The Village Cafe and Bistro

Love this little gem! Best corned beef hash we ever had… that alone is worth the drive!

So this is my second and last review for this restaurant. I decided to give it another try with my husband one morning and it was even worse than the first time. The place was packed and the waitresses seemed overwhelmed and irritated. We both ordered omelets, I asked for bacon in mine, which I didn’t get. My omelet wasn’t cooked all the way through so I ended up not eating most of it. My husband kept tasting something burnt and when he unfolded his omelet one side was almost black. Asked for a refill for my son’s drink and it took forever. I understand they were busy but I don’t want to pay for bad service and bad food.

The best poached eggs in the world. Try with the blood orange mimosa or the fresh Juice of the Day.
But beware the cozy atmosphere — this place is always crowded on weekend mornings, so those with OCD or fear of crowds beware.

Fabulous food, amazing, inventive menu! Great variety, fresh ingredients, generous portions, nice selection of juices. The lobster omelette was AMAZING, as was the lamb hash! Everything was wonderful. However, we ended up having to help ourselves to drinks and refills, as the waitstaff never checked back on us to see if anything else was needed. We also needed to flag down another server to get butter and sweetener as again no one was checking on us. But that just felt like it was part of the local charm. As long as you are aware if this, you’ll love this place.

My Autumn Spiced Seared Sea Scallops knocked it out of the park tonight. totally delish! The Scallops were served with roasted yam purée, crispy bacon and orange pineapple drizzle. The flavors together were short of fantastic. Although the menu has it served with garlicky spinach I opted for sauteed spinach and portobello mushroom, YUM. My husband had Maple Glazed Atlantic Salmon with sweet potato smash, roasted apple salsa and the sauteed spinach and portabello. There was a great melding of flavors that complimented each other and the portion was hearty. My husband loved it!

This was a lovely breakfast. We both ordered eggs over easy with bacon and sausage. The food was served hot and perfectly cooked. I really liked both the bacon and sausage, which is rare for me. We sat in front of the kitchen window at the bar and saw some really impressive dishes come out. The poached egg dishes looked amazing.
The coffee was great. Overall, a nice experience! We’ll be back to try more on the menu.

I think this place deserves 4 stars for brunch because of their outdoor patio seating, and the blood orange mimosa. I have to be honest, the food never blew me away, but the service has always been good and the ambiance is very fitting for that perfect Sunday brunch on a nice Connecticut day.

I’m extremely disappointed. Went yesterday with my MIL for lunch, wasn’t crowded. Issues immediately;
No coffee (and they didn’t care)
Took a good 15 before anyone took our order,
Order took at least 35 minutes and not only was my favorite burger over cooked, bacon was burnt,
MIL fish & chips… burnt.
Almost cleared our own dishes since no one wanted to bother, waited an additional 15 for the check.
Not going back anytime soon.

And now… From a chef’s perspective. (well, ok, for THIS chef’s perspective).
It’s very easy to see why people rave about the food here. While I do understand that there are some bad reviews on the food (mostly being cold, 2 undercooked), with the volume of service going through that kitchen, that’s not exactly terrible (not what any chef would want, but I’ve seen much much much (ect) worse).
So I figured, since I just moved in down the street, might as well find a breakfast place to satisfy my needs when I don’t feel like doing what I do at work for 8 – 9 hours a day.
I’m going to start with the service, and the people, and the general atmosphere of the place. Café feel through and through with a touch of rustic. Again, I’ve seen better, and seen worse, but it’s comfy, if cramped. Comfortable enough to spend the time you need to wait.
I’ll add the same thing everyone else does about the self serve coffee. Excellent, brilliant, and magnificent idea. Might want to either take away a table (I know, I know, I know, less seating is bad but it does open up a critical area and might even encourage more people for coffee over water or another service heavy beverage (soda) coffee is amazingly good though).
Had the omelette, with yukon home fries. Love the bread options, it’s rare to find a good sourdough, and you’d probably never even hear about brioche anywhere else, nice touch. Might be brave enough to try the «almost famous lamb hash» next time, but I did see it at another table (might have been corned beef, not sure), but it did look fairly appetizing.
LOVED the omelette, the sausage was perfect, and smoked gouda? Again, brilliant idea to have other cheeses that aren’t normally offered. I would rather see a cheese omelette with «charge for toppings» for a lower price… but that’s coming up. The home fries had a different flavor, heavy on the pepper. It was rather good, just not a traditional home fries seasoning that you’d expect.
All in all, from looking at the food passed around, to my own food, I would say this place, it’s easy to see why it’s so popular. The pricing is 3 – 4 $ more than what you’d want to spend for a breakfast (single person), but it was well worth the price.
Ok, lastly, service… Sunday morning, busy, crowded, a bit hot and muggy out, not everyone who worked there were smiles and waves. As someone who’s been in that position, I know how easy it is to let the outside affect your mood. Keeping an upbeat personality, touch up on every table, be engaging. Whomever brought out my food grunted at me when he dropped it off. The service is the only reason for the 3 stars, based on food alone, 5, overall without service 4, service 1, maybe 2…

45 minute wait for cold eggs and toast. Unfriendly and extremely slow service. Won’t be back. Too bad because it’s a cute spot, this area needs a good breakfast joint and we love to support small businesses. We have been here several times and it unfortunately has yet to live up to its potential.
My husband made me give it one additional star because they were playing Phish.

