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Jeannine's Bakery - Figueroa
15 E. Figueroa St, Santa Barbara
Phone: (805) 687-8701
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Reviews by the General Public
Expensive but Good Breakfast with Bad Service, 11/19/2009
Reviewer: Ixchelle
from Santa Barbara, CA
My husband and I come here almost every weekend for breakfast and the food (particularly the banana french toast) is the reason we keep returning.
For starters it's expensive for breakfast, usually about $30-$45. I pay here what I pay at other places for dinner. Most people who come here aren't on a budget. Aside from that the service is horrible. As regulars I keep hoping it will improve but alas the same staff every week and no improvement. The counter staff is usually as pleasant as it gets, sometimes they are very nice other times aloof. I will say the manager has always been VERY nice and always greets us personally as well as makes sure we get what we need (after the staff have forgotten us). After ordering and finding our way to the table the battle begins. Usually I don't get my soup until after the meal, frustrating at best. Then my husband begins rationing his water because you have a better chance of finding a $100 bill on the ground than getting a refill here. We ALWAYS have to hunt someone down for water. Then the pre-bussing...it doesn't exist. There is nothing worse than staring at dirty dishes while trying to enjoy my coffee. What's most perplexing is that they are never short staff, to the contrary the abundant staff can usually be found in one of the corners chatting it up while the guest sit waiting...and waiting. Forget about trying to make eye contact they are adept at avoiding actual contact. If it weren't for the always delicious french toast, tasty desserts, and lovely manager checking on guests we would not be returning. Even with those points if I'm not in the mood to be ignored I find my way to any of the other breakfast spots in town.
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excellent food , no so service, 11/6/2009
Reviewer: Heidi
from Santa Barbara, CA
The food is delicious. Hands down the best hollandaise sauce ever, but the service needs improvement. Wrong orders and forgotten items consistently.
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The worst service EVER, 10/29/2009
Reviewer: Eric
from Santa Barbara, CA
I work down the street & was initially excited when it opened. Since the downtown opening I have received some of the worst customer service I have ever experienced. The staff acts as if they hate being there, see you as a burden & consistently get orders & prices wrong. It seems even the manger has no clue what he is doing as he has tried to overcharge me and placed my order wrong 3 times already. I go becuase it's across the way but I warn anyone against going if u expect smiling faces & competence
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No free scones for you, 5/31/2009
Reviewer: Mark
from Santa Barbara, CA
Went there twice this weekend, once for coffee and once for breakfast. The coffee and food were on point. The staff behind the counter was pleasant and informative. One quibble about the granola with yogurt was the size of the bowl the granola sat in. It was too small. Adding granola to the yogurt makes little sense as you run out of yogurt and going in the opposite direction was impossible due to space constraints. We need a bigger bowl.
Also, to the woman handing out free scones, if you aren't going to hand them out to everyone - she offered them to maybe half the room - don't offer them at all. This is a minor point as it is free food but when you hear a few people grouse about not getting an opportunity at the goodies, you actually turn a positive into a negative.
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Service please?, 4/1/2009
Reviewer: Lindsay
from Santa Barbara, CA
So, I usually go to the one in Montecito but had heard they opened downtown, so I wanted to give it a try. I figured the food and service would be as good as the one in Montecito. Boy, was I wrong...First things first, I look around and I'd probably say about half of the tables need to be bussed. So I'm hesitant to sit down as is, but I'm hungry. Next the cashier is texting behind the counter! Do this on your break are you serious? Then recieves a phone call from the business line and continues to talk for about 5 minutes to take an order. I try to wait patiently. I finally order my favorite the chicken pesto. When I receive it it definitely doesn't taste how it usually does. Overcooked chicken and there wasnt enough pesto on it. I remember them putting bigger portions too. Whats the deal? I think the overall service made the food taste worse. Would I go back to the one downtown, No...Would I recommend it? No. It bothered me enough that I had to write a review about it!
