which is always refreshing for lunch. I would recommend staying away from most of the specialty sandwiches (ironic, right?) as they get a little too crazy for my taste. So lesson learned: stick with the basics for a perfectly satisfying and expected experience.

How I heard of this place: Years ago, when first meeting up with an old friend from elementary school, Sarah recommended Specialty’s as the perfect lunch-​time catch-​up spot. Since then, it’s become one of my favorite drop-​in cafes downtown.
Type of cuisine: A café with sandwiches, soups, salads and pastries, perfect for breakfast and lunch. Everything is homemade, hearty, and fresh.
Ambiance: A downtown café at its best, with limited seating at wooden tables on wooden chairs, a walk up counter for ordering just beyond the tempting pastry case, lined with cookies, brownies, muffins, scones and more. An artful chalkboard menu depicting the specials and daily treats available. Very much catered toward the downtown lunch crowd, most patrons prefer the take-​away options for fresh, delicious, large portions of food and sweet delicacies for the mid-​afternoon slump. Friendly staff greet you as you enter the space and thank you for coming upon exiting.
What I ordered: In the years since first trying Specialty’s, I have had sandwhiches, soups and salads, not to mention several of their cookies. On this occasion, the rocky road brownie and the coconut brownie were extremely tempting… But the glorious smell of melted peanut butter won over. I purchased the thick peanut butter chocolate chunk cookie ($ 1.99) and my dining companion ordered her favorite, black & white cookie ($ 1.99).
What I loved: Despite the warm, gooey, peanut butter and melted chocolate goodness in my freshly warmed cookie, I have to admit that my dining companion picked the winner! The chocolate cookie, with white chocolate chunks and walnuts… Delicious.
Cost: Average ($ 2 per cookie)