G Cafe Bakery Branford

Death by 1000 cuts. A series of failures lead to an overall bummer experience.
Prices not posted& staff don’t know prices:
Sandwiches and Salads priced but no prices posted anywhere for breads, sweets, scones, teas, bagels etc. I hate this. I hate hate hate this. I hate being embarrassed by being forced to ask «how much.» Consequently I end up spending more and it feels like a shady business tactic. «If you have to ask you can’t afford it.» Even when I did get up the nerve to ask, the staff didn’t know the prices and had to awkwardly walk to the far end of the counter and type in the item to get a price. How do you not know what your scones cost? Super super awkward.
Cleanliness:
My very lovely wood serving board had a large obvious smoosh of caked on green veggie matter from a previous use. I’m not too squeemish so I simply asked for a new plate. It would have been nice if they Offered me another scone, but the fact they didn’t try to reflects poorly.
Food: The scone itself was disappointing. Very small, which I don’t mind if something is loaded with flavor, but it wasn’t. Goat cheese, scallion walnut? Should be a mouthful of intensity. I’m a perfume maker and have an attuned sense of taste. I only tasted cheese in one bite, it was also the very same one bite that had two of the three nuts. Sigh. I did get the very last one perhaps I got the runt of the litter?
Appearance: not my taste, but cute, high ceilings, nicely merchandised, a little too conventional for me… Like Panera bread and pottery barn had a rustic baby. Most people will love it.
Service: I already felt awkward because I asked for a clean plate and so I wasn’t happy to have to go to the counter to get the bathroom key. This is another common practice that is so silly. I tried to be polite and patient and waited while a customer was rung up, but I was ignored and the bathroom key was given to someone who came up behind me. Was this a Mistake? Oversight? Ignoring me because I asked for a clean plate? Not sure what happened here.
Bathroom: having very mixed feelings about my experience thus far, I said «self, if the bathroom is clean, just chalk this up to a bad experience, come back, and try again. So the handle on the sink came off in my hand, I had to figure out a way to shut off the water as I got drenched, and I looked up to see a chastising sign from the Café telling customers of the café to dry their hands with the electric hand dryer. Mind you, not a prompt to WASH your hands, but rather a prompt to dry them. Well, i put the broken sink handle down, I wiped my hands on my sweatshirt, and did NOT use the hand drier.
So there you have it. Any one of these things taken alone is not a big deal, but overall, I had a sucky experience.

I came across this little nookery via Unilocal. Although they have been here in Branford for over two years and are located right on the green, I’ve missed it until today. Cozy and casual atmosphere, focused on all natural, organic, healthy food choices, which I could care less, as long as it tastes great! Which it did!
I ordered a bacon, egg and cheese on a brioche bun. The bun was squishy soft just like I love, though it didn’t have American cheese. I always want American cheese with my eggs and they didn’t ask me what type of cheese I wanted so I assumed it was American? It tasted like provolone maybe? (about $ 6) My BF had avocado on multigrain toast with bacon and poached egg, which was served open face (also known as tatrine). It was beautifully presented and my BF LOVED it! ($ 7.95)
Their selection of breads, pastries, muffins, scones, bagels, cookies, and more looked amazingly good. Tough decisions here. I went with the raspberry linzer tart cookie. Very good, fresh, full of filling, and the shortbread dough was melting in my mouth. My BF opted for the almond croissant which was flaky and delicious. Their house coffee was so good and the medium size was served in HUGE cups! Very impressive!
Very friendly staff, super knowledgeable on their items. You order and then serve yourself coffee and they bring your breakfast or lunch to your table. I would prefer that they put labels on all of their showcased treats, instead of having to have the wait staff run down ten plus items because they’re not labeled? Their items in the cases, drinks and fresh breads also have no pricing listed which is annoying. Our breakfast for two came to over $ 28 which was… unexpected to say the least. All in all we were pleased with our trip and would return again… hopefully you’re buying this time around.

Excellent café! They made a latte just to my liking, despite it not being on their menu. You could tell they use fresh ingredients in their food– the yogurt parfait was delicious! I’ll definitely be back again soon :)

Check out the evening hours menu. The grazing board was excellent and the beet salad in a bread boule was like nothing I have ever experienced before. Delicious and creative. Wait staff was attentive and overall service was great. Definitely a great date night destination.

Great beverages. Clean café and nice staff. Madeline cookies up front could use some TLC. But looking forward to trying other food here. Looks like they have a great menu.

Black pepper walnut bread is incredible — only available Sat/​Sun. Fresh and tasty breakfast too. Service can be a little disorganized but folks running the place are very nice.

I’ve been here before for the cold press coffee and croissant. I tried the breakfast avocado and poached eggs and grabbed a drink that was organic. The drink was $ 5.99 made by Purity. If I knew it was that much I Wouldn’t have gotten it. The sandwich came on very hard bread and not much as far as portions for the price. I going to just stick with the coffee and croissants. Too expensive breakfast menu and very little portions. Customer service has always been great. Cute location by the Branford green.

Yes, there bread is good. that’s about it. I have been to this place a few times and it is OK for a quick bite to eat. However, as always, this place seems to be way overpriced. The turkey sandwich was $ 10.10 and contained four slices of turkey, lettuce, probably a tablespoon of avocado and some dressing on it. Way not worth it!

