Salty Tart

Everything about it is beautiful! I’ve been a big fan of the bakery from Midtown, and now the airport too, so I was excited to see them open a spot in St. Paul. We enjoyed a lovely Sunday brunch and while most restaurants that would be a busy time, we were pleased that tables were open and service was speedy. The space is absolutely gorgeous. The staff was friendly (even giving us free bread to try!). I usually keep things simple and get a bag of cookies to go, especially if they have a cherry and chocolate chip that day. We tried the latte, which was well made, and the egg sandwich. We are used to Texas heat and found that the aoli had a pretty good kick to it which is nice if you like that, but if beware if you are a Minnesota spicy kind of person. Definitely go and take a friend, or treat yourself to a quiet retreat and delicious pastry!

Some of the best baked goods I've had period. The lemon meringue tart is to die for. When ordered, the bottom is crispy and warm and the soft merengue makes a great contrast. The macaroons are also phenomenal. A little pricy, but it's worth it.

I love living downtown St Paul to be able to walk to breakfast and was excited when Salty Tart opened. The space is beautiful but the food and service disappoint. The once delicious hot cereal has been dropped from the menu (Why? Cause the sun finally came out?) I LOVE eggs but like my eggs well done. No runny for me. (Shouldn’t there be an option in a food establishment?) Love scrambled, fried, hard boiled, quiches... Love eggs. Went item by item on the “new” menu and every offering has soft or runny eggs. Asked if they could just continue to cook one “soft boiled” egg so I could enjoy the Avocado toast, perhaps and was told “everything is made ahead of time so that would be too labor intensive”. Really. That’s a quote. There are 7 other people sitting in this entire establishment and half that many behind the counter. Just too tough. Ugh. I was offered a pastry for breakfast instead. Uh, no. I’ll take that coffee to go- back to Buttered Tin!

Five stars for the food - I ordered two different styles of cakes for my wedding in September and both were amazing. Guests provided great feedback and had many inquiries on where we got them. Docking 1 star though because I paid extra for delivery and asked way ahead of time if I could get it dropped off at a certain timeblock. Day of wedding, they came to drop it off 5 hours ahead of time when no one was there to receive. The delivery driver was annoyed that no one was there and had to come back at the time I requested for drop off.

If you care to risk your order not being made, go with Salty Tart! We've ordered their cakes for the past 3 years. Delicious cakes! However, when our cake was not ready the morning we went to pick up, it made for a sour experience. Thank goodness, this was a birthday cake and not a wedding cake. 😉 As a solution, they sold us 2 smaller cakes they had on hand - a major customer service miss to rectify their error, given the minimal discount that I had to ASK for. I'm disappointed, given how yummy their cakes are. But I would never risk them forgetting an order for a future occasion.

I was so excited to order the brioche rolls for a Fathers Day brunch and was completely disappointed. I understand the complexity of making the brioche dough but @ $3.25 a piece they are not living up to the hype. Perhaps a better description of the filling would have lessened my displeasure.

I'm a borderline Salty Tart evangelist. I greatly enjoy and don't mind paying for the quality of the baked goods from this place. My go-to items are the croissants (both chocolate and ham and cheese) and the brioche. I always enjoy the seasonal items (fruit and savory tarts, creme fraiche cake, anything lemon) as well. Of course the coconut macaroons are outstanding but don't overlook some of the other cookies - sour cherry, peanut butter, chocolate chip, and (been awhile since I've seen it) the salted caramel pretzel. I've converted coworkers who initially said they didn't like pastries. I've got very good reviews when I bring Salty Tart to customers, especially instead of the same old tired bagel assortment that other people bring. If you're not familiar with all of the different kinds of pastries, the counter staff (at least in the mornings when I usually go) is very helpful in describing what everything is and steering you toward things you'll enjoy.

I look forward to eating at their main location, but I purchased two ham and cheese croissants at their airport location for 18.54 and they certainly didn’t taste good enough for the price. They were lukewarm and not very palatable at that temperature.