Scones are the greatest I've ever had. Get it with lemon curd. Nuff said.

I love the oatmilk latte here! I have gotten it both hot and cold and both versions are amazing. I've come here for breakfast a couple times and usually get the smoked salmon option without the bread and on a bed of lettuce. It's pretty good! The price point is a bit high, but that seems typical of this area. read more

I love this place, having gone about 15 times in the past few months. I'm surprised at the negative reviews. The food is excellent quality - seriously, most cafe's don't come close. Amazing baked good (seriously the BEST biscuits in the entire East Bay, and I'm from the South and know biscuits), drinks are delicious, vibe is cozy, and they're open late!! Never had a problem with service here, and the staff has been consistently accommodating of my requests. Go for the high tea too if you're feeling dainty and proper! My favorite bakery / cafe in the East Bay, hands-down. read more

This is a bit overpriced But if that's the way it's going to be it better be uniquely gastronomically interesting. I had the 1 egg breakfast and it was exciting on the taste buds. Highly recommended. My gf had the avocado toast w/poached egg. Bottom line:GO! read more

I'd djescribe this restaurant as a solid coffee shop with better than average food. It's a good place to come and meet someone to catch up or have a quick meal. The food is a little on the pricey side, and the seating isn't very comfortable, but the quality is fine. I'm not crazy about the fact that you have to order at the counter and then get your own silverware and then buss your dishes at the end, but all things considered I do come here frequently when I want to grab an espresso drink or an ice tea with a snack or light meal. read more

We went there for dinner yesterday and will not be returning. - Self Service for my silverware, water and napkins is not my preference. Nevertheless, the automatic tipping choices ranged from 15% - 25%. For what? - The place was not particularly clean. We were there for about 40 minutes and no one went by any of the tables to clean them/wipe them down. We had to take a table that was abandoned by another person with their crumbs, etc. all over the table. - There were not all that many tables to choose from because there were a bunch of people sitting there with their laptops, taking up the space and not eating or drinking anything. - Most importantly, the food was mediocre. We both ordered the chicken salad and the butternut squash soup. The cup of soup was a very generous portion and not too bad. The salad was small, skimpy and pathetic. The chicken breast was warm and seemed to have been steamed or poached. No flavor whatsoever. - The prices were high for what we got - 2 salads, 2 soups, almost $50 for semi-self service, skimpy food that was meh. Sad. read more

I've been coming here for years and love it. I know exactly what I like to order so am always satisfied. (Every so often I'll branch out and might be disappointed but usually am pleased.) the waffles, scones, chocolate chip cookies (the best I've ever had!), smoked salmon breakfast ( scrumptious), avocado toast are all my favorites. Oh, and yummy hot chocolate ~ the best in town. My single complaint is the awful music they play at lunch. Ugh. It ruins a relaxing visit. read more

45 minute wait for a breakfast sandwich this morning which is understandable on a Sunday morning, however what is not acceptable is the cashiers bad attitude when asked how much longer the wait time was. She rudely stated that it is busy on Sunday and there were at least 20 tickets ahead of me when I ordered with a really bad attitude. I understand that the service industry can be challenging at times, but it doesn't call for unnecessary rudeness. There was also a very audible fight between workers in front of customers while I was waiting. Especially given the customer service issues in the past as Elmwood Cafe, I will not be returning. read more

A lovely coffee and bakery place with drinking latte with bowl. Very new experience that drink latte like having soup. read more

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Bright charming indoor space, cute tables outside for bringing along the dog, a good selection of vegetarian savory offerings, and I appreciate that they're open later than most cafés! Are people so hard on Baker & Commons because they miss Elmwood? Or they're still mad at Elmwood and think it's the same management? Well thank you, Baker & Commons, for providing a lovely little café in the neighborhood! read more

Charming cafe with nice food... however, the night I was there the staff was blasting Reggaeton music, which wasn't what I was looking for cafe atmosphere. Wasn't exactly a reggaeton crowd either, and a 3 people had their headphones on, which wasn't exactly a positive endorsement for the music. Please consider playing Cafe Del Mar, Buddha Bar, or other cafe friendly music. read more

My favorite cafe in Berkeley! Always happy people working, good food, and their hot chocolate is insane. Seriously they serve it to you in basically a bowl and it's really good quality. read more

Supremely expensive but thoroughly mediocre brunch. It is a very cute storefront, but you can each brunch elsewhere.

