The Works Bakery Café

Great place for a quick lunch or breakfast. The baked goods, breads, and bagels are fresh and come in a variety of flavors. I love how the sandwiches come packed with veggies. The cream cheese flavors are also very yummy. Also a very great and versatile atmosphere– there is a space and chalkboard for children to play, large tables to get work done, and cozy benches to sip coffee at. The employees are extremely kind, quick, and helpful. They are patient with orders and customers. All around, this place is an excellent café and I will certainly be back!

We stopped here for breakfast on a break from our typical Bruegger’s Bagels, only to be pretty disappointed. We loved the décor and the rustic feel of the restaurant, but the sandwiches left a lot to be desired. The bread was tasty and fresh but the sandwich was extremely bland. I had the turkey guacamole sandwich and eventually forgot the guac was even there with what little taste it had. Maybe we will try it again but in the meantime, Bruegger’s it is

I had a gift card so I got a chicken panini and a smoothie. The smoothie was okay but nothing special and the panini was pretty bland. The chicken had no flavor at all. It was also overpriced. I’m just glad I didn’t have to pay because of the gift card.

Best veggie cream cheese I’ve ever had. Highly recommend their «works bagel» and the smoked salmon sandwich.

This place is without a doubt the most disappointing thing to happen to Amherst since I moved here.
There is huge potential for the space where The Works resides but the place is so actively terrible that no matter how much I wanted it to be even decent I regret every time I step foot in there. Why?
1) terrible coffee
2) terrible bagels
3) microwaved egg sandwiches
4) soup that tastes worse than Campbell’s
5) sterile atmosphere
6) boring sandwiches on stale bread
The people who work there are nice enough. My wish is that The Works goes out of business soon, that a new much more wonderful place opens up in that same space, but that the same staff work at the new place.

I’ve been here multiple times, but I always question why I go back. The bagels are small, they’re pretty stingy with the toppings if you get a sandwich, and it’s all very overpriced. The main reason for not giving it only 1 star is their rewards program (buy 10 sandwiches, get 1 free) and the free wi-​fi. Other than that, can’t say too many things that make me want to go back.

I’ll soon be a regular at The Works — I’ve been here twice now, and both times have had yummy food and loved the atmosphere. It is a great place to go have a cup of coffee while you try and get some work done! The environment is very relaxed, so staying here for a few hours at a time doesn’t seem to be a problem or out of the norm. The best part is that The Works is not nearly as loud as other local cafés.
I love the mozzarella sandwich (although the bagels are a little too salty in my experience). The chili was also good. The chicken and rice soup and the «Brain Freeze,» a blended coffee drink, both blew my partner out of the water. And stay away from the chocolate chip cookies if you don’t want to order three of them in one study session!
The staff occasionally seems a little harried and distracted while they help you, and the way the line is organized could be improved. I never quite know where to stand or go when I’m waiting for food or a drink. And, as is to be expected of a café, the table and floors usually have some crumbs and such. But the good food and good vibes will keep me coming back.

Used to really enjoy this place. Loved the café vibe and getting a lot of work done here.
I bought chicken noodle soup about 8 months ago and found a CLUMP of blonde hair in the soup, particularly the chicken. I had not returned back to The Works from that time until today, and I can’t believe this place is still in business. They are making money off of people who are just too lazy to cook, and in a disgusting way. I can’t believe I didn’t call the board of health the first time, but this place should NOT be open for business!

went here the other day and the food was amazing! the building is cute and service was good. i got the fresh mozzarella sandwich and it was delicious. I had never been before, but will certainly come again. (also very pleased at the vegetarian /​vegan /​eco friendly menu options)

Went in with a group of four, one of us asked for a cup of tap water while paying. The person working the register said they don’t serve tap water so we got a bottled water and carried on. Then another one of our friends went up and asked for a cup of tap water and was promptly given one (there was another cashier this time)
Our first friend was a person of color, and our second friend was white. Do they not have a consistent water policy or are they blatantly racist? Paying for a bottle of water isn’t the biggest deal, but I expect fair treatment no matter what.

