Kneaders Bakery and Cafe

I came by to get some cheesecake, but I guess $5+ doesn’t even get you a full slice. I should have checked it before I left I guess. Plus, I tried to use a gift card and the employee told me it wasn’t working and asked if I had another form of payment. I didn’t want to throw away a perfectly good gift card with $26 dollars on it, so I insisted he try again. After a minute he figured out how to do it. Plus, it was just kinda slow service. The food tastes really good though!

Honestly, I didn’t go here sooner because there were several bad reviews. I certainly can’t speak to those, but I can tell you that our experience was great! Brenda, the server who helped us was informative, friendly, and helpful. I had the French dip and cheddar broccoli soup. It was all great! My friend had a side salad and the chicken cranberry croissant sandwich and she said it was wonderful. I will definitely try a dessert next time, they looked really good. This is much closer to me than Panera (which I still love) but it also had a bigger selection of pastry items and I think it’s great that they can make gift baskets. I will definitely be back!

My wife and I have been here four times in the last 2 1/2 weeks. This is the best French toast in America, in my opinion. HOMEMADE fresh fluffy French toast and it’s UNLIMITED!!! All for $7.49!!! This place blows every other breakfast place out of the water. I am convinced that the bad reviews are from very snobby out of staters. I’m also from California, but I have been gone from that hell hole for 11.5 years and Assimilated to the Idaho culture.

What a wonderful last minute experience we had at Kneaders for lunch yesterday. Our group of seventeen from all over the Treasure Valley found out that our reservation had to be cancelled at a neighboring chain minutes before our reservation because their internet was down and the restaurant is so dependent upon electronic devices that they couldn't admit us. Had our hearts set on Italian food. Someone suggested Kneaders Bakery and Café was within walking distance so I quickly walked over and talked to Gretchen, their retail and to go packaging manager. Can you take us? By that time it was almost 11:15 am. She said "of course, if you don't mind sitting at a couple of tables." While I was waiting for the rest to arrive, I saw the large box Meridian Food Bank truck pull up. Lots of day old still fresh bread and pastries were being rolled out on a large cart. Turns out the chain has an arrangement to supply local charities or organizations with product everyday. This is so Kneaders can claim the Harvest bread selection and other perfectly good items go to a cause rather than be tossed, insuring customers at the restaurant only get the freshest possible. Most of us had not been to this location, some had visited Eagle road before, which closed when the lease was to be renewed at a much higher rate. I had the Turkey sandwich (pulled fresh turkey rather than the sliced found at most other chain sandwich shops) and my wife had the 1/2 shaved ham sandwich. Both were combo meals with a choice of a side salad or one of five soups. Really like the concept, enough to get pastries and to go. Service was great, I like that they make gift baskets to order and will wrap the breads for a nominal fee ($2.50) to give to a friend. Can't wait to go back. Thank you! We needed a quick education on how to order, what to get and then got up to speed quickly.

I've been here twice and had 2 VERY different experiences. I ordered the same thing each time. Crack Chicken sandwich.... First time it was absolutely delicious, I've been wanting it again ever since. Plenty of chicken, avocado, bacon, tomato. It was warm, the bread was perfect with the crisp cheese in the outside but soft on the inside. Today at only 4pm they were out of chicken, out of soda and a number of other things. They offered me turkey on the sandwich instead. I figured it would not be the same but all other things considered it would still be a good sandwich so I said yes. The bread was dry and not yummy at all. Tasted like it just been sitting out and was stale. The turkey was cold inside and the sandwich is supposed to be a hot sandwich plus they did not put enough turkey on it to even cover the bread. There was one strip of bacon and one side only had a tiny tomato. There was hardly any sauce or Mayo whatever it is that's supposed to be on it, that was on it last time that made it so good it was pretty much dry this time. I had to work so I couldn't take it back and I didn't have time to get anything else so I picked it apart and ate what I could out of it. If that had been my first experience I would absolutely never go back. I am iffy about if I will go back after today because a chain restaurant like that should be consistent. I asked if maybe their freight didn't come in and that's why they didn't have anything in the kitchen, but she said it was just because they were busy.... Which is crazy they aren't prepared to be able to handle a busy Saturday?!