Toast

The place: A small place with patio seating and a few tables inside but it's primarily been a place I've gone for an easy takeout lunch. Staff are always warm and helpful. The food: I love the sandwiches from here which are filling and delicious without making me feel a need to take a 2 hour nap. A small cup of soup and a sandwich from here is likely my ideal fall lunch. The Tuscan Kale sandwich is my favorite and something and even just thinking about it makes me want to drive downtown and get one.

I have seen Toast many of times but didn’t realize they offered a soup/salad/sandwich type of menu until recently. I ordered delivery during peak lunch hours. I had the herb pesto with chicken, a side salad and the brown butter cookies. When my food arrived, surprisingly was still warm. Speaks to the freshness! I appreciated the flavor of the sandwich, found it well balanced. I liked that the salad was not iceberg. Dressing tasted homemade. My only criticism is the cookies: the texture felt stale so they were very underwhelming. Overall I found the food to be yummy and a fair price. Recommended, and would eat here again.

Super delicious panini sandwich shop which a lovely outdoor seating area in the middle of downtown Durham. Good, quick service even during lunch time rush. Great selections of paninis. Staff were super nice. Loved the pesto chicken panini. Solid crunch on the bread without being over-toasted. Toast toasts to perfection.

i have been coming to toast since around 2006, right around when they opened. kelli was always super friendly and always remembered me from visit to visit, no matter how long the interval. sandwiches are always great and the soups the best i’ve had. however pandemic-era and after the front-of-house has been run by this unfriendly guy who seems like he is always having a bad day. today he effectively twice told us to leave, as others were waiting for tables, even though one of us was finishing a drink. and we weren’t camped out- just a normal lunch pace, and there might have been two or three people waiting for tables but none had their food yet. i used to live in new york where places were way busier and turning tables a priority, and have never- not once- been asked tp leave the way i was today. i miss kelli.

Chicken panini - chicken was a little cold but the hot sauce made up for it Kids loved the goat cheese & honey crostini but ask them not to drizzle the honey on the napkin! (Such a sweet thing to waste!) Garlicky mushroom crostini - so good we ordered it again. Dessert - skip the crunchy brown butter choc chip cookies and opt for the brownie with sea salt if available!

Toast has been on my list a very long time. I live in the county and it's harder to get in town during open hours. The perfect opportunity arose to have lunch before taking mom to see Chucago at DPAC. We got the special Crostini with goat cheese and a raspberry jam.. delicious and perfect combo. Mom got a chicken salad sandwich. The chicken salad was fabulous! It is hard to find a chunky version, but theirs has big chunks of chicken with the right amount of mayo. It was not a skimpy serving on the sandwich either which I liked. I got the rapini - sweet Italian sausage, roasted garlic, asiago fresca. Delicious and just the right size and flavors. Mom doesn't really care for sausage and even liked it. It was very busy, but the staff took good care of us as they rushed around to get everyone. I love they have both inside seating and outside. Great place for soup, sandwich or a salad. Give it a try!

This place is awesome in that they use real glassware, silverware, plates and bowls. The venue was clean and trendy with plenty of character and located in the heart of Durham. This is about all of the positive things I can say about Toast to be honest. We went to dine inside. Ordering was done outside prior to entering which is also fine. The gentleman taking the order was not fine. He was condescending to one of our party when she asked a question - he pedantically read the portion of the menu that answered her question and made her embarrassed. He also said to each guest "I assume you are okay to add %20 to your bill to support the servers who bill be serving you".. the tone was such that you didn't know if you should just walk away and leave or be a mouse and say "yes". It was a bad vibe. I ordered the Rapini with Sweet Italian Sausage and a bowl of the white bean soup. While everyone has different tastes, to me the soup tasted like Honeycomb Cereal (I have not eaten Honeycomb cereal for about 40 years but still remember it). A bunch of pepper later and it was "okay". The sandwich, while looking awesome, had large chunks of gristly meat in it that in no way was in the same timezone as "Sweet Italian Sausage". It was genuinely hard to chew and I had to hork those pieces into my mouth and pretend it was something worth eating. In hindsight I should have returned my meal and given clear feedback. This is my fault and a lesson learned for me. TBH, I was concerned it would become a debate with the staff. It is hoped that the leadership at Toast will also listen and learn that snarky or presumptuous staff is an instant "not going back" coupled with food that was far below the expectation.

Good experience in from out of town and for lunch had the the panini: grilled chicken, roasted peppers, mozzarella, salsa verde along with butternut squash soup. I enjoyed sitting outside and weather was great. A spot I would recommend for lunch and would eat again when in area