I love this place so much. I started going for the breads, although they have so many types of bread, fresh baked, I often get yelled at when I come home for buying too much. Onion cheese pullapart, rye bread, olive bread, cheesy bread. I love their cranberry and white chocolate buns, their gingerbread cookies, their danishes, their...well. Everything baked.
High ratings as well for the deli meats - the Angus roast beef (Monastery's own) is amazingly tender. I could eat that every single day. The beef filets are also fantastic cuts that taste amazing, as are their pork roasts. We have tried the one with the stuffing inside and my husband and I were both so impressed.
Also love the samples. But there is one woman working there, who hands out samples sometimes, who is the most patronizing, annoying person I've ever encountered in a store. She was handing out mascarpone samples one day and she just started lecturing us on what soft cheese was, unprompted (we hadn't even spoken!). During this lecture, my husband and I just stood, silent, annoyed, while she ranted on and on, sometimes patting my husband on the arm to make a point. I wanted to say, "Look lady, we know mascarpone. Please go away."
Except for her, everyone else is very friendly. And I keep going back, even if she does work there - in spite of her, in fact. Because it's all just too good to let one crazy lady spoil it for me.