art is in bakery

long line, worth the wait!. i was intimidated by the line but happy i stuck it out. the sandwiches are truly unique, well thought out and delish!! so fresh and not something i would have thought to put together.

love this place. i can taste the care that has gone into each creation with every bite. the owners obviously care about the flavour and quality of the food they sell and serve. the burger is by far the best i have ever had. it's not a pick and choose your own toppings kind of burger, it comes already dressed like a culinary work of art. everything is prepared there with exciting and unique flavours, even the ketchup is made in house! the spicy pickle melt is my go to for comfort food. i always feel better after eating one. hot, tart and savoury......wait does that sound weird? you guys are going to have to trust me on this one. it's everything you ever wanted without even knowing it. the sticky buns are literally irresistible, like some sort of glorious pastry candy hybrid. if you know someone who is pissing you off by being too skinny, stick one of these bad boys in front of them, instant addict. when i go into eat i always buy a loaf of the crazy grain bread to take home. i should really try one of the other kind of loaves one day, but you know when you love something so much..... . okay so it's not cheap, but i am sick of reading whiny reviews about their prices. i appreciate people who are not willing to compromise the quality of their product to bring down the prices. if you want a cheap burger or sandwich there's plenty of places to get one. if you want something exceptional go to art is in.

cheddar jalapeno bread. i have yet to actually dine at art is in because the line is always insanely long, however i have managed to buy a baguette or two of their bread from the farmers market and sparks street and i love it. the dill one wasn't as good, but the cheddar jalapeno is my favourite. pretty greasy, but that's just from all the delicious butter and cheese that's in it. one day i will eat there...one day.

overpriced and overrated. over priced and overrated.nothing is exceptionally good for the hype.

great food but expensive for lunch. love the food but prices have crawled up recently for the portions we get. it's always amazing to bring fresh bread and treats home and enjoy.

our stay in ottawa was short, but wonderful. p insisted that i should visit the art is in bakery (units 112-114, 250 city centre avenue, ottawa, on), so on the morning of the last day, i did! the play on words is already enough to draw me in! they were actually featured on the food network's " you gotta eat here! " hosted by john catucci upon his visit to ottawa, so why not see what it was all about? art is in bakery is located in a sort of strip mall, minus the mall part. both the retail and warehouse locations are in that strip, so make sure you go to the one with the red, circular sign in front when you visit :p it's a bit of an odd space that resembles a loading dock, but as you step inside, it's hard not to notice the piles of freshly baked loaves of bread. they are so beautiful that you are tempted to take them all, but you probably shouldn't, but maybe you should. it seems that some people have been a bit critical about the place as of late, but i beg to differ. i think that the

not sure what the hype is about. i've been here several times and have tried most of their breads and pastries. i thought about ordering a proper meal each time, but became turned off by the long line and somewhat chaotic atmosphere (went on weekends). it has the ambience of a ski lodge eating area. their multi-grain baguette and cookies are very good (and pretty much the only reason i've returned) but the rest of the pastries have been meh. i suspect they don't bake fresh ones daily, but i don't know. the scones i bought here recently on a sunday morning tasted a day old. the thing is, they don't have to try too hard. the place is so packed on weekends, you'd think the food was free. and it definitely is not. a friend's mother said the experience reminded her of waiting in line to buy food during the commie days in central europe. might explain the abundance of hipsters frequenting the place?

edit: i recently had a sandwich here - i though it was ok because i like the taste of really greasy bread and bacon, but it wasn't really great quality, and it was definitely not worth $15. no plans to return.

pick up your viennoiserie, the gtfo.. with a fantastic selection of creative pastries and some of the best croissants i've tried in canada (although they can be hit-and-miss, a fair result of in-house handmade baked goods) this is the place to go for your sweet breakfast treats.

but.

the service is terrible, the lines are long, and the restaurant is a lazy attempt to cash in on warehouse chic. with bad acoustics and uncomfortable wooden benches, eating in means being more distracted by your neighbours' conversations than focusing your own food and company.

the lunch menu is unimaginative. the staff are either too busy or too cool to smile at you. you have to order at the front and take a number sign to your table to get a busy kitchen staffer to drop off your plate (and that's the last you'll see of them). you get a cup to serve yourself coffee, but the coffee pot is often empty, filled with grinds, and just kind of gross, as it is placed next to open doors and masses of people.

and yet there is a weirdly strong pressure to tip. seriously, i've never felt so awkward not tipping for service i didn't even receive.

there is an expedited line if you just want to order pastries to take home, but if you don't already know what you want, expect to wait in the normal line to be able to actually see the pastry case. and yes, it's worth looking.

in conclusion, if you have a decent coffee maker in your home, head over to art is in to pick up some goodies but then go back home and have breakfast in bed.

overpriced and overrated. dropped in for lunch last week. not impressed. i had the angus steak sandwich for $11.95, (may even have been $12.95). the bread was very tough and the sandwich lacked any special flavour. was just ordinary. you can't just slap a couple pieces of bread in a panini press, add some undercooked meat, a little dijon mustard, charge top price and expect customer satisfaction. also had the bacon soup for $5.95 which was interesting but luke warm at best. my lunch guest felt the same about her meal as well. biggest turnoff however was that we found the place actually quite dumpy with no ambiance whatsoever. the table we sat at was dirty as were the floors. so, after +$40.00, including tax, for a couple of mediocre lunches, we won't be back.

had the poutine, pulled pork mac and cheese and the classic ham and cheese sandwich for lunch between two people. everything was amazing. service is good. even the ketchup is homemade and delicious. will definitely be back and will bring out of towners here to show off.

...falling in love with a sandwich these days is pretty hard, but this one is awesome. along with their breakfast sandwich on an in house sourdough.

delicious. everything is delicious.
unfortunately the weekend brunch system is a total turn-off...

 w and i have been to art is in numerous times for their lunch but never brunch, and a couple weekends ago we finally made an effort to go and try out their sunday brunch. the line was ridiculous. they’ve always had a line for even their lunch, but this line is at least 3x as long, this picture was taken when i was in the middle of the line, and there’s maybe 25 if not more people in front of us in the line! apparently it has never been this busy before. i wonder what brought all the people here that weekend… when we finally got to the front of the line, w picked the open face brunch burger . it’s basically a steak burger with bacon, arugula and a sunny side up egg. i wonder if any dish can be turned into breakfast/brunch is an egg is put on it? i digress. w commented on saying it tasted like any other burger and there’s nothing really special about it. i have to agree with him on this one. i am a huge lover of eggs benedicts so of course i ordered house benny with smoked salmon . the

two words: bread pudding e.... two words: bread pudding
excellent fresh quality food.

meh. to be honest, the food is amazing. the servers are super friendly and hard-working. however, it's still very chaotic and over-priced. i don't mind paying a little bit extra for quality but i feel like i am getting nickled and dimed when i am there. i hate that feeling so despite the friendly service and great food, i won't be going back.