Kneaders Bakery and Cafe

This place looks great on the outside. But that’s just it. As a former employee I can tell you first hand, food was not treated properly. The kitchen and trash cans dirty and always filled. Employees never wash their hands after returning from the restroom. Nothing ever gets washed. Not even the caps at the soda fountain. Gross! They serve tomatoes that sit out all day long. The store is always running out of something. The manager is racist. The crew members are very nice. The management is TERRIBLE. The service is ridiculously slow too. Bit over priced in my opinion. If I wanted stale coffee, I’d go to a gas station. Tea has the grossest after taste.

My husband and I stop here anytime we are close by and have a sweet tooth. We have not tried anything except for the desserts here, but that and the service are both great! I have never been disappointed. If you are a chocolate lover. The chocolate moose dome is amazing!

Went to the new Kneaders off of North Gate to try their lunch. First off, used the drive through and waited nearly 15 minutes for 3 sandwiches. Unacceptable. Second, I get home and there’s only one small bag of chips for three sandwiches! This wasn’t even a pre-​packaged bag, this was a bag the employees made themselves that had maybe 12 chips in it!!! Really??? You want me to give each person 4 chips? Third, the sandwiches were below average in taste. I ordered the turkey, bacon, avocado. The meat was lacking and the taste was as if it was out of the can! Gross! Did not taste good at all! Then, the bacon was a cold piece you get from a package. Not tasty at all. I had complaints from both my husband and my son on their sandwiches too! Forth, the prices are ridiculous! $ 9 for a crap sandwich where one person got a pickle and we had 12 chips to share among the 3 of us. Needless to say, they don’t do lunch well at all! Won’t be returning for that meal. I will only go for the French toast and sweet bread. Those two seem to be the best things they have.

I actually really, really enjoyed this place! It’s a lot like Panera, except for the fact that I don’t really ever eat at Panera… The food is good, and the menu has a variety of choices. It’s mostly sandwiches, soups, and salads — but it’s all good stuff! Price is average, not as expensive as Panera and I think the quality of food is much better. They sell loafs of fresh baked bread, which is also pretty cool. I was pretty happy with everything. My meal was great, the price was great, the atmosphere was great. GREAT GREAT GREAT.

DO NOT ORDER FROM
ONLINE! I ordered and I didn’t get my food till 20 minutes after I had requested it. They don’t a separate line for pick
Ups so you have to wait in line which is never short.
As well they never have your food ready at the time you request. Once I told them I was here I saw them
Start making my order even though it was supposed to be done 20
Minutes before hand. So I spent money on food I couldn’t even eat because my lunch was done by the time I finally got everything.
Food was good. No complaints on food.

Just don’t get the Apple Pie or Banana Cream Pie. Over-​sized, under-​cooked apples in the Apple Pie and not enough banana cream filling in the Banana Cream Pie. (It tasted like fake whipped-​cream on top of the pie.) Love the tuna sandwich on hazel nut bread and the broccoli cream soup.

Amazing food! Sandwiches and salads are great but the french toast is the best I’ve ever had. They use really thick bread and the syrup has melted butter inside it and when u put it all together it’s delicious! Gotta try it!!!

Like Panera, only better. What a great place to eat. They have a wonderful selection of food and dessert. They have these orange glaze buns which are heavenly. Their turkey bacon avocado sandwich is to die for and their fruit tart is something I get cravings for. They have a Drive Thru which is very dangerous because then I can go at any time to get food from them. If you have a hankering for a sandwich and normally go to Panera, I urge you to stop here instead, you won’t regret it.

