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Baked Goods

Harbord Bakery

  • Currently 2.35/5

Rating: 2.4/5 (48 votes)

Posted by Staff / Posted on October 13, 2007

21 Comments

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An Annex institution, the Harbord Bakery has been on many "Best of Toronto" lists. After all these years, they still make amazing bread (they are well known for their challah), cakes and other baked treats.

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21 Comments

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Marcelo / May 12, 2008 at 12:20 am
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I never understood the hype around Harbord Bakery. It's pretty mediocre, nothing special. Tried the cakes from there a few times and frankly, I can get the same stuff from the Loblaws bakery. I think Harbord B. has been voted as "Best of Toronto" by the same people that voted Pizza Pizza to the list
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Charmaine / September 9, 2008 at 11:37 pm
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They have the best cheese blintzes I've ever had!
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David / December 8, 2008 at 09:48 pm
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It is very average and VERY overpriced. $25 for an average fruit cake. Ridiculous!
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Linda replying to a comment from David / April 1, 2009 at 04:05 pm
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Your information is inaccurate. I just paid $12 for a fruit cake, filled with fresh fruit. Prices are reasonable and everything continues to be as delicious as always!
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Gabor / April 8, 2009 at 01:04 pm
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I am a long standing patron of the bakery.

A couple of days ago I purchased two bags of macaroons. When I tried one at home I discovered them to be very hard. Returned to the store to present my complaint and it was instantly accepted by the sales person saying "we know they are not the usual quality, our baker told us they did not turn out well" (?) and I got a refund, no problem.

Two days later ( today) I returned to purchase from a now fresh batch. After leaving the store I noticed that I may have been overcharged.( paid over $30 for three small bags!) Returned and after talking to the person at the cash it turned out indeed I was overcharged by about 15% and received a cash refund without any argument.

But... Is this the way to maintain the good reputation of a much respected establishment!!!!!!

I don't think so!
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Aileen / June 5, 2009 at 04:43 pm
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Having saved a Toronto Star list of bakeries on which Harbord topped the list my husband and I finally made it down there yesterday. Our verdict after buying 6 different items is that the bakery is highly over-rated and over-priced. We'll stick to Dimpflemeier which are better and half the price and didn't even make the list
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stefanos / June 13, 2009 at 05:41 pm
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It is a real bakery. They sell fresh and tasty pastries, cakes and bread. However, it is definitely overpriced. The smallest bag with 3-4 cookies is about $5. They should take it easy and reduce their prices!
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Ichinose / November 24, 2009 at 11:19 pm
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5 stars for their challah alone! I have tried 5 other bakeries' challah... none can compare to Harbord Bakery's moist, chewy, flavourful and NOT DRY challah! The rest of their stuff is quite overpriced though... they really ought to put prices on things, and not have our wallets purged at the register.
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Diana / February 14, 2010 at 11:40 am
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I just tried their challah, marble rye and chocolate babka. They were all so delicious. Definitely a bakery I will go to again and again.
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Gilad Rosenzweig / March 15, 2010 at 01:56 pm
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This bakery can't just be rated for the baked goods alone (which are great). It is a family bakery, a community bakery and anyone who knows the owner, will then know the magic of Harbord bakery.

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harbord / August 2, 2010 at 09:54 am
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The problem with this bakery is that the prices are never fixed, they charge different prices each time for the same goods,seriously from 1.50 to 2.25 same goods, talk about flucuations, sure it is a family run business, but it is really run so poorly, there is no customer service at all, the prices are fine and the food is great, but I find the staff really rude they never smile, eventhough I love the product, just not a good atmosphere, seriously lacks customer service, ,, here is the food, this is the price, pay now, perhaps they should get staff that actually care about what they are doing instead of socializing amongst themselves versus overcharging you intentionally, price discrimination does not make good business sense, this is not a flea market ..
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harbord / August 2, 2010 at 10:00 am
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Great food, overpriced, poor or no customer service, price discrimination, as in each time I go there the staff has to discuss in their own language how much to charge for an item, now that is a joke,, place is really poorly run, too bad they do not care about anything but bringing in the dough.. never a smile or a thank you, just here is the product, pay the money,goodbye and yet i still return for the abuse as the product is excellent.
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Dan / August 17, 2010 at 05:16 pm
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I used to go to Harbord Bakery when I was a student a the U of T in the 1970s. The cheese buns/danish were the best I have had anywhere. The dough was superb. The people weren't bad there. It sounds like it has changed. I have been trying to figure out how to have a large number of their cheese buns shipped to me in the US for a big event we are putting on, but I suspect that customs will get in the way.
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Peter / October 19, 2010 at 09:51 am
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I agree with the comments above about this bakey being over priced. Way over and not worth the trouble of visiting.
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liz / November 4, 2010 at 11:21 pm
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Hey! Have you tried their carrot cake? Truly the best in the city! Their special challah for jewish new year is to die for and every year I pay for a stollen filled with marzipan. It is indeed expensive but truly the best EVER! (And I come from Holland and had them every year -theirs goes far and beyond! mmmm) Sometimes have to drive faster just so I won't stop and buy on of their also amazing cookies. Yes, service is a bit on and off, yes they are expensive but their ingredients are much higher quality than Dimpflemier (although they win hands down for bread Other than the challah) their cakes run above and beyond. Truly!
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Tomislav / November 8, 2010 at 05:22 pm
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I have purchased things on and off for many years from them and am now looking for a bakery from where I can buy organic bread several times a week. They said they don't. Would love it if they would consider it, I know many of us would go there just for that!
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Marc Bernstein replying to a comment from Marcelo / February 1, 2011 at 10:29 pm
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Chowhound snob!
Eat baked marmot bread with toad's legs in bosco!!!
I love Harbord Bakery: have gone there 40 years.
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WW / February 28, 2011 at 04:19 pm
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I have shopped at Harbord Bakery since the 80s. While some of the criticisms as to price are valid, I have never found the staff to be rude.
Of course, I'm not shopping there for phony perkiness. I'm there for the bread and flatbreads, which are truly wonderful and some of the other prepared foods.
The one thing which I have never found to be tasty are the cakes (as opposed to the cheesecakes). They must use cornstarch in the recipes are the taste is somewhat muted. However, the empanadas and spanakopita overcome these drawbacks for me.
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Stuart Rubenstein / September 6, 2011 at 04:34 pm
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I have never tasted better cheese blintzes in all of my life.!! Out of this world. Thanks for the recipe and posting.



Stuart
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Jennifer / September 26, 2011 at 04:03 pm
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This piece (Best Challah in Toronto) makes it sound as if Harbord Bakery is in the #2 spot simply because of the lack of any other decent challah in the vicinity. I'm sure you didn't mean to make it sound that way, but that is how it comes off, and it's sad because this is totally inaccurate. Challah-lovers of Toronto would be ill-advised to overlook the mouth-wateringly delicious challah available here. The line on Fridays for those in the know is insane. Please reconsider the tone of your article!
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Stephanie / September 26, 2011 at 06:56 pm
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Harbord Bakery is truly the best in the city. The challah is AMAZING and the staff is so friendly ...it probably helps that they know me by now :) Yeah, it's slightly pricier than other places, but you get what you pay for.
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115 Harbord Street (Get Directions)
416.922.5767
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