Grand Opening of Bread & Co. today in Winter Hill

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

Hey folks--though this isn't right in the square, it's still in Somerville and relatively close by (on the 89 bus line). Bread & Co. is opening it's Somerville location today in the building that recently housed Bickford's, next to the Walgreens. Says they serve breakfast, lunch, dinner, and bakery. It's at 345 Broadway. If you check it out, please post what you think of it.

Comments

[balsamicdragon.livejournal.com]

Had breakfast there this morning, so I can post a review!

The good:
- the renovations are nice, everything is really pretty. Two TVs have replaced the 50s soundtrack, but they had the volume low. The places feels a lot more open and upscale.
- the food is pretty good. I had a pretty standard American breakfast, the fresh orange juice was a nice touch. My husband tried some of the savory items (cheese bread) and liked it a lot.
- prices are low. I spent less than I would have at Bickford's (although that's partly because the waitress undercharged me :) I didn't mention it to them, because they had some opening day jitters (see below).

The not-so-good:
- the waitstaff is clearly divided into two camps: a couple of the better Bickford's folks, and some new people who were pretty inexperienced. Both were friendly (I know all the old B's folks), but the older folks were complaining about the changes, and the new folks are completely untrained. So the service was spotty to say the least.
- no high chairs! This will (hopefully) be changed soon.
- the menu is... odd. I think they will have to cut it back a bit. It has traditional American style food, Brazilian bakery stuff, Arabic bakery stuff, and the lunch menu is mostly Italian! So it's kind of a weird mix. This may be a good thing eventually, but I am skeptical about them getting it all right.

The unexplored:
- they have a full bakery, and everything looked really yummy! But we didn't try anything yet, so can't review it.

[ron_newman]

Did they take down the Bickford's sign yet? When I rode the 89 bus by it Thursday night, it was still up.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

Yes, however they still need to get a better sign to replace it.

[rhi-chan.livejournal.com]

The one on the side of the street, above the Walgreen's is still up as of today, 12/14.

[rhi-chan.livejournal.com]

I went tonight.

The waitstaff was adorably awkward in their inexperience... which I can see being troublesome to most, but I found it charming, since they were clearly trying their best.

The food was fan-fucking-tastic. I had the tunamelt and the fries were... so good. I really liked the spices they used on it. The tunamelt had just the right amount of moisture and wasn't overpowering.

I had the strawberry mousse cake which was also sweet and strawberry-like, very delicous! I will be back there when I'm craving cake.