Great place to go for a quick breakfast and coffee or for a sit down. Focused on local and eco friendly foods. Quality menu, nice atmosphere, and very friendly staff!

First of all, once you’ve had George’s banana chocolate chip cake, you’re hooked! The coffee is good and the staff is super super super friendly! The Manager Michelle is simply wonderful! My go to for lunch is the smoked salmon wrap made to order! This café is environmentally friendly.

I know people rave about this place but, I’m sorry, it’s gross. I’ve been a few times before I went again today and each time I’ve been disappointed. The iced coffee is weak – even with a shot of espresso added it tastes watery. The sausage, egg, and cheese bagel sandwich I had was totally flavorless and so underseasoned that I had to add my own salt – but it still managed to leave a big puddle of flavorless grease on my plate. On a previous visit, I tried one of their smoothies. It was made with mostly ice and tasted like, you guessed it: ice!
The only good this useless, disappointing, unsatisfying restaurant does for the Amherst community is shorten the line at Breugger’s where the food actually tastes good. I won’t make the mistake of giving The Works another chance.

Love, love, love this place. A great selection whether you want a full meal, coffee, or snack. And, if you can’t decide, get the «Two’s A Meal» and combine sandwich and salad/​soup.
I’ve had many different bagels from here and while they aren’t NY bagels (call me biased), they are good for this college town. Parisian Chicken Salad and the Smoked Salmon are two of my favorites. They also have great cookies and chips to add. Coffee is great too — they have hazelnut and french vanilla in addition regular. to A nice atmosphere to sit with a friend or to do work in. They also have coffee and sandwich cards — for every 10 items purchased, you get one for free!
Additionally, I have found that the people that work here are always in a good mood and friendly.

The bagel sandwiches are REALLY good & my kids ate a fan of the mango/​pineapple/​banana («the best smoothie I’ve ever had!»). The bread is fresh, a simple turkey & cheese is super solid and I look forward to stopping in when I’m around. Service isn’t always the friendliest. And kind of slow.

Came here for breakfast and got a egg sandwich with spinach. Pretty sure I got food poisoning from it — not a great combination with my presentation later during the day. Their sandwich, could be good, but apparently it’s a hit or miss.

Too pricey. I bought bagel with hummus and it was more than &4.00. The bagel was decent, but tasted just like one from Dunkin Donuts.

They have the best hot cocoa it’s so rich and perfect on those sub zero days. You have to try their bagel sandwiches the garlic bagels are perfection!

wasn’t in the mood to eat bc I’ve been sad but my friend said I must, so – got the «pick two» soup/​salad/​sandwich deal (yes, like Panera) with chili and a salad.
salad was served on small paper plate with romaine, two halved cherry tomatoes, a spray of shredded carrot and a sprout fro. no dressing was offered. crunchy, fresh, but overflowing the paper plate so it was a bit awkward to eat. paper plate made it feel cheap.
chili was beans and corn. too sweet, decent kick, but not hot enough. I didn’t finish the small cup.
friend said his tomato basil soup was too hot but tasty; his turkey sandwich was, «meh.»
points for gluten-​free and vegan options, good light, outlets and decent seating. I’d expect to pay maybe six bucks for the portion size I received but it was over nine. probably won’t be back.

I have no clue why I bothered coming back.
I spent the first 3 minutes of my time watching the staff fumble around the counter looking for something, in an otherwise empty establishment. Finally they come up to me and say they don’t have something I never ordered — I hadn’t even spoken to them yet! Confused the employees looked at one another, brushed it off and laughed. They might be nice, but they are really ridiculously aloof. I paid almost $ 15 for a smoothie and their soup/​sandwich combo (which under no circumstances was worth $ 7.) The soup tasted like it was something out of a can, and I bit into something hard in it on top of everything. The «half» sandwich was embarrassingly plain and not even the size of my palm.
The bathroom smelled as if someone threw up in it, and the staff just threw away whatever they used to clean up the mess into the trash can.

