I wanted to love this place, not just only, well sometimes like it. I keep going back hoping Bread and Co Bistro will figure out what they want to be when they grow up. I am sad to say that even with so much potential they have not. At best, Bread and Co Bistro still remains akward and clumsy, if not self detrimental in it’s growing pains. Location is in the old Bickford’s in Winter Hill. Bread and Co opened in December of 2008. The physical space has been transformed and looks slick, stylish, and efficient, however looks can be deceiving and though the service is often freindly, it is neither slick or efficient.

The food is good, it is also inconsistent. For example, at lunch each time I have had the pan seared fish sandwich it has been cooked and presented differently. My dining companion once said if they just would put a disclaimer on the menu that read “subject to today’s chef interpertation” all would be good. There is no such disclaimer and all is not good. It is just aggravating.

The Caprese Salad is served with small pieces of chopped mozzerella. There is no sliced mozzerella. One night the French Onion Soup is in a bowl, on another it is in a square soup plate on a plate. The same hostess who yelled at a waitress in front of customers (and the waitress was working hard) refuses to make any eye contact when we try to get her attention. We were one of two tables having dinner.

Most recently, I was there with friends for an early supper. One side of the restaurant was set for dinner with table cloths and napkins, the other set for breakfast/ lunch. We said we were there for dinner, we said “dinner for three”. We were seated on the breakfast side. Even though we were presented with the dinner menu (which was fine) there were no table clothes or napkins for us. With a new and publized liquor license my friends were looking forward to having a glass of wine with dinner. For white wine, they were presented with only two and very uninterssting choices. Remember (Bread and… wants to be “four star”).

On another evening the Grilled Salmon over Ceaser came with a generous and nicely done piece of salmon, over undressed chopped romaine. Chopped romaine does not a Ceaser Salad make. There was no shaved parmesan, no homemade croutons, no home made dressing; nothing like what the menu described. If the menu described salmon over chopped greens that would have been fine, that is not what the menu described.

Given the name “Bread and Co”, at breakfast I was hoping for toast made from one of their many home made breads (which they generously give you tastings of). What I get every time is store bought industrial wheat/white bread toast, such a disappointment. Most breakfast items are in the 9.95 range. Over time, we have had the hash, a few omlettes, two specials, pancakes, fresh fruit, eggs with ham, and fruit smoothies. The eggs with a fresh and sweet ham slice at 6.95 is well worth it and very good. Alas, sometimes the breakfast potatoes are cooked, and sometimes they are not, leaving me to ask why? Can you say testing fork?

The coffee is fresh ground and brewed and delicious. The tea served in individual pots that steam loose tea leaves to your liking at your table. The juice is fresh squeezed, and the hash homemade. That cup of coffee served in a mug, on a plate, with a few whole coffee beans scattered on the side? It’s creamer comes in plastic individual containers that is difficult open. Another example of Bread and Co. schism.

I think Bread and Co needs to decide how, and who they want to serve. Casual or more formal? The breakfast and lunch folks or the dinner people? I think they need to settle down and stop trying to be something they are not. Then, I think they will be just fine, and having settled into their own skin, Bread and Co might even blossom, or at least be consistent.