Ola Bakery & Pastries

I’ve been to many Portuguese bakeries across the GTA and Waterloo and unfortunately this place was not very good. I saw one of the gentlemen in the back while baking bread wipe the sweat dripping down from his forehead with his hands and then continued to touch the pastries and bread and serve it to customers. One of the older woman working there had been coughing all over the open desserts they kept on the counter. The cleanliness just doesn’t seem to be a priority there and unfortunately you can tell by the way the bakery is maintained at times. The cashiers could work on their customer service and the food needs a little upgrade when comparing it against other Portuguese bakeries.

This is my go to place for pasteis de nata, was put onto this gem by our Portuguese friends. So delicious!

I come here for lunch quite often and love the food. I often get the befana meal which is two pieces of beef, fries and salad at a great price, also the fish fillets are delicious. I have also catered there Portuguese chicken, rice and little potatoes which are delicious and also well priced. They just switched to new ownership, I hope the quality and pricing stay the same.

The portuguese custard tart is AMAZING! Best I’ve ever had.

Absolutely awful, honestly I don’t think I could have had a worse experience. My ‘caramello’ latte tasted like mold and I actually noticed when they steamed my milk they used milk that was already in the cup sitting out for god knows how long and I think it was already steamed and cooked back down. not only that but she also managed to boil my milk oppose to steam it (it also wasn’t sanitized properly) I work at Teavana and In paid to make lattes and tea all day and I’ve never seen such ignorance in any café. Not only that but the ‘fresh bread’ I bought was hard as a rock it must have been days old but I was still paying premium prices!!! Sorry for the rant but I love the café/​bakery industry and actually went out of my way to make this account to write this review THATS HOW AFUL THIS PLACE IS. TGESE PEOPLE HAVE NO PRIDE IN THEIR PRODUCT.

The first time I popped in here was after a meal down the street. We were just looking to satisfy our sweet tooths. Ola Bakery has lots of little snack-​sized cakes to choose from and, of course, Portuguese tarts! While there, we realized they also serve lunch.
Today we came to see what their lunch was all about. Ola appears to be a popular lunch spot. The restaurant area was about three quarters full the whole time we were there. Plus there were several take-​out customers coming in and out.
Their menu is fairly simple. You can choose a half-​chicken or quarter chicken with your choice of two sides (rice, potatoes, fries or salad). You can also order a whole chicken to go for $ 9.99. For sandwiches you can build your own by choosing your bread and meats, or if decision-​making isn’t your forte then they also offer a veal sandwich. The sandwiches don’t come with sides and are priced around $ 6 each. The quarter chicken was also priced at $ 6 and comes with the two sides.
I went for the veal sandwich because I was very excited to try their bread. Their bread seems to be one of their best-​selling products (just based on the customers I saw coming in and out and what they feature on their website). The bun for the sandwich was gigantic, but the meat was rather thin. The tomato-​based sauce was good, but I wish there was more of it. With so much bread, it was rather dry. The sandwich also comes with cheese. Some bites of the veal were actually tough. I also ordered a small side of fries. They weren’t too greasy and perfectly crispy. I would have liked to try their potatoes, but they didn’t have any today. I only managed to finish half of the sandwich and all my fries. The portion was gigantic!
They have a whole chalkboard of espresso beverages to choose from and an interesting variety of fruit juices and nectars. If I had any room left, I would have gone home with a Portuguese tart. They looked very flaky.
Ola is a family-​run business. There appeared to be lots of regulars who knew the family very well, obviously long-​time customers. My only complaint is that the service was a little slow, so it’s more of a sit-​and-​chat-​and-​stay place than an eat-​and-​run place.
Great value. Very friendly atmosphere. I will return to try some of their take-​out items like their chicken and potatoes, freshly baked breads and pastries or their grocery items such as coffee or piri piri sauce.