Jen P.
Yelp
I was excited to see a restaurant going in to the space between the 'Black Lives Built This Country' mural and Cure Bar. Knowing there was an affiliation with Flour City Bread was also exciting, especially as I imagined an expansion to their breakfast offerings (thinking about a seasonal avocado toast I got with peaches and corn one time...), maybe lunch offerings, and thinking ahead, I also pictured 'bread and pastries all day'. But this is not that. They do not sell bread, and their pastry selection is limited and goes fast. And the menu skews towards people-pleasing standards as opposed to seasonal specialties.
Public Provisions is possibly still finding their way, figuring out what Public Market shoppers want on busy market mornings, and what diners want at other non-market times. Here are my three experiences:
The first time I went was shortly after they opened, (like the first week of business) around noon on a Saturday. I was shocked there were hardly any people inside, which probably just spoke to the lack of awareness that they were finally open. The place was as described by other reviewers, bright and clean. But they did not have any pastries left, and their (at that time) limited menu was more than I wanted to eat, so I got a coffee to go. I felt like staff was competent but not overly friendly - again - they may have been swamped all morning and this is how it was. I went to Flour City Bakery to get the almond croissant I wanted and then sat outside and ate. For this purpose alone - no line for coffee, ample seating, and ability to bring in food from a different place and eat - I would return over and over.
On the second visit I brought my husband, with the intention of getting there earlier on a market Saturday, and having breakfast. On that day they were definitely busier but there was still lots of seating. We bumped into friends, who were having bagel sandwiches (which they said were good). We decided to join them even though we could have easily gotten our own table. We went to the counter and ordered our egg-bacon-cheese croissants and coffee, and everything came out relatively fast and was good/solid, but the one thing that impressed me was the lack of creative options, like you always see over at Flour City. For example, they had more pastries at that hour, and the menu offered several breakfast sandos, but no breakfast wraps, no avo toast...anyway, the hubs liked the fact that we didn't have to stand around waiting for seating or stand in a line for coffee, and between that and the tasty food, he was happy.
Third visit we decided to take friends who were visiting from out of town on a Tues around 9:30 am. They were open but absolutely dead....the kind of vibe you get when you are either the first diners or the last, where you don't see staff because they are busy in the back setting up or cleaning up, and you almost feel like you shouldn't be there. So strange considering this restaurants connection to Flour City and Flour City's long-standing and excellent rep. We wanted pastries and coffee but all they had were plain croissants, so we ordered coffee, sat, and I went to Flour City and got a variety of pastries for the table. When I came back, our coffees had been served in to-go cups, even though we were dining in, and when I asked for plates that we could eat on I was told they 'didn't have any', so we had to use napkins. I was not very happy with this experience - I guess expectations were too high - and our friends were unimpressed and wondered why we didn't just take our coffee and pastries elsewhere to eat since it seemed they were not really offering 'service'.
One more note - tried to go there with a group of friends who hadn't been yet, on a Thurs morning around 10:30 an - and they were CLOSED. The Market is open on Thursdays and this was late summer - peak time for fresh seasonal ingredients, and I was frankly baffled. I learned later they were doing a grand reopening that day, but I thought we would still be able to sit and eat. So that was weird.
Anyway, have not been back for other meals, mostly because the menu doesn't really speak to me as something special compared to all our other offerings in Roch. I'll still zip in for a quick coffee til the rest of Roch gets the hint, but I'll hold off eating inside til weather turns...hopefully at that point there will be more energy and offerings as hearty-winter market goers discover and flood the place.
No food pics because the experiences have not been special (take-out coffee cups and the same croissant sandos and pastries as are posted all over the Flour City Bakery page).