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More quality control is needed, 1/8/2009
Reviewer: Lorraine Wood
from Santa Barbara, CA
While the food at Jeannine's is usually good, since beginning to eat at this downtown location (which I've done a couple times a week) there have been times where I've received stale bakery items from the case, dirty dishes, cups and flatware, and wilted produce.
That being said, I'd be willing to overlook those occasions if the staff were more helpful and welcoming. It's one thing to say "Good morning, I can help the next person in line" with a flat affect, and another to simply say "Hello!" and mean it. I get the impression the people working are generally exhausted by the mere thought of taking one's order. The staff working the counters act as if they've run a marathon and just had to log in to work. They rarely smile or seem happy to be doing their job, they overlook special requests and move at a snail's pace.
Either they need to be paid more in order to be happy to work at Jeannine's, or find another line of work. It's called customer "service".
Talk to your staff, ensure good quality, and this location will fare well.
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Great space, great food, need more staff,
Reviewer: Alina
from Santa Barbara, CA
So glad they opened up downtown in such a lovely building! I have been going to the Montecito location for years. Great food but they really need more servers, especially on Sundays. You need to get your own milk/cream if you order coffee, your own napkins or water if you need any, cutlery, etc. They are very friendly but the owner/mgr should hire a larger staff to help the clientele especially on Sundays and weekday lunch hours.
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free cake?!? SWEET!
Reviewer: chee
from Santa Barbara, CA
I went with my friends to Jeannine's on a Saturday morning, and the place was pretty full. We ordered, and all of our dishes came within 5-10 minutes (except for one of my friend's dishes, which was the frittata, which took about 15 minutes to arrive). All of the food was standard posh breakfast fare and tasted mighty fine. I got the apple spice muffin, which was moist and not too sweet. Perhaps more spice would make it an even more enjoyable morning pastry. What topped off our breakfast, however, was the free cake samples that the staff was passing out! I guess they get the new shipment of cake on Saturday mornings, so me and my friends were lucky enough to get a delicious slice of white cake with strawberries! So good...felt like I was at a wedding...without the dancing and uncomfortable shoes :D
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we need some variety...
Reviewer: patrick
from Santa Barbara, CA
I ate breakfast at Jeanine's the other day. I was less than thrilled with the selection of baked goods, mainly because they looked too sweet. (Who wants icing on a scone?) I settled for a raspberry scone (one of the few without icing) and a cup of coffee. The coffee was lukewarm by the time I walked 20' to my table, and the scone was a little too "cakey" -- I don't want to eat dessert for breakfast. Also, this breakfast cost over $5. The same thing (with a much larger scone) would have cost less than $4 at the Daily Grind (who admittedly has lower rent).
I liked Finestra more than Jeannine's. I wish this town had more variety, rather than more locations of the same old stuff.
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Consistently Awesome!
Reviewer: Rony
from Santa Barbara, CA
The coffee it’s great I've eaten here 6 this past weak. The food is excellent (try the chicken mango quesadilla); service from an intelligent and experienced staff is wonderful. The coffee is great too! I don't know what they do there to cause this but, I usually feel pretty happy and up-beat when I leave. All of it keeps me coming back!
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Expected better but will keep trying
Reviewer: liana c
from Santa Barbara, CA
I've been to Jeannines four times since its opened at the Figueroa Location. Three times for pastries and once for lunch.
My coffee gets luke warm as soon as I get back to my office. I've ordered a cupcake..the cupcake was great but the frosting was as hard as a rock i had to pry it off the cupcake and throw it away. I ordered a pastry it looked delightful but once i got to my office, it turned out it was a fig pastry??? I went back again thinking third times a charm and ordered a blueberry muffin, to my surprise their rendition of a blueberry muffin is an oat bran muffin with some blueberries thrown in. So i decided to give lunch a try. I ordered a chicken pesto sandwich and a side salad to go. I got back to my office and they forgot to give me salad dressing. The salad was boring, just lettuce and two cucumber slices. The sandwich was ok, my bread was very dry.
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