Specialty’s Café & Bakery

After our visit to the Sky View Observatory, we were quite hungry and were pleasantly surprised to find a decent food court in the building.
Specialty’s had a good variety of sandwiches and soup and pastries that looked to-​die-​for.
I initially ordered the White Bean Chili but they had run out during the lunch rush. Then I ordered the Caprese sandwich but during the lunch rush they had run out of the bread they typically service it on. I went ahead with the sandwich and had it on herb bread. It was 12.45pm…when do people have lunch? Just seemed a little early to be running out of lunch items.
My friend ordered the large Spinach Bacon Salad and it was HUGE! When she ordered it and the total came to $ 10 we were like, dang that’s an expensive salad. But when we saw the servicing size, well worth the money! She had to take half of it home.
My Caprese sandwich was find but I was impressed by the healthy serving portion of mozzarella. Usually you get two little slices but Specialty put two healthy slices on each half of my sandwich. Even with the herb bread, the sandwich was filling and had a good flavor.
We ended up not taking any of the pastries with us, but they looked amazing.

Specialty’s is, essentially, a less corporate version of Panera. It’s pretty close to identical. Having said that, I like Panera quite a bit. I choose Specialty’s breakfast sandwiches of the other downtown options frequently. The biggest complaint my coworkers and I have is that it always seems more expensive than you anticipate it is going to be. It’s good though.

This was a go-​to lunch spot for me for years. But within the last three month or so it has become incredibly unreliable and inconsistent. One day they may not have the bread for sandwiches, the next day it will be lettuce for salads. How do you not have lettuce for salads when you have like eight salads on the menu? One might think that’s not unreasonable after the lunch rush, but this is at the beginning of the lunch rush. Today, it took 25 minutes to have a salad made, which was missing the focaccia that regularly accompanies it. Sadly, I will no longer be a patron of this sandwich/​salad/​baked goods spot: (

I eat vegan and you can’t go wrong with Dawns Vegan salad made with butter and red lettuce my faves or The roasted veggie sandwich without the cheese. I substitute the cheese with arugula. The staff is always friendly and helpful too. A great venue in a sea of unhealthy fast food spots if you work in SMT or Columbia Tower and are too lazy to go out in the pouring rain!

Food is great, as to be expected from a chain restaurant recognized for their fresh ingredients and original sandwiches.
I work upstairs from this location, and have frequented them often during their 12 o’clock lunch rush. Having worked in the food industry, it doesn’t take long to observe the lack of preparation that you can observe on a daily basis if you happen to be in line during the 12 – 1 lunch rush they experience daily.
They run out of many of their soups DAILY, without having prepped for the one rush they can be certain they will experience.
Their average wait time for a sandwich is 15+ minutes, hence I typically opt out for small cup of soup which is already prepared and should take no longer then 2 minutes for one of their 8 staff members to place in a cup and finish with a garnish and seal/​bag.
On average this simple process takes 10+ minutes. Not once have I observed an on-​duty manager take the initiative to expedite this process.
There is no accountability taken, and this location could greatly benefit from upper management seizing the opportunity to implement assignment positions for the excessive staff that can be observed running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
If you must utilize this location, I would strongly recommend pre-​ordering.

Orders always seem to get mixed up. SEVERAL of my co-​workers have gotten sick /​food poisoning from this location. Best to skip it and get something elsewhere.

For an $ 8 small Cobb salad, I received a tray filled to the top with chopped green lettuce, on to which had been thrown some diced chicken and a meager sprinkling of bleu cheese (I found some around the edge). And part of a single mushroom. But mostly a bowl of lettuce for $ 8. No tomatoes, onions, egg or avocado, all ingredients advertised in the menu. I had already written off the two other Specialty’s salads I tried previously, and this is the last one I will ever buy there.

I used to work in the Columbia Tower 5 days per week, but now come in just once a week and telework the other days. This location has seriously declined in terms of both service and quality. They consistently run out of soup before noon. They consistently run out of focaccia bread. And when they do, they don’t provide you a replacement of some other type of bread, or chips, or whatever. They just don’t give you anything. They do a poor job of managing the lines. The help is not well trained and the food is meh and expensive. The price of a chocolate chip cookie has increased from about $ 1.50 to almost three bucks. I don’t know of any cookie that is worth almost $ 3. If you order a sandwich, and you don’t order it before you come down, you’ll wait half your lunch break to get it. If you want to have a cup of soup, don’t eat here. I recommend the other soup place in the food court. Even if they run out of one of their soups, they always have a nice selection well after 1 p.m. Their cookies are cheaper and they are bigger. And the help always knows what they are doing. I used to like this place and I hate it now. Don’t waste your money. There are better places to eat at the Columbia Tower. Skip this one.