Get the Vermont eggs Benedict. You won’t be disappointed!
Any place that place that plays Bob Marley while sitting out on the sunporch eating creative fresh food, is cool with me!
The self serve coffee situation set up is one to be desired. They have a lot of great gluten-​free options too.
But all in all this place is great! Very busy on Sunday mornings FYI

Despite the negative reviews, we decided to try this place. Okay, so yes… They’re slow. This restaurant has a serious mechanics issue when it comes to serving their customers. The server was pleasant and addressed us right away. We had to wait for a table to open up. We were happy to wait but didn’t really understand that we could wait outside… It was a bit cold and wet outside, so it wasn’t my first choice anyhow — but she might have mentioned this as an option. The inside is too tight to actually have patrons standing around and waiting. We stood as tucked into the corner as possible but that happened to be smack in the path of the self-​serve coffee station. Self-​serve coffee is brilliant if it’s accessible. We were eventually seated and a couple of ladies were seated near us about 10 minutes later. Though we were very quick to place our order, those ladies got their food long before us.
Everyone raves about the sweet potato home fries in the reviews so I decided to order them with the California Benedict. For the record, all the Benedict’s come with goat cheese. This is a terrible idea because goat cheese is so «love it or hate it» with people! I digress… my friend ordered French toast and one of the Benedict’s as well and we split a side of bacon. Food took too long to come out and by the time it arrived, mine was stone cold. The sweet potato «home fries» were nothing but flavorless mush — so I fail to see the appeal unless you’re partial to baby food. Despite being cold, my poached eggs were good but the English muffin was pure mush as well. The bacon was the best part, crispy and not too greasy. Still cold though. The French toast came with bananas and some other accoutrements but the sliced bananas were terribly bruised or rotting. The coffee was good and strong and actually hot. So that’s a plus.
Before we left, I checked out the restroom and it was dirty. Not dirty like someone came in and made it a mess that day but like it just hadn’t been cleaned in awhile. Also, there’s no changing table — which doesn’t effect me — but for all the moms with little kids who were dining here, I’m pretty sure that’s a problem.
The place was overly loud due to bad acoustics. The dusty, spider web coated artwork above my table was really a turn-​off. Not impressed with this place.
Lastly, the person who took our money when we paid at the counter… Was a total grump. I definitely will not be back.

I’ve been back to Village Café a couple of times since my last review; once during the week and once on a Saturday. The last time I went on a weekend, I had a problem with the service. This time, I showed up near the end of the lunch service, when they weren’t too busy, and received very good, easygoing service.
As always, the food was excellent. On both visits, I had the Lobster Club, which is still currently my favorite sandwich. If I had one quibble, I wish that the lobster were less dressed, but that’s just a quibble; it was still excellent. I still need to return for another breakfast. I’m looking forward to that, now.

Not sure how the owner of this place was able to convince Unilocal to REMOVED ALL the BAD REVIEWS?! If Unilocal has kept those bad reviews about the service, I would have avoided this place and saved me of this horrible experience. Unilocal really need to look into this matter, cuz people are counting on Unilocal when search for good places to go.
40 mins NO food arrived. Other tables came after you all got food before u. Staff does not care either. & the waitress seemed pleased as you walked out without a single apology and asked if want to «TAKE YOUR FOOD TO GO»?!! Really!!! By the way, she NEVER bothered to check up on me the whole time I was quietly sitting there. as if I was invisible.

Here is the best restaurant in the valley. Better than Max-​a-​Mia, Feng or Abigail’s, this little spot offers elegant meals at reasonable prices that delight the tongue. I’ve enjoyed breakfast and dinner here. Village Café offers wonderful dishes with unique presentation. The omelettes were immaculate, fluffy and filled with flavor. The duck dinner was the best in Connecticut — tender and perfectly cooked. The desserts will make dieters weep. It saddens me that we started the evening by going to Chili’s, but because of the crowds sought another alternative. Though thrilled to have had this experience only two other tables were filled. I hope that more folks in the Valley will start eating here. Otherwise, we will continue to go over Avon mountain to find a decent meal.

Atleast I have something to look forward to next winter. I was sad to see the Eggs November go as the seasons change but there are so still sooo many insanely great options to pick from.
Went with Eggs Vermont and got some French toast to share and once again Village delivered an amazing meal.

