Toast

I worked in Durham several years ago and dined here all the time. My niece is interning at Duke and can’t wait to come back to Durham and take her here! Best lunch and take out.

Ate here for lunch last weekend with my boyfriend after visiting the Duke Gardens. I ordered the sweet Italian sausage panini. My boyfriend ordered the cured salmon tramezzini. We ended up sharing half of each other’s sandwiches. Both of us enjoyed the salmon tramezzini over the panini. The cured salmon was served between soft white bread with a creamy sauce that paired excellently together. I would definitely recommend trying this location for lunch.

This place was pretty good. Me and a friend split our paninis. So I had half a chicken panini and cuban. I enjoyed the chicken the best but they were both tasteful. Also, I had the asparagus soup which was actually pretty good surprisingly. I would try this place again but I can definitely wait a good while before I do again because I’ve had better paninis. Anyways, next time I’ll try something different but this is a good little spot to go to for a good simple sandwich.

I wasn’t overwhelmed by my first visit here, so it took me a while to come back. The consistently good reviews and lack of other options recently brought us back before a recent Bull’s game. I have to say that I’m quite happy we did! This is another of the common order at the front, take a number, and find a seat dining options.
Last time I tried a special, and convinced myself to go normal menu on this visit. However, the pizza-​style special panini — marinara, mozzarella, sausage, etc., looked too good to pass up. This time I also opted for the side salad, which is dressed with a delicious vinaigrette with shaved parmesan cheese on top. While I’d be happy with the side salad again, the lack of other quality side options other than soup was a bit of a weakness.
This was an altogether different experience. Delicious. Will definitely make a point to get here more frequently in the future!

I had a really fantastic lunch at Toast a few days ago and am very eager to go back. After standing in a long but fast-​moving line, I ordered the three crostini and salad for $ 10. You actually get six individual crostini: two pieces of each of three varieties of crostini. I chose the goat cheese and honey, goat cheese and beet purée, and avocado and parmesan. All were fantastic — extremely flavorful. And the salad that came with it was very simple and also delicious. It was worth every bit of the $ 10 — unique, filling enough, and enjoyable. When I go back I’ll want to check out the panini and soup, but I’ll probably have to order a couple of crostini on the side. They were just too good.

Long pending visit… and I was glad we finally made it here. Loved the concept… perfect for brunch or lunch. I ordered their soup of the day which was a potato leek soup with three types of crostinis — avacado lemon; beet goat cheese and garlicky mushroom. I would have preferred the soup to be warmer but I liked it’s taste. The crostinis were great… so much going on in a small bite. My 19month old loved the avacado lemon crostinis. My husband ordered the Tuscan kale sandwich which was hearty. Overall we enjoyed our lunch and would love to visit again

A definite must while in Durham! I had the cauliflower purée and it was simply THE best purée/​soups I’ve ever had! Service was amazing! Loved that you can grab a beer from the fridge (great selection) and top off your meal. Every crostini creation is well thought out and when you taste them you’ll agree.
Best Durham spot!

Toast is a great place to eat. The food is always fresh and the service is always wonderful. I don’t think I have tried anything there that I didn’t like (soups, salads and sandwiches are all wonderful).
It gets kind of crowded during lunch (and the place is not very big on the inside), so if you know you want to go, go a little earlier or later to avoid the massive crowd. I’ve found that going around 11/11:30 or even around 2 or so helps with that.

A slightly pricier lunch option in downtown Durham, but worth your extra bucks. Friendly folks and as local as it gets. The perfect balance of creative without being too weird. Highlights include the crostini + salad — try the beets with a bit of citrus, or the warm goat cheese with cracked pepper and honey, or really anything else. It’s all good. My go-​to is a bowl of soup (whatever is on special, standouts include the cauliflower or the minestrone) with a side salad (elegantly simple with a great vinaigrette) and tuna salad on the side. Tuna salad like you won’t believe — light, olive-​y, healthy. Not the mayo-​mess many places dish up.
The ambiance is no good. Often crowded, too loud for relaxed conversation, and limited outdoor seating that’s tough to grab. Line stretches to the door from time to time, tables are close together. But whatever, it’s all worth it.

My husband and I have eaten here two times now, and I can definitely say I’m a fan.
We stopped here most recently before a show at the Carolina Theatre and we were able to get in and out quickly. On this visit I ordered one of the paninis that included gruyère, sweet italian sausage, roasted garlic and rapini. My husband ordered one of the paninis that had chicken, roasted red peppers, mozzarella and salsa verde. I also ordered a side salad with mine.
The food came out quickly and the flavors of my sandwich were delicious. My husband also liked his sandwich. We were going to share a half of each of ours, but I liked mine too much to share! The salad was pretty basic, but still good. Loved the fresh parmesan cheese slices on top!
The service at the restaurant is fast and friendly. They have a menu of interesting crostinis that I would love to try on my next visit. I think you can get an order of three of these for around $ 9. In addition to the paninis they have a few cold sandwiches to choose from.
One small thing I don’t love about the place is that they sell their sodas in cans rather than having fountain drinks and the glasses for water are tiny! I am someone who is always thirsty and I find that I have to frequently refill my small water glass when eating here. Of course this is not something to keep me from coming back, probably just a personal preference!
Overall, Toast is a great stop in downtown Durham for Italian style sandwiches that I think has enough variety to appeal to most eaters!