I drive over from SF each week and always have a delicious lunch or chocolate financier dessert treat! I love the busy friendly casual ambiance and tasty fresh seasonal dishes at this iconic neighborhood spot. The food seems to have greatly improved in this new incarnation of new owners and new chef. I enjoy the curry chicken salad or goat cheese with salad and croutons and the delicious egg dishes. All the food that is served looks totally delicious and is a super great value. The customers represent all age groups- thus everyone can find something wonderfully enjoyable at any time of day! read more

OMG the staff here are sooo slow! Came in this evening and see two off duty staff sitting at the counter chatting with the on-duty staff who made me wait while they finished their chat. Then I ordered my drink which she didn't bother to serve me until after she served the 5 people in line after me. I haven't even gotten to the fact that their food menu is not nearly as good as the previous one when it was the Elmwood Cafe. Fewer choices and less flavor. Sadly, what was once a bustling and tasty option on College has been run into the ground. I will be surprised if it stays in business without a serious overhaul in staff attitude and menu. read more

I don't trust reviews for this reason but I stumbled into this plaza on my mini adventure walk. I was hungry and needing to use the restroom and only had a few options. The prices are expensive, upon seeing things like avocado toast for $7 + is enough to scare anyone away. But I needed to use the restroom, so I ate there. I ordered the $16 plate which I thought was going to be a big plate but it was so small and the food low key not that great. This might sound bitter but maybe to people who have luxury lives might think this tastes great for me I'd switch to bills cafe or dennys for the meal I ate. Poached eggs, toast, under seasoned potatoes and the sausage did not taste good at all. Now I was starving so I ate it, also heads up most people didn't finish their plates. I saw people throw away salads, unfinished salmon cream cheese bagels and so on. I also saw another persons avocado toast it was small! It was something to serve to a toddler not an adult. If you have money go ahead spend away but I'd not waste my time or money to eat here again. :) good luck. read more

Great scones & food but very long, very slow moving lines. Staff is friendly. Been coming here for years and is a popular breakfast spot in Berkeley. Order ahead to get through quicker. read more

Came to visit Berkeley for a few days. While here, MANY people recommended this place. When I arrived there was a line out the door, when I see a line out the door it's a good indication that the food is good but it also makes me feel like not wanting to wait, so before standing in line I tend to walk around and see what the plates look like and to see how happy the people are in the restaurant in order to determine whether or not it's worth the wait or if it would be a waste of time. I immediately got a great vibe of this place because the staff us extremely friendly to the patrons of the restaurant and the food looked absolutely delicious so I decided to go ahead and wait. The wait time was actually not that bad, 15 minutes. The breakfast lox plate was absolutely delicious with crispy bread and a nice amount of delicious lox. The avocado toast plate was also very good with very fresh avocados which is a great option for vegetarians if you don't want the poached egg. The poached egg with sausage option comes with some yummy Provence styled potatoes and a nice little cup of fresh fruits. The cappuccino was made perfect with almond milk, I like to add a little honey. I'll definitely be back to this fun and clean place. read more

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I hate to write a poor review but like others, I hope this motivates the new owner to make some changes. We LOVED elmwood cafe. The food. The atmosphere. It was all so amazing. And we loved the Thursday night specials that changed ever season. They arguable had the best Mac and cheese. Better than Homeroom in Oakland! But not anymore. Now, when we eat outside there are bees that fly around because there is a nest that needs taking care of. The breakfast bacon is way too salty since they changed who they get their bacon from. The food options are no longer the elevated home cooked meals that we love! On top of that, their social media marketing is terrible. They try to have a presence on Instagram but it's poorly run. They never reply to questions sent privately or reply to comments on the pictures. They post pictures of a service they are providing (pie orders) and I have asked on two occasions on how to go about ordering a pie, and they have never replied. If they were good at marketing they would have already put that information in there post description. Overall, not happy with what the new management has done to what was Elmwood Cafe. read more

My husband and decided to try something different for brunch and were drawn in by the pumpkin waffles on the menu and on the outdoor sign. After waiting in line at the counter for a while the woman unhappily took our order. We were informed that they were out of waffles....on a Sunday before 10am. I was bummed and surprised since it was their most publicized item on the menu. Overall the cashier was generally rude and seemed to busy to help us. When I asked if I could have eggs that weren't poached, she informed that I couldn't and that they didn't do that. So I asked if I could have the egg poached hard since I can't eat the runny eggs right now, and she seemed to nod. Fast forward to over $45 later - we were not impressed. The coffee was good and so was the orange juice. My one egg came super runny on a biscuit sitting in a puddle of butter (?) and bacon with some sort of red spread. My husband had potatoes, one egg, toast and two tiny pieces of bacon. The scone was good. Basically, I will not go back. The food was disappointing and the cashier was super unfriendly and rude. There are oodles of amazing brunch places around, go elsewhere. But the coffee was good! It was funny to note that when my husband went to see about a refill a different woman was friendly and helpful and offered the to go cup, and then said there was a charge....while it was only $0.55, it was still an odd moment. read more

Atmosphere is solid. Tables could use a wipedown. They burn the coffee here, although not too badly. The bacon and turkey sandwich was f*cking fire, loved every bite of it. Also a solid chocolate chip cookie. Would recommend this place. read more

If you are looking for a quick bite to eat. This is the place for you. Everything is made fresh daily. The windows also add to the cozy environment. read more

Three stars is only for the salad portion. Really nice shaded outdoor seating, pleasant staff. No GF bread offerings. Ordered the tuna salad and it was so small, I was stunned. $13.00!! Used to twice that amount at Cafe Atlas in SF. Plus, double the amount of tuna. My friend had the same complaint. Recommend heftier portions of salad - it costs nearly nothing to add more salad ingredients, plus double the tuna portion. Would only go for coffee and a pastry. read more

I liked my fried chicken sandwich. The service is good. If you sit outside prepare to make two trips for all you have to grab yourself- water, napkins, knives and forks plus your table tag with your name on it, before the food arrives. read more

This place never disappoints! Definitely get the chocolate pecan cookie. My friend liked their meat frittata as well. I stayed a bit to get some work down and the smells of their brunch food were absolutely tantalizing. read more

I've been coming here for years. Great food and top notch ingredients. Nice atmosphere and location. Thanks for the good service.

