Essential Baking Company

04/15/2008 Posted by medsarita

The bread is good. I love the pizza bianca and the (expensive) little pastries. The lunch items are pricey given the portions, and sometimes the soups can be a bit iffy/too-experimental. I'm not a regular, but already a couple times the morning baristas have acted put-upon when I "interrupted" their conversations to order coffee... never had that problem with staff later in the day though.

10/14/2007 Posted by ktmarblil

Not meant for tourists and you need to know how to order. Stand in the first line, place your order, walk to the register and then pay. Sometimes the staff will bring you your food but more often they yell your name out. When it's really busy, it's hard to hear. It is entirely worth the effort though. So far, it has been the best coffee I've had in Seattle and it has turned me into a pastry lover. I take everybody to Essentials. Very fresh, all organic ingredients, and an eclectic mix of workers.

04/18/2007 Posted by leejo

My wife and I recently visited Essential for lunch and being inquistive decided to order the yam sandwich and the mole veggie soup. Both sounded interesting and were definitely new. Both unfortunately tasted...well..awful. The yams in the sandwich were semicooked and sorta crunchy but not in a good way. The mole soup tasted like some sort of food experiment gone awry. My recommendation for anyone going to Essential is to stick with the classic sandwiches and soups they make. Being culinary diverse is good, and choosing exotic ingredients is nice to see, but if you can't pull it off, the result is unhappy customers and really bad tasting food (like the yam sandwich and mole soup). For me, after tasting the soup I would have been embarassed to even serve it - my wife and I kept saying, "what were they thinking?" Unfortunately we took both the sandwich and soup to go, if we hadn't I would have gone back and said, "Um... I don't think so... give me money back.." I'm sure that the chefs at Essential taste everything that they make prior to putting it out for people to buy, but they also need to think about whether what they put out is both delicious and helps carry Essential's image as providing top quality gourmet foods. My recommendation, I'd think twice before keeping either of these items on your menu.

01/21/2007 Posted by annpottier

We went to the Essential Bakery on N. 34th St. around 1:00pm on Sunday. We waited for about 40 minutes with our hungry kids and our lunch order never arrived. Apparently they forgot our order. The staff didn't care and we were not impressed with their customer service. We will not give them our business in the future.

Pros: Good tasting food, coffee and baked goods

Cons: unhealthy food preperation (lots of butter and grease) and bad customer service

03/07/2006 Posted by littlechic

Used to love this place. Brought everyone I knew here. Now the shelves are always empty. I am VERY UPSET that they no longer carry petit fours. I realize that we are in a supersize age, but petit fours are worth every overpriced cent as they satisfy the cravings without adding to the waistline. Also, why is the Fremont location the only one with a significant selection of chocolates? I NEED the PB &J chocolate almost as badly as petit fours in my favorite flavors. Please tell William Leaman to return the petit fours!!

Pros: cute place

Cons: less selection, no petit fours, closes early

02/17/2006 Posted by mellody43

I've been going regularly -- that is, several times a week at least for just a latte -- to the Wallingford location of the Essential Baking Company. Always tasty, no matter what I get. Excellent ingredients, though you do pay more. If you want a cheap sandwich, go down the street to Subway. If paying $9 for a sandwich and a bottle of iced tea doesn't bother you, go to Essential. Creative combinations, friendly and casual staff (who know my name and my everyday latte order!) ... I don't even want to think about how much money I've given this place over the years!

Cons: seating around noon

03/18/2003 Posted by shmousie

The Essential Baking Company simply never disappoints. I can go there for nothing more than an order of toast (which comes with a yummy blueberry spread) and walk away satisfied. Everything else that I have tried there--poppy seed bread, orange-chocolate marble bread, italian slippers, parisian macaroons, the winter vegetable sandwich, hot chocolate--has been absolutely stunning as well. Go!

01/13/2003 Posted by chuchu

Essential Baking Company is, hands down, my favorite bakery in Seattle. On top of making fabulous breads, pastries, muffins, cookies, pies and cakes they also cook up some mouth-watering soups and sandwiches at their Wallingford bakery. The sandwiches change according to the season to make use of seasonal ingredients and feature creative combinations such as a grilled cheese sandwich with white cheddar and camambert cheese with caramelized onions, watercress and apple slices on walnut bread. They make a phenomenal squash mole soup that's not to be missed. They also serve up a delicious coffee brew and tasty espresso beverages. If I lived closer I'd stop by several times a week to get my baked goods fix from the best bakery around.

Pros: best bakery in town, all organic, fantastic baked goods

Cons: not open very late

12/19/2002 Posted by slrasch

I have been going here for lunch at least a few times a week for the last year, and have rarely been disappointed. You can't beat a cup of soup and a generous portion of pizza bianca for under $3!! Their sandwiches are also good, but very small for the price -- all the men I've taken there couldn't fill up on just a sandwich. The soup and desserts are the best as well as their Lighthouse Roasters espresso which is oh so very good.

Pros: soup, desserts, staff

Cons: small portions for $, crowded at lunch

12/06/2002 Posted by Danya1996

The food is so delicious that you won't want to waste a single morsel. Their fresh ground coffee and fresh chocolates are a huge plus. They keep their charming atmosphere, eventhough they distribute on a large scale. From muffins in the morning to stromboli at lunch, you really can't go wrong here. The service is friendly and you never feel rushed...

Pros: delicious food, fresh

Cons: hard to locate