Great Harvest Bread Company

Bring On The Bread
Bread maker «Melissa» was great here — she spent at least 10 minutes educating us on the various breads and what days of the week they are available. She also gave us some free samples and some tips on her favorite local Mexican food restaurants, which we really liked.
We left with a loaf of Jalapeño Cheddar Garlic and Mexican Chocolate Tea Cake. Both were amazing.

Fresh bread and plenty of samples for you to try. Also have muffins, jam, and pancake mix!
Also make smoothies but I wasn’t a big fan of them.

I ventured here on an off chance that the current kind of bread I regularly buy is not the best out there (at least for me).
Maybe their bread is good. Maybe I just got two loaves of soggy, dense, so-​so bread because of some good explanation. But maybe they just serve soggy, dense, so-​so bread.
The prices didn’t bother me. It is ready-​made on site, so I was expecting to pay a bit extra. Besides, I buy bread form Whole Foods, so am used to paying a bit more and I don’t mind it. What I didn’t expect was that my Rosemary Sourdough go-​to from Whole Foods would whoop the pants off of the bread from Great Harvest.
Go figure!

BEST Bread, BEST smoothies, BEST people behind the counter. 10x better than the Jamba Juice across the parking lot.
my only gripe is that there is only 1 blender for smoothies… and there should be a customer card for smoothies! :)

WHY did I not know about this place before!!! I found out about Great Harvest Bread Company from a food blog about eating healthy, whole foods. After I checked out their (sort of poorly designed but with lots of good info) website, I knew I had to check it out.
First things first… samples. You can sample ANY and ALL of the items that they have fresh-​baked that day. The samples are huge, and they are NOT shy about giving them out! Oh yeah, and there are four different kinds of butters you can spread on them. Wow!
Next, the service — the man working there was so nice and had lots of good information for me — he really showed me the ropes. I never felt rushed or pressured to buy anything, although I did end up leaving with a loaf of bread and two cookies.
Finally, the quality. All the bread is baked that day (and they sell it the next day, too, but on the third day they give it to charity), and it is made with simple, whole ingredients. The delicious honey whole wheat bread that I purchased only has five ingredients: stone ground whole wheat, water, honey, yeast, and salt. All things I can pronounce!
The prices are obviously a little higher than a grocery store loaf, but not bad at all. My wheat loaf was $ 4.90 — less than the cost of a sandwich at almost any restaurant, and definitely worth it for the quality and taste.
I will definitely be a repeat customer (and repeat sampler!) — I’ll be purchasing the asiago cheese bread next!

If you are on the Atkins diet, I wouldn’t even dare LOOKING at this place. You. Can’t. Handle. It.
But if you want to ignore my warning, then I’d recommend going on Fridays, the only day of the week that they offer their Whole-​Grain Low Carb Bread.
This was my first taste of Great Harvest and not even 24 hours later I found myself inside the little store that I so often overlook.
I’ve only been here a handful of times, but thanks to their awesome samples, I’ve been able to try quite a few of their breads. My favorites so far are their fancy wheat breads like the High-​Five Fiber (Th) and Dakota (W/​Th/​F). I’ve tried their Asiago Cheese Sourdough (M/​W/​F) which of course is delicious but I’d recommend having a plan on what you’re going to do with it before you buy it. I didn’t, and about half of it went to waste.
Double Chocolate Cherry (M/​S) is good, but a little bit too cakey-​sweet for my taste.
Peach Cobbler Crumble (F) on the other hand is out of this world!
Their other sweet loafs like Cranberry Orange (W), Lemon Blueberry (Th), and super moist and a refreshing change from the same-​olé same-​olé pumpkin & banana nut that everyone has. (But they have those too if you’re into that kind of thing)
***For a better Great Harvest Bread experience, here are some things you should know:
They do not offer every kind of bread they make, every single day. They have a selection of «everyday breads» that they have — go figure — everyday. In addition to this they offer a different selection of specialty breads every day. Their menu can be found online (
) or on their counter next to their cash register.
They do not bake the bread at this location; they bake at their Bee Caves location. Also baking bread is a very time consuming and labor-​intensive process. So multiple deliveries of bread in the morning are necessary. Their hours say 9AM-​7PM but before noon their selection is very small. I’d strongly recommend trying to wait until ~11:30−12pm for the best selection or calling ahead to ensure the bread that you want is available.
Also, their Whole-​Grain Low Carb Bread is an extremely hot commodity. From what my sister, the no-​carb queen, tells me the demand increases during the winter. She has seen the stuff sell out within an hour at the Bee Caves location due to people calling in to reserve loaves. And I’ve seen loaves promised to callers at this location as well. Just a friendly warning if you are looking to get your hands on the stuff in the winter.

I love their bread. Honey whole wheat is so chewy and delicious. Jalapeño cheddar is also very good. Sometimes, it’s kind of hard to remember which day has what bread, but so far everything I have tried there was good.