What a cute place! This is the perfect place to grab a good quality quick bite. The frittata was so good and the curry chicken salad sandwich was super flavorful. I went with a co-worker and I'm glad she brought me. I'll definitely be back. read more

Great food, awesome ambiance, a great meeting spot and community gathering place. Love the breakfast sandwich, cinnamon currant toast, poached egg sandwich, and pretty much all the pastries. A gem in Elmwood! read more

I'm vegan so there aren't a ton of choices but their soup of the day is usually vegan and both times I ordered the soups, it was delicious!

Got the cinnamon toast, poached egg sandwich, scrambled egg biscuit and frittata, freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee. Food was good, coffee strangely bitter not sure which beans they use. Was hoping for the quiche which was the best I've ever had at Elmwood cafe. I haven't been back since I moved after they changed names which was a few years ago but the menu looks very reminiscent of Elmwood cafe which is great because I loved the food there. I think they still serve quiche but not during covid times whenever they bring the quiche back I would love to try it again. Hopefully it's the same because it was very good. read more

I love Baker and Commons. Even with a reduced menu due to the shelter in place, their offerings are tasty, super fresh, and heartwarming. I was able to call them on my way there and had my order ready hot and packaged up, waiting for me to take it home. Thank you for being a wonderful neighborhood place :-) read more

We have been here before under previous management. It is still innovative, high quality, relaxed atmosphere. I will be a repeat customer

Food is great, but while the staff is generally pretty friendly and nice, the service is consistently bad. We stopped in this morning for breakfast. It was busy, but not crazy. Ordered a meat frittata, latte, and breakfast sandwich. The frittata came out pretty quick, but it was a veggie frittata instead. They didn't run out, just the wrong item. No biggie since it was still delicious. And the sandwich never came. The service there is usually pretty slow no matter how busy the place is, but after waiting half an hour and seeing other people who ordered after us get their food I went back in to check. At first, without checking, she tells me it's coming and they are just busy. I then tell her that we have been waiting over half an hour and we had also received the wrong item so I would like her to at least check to make sure the order wasn't lost. I can see her scrolling through the orders, and it looks like it was lost. She comes back and says something about her mistake because she put down a meat frittata y mistake--which makes no sense because that is what I ordered in addition to the breakfast sandwich (and I was charged for both). Had to wait another 10 min for the sandwich to come without so much as an apology or anything. Want to love this place, but every time we've been we've had some kind of mess up with our order. read more

Best black tea ever, the lychee in it is so good. Their coffee I'd also great. Also they have amazing biscuits and breakfast sandwiches!

This is one of my favorite bakery-cafes in Berkeley. Everything is baked fresh here, and the french-style lattes are great. A good place for meetings. read more

This place is not worth going to yet. We had a really disappointing meal that was nowhere near as good as the Elmwood Cafe used to be. Terrible service- food is supposed to be brought to the table when it's ready. After twenty minutes, we had to go ask about our food, which we saw ready to go out with about eight other dishes. It was tepid when we got it. Mediocre food-nothing was very good. All the toast was under toasted so it just tasted stale. The garlic on the avocado toast was bitter. The (expensive) salmon toast had the very smallest amount of cream cheese and one small sliver of lox so that most of the meal was just dry bread. There was nothing we ate that I couldn't have made far better myself. Weird food choices and availability - they had run out of about 5 menu items and they had somehow lost the ability to poach eggs...but they were very happy to point out the breakfast sandwiches made with hard boiled eggs. Eww. The space is still lovely and the menu is appealing, so I might try again in a few months to see if they've figured it out. But I'm not counting on it. read more

Super cute and yummy breakfast place with good coffee!! I got the poached eggs with toast and bacon. The toast wasn't the best toast ever but the bacon was delicious and the service was amazing and so kind. I definitely recommend :) read more

Love this place. A bit pricey but it's worth it. Maybe stay away from the avocado toast cause it's definitely worth $9 lol but everything else is good! read more

Delicious bean soup today with a nice little side salad. And the best biscuits and scones in Berkeley! I work in the neighborhood so I'm glad to have this place back. read more

I am really happy that a cafe has returned to the place where the Elmwood Cafe used to be. I brought a friend who was visiting from out of town here for lunch and ended up feeling meh about our meal. The service was great but our food wasn't up to the standards of what I'd enjoyed previously. I had the goddess salad while my friend had the poached egg sandwich and granola. I'm hoping that the food will improve! For the time being, I'll be heading over to Summer Kitchen instead for lunch. read more