Almost Heaven is a quite popular baked goods, coffee, and pie/cake shop. I understand that the…read moredemand for the goods is high and the staff may be shorthanded, so I'm taking that into consideration. Trying to keep up with everything is challenging with low staff.
The aesthetic of the edifice is alluring enough, and they do a great job with decorations. You're met with the sight of coffees, croissants, cheesecakes, and other goods that look very promising. However, what Almost Heaven does well with visuals, they lack in quality of food, which, as a restaurant, shouldn't be neglected.
Regarding the former, the upkeep and cleanliness of the inside could certainly be improved. There were fruit flies in the display shelves and in the air, some dusty spider webs on the hanging lights above, and there were noticeable crumbs on the floors/tables. Again, I understand that there may not be enough staff, but the sight of fruit flies on the cookies and cheesecakes is off-putting.
Regarding the food, there is a wide selection of sweets, from milkshakes, smoothies, cookies, cannolis, cheesecakes, and others. There's also paninis, melts, and other sandwiches with breakfast and lunch varieties. I have tried the Mountain Mama and the Breakfast Melt Croissant; the former was actually quite good but the latter was nothing special. I've tried the hot chocolate, several different cookies, a slice of the classic cheesecake, and the seasonal pumpkin pecan caramel pie. Unfortunately, I wouldn't order any of these again. Everything was too forward with sweetness. I get that desserts are supposed to be sweet, but it was almost as if the whipped cream was store-bought and that there was far too much sugar in the stale chocolate chip cookie. I'm not sure how long the desserts are kept in the displays, but it seems that it's too long.
Lastly, wait times can take a while. I once ordered only a panini and waited 18 minutes for it to come out, and the pretzel bun was burnt. Ordering a coffee or other drink doesn't seem to have long wait times, however, so it's possible that the staff was prioritizing easier orders. Still, if the sandwich is "premade" as one of the employees mentioned, then 18 mins is too long to wait for one thing.
Overall, if I could give 2.5 stars, I would, but I'll round up because I haven't tried the entire menu. Certainly a lot of room for improvement for AHD. The price for the quality of food is very mismatched, and unless they get better ingredients and have fresher goods, then I'll have to skip out of visiting the bakery again.