james st bakery

made my first visit at james st bakery, the main reason i wanted to visit this place was because of the macaroons. ive been told that they make the most delicious macaroons ever. i was not dissapointed. i bought 7 macaroons home with me that day. i also had a french toast and a chai latte.
the french toast was not bad, but the chai latte was abit of a dissapointment.
overal,goodservice,goodfood
8/10
:d

very quaint. on the recommendation of a friend, had a really nice roasted vegetable and goat's cheese panini here for lunch the other day, followed by a well made coffee and a (shared!) slice of their carrot cake. it was hands down the best carrot cake i have ever had, would have loved to been indulgent enough to go the macaroon as well but thought i might save that for my next visit! what i liked most however, was that we were greeted with a genuine smile, some friendly conversation and looked after well by staff. all of the food that came out to other tables looked really inviting and fresh and i heard many agoodcomment coming from other diners in our vicinity. will be back for sure.

we have had the best food for our trip so far here. verygoodcoffee - rank the top even compared with coffees in melbourne. our brunches were delicious! sensible, thoughtful and well cooked ingredients were put together on our plates. highly recommended! will come back when we come back to visit geelong next time! :)

this cafe has a great ambiance, with old timber chairs and recycled timber tables inside and a cool reused garbage skip as their outdoor seating area. the service is friendly, efficient and patient as you choose from the many yummy looking cakes, muffins, brownies and cookies.
we had the carrot cake which was well balanced and generous in serve, accompanied by agoodcoffee.
we highly recommend james st bakery.

james street bakery cafe is authentic. the cakes, slices and tarts you see behind the counter haven’t been mass produced offsite frozen then thawed like some of the big boys in melbourne.

we came here for breakfast i choosing the cheesy toast, bacon & poachies while kd chose the classic avo feta combo, both with coffee.

coffee was genovese which has been one of my long time enduring favourites (used to buy beans direct from the factory on moreland road) and was of a suitably strength for the mug sized serve i needed. agoodthing for almond and soy milk drinkers too as i’ve found this blend doesn’t cause the separation/curdling that some more acidic blends of coffee (like vittoria).

my cheesy toast was delicious and bacon was at the top end of quality too which made the meal all the more enjoyable.

note this cafe has set breakfast and lunch times so early brunchers will need to choose off the breakfast menu (until 11am) and late brunchers the lunch menu (from 11am). i didn’t test how flexible this was.

what it lacks in atmosphere it more than makes up for in its food. slightly hushed, revered environment (lots of wood and carpeted floors) so focus is on the eats rather than the clientele :)
slightly pricey but then large portions - doughy bread filled to capacity for sandwiches (door stops!) and the prosciutto, beetroot & feta salad delicious. and those cakes .... with a general avoidance of cream in the cakes, they taste asgoodas they look. that raspberry & white chocolate bread & butter pudding (top right in image) was light, fluffy, divine - and a large portion was very welcome!

stopped here whilst in geelong for some breakfast.goodcoffee, friendly service and nice decor.

i ordered cheesey bread and my father ordered big breakfast. both meals were very nice and well presented, i particularly enjoyed the bacon. coffees were both verygoodand the range of cakes looked very nice.

i do recommend if your travelling through or live in geelong. thanks

what can i say, expected too much i guess after reading all thegoodcomments and also the high rating. was very dissapointed with the food, pumpkin soup taste bland, with a little bit of sweet taste, little hint of curry powder, lots of lentil (it was super thick), not nice at all. the tuna melts taste like toasted canned tuna, added a bit of greens and cheese, very plain n boring. corn fritters lacking in taste and as they dont play with herb & spices on this one. ploughman platter was the worse, super salty chorizo, supermarket olives, pickles & sliced ham. tasteless chickpea puree, normal & boring cheddar, just lucky it has double/triple brie and caramelized onion, if not my rating would be 2,5.
coffee and service was okay, cant expect much coz it was super busy, they were friendly though.

i went here today with a friend of mine. the night before i was googlinggoodplaces in geelong to heave breakfast or brunch. stumbled across this place and it has somegoodreviews.
very impressive nice atmosphere and great set up inside.
the menu was nice but a lot of goats cheese on everything. i had the bacon and egg roll was delicious with the extra avocado and spinach. but sadly one thing was missing, mushrooms! would have been nice.
service wasgoodstaff were friendly and the coffee was nice. i'd come back.

i heard this cafe wasgoodbut had no idea how good. eggs and corn cakes for breakfast and one of the best coffees i've had for a very long time. if you're visiting or a local this is a must stop.

great coffee withgoodfood and friendly staff, there's a nice variety of freshly baked pastries too. overall agoodspot for brunch :) would recommend!

not great this time. i've been to this café for years. quite liked it for coffee and breakfast. nothing to rave about; nothing to complain about. except this time...
i wander in and explain to the young waiter i only have 30 minutes. can i just have that sandwich there (pointing through the glass cabinet). i ask him what is in it. he says it's a club sandwich, with chicken, bacon and salad. it's not piled high, doesn't look like any other club sandwich i've ever seen. just like a fairly flat looking sandwich in two slices of vienna bread, cut in half. he tells me it's $17. wha? $17 for a pre-made sandwich?
no thanks, just on principle.
this young waiter lectures me that all products are locally sourced, hence the price. i feel like saying "did you source them from dubai?" but hold my tongue. he obviously has not been in hospitality for long.
so the other thing they have ready made in the glass cabinet is a roll filled with pulled beef and caramelized onion. that's $13. um, ok. better than the $17 sandwich. the waiter asks me if i want it toasted. i say "no thank you". i hover over the cabinet happy to take it then and he says - sit down - he'll bring it over. 15 minutes later and i still haven't got my roll. then it comes out - toasted. i say i didn't want it toasted. he apologizes and then 5 minutes after that i get my roll on a plate with a few sprigs of lettuce on the side. bear in mind this roll was already made and sitting right there in the cabinet. 30 seconds of work to slap this roll on a plate and throw on a couple of gourmet lettuce leaves. anyway, i take a couple of mouthfuls, which is all i had time for at this stage and the pulled beef roll was so incredibly tasteless i could have been eating pulled cardboard.

i salted it, asked for chutney, then i waited at the kitchen door for in lieu of earlier wait times and the roll was still dull as the styrofoam container i took the rest with, as my precious time there was now gone.

$13 for two mouthfuls of very ordinary food and service.

i've had somegoodbreakfasts here but my roll experience is something i will not revisit.

i presume the 90%+ rating here is not for the sandwiches or rolls.

first rocked up to this place in a rush, sat down one hour before closing time, the staff was really friendly and patience, latte was very smooth, i usually dont order seconds on coffee, but i did and still enjoyed it.
the big breakfast has very tasty and filling, if u want agoodtasty meal and a nice cozy environment, def recommend it .

a nice friendly environment.goodcoffee. the champ though was the white chocolate and raspberry muffin! without a doubt the best one i've ever had! definitely coming back!! :)

cosy and delicious. lovely bakery, withgoodcoffee. i had the malteser brownie and it was amazing! definitely wanted to risk diabetes and have another one.