I have been wanting to try this place for quite a while now and finally came today with my son for…read morea late lunch. I guess my experience initially started over the phone when I spoke with Suzie to confirm their hours. She also mentioned to me that the bakery was open until 8pm today but the kitchen closes at 5. That was helpful information that wasn't listed online.
We got there around 4pm and easily found parking in their lot behind the building. There are plenty of spaces and also street/residential parking. Upon entering, there was an immediate vibe shift from the outside world. It was almost dead silent inside, with no music playing and no regular restaurant chatter/noises, either. The place is fairly big/spacious but had an extremely cold atmosphere. Their Christmas tree was still up along with some other decorations, but the lights of the tree weren't even turned on! I feel like the ambience here could've been a lot more festive and welcoming with the lights and some music. The place itself was pretty clean and the bathroom (one gender-neutral unit) was spotless!! Oh, there is also a patio if you choose to sit outside.
We were greeted by Alma behind the counter and she was genuinely such a sweet, kind, and helpful person. She knew her job very well and was able to answer any of our questions about their menu. To share, we ordered their famous Ajarski (plain), along with a large vegetarian pizza. My son got himself the Grilled Chicken and Garlic Wrap, however he subbed the tortilla for sliced sourdough and got salad instead of fries. I got the Grilled Chicken Panini that came with Mozzarella Cheese and Pesto, also with salad.
The Ajarski and Pizza are baked fresh per order in the pizza oven, so they require a few extra minutes. I believe it took about 15 minutes total. The sandwiches came out sooner than that. Honestly, the food here was just...mediocre. It certainly wasn't awful but it just wasn't amazing by any means. It was kind of BLAND and everything just felt like it was missing something. Both of the grilled chicken sandwiches were pretty dry and the chicken was overcooked. The side salads were decent. The pizza felt noticeably underdone, like it was heated just enough to melt the cheese, but not fully baked. The dough was flimsy and not sturdy nor crispy. For me, the Ajarski was the highlight! Delicious cheese filling baked into a soft, tender dough with two runny eggs baked into it in the center. When you cut into it, the yolks start oozing out and you can use the bread to soak it all up. It was DELICIOUS! I would say the portion sizes were appropriate for everything, however the prices are a bit steep! Our total for these 4 items came out to $71!
For dessert, my son and I decided on 7 different pastries to sample. I also wanted to have a latte, but Alma told me they don't serve any decaf coffee whatsoever, so I just stuck with my water. I don't know what this is about - I've been noticing more and more places that are eliminating decaf coffee from their menus. Why? Not all of us do well with caffeine, so it is important to keep it on the menu in order to please everyone.
As far as the actual pastries, we got the Cream Puff (incorrectly labeled as Chocolate Eclair), 2 round Peach pastries (filled with buttercream), and one slice each of the following: Tiramisu, Mikado, Honey Cake, and Bird's Milk. They have an EXTENSIVE pastry case full of traditional pastries that we all know and love, and some lesser-known desserts from Armenia, Russia, etc...I grew up on a lot of these sweet treats so it was nice to revisit them after many years. We tried a bite or two of each one and they were all yummy but also a bit overpriced in OUR opinion!! 7 pastries came out to $31. Altogether, already a $102 bill for two people and some leftovers for tomorrow. Hey, we did also get a free Armenian calendar out of it!
I'd also like to thank Katherine who was helpful and pleasant, just like Alma. We accidentally misplaced the receipt for the food and she was able to reprint it for me.
I really wanted to give this place 5 stars, but it was missing that WOW factor for me!! It was slightly underwhelming but I might give it another try sometime in the future.