The Croissant Tree

I’ve been to this location many times as its conveniently located in the Atrium on Bay. I went today with a coworker when we saw their daily specials (these are always homemade).
The Croissant Tree has a variety of sandwiches, cold salads, and daily specials that they offer, along with a good variety of coffee (which is what a lot of people go there for) and some desserts. You can usually spot the owner, an older gentleman, either behind the counter serving customers or chatting up customers while they’re having lunch. We usually head over there for daily specials, one day of the week is usually mac and cheese and shephards pie, another is always fish and there’s a Hungarian chicken special with rice (this is SUPER yum).
The good things: the prepared cold salads are great (fruit salad, pasta salads, etc) and the portion sizes are pretty good one those. The desserts are fantastic, pretty much anything I’ve gotten there is a good size and terribly delicious. The daily specials (usually priced at $ 6.99): the shepherds pie is a great serving size for the price and the mac and cheese is good too. The quality of the mac and cheese has gone down recently though so I’ll probably avoid it from now on (mushy and salty).
There are a few things that have made me give this a 2-​star rating. First off is the staff. They’re not terribly competent, they don’t listen very well (when ordering sandwiches you usually have to repeat yourself multiple times) and the female who runs the cash is incredibly standoffish. They could do with a better attitude. Secondly, the prices aren’t exactly cheap; there’s a subway in the plaza and a Kitchen Table, both of which can get you large sandwiches in the $ 5 range. A small-​ish BLT sandwich runs you just under $ 5 here and there’s not a whole lot to it (but it IS yummy). Lastly, they charge an additional 0.50c fee for debit here under $ 10. Coincidentally, my meal and my coworkers meal (with drink) came to just under $ 10 each. They do quite a business (when we left just before 1, there was a lineup the length of the place) so I think the whole charging for debit is a little unnecessary.
If you’re in the food court and aren’t sure what you want, this place has some good standby sandwich options that you can’t go wrong with. The daily special is a good deal but be sure to arrive before 1/1:30 or it will all be gone (except on fish days). Overall, it’s one of those places I go to because of convenience and because my other coworkers enjoy it, but it wouldn’t be my first choice in the Atrium and it’s not the best bang for your buck.