School Bakery & Cafe

Went for Sunday breakfast a few weeks ago. It was very busy and waited for 45 minutes for a table. I have no problem waiting for a good meal but the food here is not good. It comes to the table cold, parts of the meal were overcooked well in advance and then served cold. Fresh fruit? it was brown as it was likely sitting out after being cut. The place is messy and overpriced. I am kind of confused to why this place was lined up, and then i remembered I am in Toronto and mediocre restaurants are treated like the gold standard in eating. Wake up Toronto!!

Thought the concept was cute, so I decided to trek over to Liberty Village and check it out.

Quickly seated and everything was clean, and had our orders taken quickly. So everything seemed to be off to a great start.

An hour later, our food arrived. No server came to tell us that our food was coming unless I had asked "where was it," but even then all they said was "it's coming." No apologies when it was put down in front of me either. It seems they're cheery and nice but have no idea what they're doing.

My SBC Benni was pretty good, but my friend's four-cheese omelet soufflé wasn't cooked properly - there was a puff of flour still left in the middle of the omelet!

Nevertheless, I cannot say that we will be returning for another experience.

We gave their "Sunday School" a try with close friends visiting from Alberta.

Atmosphere: At first glance this restaurant is quite impressive. Lots of large windows and big open doors to the patio and the predominate color is black. The interior is a clever rendering of the school theme with many details right down to an apple for the teacher on every table. Too bad there were crumbs of food on our table top and the window sill next to the table. Bad start first thing in the day.

Service: Although the was a brigade of servers milling around the kitchen service counter it took a while before we were contacted for our order. Why couldn't those servers checked the cleanliness of their areas instead of just standing around? We ordered; then we chatted and sipped our coffees through a couple of refills. About 40 minutes after ordering we finally received our food without comment, that length of time must be normal.

Food: Although everything looked good, it was barely warm and cooling fast. When are restaurants going to learn that massive unheated plates ruin the enjoyment of otherwise well prepared food? For the prices charged here they ought to be able to afford a plate warmer.

Am I being too harsh? I don't think so. It's disappointing to see a well planned restaurant deliver a poor dining experience. They need to hire a competent manager and turn this place around. It could easily be a great little spot.