Overpriced and poor quality. 2 dollars for a snapple, long wait times, and disorganized staff
The employees couldn’t keep orders straight and kept on asking and re asking what people’s orders were. In addition the eggs were poor quality, cage free my a$$. the employees were nice but poor delivery.
Focus more on the food quality instead of the décor. Probably won’t come back when I can get a bagel just as good at any of the other bakeries in town at half the cost and a quarter of the wait time.

Great bagels, excellent service and really good egg sandwich but… the lock to the men’s room did not work. Are you kidding me? How can you run a nice operation and not care about this? Get your shit together

Good options for most natural foods! I wish they were all organic but the fact that they use nitrate free meat makes it worth it for overall quality. Also, the bagels and cream cheese are much better than Bruegger’s.
Service is mostly good– one exception is a particular counter person that is very short tempered and almost rude to customers. I understand it is a line service where they are working per order but that does not mean that you need to bark orders at customers and not treat them kindly or with respect. I too have worked in a very similar service environment and know how hard and stressful it can be– but just be polite and understand that we aren’t all horrible customers.
Again, everyone else that I have interacted with is very nice. This just wasn’t the first time I had a bad experience with this person.

When I eat here, I am usually getting a salad, but I probably won’t be going back for lunch anymore. The quality is just too inconsistent. Today my salad was half spoiled. Plus I found a leaf covered in dust/​soil. So on top of it being old, they didn’t properly wash it.

Well that was a particularly unsatisfying experience. Came here with the bf on a not-​too busy late morning. The space is attractive and fun, I’ll give it that, and we were looking forward to a nice relaxing bite. He ordered the usual egg sandwich over easy with bacon and cheese. Told there was only scrambled eggs, ok sure. EXCEPT, the eggs weren’t exactly eggs, it was a «liquid egg» with no yolks according to the perky girl behind the counter, and they didn’t scramble it, they microwaved it. Huh? MICROWAVED egg? The result was a kind of rubbery pale yellow tasteless blob on bread (good bread actually).
My mistake was ordering a smoothy. They say they use real fruit, but I watched the girl dump a cup of liquidy stuff into a blender with some ice. No fruit in sight. The result was kind of a smoothie with bits of ice. After 5 minutes, however, the «smoothie» had become an inch of foamy (soapy?) bubbles on top of a separated clear-​ish liquid on top of a thick mass of sort of fruit compote. Everyone knows the right way to make a smoothie is with bits of frozen fruit and juice and or yogurt. Not here apparently.
We can’t recommend, unless you want to sit with a cup of weak coffee and surf (they have wifi).

Hmmm… It’d be a second or third choice study spot when Raos and Starbucks are full and you don’t want to hang out at Bruggers, but it’s better suited for a quick lunch date. There are a couple outlets in the corner which is always a plus.
The sandwiches are very unremarkable and the coffee is weak. They serve the fantastic Harney & Sons brand tea, but they only carry the frou frou blends and burned my tea.
The staff is cute and very nice. Food comes out pretty quickly. The custies however are really annoying with their ridiculous long orders and substitutions so be prepared to wait.

The Works is a New England chain focusing on local fresh ingredients. This is not Panera and they are not trying to be. Breakfast options all day, as well as soup and salad. The only place in the Valley for a real, clean, smoothie. Tried the Huevos Hamchereos and it was good. My Razz smoothie tasted great, fresh, and clean. My only complaint is that the blender is subpar and there were still chunks of fruit.
Staff was friendly, kind, and fast. Plenty of seating, very rustic feel. Welcome to Western Mass!

This is like a Panera, but only good. The sandwhich I got was good, especially the bread as it had the good texture. There was ample room to sitting and also the wi-​fi was free too.
I did not try the coffee or any of the pastries. But I would say this is better than Loose Goose and Black Sheep in the sandwhich department.