The Continental Bakery

Bad customer service, and high prices in everything like coffee, pastries. There are better places in Birmingham, this is not the place

I was in town for work and on the hunt for a local coffee joint with a possible pastry. This place did the trick. Mocha was good, though a little on the cold side. I had the croissant, which was delicious, and a savory scone, which was just okay. Might return next time I am in town on business to try the other pastries that seem to get rave reviews.

I’ve been meaning to review this joint for ages. It’s neck and neck with Urban Standard for the best bakery in Birmingham (not to mention their amazing coffee).
They recently added something called a Morning Roll… think of a croissant crossed with Billie Ray’s Orange Rolls. They are amazing! (I think they’re $ 2.50 each, but don’t quote me on that.)
My go to’s are the cinnamon & brown sugar croissant, daily quiche, and cinnamon roll.
It’s also worth noting that several of the best restaurants in town get their bread and other baked goods from Continental and resell them on their menu.
It’s probably not the cheapest bakery in town (I desperately wanted to get a King’s Cake but I think they were $ 25?) but the nominal increase in price is well worth it.

It was okay. There was a large buzzing insect trapped in the display case with all the food so that was kind of disturbing. The turnover we got was refrigerated and cold, which would have probably tasted much better warm or room temperature. We got a couple other biscuits and donuts and they were nothing special. I was rather disappointed. I would give it 2 stars but it wasn’t like the food was terrible it was just meh.

I am visiting from San Francisco and Tartine doesn’t have anything on this place in English Village. Great French style pastries combine with pleasant Southern service. Doesn’t get any better than this.

This place is what a bakery should be. Fresh bread, muffins, bagels and many other delectable items. They have good coffee (they sell octane coffee on the shelves but not sure what their house coffee is). The people are friendly and not pretentious. It is a must try if you are ever in the area.

This is a place I want to love. It’s a beautifully quaint bakery that looks like it was plucked out of the streets of Paris and placed right in Mountain Brook. However, the food is average and the service is subpar. There are a few gems on the menu. The scones and French donuts are delicious, but overall the food is just OK and very overpriced. As far as the service, there have been multiple times I’ve stood under the «Order Here» sign and felt invisible, often waiting several minutes before even being acknowledged. It’s not like this place is bad. It’s just not as good as it claims to be.

Really good pastries. The Nutella croissant & the cinnamon sugar croissant are the things to get!

I’m in love with this place. Bread, pastries, cheese, coffee, more bread. Basically my own personal heaven. This French style bakery is quaint and yummy. I frequent here with a book and eat one or two (okay okay more like four or five) pastries and a coffee and I’m content to people watch and read peacefully for hours. The only suggestion I would add would be to have the ability to order wine and beer in the café side. This isn’t too large of an issue as you can walk next door to their restaurant chez lulu.
My absolute favorites from here are the Nutella croissant, French peasant bread, and the olive tapenade.

This is one of the first places I found when I moved here and I go back almost once a week! This cute little bakery has some of the tastiest breads and pastries. You min you walk in you feel like you are in a little French bakery off this hillsides of Paris;)
First off you a greeted with a warm smile by almost everyone that works there. I love the everything bagel toasted with cream cheese. It takes a little longer then most places to toast and get out to you but it’s totally worth it. They have a day old bread section that I have bought a lot from. It’s half price I think. I can never tell that is a day old because it’s still yummy and soft like it was made that day!
They also carry local, pastured eggs! They are cheaper then what you can get a Whole Foods. They run out fast so call ahead to make sure they have some in stock.
They have a location downtown that I must try! I love this place!

My husband and I came here to get a couple croissants on a Sunday morning. The bakery was pretty full, so we expected to wait a while to order. After standing in line for 10 minutes, we ordered our croissants. The lady that took our order wrapped them in foil and put them in the oven. We proceeded to wait another 10 minutes to pay. Still don’t have our croissants. We stood in the middle of the packed bakery, just waiting to get our breakfast. After waiting another ten minutes, we finally pushed through some people to ask the lady behind the counter when our croissants would be ready. She rudely said, «I’ll go get them». At which point she finally went and got them out of the oven and threw them on a plate. Over half and hour later, we sat down outside to eat our breakfast. The flavor and texture of the croissants was okay, given the fact that the outside was slightly burnt and the filling was scorching hot from being in the oven for 20+ minutes. We’ve been here before, and have never had good service. Probably won’t be returning.