The place is pretty sparse as far as furnishings, but the wall color pallet is nice. Like Tiffanys/​Robins Egg Blue.
If I might suggest swapping out the ikea like mirrors along the wall and replacing them with some large prints, it would make a huge difference.
I ordered the spicy tuna panini with a salad, pancetta lentil soup and an iced tea.
I’ll get my money’s worth on the self serve iced tea station.
It’s counter service and the lady was really nice and friendly. Guess you don’t realize how rare that is until you come across it.
The sandwich was a letdown sadly. Mildly spicy. The only real thing I could taste was the olive tapenade and maybe some balsamic vinegar. Maybe I’ll try the chicken next time.
The side salad was good. Simple, light, tasty.
The lentil soup looked like my cats diarrhea, so I braced myself for the taste but was surprisingly pleased. I’m not normally a soup person but it’s rainy outside and it just seemed right. The flavor was good, like a smokey split pea soup. I would get that again.
Overall I’ll give it a 4, hoping that the other sandwiches are more redeeming than the tuna.

For all the pomp and circumstance it gets, Parker and Otis doesn’t do it for me as a lunch spot the way Toast does.
Perhaps it’s because I hadn’t hear a ton of hype about Toast, and I’d actually imagined it being a sort of run of the mill breakfast spot.
That, my friends, it is not.
Toast is, in fact, a paninoteca (or, as the English say, an Italian sandwich shop), specializing in panini and crostini. popped in for lunch, and while the offerings are relatively simple in nature (a small selection of sandwiches, salads, and soups), everything was so unexpectedly impressive!
The atmosphere is cute and quirky (I’m in love with their «Eat Locals» zombie signage), the service friendly, and the food affordably priced and delectable. No waiting in line for hours, no fighting for a table, identity crisis (I’m sorry, but P&O is a really cool gift shop — not a great restaurant… someone’s going to want to fight me for saying this, but I maintain my position). I’m not sure there’s a better lunch formula than soup+salad+crostinis. As a massive fan of dipping food into other food, I wholeheartedly approve of Toast ;)

For an inexpensive dinner Toast seemed the best option of what are mostly higher priced options downtown.
I had a panini with rapini, sweet Italian sausage, roasted garlic and asiago fresca. It was good, but a little on the dry side, so would have been even better with a little cup of marinara for dipping.
I shared some butternut squash soup and their cup seems as big as a bowl to me. It was delicious and creamy. I think next time I’ll stick with soup and either crostini or a salad with it.

The crostini and salad combo is fantastic. I absolutely adore the goat cheese and honey crostini — such a fantastic combo of flavors and textures. The location is also pretty nice; it’s right in the heart of downtown Durham. Good place to work — a lot of space and free Wi-​Fi!

Delicious paninis and absolutely perfect environment. Definitely captures the culture of downtown Durham and the authentic Italian sandwiches were so good!
I had the Italian sausage & my wife had the 3 cheese. We will be back. And we live 1.5 hour away!
We also tried the spicy chickpea soup. Two thumbs up!

I got the crostini soup combo which I highly recommend if you’re not very hungry… unfortunately, I was starving when I came in for lunch and then went home to eat another meal because I was still pretty hungry leaving. I got the butternut squash soup which was the best butternut squash soup I’ve tasted considering I don’t even like butternut squash. Also, the honey goat cheese crostini is to die for.

The food wasn’t too bad but it wasn’t something that I was jumping up and down about. I definitely think this place is hyped up. I like how they have outdoor and indoor seating but there isn’t much space for the amount of people that come here. The interior décor is pretty cute, a nice aqua color. There is no assigned seating — you go up to the register to order then get a number until your food gets brought to you. I ordered 3 crostinis (6 pieces) along with soup.

We loved this sandwich joint!
My husband and I went with a friend for dinner. Friend and I got the portobello mushroom panini and my husband got the Italian sausage sandwich.
Portobello sandwich was yummmmy!!! Pieces of sundried tomatoes with each bite and the mushroom was lightly salted but had enough natural flavor to make the sandwich just right.
The Italian sausage sandwich was also very good with lots of cheese and some greens (arugula?).
Also got a cold tomato purée soup with croutons and a warm vegetable and cheese soup. Both soups were very good and very dippable with whatever bread was left from the paninis!

Took a day trip to Durham from Greensboro and had the pleasure of trying Toast. Such a fun concept for a restaurant! I loved all the options of crostini they offer – wish I would have tried one of each! I ordered the crostini and soup. It came with six crostini (two of each flavor I ordered). I tried the mushroom and gruyère; goat cheese, honey, and black pepper; and the spicy chick pea (one of the daily specials). They were all very tasty, but my favorite was the goat cheese! The soup was good, very flavorful, but the crostini was the star. I will definitely have to plan a return trip to try all of the other crostini options!

I think a good restaurant can really change your perspectives on food and Toast is definitely one of them.
Location: located in downtown Durham. Toast is kinda small but you can recognize them by seeing all the long lines and their unique outdoor seating. They are also close to cupcake stores, dame’s waffle and Mateo. Such a huge competition between those outstanding restaurant, Toast still stands out.
Service: the lady served us is really nice and understandable. Why? Cuz I know nothing about sandwiches or crostini and she is patiently give me info as well as waiting for me to decided which one I should order. Thanks! The line is long and seats are limited during lunch time. But it’s worth waiting because I am about to tell you how good their crostini are.
Food: I had crostini combo (choice of 3) with spice lentil soup. I love all my choices. I had the one with beets, which is light, sweet, fresh and delicious; Sicilian caponata, which is bot salty but eggplant is mixed too well with the toast that I cannot say it’s bad; last but not least, the chicken liver. My favorite would be chicken liver, which is topped with bacon. The whole experience is like I had this smoothie chicken liver and then a surprised bacon enforced me to have another one more bite and. It’s already gone. Sad but satisfied!
Overall: I appreciate the store, which illustrates a well designed Italian (?!) sandwich style? I never thought a small toast can have such an amazing stretch on my taste and cuisine perspective. Thank you and thank you!