Just Opened: Corner Bakery Cafe in South Plainfield NJ

Corner Bakery Cafe NJThis business card blog post was supposed to be published a while ago, but it got delayed between a death in the family & life getting busy with work and wedding stuffed.

Two chains in my area that were connected to the same piece of property closed over the period of a year: Baja Fresh and Quiznos. It took a bit of time, but a new place just opened up in South Plainfield NJ: the Corner Bakery Cafe.

My fiancée was excited that this place was opening up since she wanted an alternative to Panera Bread because she loves it there. So, we went there with anticipation once it opened.

Upon entering the restaurant, we were waiting on line to order and got approached by one of the employees (maybe a manager). She congratulated us on finding the line. Yes, I’m serious. We were congratulated on finding the line, as if we were 5 years old.

Business Card BlogOnce we saw the menu, there were some key differences between Panera and Corner Bakery Cafe. Firstly, the sides are different. Panera has bread (they’re trying to promote dinner rolls over the French bread now to be cheap), chips or an apple. Corner Bakery also offers chips, but the alternative are baby carrots (that look sad on my plate). They also serve a pickle with every sandwich.

The soups are also different (and worse IMO since they don’t have black bean or New England clam chowder), but the panini I got was of better quality. I chose the chicken pomodori (chicken, basil, spinach, tomatoes & provolone w/ a pesto mayo I opted out of).

Instead of getting called up or being handed a buzzer like a fast food joint, we sat down & got served. That was a more pleasant experience, especially since we didn’t have to tip them.

I didn’t try anything from the bakery and the salads were different. Overall, the Corner Bakery Cafe is a better choice than Panera.

Let me know in the comments or on Twitter about your experience at Corner Bakery Cafe and/or Panera Bread!