The Chai tea latte here is the best all around. I was a Starbucks girl until I was driving around on vacation one day and randomly ordered the Chai tea latte and boy its good !! I wish they had this coffee shop back in LA also just to add my husband ordered the white chocolate and berry frappé and he was so pleased as well I will come back here on my next trip for sure :)

Unfortunately was displeased with our visit for dinner on Saturday. We arrived around 5:30pm and had no wait inside. I ordered the turkey and artichoke panini with the ultimate cookie bar and a fresh orange juice, and my husband ordered the french dip. Our wait was not long and we had plenty of seating options.
The sandwiches were the main disappointment. My sandwich had been baked vs grilled on a panini press and consequently the bread was so dry that it was difficult to bite through. The spinach was unrecognizable and the turkey had dried out so much that I thought I had a piece of bone in my mouth. My husband’s french dip was also on a very hard baguette and had very little meat. The au jus didn’t help soften either of our breads. We both gave up on finishing our meals, which was a disappointment based on the price point for each ($ 7 – 8). The cookie bar was very good and best shared between two people as it’s very rich. My orange juice was just fine though not provided to me during ordering and the server was unimpressed at having to come back out when I inquired about it.
I really liked the décor and how they offer gift items and you can make your own basket. The cinnamon bread available for take-​home purchase also looked delicious. I’m hoping this was just an off night or perhaps you’re better to visit for breakfast/​lunch while items are still fresh.

Kneaders! This place is like Panera on steroids. Absolute best traditional lunch items in Colorado Springs– salad’s, soups, and sandwiches. I like the selection of bakery items too. I recently tried the raspberry bread pudding and was really bummed I hadn’t discovered that earlier. Their breakfast is decent, not quit where it could be. French toast is my personal favorite.
I typically hit this place up once or twice a week. It is indeed that good. The service and cleanliness could be a little better, but that really is minor.

We came to Colorado with a church group and we stayed at the holiday in express on cinema pointe. Kneaders is right in front of the hotel so we decided to go in there for the coffee.
As you walk in you walk into a warm and cozy environment.
The desserts are amazing. They have everything from cannoli, eclairs, chocolate chip cookies, salted Carmel cheesecake, and more!!!
I had the croissant with bacon and egg and it was huge! My husband and I both looked at our sandwich and both agreed we could of shared one.
He had the caramel macchiato, he wasn’t too crazy about it. I ordered the café latte. And I loved it.
The atmosphere is very relaxed and the staff is friendly.
I love that the menu was not overwhelming and you could order with ease.
Clean restroom
Cute gifts
Great eats!

Went to the café for the first time and was quite impressed by the décor and display of food. It has a homie like atmosphere. I choose the tuna melt (off the menu) on hazelnut bread, with a guava smoothie, and a slice of carrot cake. My order came in a timely manner. The price of my meal was shy of $ 15.00. The melt was quite big compared to Panera sandwiches and they didn’t skip on the tuna. I could tell it was made fresh that morning which I like. I do wish I asked for a few slices of tomatoes on the side, nevertheless the sandwhich had a great flavoring and wasn’t dry like some tuna sandwhich can be. The shake was delicious and the carrot cake was orgasmic. It almost compared to my mom’s homemade one. The icing to cake ratio was so on point and for a $ 3.99 slice it was big. I would definitely return when I want to try something else beside Panera Bread.

Stopped by for a working breakfast, but they do not offer wifi so I couldn’t partake in work. That was very disappointing.
They also ran out of chai… really? How is that possible?
The cashier was slightly rude and the food was mediocre at best.
I ordered a bacon, egg & cheese breakfast croissant and a gooey bar (for later). The breakfast sandwich had no flavor and was so dry. It needed another piece of cheese but they wouldn’t give me one. The gooey bar was hard as a rock and tasted like pure sugar (texture and all), I ended up throwing it all away. $ 9 in the trash.

