Rustic Bakery

I order the rustic club from the Novato location with some frequency and i do not know why. If you order it in the store, it is the world’s slowest customer service. The sandwich takes 10+ minutes every time. I have also ordered now on three occasions where the kitchen has messed up the order and put mayo/​aiolii on the bread even when the ticket says no aioli. I don’t know why i keep coming back. There also is no link on the company website to give feedback which is frustrating.

The bread is amazing and the sandwiches are delish… The only thing it is really expensive but hey it’s gourmet and the ingredients are always fresh.

I was so happy when I found out that Rustic Bakery have a location near my house! I love their salads, great place! Hope they keep their prices affordable ;o)

If I could, I’d say 5 stars for food, but the customer service has definitely gone down over the years and I, along with others, are not impressed. The food isn’t as good as it used to be either. My chicken salad sandwich was crushed and there was no chicken salad really in it and the sea salt focaccia was not as fresh, small, hard, and burned. Disappointed in Rustic please fix this! Employees just sit back and relax and are rude. They tend to stare and just speak Spanish and laugh. Not a comfortable welcome. In addition, there have been a lot of flies in the bakery. They fly all around and land on the food. For what it’s worth, the expense of the food – this is not worth it.

First review of 2016 and I’m on a rampage.
Customer service here is horrible. Horrible. Horrible. Horrible. No one says hi when you come in. They don’t stop what they’re doing to look up for a second. Even when you approach the counter, they keep working.
I get that I came in 30 minutes before closing and they were probably getting everything cleaned up… but five people behind the counter and no one could say hello? Really? Even when I walked up to the cash register, I got a stare and someone wobbled over to me and asked me what I wanted. I reluctantly purchased a pecan bun and a brownie. The pecan bun was great, but the brownie was sub-​par. Even though, the sweets deserve three stars combined, but the sugar wasn’t enough to save this place from a one-​star rating. No way am I going there again.

This is not the rating I wanted to give. Maybe it was my wife and me showing up at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday that did it. The clean and neat new shop was moderately full. I ordered a croissant and a latte. They gave me the croissant, which was not great but say 7 on a ten scale. So not the best or quite up to what I expected from RB. They also gave me a No. 21 sign for my table which meant they would deliver the latte to my table. After a 10 minute wait — and no latte — we returned to the counter. The attendant had not even started to make it.
I know its just recently opened, but I expected a lot lot better from Rustic Bakery. This is a new outlet and there should be a trainer there until they get things straight, especially with the shop located somewhat out of the main stream of businesses on Grant. Coffees should be the easiest part of the service and a vital component of their business.
There will be a Rustic Bakery in Tiburon/​Belvedere soon, and if they do that here, they will have very little business. Word gets around real fast — probably too fast in our community.
Otherwise, the format, facilities and atmosphere were excellent.

I eat here about 2 – 3 times a week for lunch. They have a fantastic way to order and pay for your food to go online. It makes it easy and efficient to pick something up when you are in a hurry. The food is consistent. I love the updated chicken caesar salad and the cheddar and scallion scone is amazing. They make delicious coffee as well.

Good food, not consistent however due to the fact that most of the workers don’t speak English.

Just had the worst croissant ever. I eat gluten free and only dream of the perfect croissant. I dreamed of the ribbon-​like dough that’s folded into the middle of the croissant. I was feeling low and needed the touch, smell and feel of a perfect croissant. The pasty that I took home was not it.
It was hard and dry and broken into a thousand hard pieces. It was uneatable and very disappointing. The location is lovely but the croissant I bought at the end of September was the pitts. Ask if they are fresh before you buy pastries. It’s so absurd to have to ask, «are your pastries fresh», before you buy them. But, in this case it would have been worth my time.
The good think is, I did not eat gluten to aggravate my condition. The bad thing was I wasted the money, and time in Rustic Bakery. Every bakery is not perfect but this was so bad that the bakery deserves a bad review.

I wish I could give 5 stars because the food is delicious. But when a customer in this country comes in to buy an over priced meal we expect more than just good food.
The CUSTOMER SERVICE is soooo bad. Reading the reviews I am surprised that these people have not been fired already.
1. I waited 25 minutes for a sandwich (tuna). Another lady who came before me ordered a chicken sandwich. One Woman at the cashier kept on asking me can I help you. Yes lady … I ordered my food a long time ago and you already asked me the same question five minutes ago.
2. Finally the food came in. The lady got her sandwich and left. I got mine and was ready to leave. The lady came back running into the café and asked me do you have the correct sandwich. We looked inside and realized they switched the sandwiches and gave us the wrong order.
So they made us wait half an hour for a sandwich and then in the end switched it all up. Thank God the lady checked if not we would have gotten food that neither one of us wanted. This kind of service is un acceptable.
3. While waiting for the sandwiches I saw four customers and they had the same problem. Several customers were going to the counter to check when the order was going to be ready. They kept on saying few more minutes, but nothing was served.
Please give us better customer service!

