Specialty’s Cafe & Bakery

This is one of the best managed cafes I’ve ever been to. I’ve been ordering lunch almost every day for a over a year since I started working nearby. I order online and pickup 10 minutes later and they always got my order right despite heavily customizing my sandwiches :)
Love the quality of their ingredients and how clean they keep the place!

I really wasn’t that impressed, but I didn’t get a sandwich or a cookie. I ordered the Southwest salad which was pretty underwhelming. Lots and lots and lots of romaine lettuce but not a ton of cheese and olives were definitely sparse. Dressing was good but not quite enough. If they weren’t so busy I would have asked for another little cup of it.
Ordering on the iPad, paying and getting the table top alert when it was ready was super nice but I just wasn’t thrilled with the food at all. Not a lot of options in the area so if you can find something there that works I recommend sticking to it!

Not all Specialty’s Bakery shops are good, but this is the one I like to visit. I like their sandwich and salad options, and of course, pastries and cookies selection too.
I love to eat soups, but soups here are not that good. My favorite sandwich is Mediterranean, almost same as Caprese. Favorite salad — Chinese chicken (good dressing).
They offer Peets coffee too. Since I am not a Peets fan, I don’t get coffee here.
Staff is very confused or not trained well. You have to ask few times about your items until you finally have everything you ordered .
Parking is always an issue here because of the crowded business center location.

Competition for the lunchtime crowd is scarce out here in Stoneridge Mall Road in Pleasanton, and boy does this Specialty’s location take full advantage.
Despite being located in a remote section of what is essentially a strip mall, this Specialty’s Café is always bustling with people. Thankfully, their seamless online ordering process (no pun intended) makes picking up food here a breeze.
So while it’s true that your options are somewhat limited, it’s at least nice knowing that you have a fast, high-​quality lunch option right at your fingertips whenever you need it.
And oh yeah, the cookies are good too ;)
Specialty’s while on the one hand it’s accurate to say that Specialty’s is A-​OK, I’m awarding them an extra star for being the only decent lunch spot within a two mile radius. Because on days when it’s raining or you are too tired, lazy, or busy to walk more than 5 minutes to get food, there’s really only one rodeo in town.

Wow! I have been going to Specialty’s in the Pleasanton location since it has opened! Although, it is hidden away in the Workday office buildings, the place always seems to be busy. The food is impeccable and so is the customer service! I can say it is quite rare to find a constant, mannered, and friendly place like this. I recommend going to this location as you are paying for your food and receiving an additional hospitable service! Thank you Pleasanton Specialty’s for reminding us that kind, loving, employees still exist!

I am a Cookie Monster and Specialty’s has the greatest, most perfect and delectable cookies I’ve ever had in my entire life. I love this place with all my heart and get always get super duper happy when I eat Speciaty’s huge warm cookies. They do sell out of cookies sometimes but that doesn’t stop me from waiting the extra 30minutes for the next fresh made batch. I am completely obsessed with Specialty’s cookies.
They also have a delicious Cheesy Steak Sandwich! Yum

I have been to this Specialty’s several time and always enjoyed a great sandwich. Not today.
It was lunch time so there were only a few seats open and we unfortunately had to sit near a group of soccer kids around 7 years old who were unattended. These kids were yelling, jumping all over the furniture and on top of each other. We finally figured out when ONE parent walked up, the group of parents were sitting in the front quiet area of the restaurant enjoying a nice lunch while their kids were left in the center of the restaurant, unattended and out of control. People all around us were getting up and trying to move or finally moved outside.
Management should make sure groups of little kids are not left on their own, a parent should be sitting with them.
Parents, have respect for others and watch your kids.

This place is near Mercedes Benz of Pleasanton– which is why I came here for snacks and salad. The cookie was so moist and good I wanted to buy a dozen to go home.

I’ve been hearing rave reviews about this café chain from my friends in the L.A. Metro. So when the former El Balazzo place in Pleasanton got replaced by this café, I was excited to try it and find out what the craze is all about.
THE GOOD STUFF:
Service Staff & Cashier: Friendly, courteous, professional and prompt.
Ambience & Amenities: Modern, bright, free wifi, lots of indoor and outdoor seatings, dogs are allowed, online ordering, onsite electronic ordering and ample parking.
Sandwiches: Very good, tasty, and with lots of choices. Most of them are pictured on their website and on the electronic ordering pads in the store.
THE SAD STUFF:
Cleanliness: The condiments and coffee creamer counters are well-​stocked, but are dirty and sticky even early in the morning. We found dead cockroaches, trash and lots of cobwebs on their patio seats near the coffee counter.
Kitchen: Slow, selections not readily available & orders get mixed up.
Food Info: I did not see any calorie, allergy nor nutritional information on their website and in the store. If there are any, they are not easily found or recognized. The food marquee text is small, no pictures and lack info.
Breakfast: Anything with meat was oily especially the sausage patty with cheddar. It was salty and the taste rely only on the overwhelming amount of butter, cheese and oil on the meat, which is not our thing.
CONCLUSION:
The place is ok, would love to try more of their food and give local businesses a chance. I hope the management will read the comments here on Unilocal!and address the really important issues like cleanliness and food quality/​info.
I might change my rating as I try more of their stuff.

My new favorite place! Cookies are to die for. I always get turkey sandwich — delicious, love the bread and size of sandwich. Ordering is fast and easy. Nothing less than 5 stars in my handful of visits.

Oh, how I’ve missed Specialty’s. I’ve probably ordered so many lunches from here in the past so when I returned to this office park, I was nostalgic. While I didn’t partake in their yummy cookies (black and white is my favorite), I had breakfast. $ 7+ for a huge egg sandwich and a coffee. It’s better than Panera. Will definitely return.