Man, this is a hard review to write as I’ve previously had a pretty good experience at Kneaders, but my last visit on Wednesday night was about as bad as it gets.
We waited in line for about 10 minutes before ordering (the line wasn’t that long, just really slow), then waited another 20 minutes to get our food. Our food came out after someone that had a big order behind us. Not sure why, considering we just had 4 pretty basic sandwiches?!
My grilled ham and cheese had maybe 2 thin slices of ham on it (see photo). And wasn’t even spread on the whole sandwich. Mostly tasted like grilled bread with honey mustard on it.
The worst part… We asked for a turkey and cheese sandwich kids meal instead of ham and cheese for one of our kids. The first time it came out with cubes of chicken, cheese and mayo. Not sure how turkey got translated to chicken? And they never mentioned it would have mayo, and our son is allergic to eggs (which is in mayo). I took it back to the counter and waited a bit longer for anyone to even come up and acknowledge me. I mentioned we had asked for a turkey and cheese sandwich without mayo. After about another 10 minutes they brought out the turkey, cheese and MAYO sandwich. This is about the time I was quite upset, but still respectful. We just wanted the correct order! The third time they finally brought out the sandwich with just turkey and cheese. Everyone else had already finished eating of course as we were hungry and had waited incredibly too long already.
What was most surprising is that they didn’t offer to comp any of the food or even throw in a little dessert item or anything after such a terrible experience. Definitely some of the worst care and customer service I’ve had in a long time! They could honestly even learn a few things from McDonalds! Not sure I’ll be going back there.

I think they took a bite out of my skimpy $ 4 piece of cheesecake! Kneaders consistently has very small portions for the price. Their bread is good but they seem to always be sold out of the loaf I desire.

Today, I got home from a long day of moving furniture and magically, this sandwich and soup appears. Apparently, my very thoughtful gf had stopped by kneaders and gotten me this soup and sandwich combo. She must known what the Rock was cooking, because some manimal got in the kitchen and hooked up one of the best sandwiches I’ve had in a while. This sandwich is like a hot tub in your party in your mouth. Moist roast turkey, tomatoes, and bacon, topped with a healthy helping of avocado, and piled on top of dense and herby foccaccia slices made for a great start. I was then treated to a broccoli cheese soup that sticks to your ribs and is just the right blend of savory and cheesy and thick. But wait, we ain’t done here. I went to put up the tray and I found another bag on the counter. It was a CANNOLI.
Now, people that aren’t from Jersey may not understand the importance of good cannoli. But I am not one of those people. In Jersey, cannoli are a high art form. Made fresh on site with homemade ricotta and crackly shells and eaten after Mass on Sunday, good cannoli can elevate you to a higher level of sainthood. Well, if not to heaven, at least feel like your out of purgatory for a while.
Whoever made this cannoli should be canonized. It was dipped in thin little shards of dark chocolate on one side, and chopped walnuts on the other. And inside was made with the creamiest sweet rigotta on this side of the Mississippi. This guy is lucky they’re not still open, cuz I’d go back there and kiss him on the mouth. And get another sandwich. And probably smack his butt and call him Susie if I was thinking about that cannoli, cuz it was that good. Jersey bakeries ain’t got nothing on this guy.

The only reason why I gave this awesome café and bakery three stars is because I had to wait for 25 minutes from the moment I paid to the moment I took my first bite. I had a chicken, cheese and ham on ciabatta. The sandwich was great. Loved it actually. Too much bread, I might add, but the bread was delicious.
But 25 minutes on a Thursday night at six pm was just not comparable to Panera.

I’m lowering my review from five to four stars because my third time coming here I’m not impressed. I got the turkey artichoke panning which was OK, the meat good, but the sandwich OK. I liked my broccoli soup but it was way too small!

Update:
Came here again today. It was snowy/​slushy outside and there was water and dirty slush on the floors. But there were no wet floor signs or anyone cleaning anything up. The baguette this time was kind of chewy and tough and made the sandwich less than enjoyable. The turkey cranberry croissant looked great but the turkey had an odd flavor. Like eating wet cat food. But somehow my sister enjoyed it. As for our desserts. I was unimpressed with the cannoli. The filling had virtually no flavor and gave me cotton mouth.