A Weekday Lunch Spot in Issaquah for People on the Clock

By Chef Berna, owner and head chef of Berna's Bakery & Cafe, a women-owned, chef-run kitchen at 317 NW Gilman Blvd, Issaquah.

Weekday lunch has rules that weekend lunch does not. You have a call at one, maybe forty minutes free, maybe twenty-five, and you want real food, not a granola bar at your desk. If you have been hunting for a lunch spot in Issaquah that respects that, this page is for you.

I am Chef Berna. We open early and bake and cook right here in our own kitchen at 317 NW Gilman Blvd, which matters more at lunch than at any other meal. A quick lunch around here too often means a chain or a drive-through, and it does not have to. Call the kitchen at (425) 657-0664 if you want to ask something before you head over.

Match your order to the minutes you have

If you have about fifteen minutes, the savory pastry case is the quickest thing we make: a three-cheese borek, a sausage and cheese roll, an olive or mozzarella bun, or a simit straight from the case, easy to grab and eat one-handed at your desk. Around thirty minutes, a cold fresh mozzarella sandwich, a hot chicken shawarma, or a bowl of our dill and potato soup with a simit fits the window nicely. And when the afternoon can wait, a House Kofte, Kavurma Pilav, or Manti Plate at a table is a proper sit-down lunch. Everything is on the full menu with current prices.

The sandwich list

Sandwiches are the backbone of a weekday lunch here. The hot ones come out of the kitchen: chicken shawarma, grilled kofte, sujuk and cheese, house steak, and grilled chicken. The cold ones are the quickest of the quick: fresh mozzarella, a turkey village sandwich, and a roast beef. Add the dill and potato soup or a garden salad and you have lunch. Prices are all on the menu.

Feeding the whole office

If you got volunteered to organize the office lunch this week, I would order a spread instead of one big dish of the same thing. The Mezze Platter covers a table with hummus, fire-roasted eggplant, muhammara, jajik, yaprak dolma, and garlic carrot cream. Add a mix of hot and cold sandwiches, then a salad or two: the Baker's Garden Salad, the Farmer's Cranberry Crunch, or Monika's Chicken Salad. Any of the mezze can also come on its own when people want their own plate. For a bigger group, a quick call to (425) 657-0664 before you walk over is a kindness to everyone, us included. And if you are the one who always books the office lunch, our gift cards are a nice touch for work birthdays and thank-yous too.

When your lunch has real constraints

Most lunches come with a catch. Here are a few common ones and what I would point you to: if you need something vegetarian and you need it fast, a fresh mozzarella sandwich is quick, the veggie and three-cheese borek come from the pastry case, and hummus with a simit is a lunch on its own. If it is a client lunch that should feel like more than a sandwich, take a table and order plates; the kofte, kavurma, and manti make a real restaurant lunch. And if you are working remotely and want a place to think as much as a place to eat, the early afternoon is a good window to spread out, which our cafe in Issaquah page is really about.

Weekday hours

We open well before noon every day of the work week, at 317 NW Gilman Blvd Suite #3, Issaquah, WA 98027.

• Monday: 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM
• Tuesday to Thursday: 8:30 AM to 6:00 PM
• Friday and Saturday: 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM
• Sunday: 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM

That early open means an 11:15 lunch before a noon call is usually easy, and so is a late one at 2:30 when the morning ran long.

This page vs. our Turkish lunch page

This page is about the weekday: getting in and out fast and feeding yourself or your team. If what you are really after is the food itself, the manti, the kofte, the mezze, and the story behind them, our Turkish lunch in Issaquah page is the one to read. It is the same kitchen and the same menu; that page just gets deeper into the food itself.

Find us on Gilman this week

If you keep searching "lunch spot Issaquah" around lunchtime, here is where we are. We are at 317 NW Gilman Blvd Suite #3, Issaquah, WA 98027, phone (425) 657-0664. Come in for a borek and out the door in minutes, a sandwich at a table, or a full plate when the afternoon can wait. We bake all day, so there is always something fresh out of the oven.

Weekday Lunch FAQ