text: VERDICT Come for the delicious bread leave for the atmospherennI really like Great Harvest Bread Co They do regular sliced bread a service by making it fresh preservative free and delicious The difference between Great Harvest Bread and Panera is dramatic Great Harvest shies away from croissants and danishes Instead they focus on white wheat and various other basic sliced breads They are really good though It really makes you detest going back to the normal grocery store fodder The downfall as is with quality is the price about per loaf They also have cookies and a few bready dessertsnnPart deux of this review really has to focus on the experience and atmosphere First I was really excited to find a Great Harvest over by my Costco on Decatur I forced Greg to pull over and rush in However there was a group of six or so teenage nerdowells also approaching the store at the same time I was determined to get to the store before them and told Greg to hurry or they were going to beat us to the door He said do not worry they will eat up the free samples and you will get a fresh loaf to sample He just said that because he is a lollygagger and hates to pick up the pace I must be getting old since I have already used the terms nerdowell and lollygagger in this post Anyway I let the hooligans beat me to the storennInside the narrow store the teenagers turned out to be less of a threat It appeared to be closeted gay boys with their Christianyouthgroupapproved girlfriends out having a wild time by venturing to the bread store to get a couple of sandwiches and get an inappropriate amount of free samples You know basically being complete rebels They were kind of too outwardly excited about their bread samples in a wholesome way saying things like I love bread and bread rocks It was like those Totino pizza roll ads where the kids wax feverishly about their love of frozen foodnnThis process actually took a long time giving me an ample amount of time to give Greg the Itoldyouso eye for being a lollygagger Something I am sure he was oblivious to noticing During this time I was also able to look around at all of the customers sitting at tables There were quite a few of them I would say at least ten people scattered through the sitting area Then it struck me as being incredibly odd Every single person was facing the counter Every single person was not eating drinking or talking They were just staring at the counter I felt this existential feeling like I was starring in Sartres No Exit They were the audience and I did not know that I was in the play It was bizarre I know I know I often accuse restaurants of being cults as in crEATe and the nearby Salad Creations but I think I am on to something It was odd I have no idea what is going on therennIn any case I get the counter with my Dakota wheat bread sooooo gooood I get my choice of free samples and the girl behind the counter offered me the heel of the bread Those nerdowell hooligan gays and their beards stole my chance for a decent sample And Gregs lollygagging did not help either