Avenue Bread

Typically pretty busy when I go, but always worth the wait! Delicious and quality ingredients. I’ve never had a bad visit. :) Staff had also always been friendly.

Bread was good, sourdough especially. Pastries like pesto rolls were medium compared to likes of Avellino or other rolls sold in Bellingham. Nice variations of sandwich options and friendly front folks. Loved the fact that Fairhaven is still free to park. Location on this place is killer. Don’t go there for amazing coffee– ours tasted burned and was only half full. Fun little café to study or do work at. Not a whole bunch of dairy free options, and same with (obviously) gluten free. But they do have soups and salads for lunches.

I stopped by here today for the second time. I had their broccoli cheddar soup with foccacia and rosemary lemonade to drink. Soup was hot and filling. Their rosemary lemonade is amazing! I don’t usually like lemonade but the rosemary gives it a nice flavour.
People say its pricey but it was not nearly as bad as Starbucks where I paid more for less than what I ate here. Its a nice, cozy spot to grab a quick bite to eat. Try the lemonade. It’s the best.

Delicious fresh sandwiches– hot and cold. Yummy drinks as well. Outdoor seating makes for a perfect stop.

Love Avenue Bread’s sandwiches. Have eaten at both this location and the one downtown many times… always a good experience. Even though the food is the same, the feel of the two locations is a little different — the downtown location seems a little more «laid back» than this one does for some reason… but both have great, friendly service.

I like the environment and the friendly staff. The veggie egganue breakfast sandwich is great. It’s eggy, cheesy, avocadoey, tomotoey… And the english muffin is fresh tasting. :)
Their prices kinda feel on the pricy side, but the food definitely high quality!

Filthy tables. Had to clean one off myself to even sit down. Ok, the pesto turkey sandwich on their bread was really good but the lack of cleanliness in the café makes me wonder about their bread making…

I really want to like this place because the Fairhaven branch is a block from where I live. I will say that Fairhaven is my favorite of the three branches. The staff at the other two barely acknowledge me, and I find the food inconsistent at the other locations.
I went to the downtown branch one day during my lunch break and ordered an Eggenue (simple English muffin with egg and spinach) and waited 20 minutes for it to be made. I can make one at home in 5 minutes. Needless to say, my lunch break was over by the time I received it and I didn’t even have time to eat it. Thinking this was just an off day, I returned once more (when I didn’t have to be anywhere right away) just to have the exact same thing happen, and the person that handed me my sandwich didn’t even make eye contact with me or say anything. Ridiculous. I won’t be back.

Fantastic sandwiches. Enough for my daughter and I to split. The soup is great. I have never thought the staff overly friendly but the food makes up for it.

Great breakfast & coffee! Feels like vacation sitting outside watching the sidewalk traffic.

A must try location. nice to sit chill and have a bite to eat. Look like a popularly place for meet and greet. make sure to try a pastry.

Best BLT (plus turkey) EVER!!! The bread is amazing, and salad was tasty too. Iced tea is brewed to order. This is the perfect lunch spot!

Holy rosemary, Batman.
I just ordered eggs, bacon and toast, and I got rosemary eggs, rosemary bacon and rosemary toast. My friend had a rosemary iced tea with biscuits and rosemary gravy.
It’s a bit pricey depending on what you get. 2 biscuits in rosemary gravy can apparently get you $ 6.50 poorer. My choice had more food, and it was actually a good deal at $ 6 even.
Its atmosphere is fitting for the town, and the people there are friendly.

Their food is great, their store cute and the service wonderful. The only downside is the cost, however I’d say that they definitely deserve it!

In a nutshell:
Breakfast sandwiches (Eggenues) are delicious
Bakery items and bread are good, if overpriced
Sandwiches are OK — a few good choices
Service is Bellingham-​standard — in other words, sub-​par at best
I’ve eaten here quite a few times because two of the branches are conveniently located, but have mostly stopped due to the limited menu and consistently poor service. This is not a well-​managed operation. The staff at Fairhaven are usually friendly but they’re slow and inefficient, regularly f* up phone orders, and/​or are often out of basic ingredients like tomatoes. (There’s a full grocery store in walking distance.) The James St. staff is also friendly but rarely answer the phone in less than 8 rings and can take as long as 20 min. to make a single breakfast sandwich for call-​in orders. I don’t fault the staff as much as I do management, since the problems are consistent across their 3 locations.
Pricing is too expensive for what you get, but consistent with most places in town.
If Avenue was located anywhere other than Bellingham it would be getting much lower reviews across the board. There are too many people used to average, overpriced food and crappy service in this town. Raise your standards, people!