Okay so after my previous review, I returned to the same store with the same chick working and she was 100 times friendlier, knowledgable about all the breads they had for sale… must have just been having a bad day or something the last time I went. The chocolate cherry is my favorite here and my husband loves the jalapeño cheddar and asiago sourdough… yum yum… and they have smoothies? Weird combination but my hubby loves his smoothies, $ 4.99 each is about comparable to Jamba Juice — no boosters though and no wheatgrass shots. Would go here again I love me my free samples!

The first time I came here, it was to get a sandwich. I was so excited to see a Great Harvest here, because I’ve had fabulous sammiches at their locations in other cities.
«No, we don’t do that here. Just sell bread.»
Then, I came in looking for some good rye bread.
«No, we don’t do that here. No rye bread.»
Then, I wanted one of their breads on their board.
«No, we only do that one on Mondays.»
Then, I wanted one of their cute Hot Cross Bunnys, which were all over the place and featured a flyer that they were available on ³⁄₂₈.
«No, we won’t have those until tomorrow.»
I’m really confused. You don’t have/​make 3 of the 4 things that I was looking for, and the 4^th one isn’t available, even though it says it should be, and I see them all around your store?
I settled for Sunflower Wheat. It’s pretty good. I was hoping to find a bakery where I could get fresh bread on a regular basis, but most of their breads have fruit, cheese, or something else in them. I’m not knocking those things. I just think maybe some good quality sammich-​makin bread might be a good place to start.

There are three reasons I like going to this place.
Reason 1: They have a wicked awesome array of breads that you can ‘try before you buy’. Also, the samples that they give you are usually pretty substantial. If you need a quick snack just swing in here for a few minutes.
Reason 2: The bread is very good. I have tried various kinds, and almost all of it is worth the money. The «Pumpkin Spice Bread» is freaking awesome. There is also some sort of cheesy garlicky bread that makes me want to put anything I can find between two slices and make a sandwich on the spot.
Reason 3: There is a cute girl that works there that is always playing Radiohead over the sound system. Can’t say that I disapprove of being cute, or listening to Radiohead. So that’s another plus.
Pros: Awesome Breads (mostly), Good Service, Good Music Selection :)
Cons: A Couple (not many) of «Meh» Breads, More Expensive than Your Typical Loaf

This place is awesome!
The best low carb bread in town, but only on Fridays… the other breads also smell awesome…

Bread. Both my friend and enemy, it brings both pleasure and pain. Cutting most bread from my diet was one of the toughest calls I ever had to make, trumping even the sayonara to sweets. I will still eat breads if baked with the ancient grains, and perhaps a multi-​grain pita pocket sandwich. Even to this day, white/​garlic/​cheesy bread acts like a jilted ex-​lover, still popping up uninvited in my life, usually during other people’s dinner parties or stalking me with its enticing aroma during a stroll through the grocery store. The other day, I finally decided to let bread back into my life, if only for one night.
I was headed to a homemade dinner with the family that would feature our choice of wild-​caught sock-​eye or lobster-​stuffed salmon. I had stopped at Randall’s to pick up just the bare essentials – pistachios, blackberry Izze, and chocolate-​chocolate chip Talenti gelato. For someone who gives bread a hard time, you might think this is a double standard. And it was, so I thought to hell with it, I’ll pick up a designer bread for the dinner, too. Nothing impressed me at Randall’s, so I took a quick jaunt over to Great Harvest Bread Company.
It’s not often enough that I come here, but I really wanted something a little more special than standard grocery bakery fair. I couldn’t help but notice I had made it with five minutes to spare before closing. That was close.
The woman behind the counter welcomed me in, even though it was obvious she was understandably tired, and closing up for the day. I promised her I wouldn’t be a pain in the butt. After staring at the chalkbaord for a bit, I told her I was headed to a dinner, and was trying to figure out what to select. Not missing a beat, she asked what was for dinner, and I replied with salmon. She immediately recommended three breads: the asiago-​cheese sourdough, sunflower whole wheat, or their Great Smoky Mountain wheat. Try as I might, she had me at «asiago-​cheese sourdough».
I asked her if I needed to heat it up, and she explained it could be prepared in a toaster oven, or even just microwaved for a bit with butter. I was starving, and this was sounding extremely tempting.
As she rang me up, she handed me a flyer that listed the different varieties available on different days. So, for example, my favorite, spinach feta, can be found on Mondays and Wednesdays. An everyday bread they offer, pumpkin spice, is probably the first thing to hit your olfactory senses when you walk in the door. Everyday breads of course include their premium white, a honey whole wheat, and a cinnamon chip. If I ever decide to cheat again, I’d love to try the cheddar cheese garlic or the banana nut. Don’t forget there’s challa on Friday for Passover; I’m not Jewish, but I think it can work for an Episcopalian, too.
They say man can not live by bread alone; I always took this to mean we needed booze, too, but for Great Harvest, they’re speaking more to the fresh-​from-​the-​oven cookies and brownies they offer, in addition to other treats such as biscotti or peach crunch granola.
It may cost more per loaf, but you really do get quality and freshness that you may or may not find in the grocery bakeries, and certainly not in most of the bread aisles. A food purist, I am heartened to know their wheat bread contains only freshly ground premium wheat flour, water, honey, yeast, and salt. Their pamphlet explains in much more detail exactly why their bread is superior in both preparation and nutrition.
I must also take a moment to thank the clerk. With only 5 minutes to go, she didn’t for a second lead me to believe she wanted me gone, or rush me in any way. Although I was there for a short time, she was engaged and helpful. Once again, I was reminded that customer service is not a thing of the past.
At the bottom of their menu, it states: «Thank you for the privilege of being your neighborhood bread store.»
To that I say: «No – thank you!»