Come for the great coffee, cute mugs, and homey benches. Invite families and friends for brunch or just chat. Leave with the gorgeous bakeries and bread bread bread bread =]

I thought this place was awesome
I wish I lived closer so I can enjoy their food all the time
I give it five stars

I went for coffee and an almond croissant yesterday, it was stale! Boy was I bummed, but I’ll go back and try another in a while, perhaps it was just a fluke. Most everything I’ve had there was good and fresh.
Update: everything I have had recently was top-​notch! I tried their breakfast sandwich and was mighty impressed, but having an egg, (edam?) cheese, and black forest ham on a croissant is not conducive to getting work done… maybe its nap time at 10 am…
Oh, and I really like the Lily coffee.

Great stuff coming outta G Café! Though I was sad to see Cohen’s go (RIP), I was pleasantly surprised when I stopped in with my boyfriend for a midday munch. Their artisanal sandwiches, baked goods, the refillable coffee… all delish! I know people who insist on coming here only to buy bread because it’s THAT good.
Ambience is classic café. Families, friends, couples, everyone sits and chats intently while lulled by their warm cappuccinos and the soft music overhead.
Only reason I deducted a star is due to the layout. Everyone seems to be sitting on top of each other here. I get that square footage is hard to come by in the center of town but the seating arrangements could be improved.

Excellent muffins and friendly staff!

5 star baguette on par with Aux Delices! We’ll, Aux D’s is slightly more fragrant, crackly on the outside and airy and chewy on the inside, but that’s splitting hairs. G Bakery has a legit baguette. If you live in Guilford/​Madison or anywhere on the shoreline but haven’t found a good bakery for breads, look no further. I can’t wait to try everything else. Thanks Shoreline Times 2014 reader poll!

Bread, bread, bread, bread, bread. Come for the bread. Leave with the bread. Have it sliced. Have it diced. Supplies many CT restaurants with bread. It’s that good.

This is best new café in Branford and so delightful it is right on the green. Atmosphere is simple, clean modern lines. Their ceramic light shades are gorgeous! Baked goods are the best around. Love the whole wheat croissants. Always take loaf of bread home afterward. As with many bakeries, coffee is not their strength. Wish they had a real coffee bar but trade off is awesome fresh baked goods. Some staff are very with it, others are not suited for quick pace of the counter and need better training!

I would like to preface this review by saying that I really like that there is now a place to buy some food where Cohen’s used to be. Downtown Branford was lacking in the quick lunch department. That being said, G Café has some excellent looking bread and has all of the typical coffee shop offerings-​but…
The food there is good… not amazing… and it is very, very overpriced. I’ve tried a couple of their salads and they are meh and like $ 11. Lettuce is cheap, I don’t get it. The sandwiches are good, but again, way overpriced. Overpriced like movie theater popcorn. Ok, not that bad, but still.

after quite the drive to try and visit another nearby bakery that was closed with no notice on their website, i was very very happy to see this pop up on my Unilocal-​radar. i had seen their breads in a small market before and it looked good, so we figured since we were nearby it was worth checking out. super cute spot, right on the branford green. super friendly people working behind the counter. we got cookies, croissants, coffee cake, and bread.
cookies — well we got 4 different kinds. one was completely burnt on the bottom. one was a little undercooked. overall not really worth the dollar or whatever each one cost. sad. chocolate chips and nuts and all that were just kind of bland. you want t a flavor explosion in your mouth and all you get it a dud.
croissant — ok maybe it is my fault, i did not eat this right away and i know that sometimes croissants suffer. not a lot of texture. not a lot of that nice flakey layer effect going. chocolate was nice dark batons, maybe a little more chocolate would have made up for the lackluster pastry. i dunno. not super rich decadent and buttery.
coffee cake — good, but weird. i don’t know what we were expecting. it was good though, maybe the best out of what we had.
bread — ok ok this was damn fine bread. it feels like they started as a bread bakery and everything else was just added to justify running a café. get the bread and be happy, try the other stuff and your mileage may vary.
they serve lunch and some of that sounded good, maybe i will be back to try a sandwich some day. definitely stopping in for more bread.

Nice new spot on the Branford Green for the bread and sandwich maker. I had never been to a Whole G bakery or café, but I had regularly visited their stand at City Seed, New Haven’s farmers’ market. I had a quick lunch here, and the panini were pretty tasty. All in all, it’s just nice to have some new blood in the area, especially a new place that is interested in doing something well and doing something right.
Also, do yourself a favor and nab a pretzel roll.

Move over Chabaso! The best bread in New Haven is at Whole G, and in Branford of all places, you can find its official store!
The pastries look gorgeous, but the draw for me is the Volkenrbrot, a dense, cylindrical loaf packed with grains and seeds and is just like the health bread you get fresh in Germany. They make a great assortment of healthy and crusty white breads, plus pretzel rolls. There are croissants, muffins, pain au chocolate, gorgeous scones, muffins, turnovers, a savory rye pie, a yogurt custard pie– and for lunch, a delicious array of sandwiches, salads, and vegetarian/​vegan options none of which I’ve tried yet.
Find G Café next to Meyers Flower shop on Main Street across from the Green. They are at the City Seed Farm Market on Wooster Square every Saturday, but they are in Branford every day. :)