Comfy, casual place with just a hint of upscaleness.
I sat at the bar and ordered their «Eggs Vermont» (eggs, hollandaise, spinach, artichoke, avocado, goat cheese, and bacon) with a side of Yukon Gold potatoes, and a second side of corned beef hash. One of the eggs was poached decently, while the other was overcooked; the hollandaise was excellent, though there could have been a little more; all the veggies worked well together, and the variety in this dish was appreciated; there didn’t seem to be much goat cheese, but what was there mixed nicely with the hollandaise; the bacon was dry and disappointing.
The potatoes were excellent, served in a sort of half-​solid half-​mashed state. Soft, tender, well-​seasoned. The same style was used in the corned beef hash, which had long strings and chunks of corned beef that contrasted nicely with the potatoes’ smoothness. The hash also had a nice crisp browning and — though I don’t know if this was intentional — a tiny slice of bacon thrown in. I added ketchup out of habit, but it honestly wasn’t necessary.
Overall, a pleasant meal, and recommended for anyone that happens in the Canton area and looking for breakfast/​brunch. I’m knocking off one star for the overcooked egg (it’s odd how many places simply can’t get poaching right), the bacon, and for somewhat forgetful service (one mark of good service is how well one lone diner is attended to).

I went here one day with my boss for a business lunch. I ordered a chicken wrap and he ordered a roll. The chicken wrap was average, but I really enjoyed the fries. It’s crunchy but without all of the excess oil.
The real winner was the service. I don’t remember the waitresses name but I would like to give her two thumbs up for providing us a HUGE pitcher of diet coke. My boss and I are diet coke addicts, and at one point she just gave us a pitcher. We were almost a little embarrassed by the amount of diet coke we were drinking, but she fed our diet coke fix. I’m pretty sure no restaurant would ever do that for two random diners.

Step away from the AM Crunchwrap and go here. Go for breakfast. Go for brunch. Go for lunch. Please support exactly this kind of place, which has style, quality and uniqueness, before they all disappear.
We rarely go out for breakfast, so when we do it is a big deal. I opened the trusty Unilocal app. searched for breakfast in the area, used the get directions function and followed Siri to a shopping center that I had been to a number of times before. Despite all the positive reviews, I have to admit I didn’t even know this place existed.
We waited for a short time in the doorway trying to get a feel for this place. Coffee was self-​serve. Staff was lively. The Band played over the speakers. Like most local spots, a long line at a place that isn’t a chain means you made a good food choice. A chalkboard menu of specials promised «Duck, Duck, Duck» and cantaloupe-​carrot-​orange juice amongst others. There were a good number of seats in this small place and every single one was full, not just full of people, but full of happy people.
We took a seat at the counter where Nancy made us feel like friends. Feeling springy, I ordered the Duck, Duck, Duck — two poached duck eggs, served over an english muffin with duck sausage, duck hash and hollandaise. This plate of Eggs Bene-​duck was out of this world! My wife ordered the Eggs November, another Benedict-​style dish with Thanksgiving flavors of stuffing and cranberry. Again, a big hit.
The portions were huge. The mood was perfect. The spirits were high. All in all, this was an incredible find, and I cannot wait to go back!

A friend and I came to Village Café for breakfast this morning and was happy to see that it was only moderately busy and we got a table outside right away. A waitress came over to hand us menus but neglected to tell us the specials. It wasn’t until after we’d ordered that we heard the specials being read to another table by another clearly more competent waitress.
There were many enticing menu items and my friend and I eventually decided on getting the Eggs California and Eggs Alaska from the Poached Egg Dishes list and sharing both. In addition, we ordered a strawberry cheesecake pancake. We asked another waitress to tell us the specials after overhearing them listed to another menu we also ordered the special juice of the day.
The juice came out with a bang. It was quite the presentation — enough for me to ooh and ahh in excitement so much that ALL the tables outside turned to look at our table and admire my gorgeous beverage. It was a beautiful blend of different fruits and vegetable and adorned with a wedge of watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe, and a single strawberry wrapped in sliced cucumber. It was lovely all around aside from the fruit sticker that floated around near the top.
We found that the same roasted red pepper hollandaise used on all the poached egg dishes to be thinner than we like, but worked well with the California with it’s use of tomato, spinach, avocado and goat cheese, but less well with the smoked salmon and goat cheese of the Alaska. The poached eggs in the Alaska also suffered from runny whites syndrome. A good runny dippy yolk is fantastic, but egg whites should never be runny. The pancake was doughy and undercooked.
The self-​serve coffee station is a great idea in theory and ideal for people like me who can’t get coffee fast enough into their system in the mornings but the coffee area was so tight and cramped that two small women (one of them me) getting a cup of coffee kept getting in each others way between getting the cups, getting the coffee, and getting to the creamer and sugar station.
Unfortunately, this was a disappointment and it is unlikely that I will be back.