This place is pretty ok in my book. Do i think they are legendary not really but for an average lunch spot not bad. Beats Jimmy Johns or Fast food type places by a landslide. Every sandwich i have had tastes fresh and i haven’t ever been disappointed. I have had the turkey pesto and the turkey bacon apple and brie. Both sandwiches were tasty. Service has always been good. You do get that chain vibe kind of like Panera bread but i like Specialty’s better. I have had breakfast once. Why three stars. The chain vibe, sometimes service is slow and its not mind blowing. If i could give it a 3.8 i would.

This place is a bit less than okay, and after months of inconsistent service, I’m ready to take my business elsewhere. Specialty’s is conveniently close to my office but I think it’s pretty pricy for what it is; basic sandwiches (which take foreverrrr to make) and pastries (that are similar in quality to Starbucks, generally, even though they are baked in-​house). I usually just get a side of soup during lunch at this particular location. The food quality is fine but the service can be so slow. Today I waited 10+ minutes to get a side of soup. The soup, mind you, is already prepared and requires nothing more than scooping it into a bowl and is sitting at the front of house. The problem here is usually a lack of standardized procedures and communication breakdown, and today was no exception. Sometimes the cashier ringing up your order will grab the soup for you, other times somebody else will get the ticket and prepare it. Sometimes you’ll get a pager, sometimes you won’t. It seems completely arbitrary and not really dependent on how busy they are. And, honestly, I’m tired of wasting my time waiting for something that should be out in under 5 minutes, especially when I watch other soups get served to patrons who ordered after I did. Similar situations have happened when I’ve ordered sandwiches (forgotten about), salads (slooow), and even espresso (why isn’t everyone trained on espresso?! The cashiers always seem to have to grab someone else who gets distracted and forgets my order halfway through making it). Just overall disappointing.

Their breakfast sandwiches are dry and sad. Their salads and online ordering system is solid though. But there’s no excuse for their breakfast sandwiches.
While this is not the norm, I just ordered 3 coffee /​espresso drinks in a row they were unable to make for various reasons (grounds in coffee /​out of mocha syrup) — other times their coffee service has been good.

This location inside the Columbia Center is nice. With a huge seating area, which can get full during the weekday lunch hour. Specialty’s is great and I wish there are more of them in the city. They have a wide range of foods & drinks. And they cater and deliver. I love their baked goods. My wife’s office always order the baked goods box. She would bring me the left overs, and I would destroy the cookies! Trust me, get a cookie!

A coworker raved about the toasted almond scones so I had to have one.
I’ve been having their wild blueberry scones and thought this would be a nice change.
Appearance; golden crust sprinkled with sugar.
Inside: dry
Taste: tasteless and no butter flavor. Doughy and left a nasty floury coating on my tongue.
Service: super friendly and efficient.
So I went back to tell them about the disappointment and they were very nice to give me something different.

The employees at this location are nice but ALWAYS too busy to get the orders right! Don’t even bother trying to place a custom order online, it won’t be anything that you ordered. Just awful and a shame, other locations are so on top of it!

Nov & Dec 2014 Visits: I have to update my review. I eat in the food court where Specialty’s is located on an almost daily basis. I noticed that Specialty’s entire staff has been replaced about every 3 months. They just haven’t been able to get it together until now. I started going back on a regular basis and noticed that the current staff is great! I’m extremely surprised by the change. The employees are always friendly, helpful, and smile! Even the manager has a great attitude with the customers.
The restaurant is (finally) properly cleaned and the food has been prepared perfectly. The chef even says something nice when you grab your food from the pickup window.
The best employee is hands down Holly Anne.
Keep it up everyone and I can see a 5 star restaurant rating in your future. Thanks!

Really good sandwich and salad. loved the spinach & berry salad. great for takeout but if you plan on eating there, you may find yourself standing up to eat. not a lot of eat-​in tables.

Since they’ve remodeled, the drip coffee’s improved (Peet’s).
The baked goods are remarkably heavy. The cookies, I don’t understand. Are they striving for hockey puck quality and appearance? If so, they’ve succeeded.

I get confused with Specialty’s.
Sometimes I order the baked goods box for delivery to my office (upstairs in the same building) and it’s like $ 35. Yet when I pick up my own box of baked goods, it totals less than $ 20. They also don’t accommodate you if you want to place an box order in person to pick up next day, they tell you to order online because it’s easier on them to receive the electronic ticket instead of jotting down notes of the selection and taking the money in person.
I do like that they offer loose leaf tea and if you order, they’ll shake some into a little brewing pouch. But the last time I ordered tea, they didn’t have this pouch so they wrapped it in a coffee filter which obviously soaked up all the water and got in the way of the tea. I should’ve just left the cup there but the shock didn’t subside until all my friends were done laughing.
Salads are okay, fruit platter just okay, veggie plate is good, but what I really like about Specialty’s is their sandwiches. I’ve had probably close to all of their variety of sandwiches. Turkey & Cranberry, Caprese, and Vegetarian are amongst my favorites. Hot chocolate here is tenfolds better than Starbucks. The employees are also really nice even as they do silly things like wrap tea leaves in coffee filters.

