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| - I could tell that this place was extremely popular, as there was a lengthy line waiting outside the restaurant when we arrived, and also when we left (over an hour later). Also, my foodie relatives love this place, so I knew it was going to be good. And it was.
We were there for breakfast, so we didn't have their famous sandwiches, but their bakery items were fabulous. Perfect croissants (regular and almond), wonderful (and big!) muffins, fresh scones. The coffees were also excellent.
As we left, they were putting out their lunch pastries: unbelievably gorgeous cupcakes and cookies and brownies. All looked amazing.
The restaurant interior is really welcoming, with long, warm wooden tables, comfy wooden chairs, wide open big windows (in the summer), chalkboard-covered columns by the entryway with menus and cartoons drawn on it, funky twig decorations hanging over the tables..... The whole place reminded me of some funky, hip hang-outs I used to frequent in my McGill days (in the early '80s). I guess you'd call it a post-hippie kind of vibe. I liked it.
What I wasn't so keen on was the whole system of ordering and paying. When the place is crowded (which, I gather, it often is - especially on weekends), it just doesn't make sense to have such a chaotic, inefficient system for diners to order and pay. So many queues, so much waiting, so little room in which to wait. Some older relatives asked me afterwards if they'd like this restaurant and if they should go here, and I had to say no: they'd love the food, but they couldn't handle the process to get their table and order their food and pay. For this reason alone, I think this restaurant is geared more for a younger crowd who can tolerate the wait and chaos.
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