No wifi (come on get with the 21^st century!), terrible customer service. Food is excellent, but a bad customer service experience has me questioning if I want to patronize this place again.
I’m sure the customer service was just an anomaly with this particular cashier, but it was my first visit to this location. I spoke only a few words — ordering my Panini without ham. The guy says «don’t be so excited.» I was like what? Then he said something like «I’m just being honest but you are unhappy.» I actually didn’t register what he said at first. I was like what? I told him what he said was completely inappropriate and terrible customer service (I have been in customer service for 30 years) and it’s not the best idea to always «be honest» 100% of time, especially if you want me to return! And that I’m not unhappy! He kept defending his position of «being honest» and wouldn’t listen to me.
What he did was make a snap judgement about me based on false perception (this is not «honesty»). He’s never met me, doesn’t know anything about me, and I was just ordering! Not only was I not unhappy, but today I have been feeling better than the last three weeks as I’ve had bronchitis and feel pretty good today! Maybe I wasn’t smiling and the energy level of him, but so what? What gives him the right to make a snap judgement? What happened to the customer is always right?
I talked to the manager and she spoke with him and he apologized to me, but what’s done is done.

Great sandwitches and baked goods. A solid choice for lunch or an early dinner. Quiches are tasty and Their bread pudding is a less watery version of Tartine’s, yet still moist

Incredible pastries and coffee. I’m not a coffee person whatsoever but after trying my friend’s latte I was thoroughly impressed. Panini’s are incredible but very rich.

My wife and I don’t spend much time at all in California so we had no idea Rustic Bakery was a small chain. No matter, the food was amazing. They make their own pastries on site and even have an open window to the kitchen where we watched about a dozen workers – almost all women – slicing and kneading dough and working their butts off to make an honest and top-​notch product. We were paralyzed with indecision as we stared at the piles of fresh pastries at the counter, such as bear claws, cinnamon rolls, apple croissants and other treats. We settled on the apple croissant, excellent unlimited coffee, and the bacon-​lettuce-​avocado-​tomato sandwich. The place was a little pricey but knowing the sophisticated logistical and culinary operation that went into making the food, I could understand why they charged a little more than your average breakfast place.

Met a friend here for lunch for the first time yesterday. What a delightful café in a charming neighborhood with a great selection of pastries and an equally fantastic selection of lunch items– from the pre-​made open face sandwiches and baguettes to the menu.
We ordered the soup of the day, which was a Thai Coconut Seafood and each had a sandwich. My smoked salmon and cucumber baguette sandwich was loaded with salmon. The cucumber balanced the saltiness of the salmon, and the baguette was very fresh.
After lunch, I picked up a chocolate a Meyer lemon croissant to share the following morning. They were both delicious, even a day after.
There is both indoor and outdoor dining, so a great place to stop by year round.
Even though I don’t live in this neighborhood, I would definitely make the trek back just for their pastries alone. If you find yourself up in these parts, I highly recommend stopping by.

Yesterday, I had a meeting with someone, and we met at Rustic Bakery.
I had NO idea! None! I loved that people can watch the bakers working their magic, and the employees were attentive and polite.
The chicken salad sandwich was DELICIOUS! Perfect!

Ordered the green salad and poblano cheddar soup. Service was quick but both me and hubby’s soups came out cold, lukewarm at best. Sent them back, came out cold AGAIN, and we are definitely not ones to ever send food back. I had asked for my dressing on the side, it of course came on the salad. They returned the soups for a third time and they were warm (but not even piping hot.)
Pro to all of this: we were refunded our $ 22 without even asking, the lady was apologetic. But why did we even spend $ 22 on a bowl of soup and miniature salad anyway??? The salad was soooo small and had nothing but the fresh greens and dressing. Way over-​priced for lackluster food.
Pro: got a hot mocha, which was delicious, hot and not too sweet. Definitely one of the better ones I have had
We will probably be back, just because we live in the neighborhood. I might go for a large chop salad or sandwich instead, though.

Cutest lunch spot in Novato. Clean, modern, European vibe with great pastries, sandwiches, and salads. Everything is freshly baked and mostly local and organic. I got the spring salad with apples, blue cheese, walnuts, and champagne dressing. My sister got the Marin melt which was so cheesy and the bread was amaze. It was packed around 1:30 but it is worth the small wait time.

While the food here was absolutely fabulous, as is any of their products on the shelf, I was absolutely dumbfounded by the lack of service.
Three of the things I attempted to order were out of stock, with no a acknowledgment of their absence. So I was suggested to have something else. (Equally as delicious but still not what I wanted.)
However, all three of me and my guests dishes came out separately… Like 10 – 15 minutes apart. Then, our mimosas (which were indeed delicious) didn’t come until the very end of our brunch… For a meal that was meant and supposed to be served together, it came out spread over half an hour. and then the drinks came last???

The salads here are delicious but a tad on the expensive side. The bread is amazing.
They provide cucumber water had the coffee is good.
Comfortable outdoor seating.

Citron Meyer croissant est tout à fait délicieux.