This is an interesting spot in downtown Dundee. Located on the fringe of the business district in…read morewhat appears to have been a residential property built several decades ago, it could be easy to overlook. But it is done very nicely inside with a very inviting ambiance and it has an attractive appeal.
I am giving this place the benefit of the doubt with four stars because it is a bit of a mixed review. Our experience was mostly positive, however. As mentioned, the decor is quite lovely. It exudes the country style ambiance and I like the way their front counter is set up to present a country store look. But it seems to be a country store and deli in one. I think they could do a good job of this except they really don't quite have the space to pull it off as well as they could. It's a bit cramped and the seating space is very, very limited with perhaps enough room for six or eight patrons. We were fortunate no one else was there when we visited such that we were able to sit at one of the tables to have our lunch. To be fair, they may be targeting take-away patrons more than eat-in customers.
Another aspect of the mixed reviews was the food. First, I have to say I loved the creative names they presented for their daily fare in honor of Christmas, using the Home Alone movie as a basis. For example, I had the Look-What-You-Did-You-Little-Jerk Chicken Sandwich. The menu was rather limited in number of offerings, but there were enough. The soups were quite tempting with Stuffed Pepper and Baked Potato available. Both were excellent. My wife made a lunch just from the Stuffed Pepper soup. The Jerk Chicken, however, did not have much jerk to it. It might have been better named Exemplar or Paragon Chicken, because it was not at all Jerky. In fact, it was rather plain and dry. I saved half and used a mayo/mustard combo as a dip when I ate my leftover...and it was much better. I will say that the portion was very good, however. It was more than I needed to eat in one sitting.
The prices also took me a little aback. For two cups of soup, one wrap with chips, a coffee, a latte, a cookie and a gift container of five macarons, our total bill was $43.00. Take away the macarons, which were not part of lunch, and it was still $27. But given that my wife's lunch was a cup of soup, a latte and half a cookie, $13.50 per person is a little steep. Maybe it's just that everything is getting over-the-top expensive everywhere, but this just struck me as a bit much.
Overall, it was a very pleasant little shop with good presentation, good coffee, tasty soup and nice sweets. The wrap needed a little something extra but otherwise, it was pretty good. I'd like to give it another try sometime.
