Cottage Bakery Cafe Review

I grew up in a big city and our neighborhood bakery was on the corner of my street. French bread, cookies, party pizza, muffins, and cakes were purchased at the bakery NOT at the grocery store. After 6 years, Cottage is the closest thing I have found to an authentic neighborhood bakery in the area. While I do enjoy the French-inspired places around town, nothing beats a simple neighborhood bakery. I cannot go a month without stopping by and buying cookies. Cottage gets enough business that items will fly of the shelves. I know the pain of **just** missing out on their buttery, scrumptious, savory croissants. Yes, Cottage runs out of some offerings, so make sure to mentally prepare if they don't have your pastry of choice. I moved to a new neighborhood and can't get to Cottage as much as I'd like, but when I do it makes me feel a little less homesick and a whole lot happier!

Catered a large event with them. Food was excellent. Delicious, hot, and more than enough.

Went our of her way to help me. Delishous food!!! Very friendly

I ordered catering for a conference. Specifically, the pastries, breakfast burritos, and coffee. Everything was absolutely outstanding. The food was delicious. The pastries were fresh and very tasty (like they were right out of the oven). The burritos were mouthwatering; the best breakfast burritos I have had in Iowa City. The coffee was high-quality too and they were kind enough to give me lots of sugar and cream to go. The food was packaged well to be transported and looked both appetizing and professional.

Thank you so much and I will be back again! 10/10, I would cater from here again.

Very good food and the owner and niece are very nice.

Their cakes are amazing, and the staff are so nice!

For a small business, you would think they would be flexible as a caterer. Instead, they have rigid minimums and do not allow for variety when ordering. We recently had The Cottage cater a baby shower, and they require 2 dozen of the same item. When hosting a party for 12-15 individuals, you are not allowed much variety in ordering trays. The woman on the phone was quite snappy and unapologetic for their policies. Next time, we'll be looking for a more flexible and courteous vendor.

Staff Is Very Friendly, Pastries are excellent U frequent this establishment.

Judy and her team at Cottage Bakery & Cafe did a phenomenal job providing catering for our company party. Judy was very easy to work with, was prompt in responding to our questions and requests, and was able to accommodate our group s dietary/food allergy needs. Everyone in our group was happy with the quality of the food and especially loved the stuffed mushrooms, Italian pasta bake, and chocolate truffles. We are looking forward to working with Cottage Bakery & Cafe again in the future!

First visit, helpful. Pre-ordered dinner quiche to try. The staff were very friendly.

Cheap cupcakes but it feels like yesterday's. Frosting is dry and hard, and cake too.

I recently had a cake done for a bridal shower and it was a 1/4 sheet cake for $31. They didn't get my order right and decorated it wrong and with the wrong colors and no flowers like I asked. When I asked for them to make it right, they refused saying the decorating is complimentary therefore there is no way to reimburse for it. They said they would give my a 5% discount on the next cake...there won't be a next cake. Poor customer service.

Use for staff catering event. Staff was helpful and Mac and cheese was great but was disappointed with the dessert platter we ordered with the frosting sliding off many cupcakes and some upside down after being delivered. Desserts were underwhelming.

The food was delicious! I got a chicken panini sandwich and a couple of soups. I enjoyed it all and would most definitely return!

If you're looking for a quaint bakery with a friendly face, the Cottage is the place to go. The expresso chocolate chip muffin is hard to beat!

Everything is delicious, and the staff is beyond nice.

2 day old cupcakes for $2. It's like Molly's cupcakes selling a day old cupcakes for a 33% discount. Go to somewhere for fresh bakes. Too bad....

Stopped in and order a sandwich. Got a huge, tasty sandwich, for 6 bucks. Cupcake was good too.

A few years ago we had quite a few cupcakes and two cakes done for a graduation. The cupcakes were great and the one cake was also great. The second cake, which we ordered pretty last minute, tasted good but looked terrible. It looked as though they spent about five minutes decorating it, and it was quite embarrassing. It really kind of changed my opinion of the place because I felt like a small business bakery should have a little more pride in their work, considering HyVee could make the same cake at a cheaper price yet I am choosing to give them business. Nevertheless, the Oreo cupcakes were a complete hit. Since it'd been a few years and my dad hadn't stopped talking about the cupcakes, we had a cake made for his birthday. It was nothing I couldn't have made in terms of decorating, and I was hoping it would taste just as great. It was just okay. Nothing great like we remembered, which was disappointing. It was a little dry as well. Was sad to have it again and not have it taste nearly as good. Will probably go elsewhere next time.

On a recent visit had a stronger than typical (a good thing) iced coffee with two baked items: chocolate croissant and a berry muffin. Croissant was light, very flavorful. Muffin was just ok. Sat outsided at the small tables.

Feels like going home to Mom's cooking. Their hot lunches are the best! It is often a pasta or rice dish at a surprisingly inexpensive price Staff is friendly and passionate about what they do.

I've gotten some small items here and food was kinda hit or miss. Mostly good food!

They catered our wedding. The food was beyond fabulous and provided a turn key service that was flawless. I highly recommed them for any event you need catered.