Review A1 Bakery - Essendon

Amazingly delicious food with great vegan options. The staff were friendly and helpful! But... service is unreasonably slow. With all food already made, I don't understand why it took 20+ minutes to serve us during a slow time. And they won't give you your change right away? Really weird! So maybe just go for yummy takeaway if you want fast service and your change.

Great value meals and very tasty too.

Excellent wraps and baked stuff - absolutely love the "boats", a kind of pizza. Be careful with their salads- which are very fresh, but kind of OD on the lemon juice.

A1 bakery in Essendon always has great fresh food all the salads & pastries all have a nice taste, its always hard to pick what to eat when you see it through the nice clean glass display cabinets, they also cater for vegetarian & vegans

Fantastic value with lots of options and delicious items. It makes for a nice easy lunch.

Great Lebanese style bakery. Fantastic boat pide things and wraps. A regular favorite for me.

Favourite neighbourhood place to grab lunch or a yummy savoury pastry. Good authentic food, service with a smile.

Great value and fresh foods everyday. Love them all.

Nice little place with great service. Very cheap food options. Unfortunately that's where the positives end. Zaatars are bland. Coffee is milky and weak. The menu is really small and won't cater for many if you're not adventurous.

Long opening hours, great prices and delicious food make it too easy to eat here everyday. Staff are very sweet and friendly.. I love this place

Very messy, floor and tables were dirty. Waited at the front for a few minutes before anyone even came out to serve me. <br/>Very disappointed <br/>Not the most hygienic place to eat

Classic cheese pies are amazing <br/>The cafe has a hipster twist though<br/>Friendly service and a nice setup <br/>Been here a cooler of times <br/>No complaints <br/>

When I moved to Essendon 10 years ago, it was pretty barren of good eating choices. Don’t get me wrong, there was the odd find: Friends of Ours already existed, and became my local. And there’s always been that good Thai place on Mount Alexander Rd, though it’s changed too over the years. And there were other places that have come and gone in the same/same but slightly different café genre. But the variety of truly excellent eating venues in Essendon and Brunswick West is starting to rival Brunswick proper, in my opinion, as long as you know where to look. And I’m still kicking myself that I’ve been a Napier st local for years, and I’ve not looked hard enough to find the Gem that is Essendon A1 bakery. Until now. I finally stumbled in on a rainy afternoon last week, mostly to escape the cold but I quickly decided I could use a coffee and might take some zataar bread. Once inside the cosy seating area that precedes the counter, I knew I was in for a treat. In front of me, the display cabinet advertised a wide range of baked goodies, both vegetarian and filled with lamb, so I was spoiled for choices I hadn’t even known I wanted! My coffee became a late lunch, and another great experience of café dining in the Essendon area, which I am starting to love. I was the only one when I arrived, but it quickly proved a popular place for solo shoppers and the school pick up crowd. <br/><br/>I ordered a cheese and spinach pie, and it was heaven. Seriously. Warm, and oozing delicious, salty cheese, the bread was soft and completely satisfying. With every bite sesame seeds were shed onto my plate along with beautiful dollops of cheese that I greedily scooped up with my fingers at the end. I wasn’t’ missing a morsel! It’s true that I might have had cheaper pies, but nowhere have I had one as fresh and definitely not as tasty. My mouth is watering as I write this. The coffee was worthy of note.<br/>I may have missed eighteen months of enjoyment by walking past this place (on many occasions) but I’ll stopping by again really soon. With a variety of pides, dips and delicious Middle Eastern bakery treats to enjoy, I want to make sure I make up for lost time really quickly!

I came here yesterday, I do love A1 on Sydney rd however was still satisfied here. I got a variety of things, the cheese manoush you can't go wrong with, customer service was outstanding, the owner was a lovely Lebanese man, he was very friendly recommending what we should get. Sadly there were no falafel left, which is what we initially wanted. Overall I did enjoy the food, cheap, nice n close to home, but still can't beat A1 on Sydney rd.

I want to give this place a 5 - the food is so awesome, fresh and tasty. But they are so disorganised and slow. Possibly have more people working in a weekend. It makes me sad :(

Had a manoush and coffee. The cafe is different to the A1 bakery in Brunswick - it's a cute little hippy pop up cafe. The pricing here is a tad higher than the one in Brunswick as it is cafe style. The wait for coffee was a bit long. Overall it was a lovely experience but nothing beats the original

I feel the need to start off this blog by saying it should be a crime that A1 Bakery in Essendon is not in the GFG! I love this place. The food is fresh, flavoursome and satisfying every single time. Plus the service is good and it's really cheap. Take this plate for example: $20 for three kibbeh, two dolmades, tabouli, zaatar bread and hummus. The zaatar bread was warm and full of seedy goodness, the tabouli was fresh and citrusy without being overly tart, the kibbeh was exactly what I look for – lean and mildly spiced, and the dolmades weren’t that gluggy flavourless rice you get in most places but tasty and satisfying with a hint of tomato. To top it off they have great coffee (provided the girls make it). I never leave feeling unsatisfied.

