Wide Awake Bakery

As a croissant aficionado, I'm always looking for a savory, flaky, and crunchy pastry to pair my morning coffee with. After years of looking all around Ithaca for the perfect croissant, I was all but disappointed and almost gave up. That was until I found Wide Awake at the local farmers market. Since then, I make it a point to grab a 3-pack of croissants to take home every weekend.

But, what happens when I need my croissant fix on a Thursday? Lucky for me, Wide Awake opened a brick and mortar location on Buck Hill road, just across the street. No more waiting for the weekend to get croissants!

This is the neighborhood bakery you dream of. They bake daily, have a surprising variety of breads and pastries, and make some decent espresso. Most of their baked goods use sourdough, except for baguettes and a couple of others. They're welcoming, knowledgeable, and are willing to provide recommendations. The new location has parking space, baking paraphernalia and good coffee.

Word of advice: They're still a small bakery with high local demand. Additionally, a large portion of their production is devoted to their bread CSA (community supported agriculture) program. If you want to reliably get the bread of your choice, you may want to consider joining their CSA. Otherwise, go in like me and be surprised with whatever loaves are available at a given time. For croissants, I recommend getting there early to snatch a 3-pack.

Just saw this new bakery and had to stop in.
5/5 customer service and taking time to answer and explain any questions.
5/5 pastries and BEAUTIFUL artisan breads.
The barista also made me a special request drink and did a fabulous job at that.
Will definitely be visiting here again soon!

Wide Awake is a wonderful little café and bread bakery. They have a delightful selection of breads and cookies, in an old-fashioned style. Simply the best bread in Ithaca! (Good coffee too)

This spot is an absolute gem for anyone who loves freshly baked goods! Their homemade bread and cookies are like little bites of heaven. Don't forget about their coffee – it's the perfect companion to these delicious treats. Trust me, you won't want to miss out on this delightful experience!

Best bread you can get, by far, in Ithaca. I like the sunflower seed bread but any sourdough is quite amazing and reminds me of the bread I am used to getting in places far from here, like France and Italy. Great service and also good coffee.

I am a huge fan of Wide Awake, and have been since I discovered them about 1.5 years ago. I am not really here to review them, although I do think it’s important to note that Gary’s and Sunflower Farmer are some of the best loaves I have ever run into. Also all their focaccias are outstanding.

I am here to address the bread club problem someone had mentioned. To that person — these bakers need to make a living and have to start the process of making their bread the day before. This means they need to have a semi-decent understanding of the demand for the next day. It is really difficult to understand that demand during the first couple weeks of operation, so it makes sense that they would underproduce in order to make sure they don’t have extras sitting around. I know most would expect a high service level for things like this, but rating them a two is a bit ridiculous, especially since you didn’t even try anything and I am sure you showed up late in the day.

Moreover, the reason they are sold out should stand out to anyone looking for high quality bread. It is good — scratch that, great — bread that should be respected by anyone consuming it instead of expected by anyone contemplating trying it. If you really wanted to support them you would’ve asked how to become part of the club instead of giving them such a bad review because you’re upset you didn’t get to try any.

Again, I love Wide Awake, and am very grateful they are in town now. Please make sure you go over and try it out when you get the chance, and support local bread-making.

We are blessed that Stef and Liz have brought Ithaca a taste of Paris: light, flaky croissants, perfectly baked bread, even fougasse, all made with high-quality ingredients.

First time in their store front location. It feels like an art store for bread. They had been open three days. I was in a long line of customers. The counter people looked shocked at how many customers there were (think pent up demand). They kept resupplying their stock from the off site bakery while I was in line. The shelves also had the loaves for their reserve customers. There were other loaves, cookies, sweet rolls for sale for us ‘walkins’. I almost bought one of everything to ‘test’. Testing went very well. I’LL BE BACK.

Wow, what a place! Excellent espresso drinks, delicious pastries, hearty homemade BREAD BREAD BREAD, and even flowers and bread knives! A new staple of Ithaca is born.

Yes! I dreamed of this day. I have been buying wide awake for about two years and it’s so exciting to be able to access a wider variety any day of the week. I picked up a stunning lace like loaf fit for breaking and sharing today plus some pain at levain and pecan chocolate cookies. Best breads in town!

And for the reviewer who mentioned the bread club, until they just opened this bakery their bread csa was the way a lot of folks accessed the bread. I’m sure this issue was probably due to the recent transition.

Finally a store front and I don't have to wait for the weekend farmers market! Delicious fresh loaves and treats.

Best bread in Ithaca and beyond. Lovely owners. Cannot go wrong with any option.

Picked up a loaf of semolina bread and chocolate chip pecan cookies. Delicious as ever!

Best European-style bakery around! Finally some proper bread.

Great sourdough! Great pastries!

Everything is fantastic. Thrilled this is here.

Amazing breads

The best bread and people and vibe possible.