The food here is always delicious. Pastries, sandwiches, soup…
I recently had the Santa Fe Chicken Tortilla soup. It was hot and flavorful and came with a generous piece of bread that I immediately gobbled up with the first bites of soup. Mmm.
Friendly and fast service too!

Since one of my work locations is nearby, I’ve eaten nearly everything on the Specialty’s menu at one point or another. And ultimately, I decided that the lunch food was just okay for the price they charge. Nothing is bad, but nothing is really good. It’s just not very memorable. So it’s been a while since I have eaten food-​food there.
Now, the reason I’m writing this review and why I’m giving it 3 stars is that I do keep returning to Specialties, and what I keep coming back for are the baked goods. They are just very, very good at baking tasty pastries. I HIGHLY recommend the following items:
–cranberry cheese danish (the perfect combination of tangy and creamy)
–wild blueberry scone (the perfect scone, I’ve never gotten a dry one, and it’s big enough to really fill you up)
–all their cookies are good, but I’m partial to the wheat germ chocolate chip, because it tastes heavenly and you can pretend you’re being healthy because it has wheat germ in it
–pumpkin walnut muffin (I’m not usually a fan of pumpkin, but this little muffin is very tasty and like with the cookie mentioned above, you don’t have to feel guilty because pumpkin is good for you!)
Hmm, think I’ll wander over there for a cookie now…

Pros:
–good atmosphere, music selection good
–seating is all bar style and looks out at the plaza, which is pleasant
–large menu
–take out AND delivery. pretty great.
–conveniently located, and clean interior
–free wifi
Cons:
–Staff are not very nice, tend to ignore customers
–pricey! $ 7 for a BLT?!
–often out of menu options (breads, spinach, etc)
⁵⁄₁₀ would recommend. Food was tasty but not worth the price, and the service wasn’t terrific. If you’re going to charge me an arm and a leg for a stinkin’ sandwich, you’d better tell me my shirt is cute and convince me your store is the bees knees!

On a recent visit to Seattle, we ate breakfast at Specialty’s every single morning because it was just that good. My opinion may be biased because Specialty’s was a nice change from the same old Starbucks/​Einstein Bagels scene I’m used to.
My favorite (steal) was to get the toasted ciabatta roll with garlic butter (only $ 0.89). I prefer to add strawberry jam, but even without the jam it is the most delicious take on toast I’ve ever had!
Their vegan cookies, oatmeal, egg sandwiches, and quiches are all good quality and pretty tasty. The line can get long, especially during certain hours of the morning when everyone wants to get coffee or breakfast, but I found it was worth the (short) wait.
I wish they had Specialty’s where I live, so hopefully the chain will expand to more states.

Best cookies on the planet!!! Salads are excellent, and the sandwiches are so unique and tasty. I had a turkey sandwich that had turkey, lettuce, sprouts and sunflower seeds along with cranberry sauce. The bread was nice and soft, and the crust was the perfect texture. I loved the salad because everything was nice and fresh, and the ingredients were placed so it was easy to pick off the things you may not like. For instance, I don’t like onions or tomatoes — but the pieces were large enough to skip. Their raspberry vinaigrette was tasty with the perfect balance of flavor.
BUT, the cookie was as big as my head with HUGE chunks of chocolate and a cake-​like texture. It was such a treat and so very rich and decadent that I felt like queen of the world while I ate it.
I highly recommend this place — the food was fresh, the salads were excellent, and the cookies. Did I mention that the cookies were sooooooooooo good. I could shout it off the top of the BOA tower — because those cookies are beyond bombdiggity. Go ahead, try one and not be blown away. I dare you…

NOTE:
i think people who Unilocal seattle places are either too generous… or something. if you search for places in seattle, too many businesses have a 4.5 average star rating.
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GREAT LOCATION!!!
if not for their location in the heart of downtown, i would not have walked in. it’s walking distance to many hotels, so any tourist would be lured here.
we were looking for a «grab n’ go» (even though we ate there) type of breakfast. ordered the denver egg sandwich and fuji apple coffeecake.
the breakfast sandwiches are made to order. they arrive hot off the griddle. while it wasn’t bad, hubby said that i make a better one at home. think it would have been better if the sandwich had more spices to it… like basil, rosemary, pepper.
the fuji apple coffeecake was enjoyable. crumbly brown sugar on top with a soft coffeecake with just the right texture.
3.5 stars
nice employees and diners. =)