It’s 430pm. You close at 5. If you threw out ingredients just to make a salad (which, would concern me that you don’t have fresh produce on hand to begin with), you may as well say your kitchen closes at 430pm and close up shop. My bad that I expect this place to be able to serve your customers until you actually close. I get that it’s nearing the end of your business hours, tho, just close up early if that’s your main priority– to get out on time instead of serving your patrons. That’s the second Specialtys in the Tri-​valley area that is, sadly, not living up to the Specialtys great reputation. Manager denies my request for a voided transaction saying that orders from the kiosk don’t allow that function and is get a refund in a couple of days. So much for advanced technology. SMDH. Joy, it’s driving back to the city from now on, I guess. Got a «free meal pass» to «make up» for it. Thanks, and I’ll use it where they actually care to get my money. Pass on this location.

Two day s ago (⁶⁄₁₆) my wife found a dead cockroach in her cobb salad.
I don’t know what to make of it — it’s either a low probability event or behind the modern, clean façade they got an unsanitary kitchen — but we are not going back there again.

I’ve been to a few of these places now including Milpitas and Mountain View. Just discovered this location. They cater to the 9 – 5 crowd and they never disappoint. Always fresh, always fast. They brew peet’s coffee and have great fresh pastries. Every place is uniform in cleanliness and friendly staff. My old standby is the Cobb salad but the sandwiches are equally as great. This is soon to be one of your favorite lunch spots.

This Specialty’s is located within the business park next to Stoneridge so if you work at Workday, you’re one lucky person. Their prices are a little bit on the steep side, but nothing to get too upset about cause it’s comparable to Panera. I went here on the day before Christmas so there weren’t many people there, but I can only imagine the foot traffic on a normal business day.
Great thing about Specialty’s are the cookies and also the pre-​order, so you can order in advance and just pick up when your ready!

Specialty’s has their shit together.
Anyone who has picked up a large catering order for the office knows what a nightmare that can be: «I told you I didn’t want mayo on my sandwich!» «Dressing on the side! Come on!!!» Specialty’s web site allows you to get as specific as possible and your food is waiting for you when you arrive. Love it.
I ate at the restaurant for the first time today. Sat on the patio and enjoyed my super-​healthy Vegan Salad. I’m glad I didn’t order the large because it’s massive. A little pricey but worth it for legit ingredients.
Specialty’s: You think you’re special, don’t you? Well, you are.

I personally prefer the SF location better. The baked goods often come out more fresh there. And although the price is understandable in SF… it seems a little inflated for a suburb location.
It’s still a very solid location however. Service is friendly from what I’ve gotten. They’ve messed up my orders before… but were very quick to accomodate.
Best to come around the lunch rush, or you may wait a little long.

Where to start?
The food is mostly great!
Way out here is the burbs isn’t exactly a food mecca so it’s nice to have a Specialty’s around for lunch.
Now for the bad:
Two out of three visits my order has been botched. The first time they substituted a Pelligrino drink for a meal. Not sure how that happens, but whatever. I took the time to let them know I wasn’t happy, and someone from the central office called. He promised to refund the cost of the salad only. Plus they would send me a coupon for a cookie – something that never happened. Three or four phone calls later, they supposedly refunded my $ 9. Wonderful – at my hourly rate I pad Specialty’s about $ 40 for the honor of screwing up my order. Thanks for that.
Any business can screw up, I get that, so I tried again today. I ordered from the new location on Hopyard. Took an hour to process and my large salad was labeled correctly but the same physical size as my coworker’s small. I’ll pass on the 30 minutes required to get my money back and simply write a review here.
I’m a business owner and I get that scalability is tough, but Specialty’s – you have some work to do.

I ordered online and when I got there, the sandwiches were sitting on the bookshelf (in alphabetical order). The orders were correct. And there’s 15 minute parking right in the front so it makes it easy. The service was great — the girl made sure I picked up the right bag.
Thanks Specialty’s! I love their Turkey & Cranberry with sprouts, sunflower seeds and lettuce. YUMMY!

I know everyone has their opinion and there are always two sides to a coin and blah blah blah. But I don’t want to believe that this place can get anything less than 4 stars.
You take Panera bread times it by 130 810 148 in the tasty scale and keep the cost even. That is Specialty’s. You guys really want to know how good this place is? I went here for the first time this Tuesday. I went back there Wednesday and Thursday for lunch and i still want more!
I read all of the 1 – 2 star rating reviews and I have yet fall victim to similar cases. I never had an order wrong, I never waited longer than 20 minutes for my food, and I especially never felt like this was was impersonal at all. Yes, there is a place for you to order your food through an ipad, but if people actually open their eyes, you’ll see that there are two cashiers waiting to take your order. #runonsentences #imabadass #wegotabadassoverhere. They were even nice enough to hand me paper menus when I was squinting my eyes trying to look at their boards.
But anyways, on to the specialty. #punintended #hashtagsarefun.
Their sandwiches is to die for. Tuesday I had their BBQ Beef Sandwich, great. Wednesday I had their Pastrami sandwich, awesome. And Thursday I had their Cranberry and Turkey sandwich, legendary. #noHIMYMjokes #playedout. Extras were their brownie, snickerdoodle cookies, and chocolate chips. All so good. They also make a mean latte using Peet’s beans.
I mean, how could you not like this place? It’s sandwiches and salads done right. Half of the dining experience is directly affected by the host, but the other half is influenced by you. Want to walk through the door grumpy or do you want to take your time and enjoy lunch? Your call. Also, how can you hate eating lunch outside on a nice cali afternoon.