The French Loaf

One of the best things about moving to a new city is discovering fun new restaurants and shops. Yesterday, I found one. The French Loaf is located in downtown Grandview Heights in the same shopping plaza as Acorn Books. I’d driven past it several times and thought it was a deli or sandwich place. Yesterday, I discovered that it’s actually a bakery.

It was a nice surprise to walk in expecting deli sandwiches and be greeted by the sweet smell of baked goodies. The French Loaf does serve soup and a few basic sandwiches like chicken salad, ham and turkey. But their specialty is obviously baked goods. They offer a variety of great-looking breads, cakes, cupcakes, pastries and several types of croissants. There are a few tables and chairs inside and outside of the store, though no one was eating at them when I was there around 2:00pm. I ordered my standard sandwich place meal, chicken salad with lettuce and tomato on a croissant. Being a sucker for chocolate croissants, I took a couple home with me.


The chicken salad was good, if a little heavy on the mayo. The lettuce was crisp and the tomato tasted quite fresh. But the star of the sandwich was the croissant itself. It was flaky and buttery with just the right amount of sweetness. This, of course, made me more excited about the chocolate croissant. I was not disappointed. It was large and filled with a generous chunk of dark chocolate that contrasted perfectly with the salty-sweet croissant. With a cup of black coffee, it would have been a great breakfast. Overall, I don’t know that I’ll get sandwiches at The French Loaf very often. But I’ll definitely go back very soon for the melt-in-your-mouth croissants and to try their other delicious-looking goodies.

French Loaf Info
Location: 1456 W. Fifth Ave. Columbus, Ohio 43212
Phone: (614) 488-6843
Hours: Tue-Sat 7:30am-7:00pm, Sun 8am-5pm, closed Monday.
Type of Food: Sweet and savory baked goods, light lunches