Good food and variety Love the cheese pies Which are quick and easy for a snack after school I get the skewers with salad and hummus which is good food Napkins were hand towels from the toilet which was disappointing But will and have been back

The food is amazing and very reasonable the mix and match is my favorite, my kids love it there too.<br/>Great customer service.<br/>Well worth to go and try it out.

Just beautiful. They have a large variety of different lebanese pastries/dishes. Also very well priced and the staff are great. The plain cheese + the spinach and cheese pastries are mouth watering. Definitely a place to check out.

A nice place to have Lebanese food. The mix and match platter for $10 gets two skewers, with bread, salad, and dip. I say it's worth it. Staff is very friendly. Food tastes good. It can get busy during lunch hours.

Such a great little bakery! The owners and staff are just so lovely and friendly, like family :) delicious pastries, pizzas, pockets made of yummy bread. A great selection of cool drinks and an impressive range of pre packed gluten free sweets. Can't recommend it enough! Definitely will be back even though it's on the opposite side of town.

What an awesome place!<br/>Friendly service. Beautiful, simple and well laid out space. <br/>I seriously wanted to get everything in their display cabinets. <br/>I got the spinach and Haloumi triangle. It was warm, fresh and delicious. <br/>I can't wait to head back!

THIS PLACE IS AMAZING!!!!. I visited A1 bakery Essendon for first time after a recommendation by a friend. THIS PLACE IS AMAZING!!! The Staff were very friendly with helping me chose what to eat as there was quite a variety to choose from. I was definitely not disappointed . My absolute favourite item was the spinach and fetta triangles and their home made muffins. I believe they do catering also, which I will certainly be using. Well done!! Your my new favourite local and yes they also make a great coffee.

I have been a customer at a1 brunswick for years but I live in ascot vale now so your closer but I wrote the same review on there urbanapoon you have great food but I drink ayran I told a1 to get chtura ayran and they did cause they sell everything else of there products! Why don't you compliment your great food with great ayran instead you get that cheap nassim ayran I been eating at a1 for over 20 years i love your food but you gotta give the customers what they want :) Riley

A New Local. So happy an A1 opened up round the corner, now I have somewhere to go to get cheap, and tasty food. Staff are really friendly, and they offer catering too. Do yourself a favour, and get down here STAT!!

Great middle eastern pastries. Yum!! we stop by every Saturday morning to get Zahra pastries.it's always so fresh and I love the fact that it's our local

Authentic, tasty and priced well. Have been going to the Brunswick A1 for yrs, however the A1 in Essendon offers a fresh new modern face lift with also more modem yet still authentic menu. Service is also excellent.

Excellent Catering!. I recently organised A1 Essendon to cater for my mothers 70s birthday, which I was hosting at my home for about 25 people. Everyone was so happily stuffed by the end of the day - with compliments flying all day long about the food. Particular crowd favourites were the sambousek - the ones with the pine nuts, shanklish and onion in them, SO delicious - the Kibbeh were also a huge hit and really tasty. Highly recommend and thank you to the team at A1 for making it a memorable day for my mum and our guests :)

A Brunswick legend comes to Essendon. Having lived in Brunswick, the whole family know the joy of A1 Bakery on Sydney Road, whether it's dropping in for some flat bread or grabbing a great lunch at half the price of most places. The Essendon branch is great, the same great food and good prices in a kid friendly layout filled with people throughout the week. Try it now!

Delish food. My family and I recently visited the new Essenson A1 Bakery as we had heard its newly opened. We were pleasantly surprised by not only the food but the lovely people serving us. The team at A1 are new but we're ready to do anything to make us happy.<br/> We had an amazing breakfast wich was was full of flavour and definitely didn't lack in quality. I loved the fact they didn't scimp on fillings, and the decor is gorgeous in the new venue. <br/>This family will definitely go again, and I'm so looking forward to eating the amazing Turkish bread!!

Thanks A1!. I was in two minds about writing this review because I half wanted to keep this place a secret...however, it's so good that's clearly not going to happen so I may as well embrace it!<br/>I went there first a few days after they opened - service was a bit crazy as they were getting used to everything but from the off the food has been amazing: super fresh, vibrant, and plenty of new takes on classic flavours & dishes - it's worlds apart from your classic Middle Eastern bakery.<br/>Normally bakery coffee is rubbish but these guys are using DC so it's awesome! Pretty sweet to finally get a good coffee on Napier Street :)<br/>Big share platter + Long Black = happy weekend brunch times.<br/>Thanks guys!

I was looking forward to trying a few treat from A1. Unfortunately the eggplant dip I took home was rancid and inedible. Such a shame.

Nutella Bagels. Nutella bagels. So yummy

I'm always quick to applaud anyone courageous enough to enter into business, especially a cafe or restaurant. They're essentially risking it all in the hope that success will follow. The owners of A1 can rest easy as success will find them, if it hasn't already. Despite (ironically) completing losing my order (which happens) they more than made up for it with their courteous service and extraordinary food, all of which is produced on the premises. I opted for the Lebanese Soldiers, which essentially is two boiled eggs, but don't be fooled by that. The soldiers are the star of the dish with amazing flavours that bring the eggs to life. Overall, A1 is a welcome & worthy addition to the culinary offerings of the North West and comes highly recommended for those who prefer the path less travelled.