I called ahead because I heard the apple pie’s were great! We were visiting a friend and needed a good dessert to bring. Nowhere in Birmingham offered a delicious apple pie or any kind of dessert that I deemed relevant to a pie. Well, I got there and decided to get a couple of loaves of challah bread that were out of this world delicious. I was in a hurry and asked if they could make a chicken salad sandwich to go and the reply was: DONE! I was in and out in less than 7 minutes. Our friends loved the apple pie. We made french toast with the Challah bread the next morning and it was a huge hit as well. I cannot wait to go back to The Continental Bakery to try other yummy baked goods.

Had a wonderful meal with friends last night fried Brussels spouts chip were out of sight

CB has become my happy place. Great coffee, friendly and knowledgeable staff (ask about the Sourdough), European flair in a very casual, relaxed sort of way. You won’t find better bakery items anywhere in Birmingham.

I cant speak for the whole menu they offer but i have enjoyed the baked goods especially the wild yeast sourdough bread and the coffee but its not in house made it comes from Octane which is really good coffee.

I had great expectations for this place and was so excited about the bread. I have tried a few baguettes and it was not worth it at all. I I love the bread that they provide Jackson’s with. I’m not sure where the disconnect is or why it is happening. The loafs I got were either to soft on the outside or too hard on the inside. Not impressed (even though I truly wanted to be).

The croissants were delicious… that is where the good experience ended. Service was ridiculous. It was as if we were bothering everyone. Coffee was luke warm. When I asked if they had fresh or better yet, HOT coffee, I was told I caught them at a busy time. So… I guess if you’re busy that means you have no time to make hot coffee. Got it, noted.
We got one cinnamon and one almond croissant and they were delicious. But that’s not enough to spend $ 12 on 2 croissants and a luke warm (small) coffee.

I have met plenty of loaves of bread I didn’t like, but never at Continental Bakery. You cannot go wrong there and the staff knows their stuff. Let them know what you’re having for dinner– they’ll recommend the best bread for your palate and your plate. I highly recommend their cranberry sourdough loaf! It is chewy with a great crust and amazing flavor.

Continental bakery is worth visiting. By the time we arrived on Thursday afternoon (3PM), most of the pastries and many of the desserts were gone. Still, we tried an apple dessert, hot herbal tea, and coffee. The dessert tasted good and fresh. The coffee was decent.
The staff were very pleasant and helpful. The first guy I talked with had no idea about what was vegan or dairy free, but another worker did. They spent significant time helping us and conversing.
My friend and I had a pleasant conversation outside and then moved inside when it got hot. Inside is very small with only three small tables, each seating only two people.
I look forward to trying some of their meals and breads. It has a very good reputation in the community.

You know that place where you always see someone you know. Yeah this is it. The Brie baguette is so yummy. Unfortunately I cannot get out of this place without the brownie edges. All I can say about that is if you have not had them maybe you should not start it’s quite a habit.

My quest continues for a bakery that has traditional Italian bread, hard crust
or a semolina loaf.
No matter, Continental is a wonderful little place with an ever changing daily menu of artisan breads.
Fresh bagels, croissants and other tasty cookies round out a great menu.
Staff is very eager to help and very willing to answer any and all questions.
Surely be back especially on Wednesdays for that Sour Jewish Rye

Continental Bakery is a lovely little bakery located at the edge of the shopping area in the Mountain Brook Area next to Chez Lulu. The location and outdoor seating is charming, and makes people watching a great activity to pass time.
The French love cookie resembled a rolled-​up a piece of cookie dough that was stuck in the oven with some sugar sprinkled on top of it. It was pleasant and not too sweet. The French doughnut was a tiny little yellow cake with an incomplete hole in the middle with cinnamon topping. I only ate the top part The croissant goes well with any hot drink you have. Sometimes, I dip my pastries into my hot drink. The latte was great.