I can not say anything else about this place but «GO THERE». You walk in, the person greeting you is always nice and offer you a HUGE SLAB of something to try! I understand bite size pieces but they give you like ¹⁄₈ of a loaf of bread to try! Everything is so fresh, full of sweet flavors, and WHOLESOME. Can’t get enough of this place!

I like how they give you slices of bread to sample. Look for coupons in the news paper because they often have «buy one get one free»
The breads I’ve tried are either ok or pretty good. I agree with Angela M. that they should make the breads with whole grains (maybe not all, but just have more whole grain breads

This is the best bread in the world. Must be!
and the guy behind the counter is one of the friendliest. I am positive I have gained 20 lbs just from smelling the aromas from the store. not counting the muffins and brownies and breads and… oh shoot! I gotta. Must run over to Great Harvest Bread Company!

A friend of mine that is from Montana told me about this place. The original bakery is in Montana and apparently they make some awesome breads and patries so I decided to give them a shot!
I was blown away at both the friendly service and the bread! The gentlemen that helped us was very informative and he let us take home a few loaves of bread for FREE because we purchased so many loaves. I think this also was because he was getting ready to close. But who cares! All of the breads and muffins that we got were absolutely delicious! I love their cinnamon bread and the chocolate muffins, too bad that they no longer make their famous cinnamon rolls! Those are out of this world!

I walked by the storefront on my way to lunch and made a mental note to stop in afterwards. I am so glad I did. The parmesan garlic bread I had a huge sample of was the best bread I have eaten in a very long time. I also had a couple of bites of the cheddar garlic bread. It was good, but not nearly as fresh.
I also bought a blondie to share with my fiancé. It is sitting on my desk and I am trying to show some self control and not eat it in a single bite. I am losing this battle.

It’s a sensory extravaganza when you enter this small shop. You can see the bread (racks full of bread), smell it (bread is extremely fresh), touch it (the day’s menu is out on a cutting board) and even taste it (samples of everything available) and hear it (calling your name and reminding you that bread makes you happy).
I am not a carb avoider so I skipped from my car to the store. I was greeted with «Welcome to the bakery» just as all my senses went into overdrive and I thought I might pass out from the intoxicating experience of just entering. I was just too overwhelmed to be able to give a good examination of all the bread available for the day so I asked my two questions 1. What’s good for french toast? and 2. What’s good for a hearty side. Cinnamon chip. Done. Asiago sourdough. Done.
I was given a frequent buyer card with two punches and told about the Great Harvest coupon in the Food section on the 2^nd Wednesday of every month. It was already a 5 star review just based on the shopping experience.
After heating the Asiago Sourdough up on a smoker and eating it with a smoked porkchop that my husband and his best friend made… AND… after making the most amazing French Toast this morning, I can confirm that Great Harvest deserves a 5 star review for both products and service. Thanks to the menu/​schedule I was given and the close proximity to my house (less than 2 miles), I’ll be back to Great Harvest with frequency.

Oh yeah! Free sample of delicious bread with real butter. And, let me tell you the samples are not small. Hunks of bread slathered in butter so you can taste the true mouth-​watering flavor.
When my vegetarian brother comes to town from El Paso, Great Harvest is on his list. He purchases several loaves, usually the Honey Wheat and Garlic Cheese. They end up in my freezer (tempting us) and the morning he leaves, the bread heads home via Southwest Airlines in his suitcase.
A real family favorite around here is the Pumpkin Roll, a seasonal delight baked during Thanksgiving with sweetened cream cheese in the middle. But we would not turn down any loaf of bread from Great Harvest. Every loaf is fresh and tasty and baked with wholesome ingredients.
Strange, I’m tasting some right now… in my head… it’s not good enough… I’m going to hit «Post It»…and go get some Great Harvest bread!

I always bought bread from HEB, today I stepped in a bread store and decide to try different bread. Their breads are priced between $ 5.8 and $ 7.3. They put all sampled breads on the counter, so you can taste all of them before you purchase.
I almost tasted all of them, and I like cheddar cheese garlic most. I also wanted to purchase double chocolate cherry, but they don’t bake that on Monday. They gave me a menu, and I found out they baked different breads on different days.
I got my bread home, and told my boyfriend it’s a $ 6 bread. He was surprised, «Isn’t bread $ 1»? After he had the first bite, he couldn’t stop eating it.
So can’t judge this place if you only had HEB bread.