I had eaten at Baker's Kitchen when it was Baker's Square...and after looking online at the menu selections, my wife and I decided that Sunday would be a good day to try out Baker's Kitchen.
I ordered the Country fried chicken with eggs over medium so that the whites wouldn't be runny, a side of potatoes, with Wheat toast and cofffee.
Here's what I got. Standard frozen country fried beef patty...(not chicken) smothered in white gravy (good white gravy, I might add.), and two eggs over easy...too easy...runny whites around the yolk...and wheat bread...that had lots of butter in the middle and way under toasted. (I told my waiter about the toast and asked if he thought it was toasted...his reply was..."uuh...not enough.") The toast was limp...pick it up on one side and it drooped down on the other.
Other complaints: Our two top table was not level and teetered back and forth...so much so, that the nice large coffee cups that they have spilled on the table twice. We told our waiter about it and he said he'd send someone over...but, they never showed up. And, he never cleaned up the coffee, and now saturated napkins...not to mention that the coffee had spilled on the floor...and that wan't cleaned up either.
A two top table there is too small for two people...what with the service box that holds among other things: salt, pepper, creamer, sweetener, ketchup, Texas Pete, butter, and jelly. It takes up about a quarter of the table space. So I recommend you wait for a 4 top...four seat table.
Generally observed: The food was so, so...I've certainly had better...standard truck-stop fair.
If you've never been to a truck stop and had their chicken fried steak / chicken, then you may not know what I'm talking about.
The decor was nice, but had that strip mall feel to it. Very nice photography / canvas images on the wall. But, from where I was, I also had a nice eye shot right into a back of the restaurant and the wait staff service area. The ceiling was nicely done in a black tin looking design..and the second story windows in the front of our room were nice touch....but who looks up.
I hope you don't think I'm being overly critical on purpose...I'm just relaying our experiences.
Our bill, tip included, came to $35.00...which is maybe average for the downtown area.
We wanted to like the place...and at first thought that this was a do-over...but, in the end...well, if you've read this far, then you know what happened.
Better places to eat in downtown New Bern.
Captain Ratty's...better decor, or at least I think so...food is better, same friendly waitstaff as Baker's Kitchen...service is good, and your food comes out in a reasonable amount of time.
Morgan's on Carteret Street...we eat there at least once a month...better decor...good food...friendly wait staff, and reasonable prices. (I'm a member of a local club, and we take 10 to 14 people to Morgan's once a month for lunch.)
Note: I initially was going to give our experience 3 STARS, until I saw that three stars was, A-OK. I don't think I've seen a rating system where the midpoint is A-ok...shouldn't that be, average. So that's why the 2 STAR rating.
We will not be going back and will not recommend Baker's Kitchen to our friends...when there are better places eat in New Bern.
Another, much better place to eat Breakfast, and one of our favorites, is Carolina Bagel at the intersection of Trent and Glenburnie.
I see a lot of ratings are 4 and 5 stars...even if we didn't have the issues that we did, I can't see rating them more than A-ok...three stars. read more