Strange, I was here with my hubby for lunch on Saturday. Based on the Unilocal reviews, I expected great things! I must’ve caught the staff on an off-​day, as it wasn’t that great. Not at all, in fact. Yes, the place was hopping, but I didn’t expect the staff to be surly. And they were. At the cashier desk, after placing our two sandwich orders, I asked about drink selections. The gal motioned toward the beverage case, 15 or 20 feet to the left. I couldn’t see the drinks clearly so I asked if they had a Diet Coke. She said no, just Pepsi. I asked what other drinks they had and she again gestured to the display case, this time rolling her eyes. Hubby went over to check out the selection and report back to me. We held up the line for a minute or two while this occurred. Why can’t they just have a list of drinks available at the cash, or the gal could tell us what’s available? Would that be so difficult?
Anyhow, after that little episode, hubby got a table and I waited at the pick up counter for our order. And waited. And waited. And waited. It took nearly 20 minutes, and I think a couple who ordered after I did got served their sandwiches before we did. While I was standing waiting, the staff behind the counter chatted amongst themselves, not bothering to look up and acknowlege or chat with me and the many other waiting folks at all. It was not a warm vibe from the staff.
As for the food itself… Well, once we got the sandwiches, we were ravenous, so practically anything would taste great! I will say that the portions were very generous. Hubby loved his spicy BLT. I wasn’t that impressed wtih the cranberry turkey. The cranberry sauce was blended with cream cheese, so it was more like a red cream cheese than anything else (not much of a cranberry taste to it at all). The breads were fresh, but we realized long after placing our order that they didn’t ask what kind of bread we wanted, so we never got a chance to select a preference. Still, it was fresh and generous and pretty good. Because of the wait and the cool atmosphere, though, I’m not sure we’d go here again.

Avenue bread is an alright place to get deli style sandwiches and pastries. I have been here many times, and can always count on getting a good lunch for a fair price. In my opinion, they could add a little creativity to their menu.
The people are always nice and friendly, AND if you show up at just the right time, you can walk away with a bag of bread-​ends for free. Perfect for home made bruschetta!
Have yet to try the breakfast sandwiches… but the rosemary english muffins are THE bomb.

My work takes me up to Fairview a few times a month. Avenue Bread is a great stop for lunch when I’m in town. I usually like to get their Eggenue b-​fast sandwiches. Their specials are a good choice as well, but get em while you can because they do run out.
The staff has always been really nice. Be aware though, the lines can get pretty long during lunch time.

I love their breakfast sandwiches the most! Especially the Italian with pesto, provolone cheese and ham on rosemary bread. They have the neatest chalkboard menu and the Fairhaven location is the best one out of the 3.
Sandwiches and soup together can end up being a bit pricey but it’s more wholesome than Panera Bread. I can’t believe they charge extra for just chips with sandwiches now so it’s great for a once a week brunch.

Unlike the Bellingham branch of Avenue Bread and Deli (which, according to other reviewers, has an unfriendly staff), the Fairhaven branch seems to have pleasant, friendly, helpful people behind the counter.
And I had a fine sandwich today — grilled on really fine focaccia and filled with roasted eggplant, cheese, and fresh basil. Yum!
Sadly, the chips that came with the order were not of the same standard as the sandwich. They had an off taste — nearly rancid. (This is where a really engaged, on-​site owner would come in handy.) And the pickle was even worse — one bite was enough.
But, still, I came for the sandwich and got what I came for — a fine lunch.
There’s nothing special about the atmosphere — it’s simply functional. No wi-​fi. Didn’t have the baked good so can’t comment on those. I’d gladly eat another sandwich here — lots of interesting choices.