Went here for breakfast since we were staying in the hotel. My friend ordered a latte and it was a…read morebit dark in color and was very bitter. We overheard another lady complaining about hers as well. So the latte is definitely not very good. Other than that everything was good. Our server was friendly. The breakfast was good. My sausage was actually great and the breakfast potatoes were crispy. Everyone in my group enjoyed what they had. We ate dinner there later that night and it was pretty good. The curry could have used a bit more flavor but it wasn't bad. Very beautiful restaurant with a large painted portrait of Nathaniel Hawthorne.

I was looking forward to trying this restaurant for breakfast. The ambience is very nice and it has…read morethat New England quaintness that I like. However, the food was somewhat disappointing. The coffee wasn't that hot and the toast was somewhat burnt. The sweet potato hash could've been cooked a little more and would've benefited from some seasoning or onion. Service was somewhat poor. My waitress never came back to ask if I needed anything or if I wanted a refill on my coffee even though she did so for the table next to me. Apparently she abandoned me and the hostess later brought me the check. I find this rude. Not a good place for a solo dining experience.

amazing food and service and ambiance. I could eat another…read more Melissa was amazing and gorgeous

Excellent Breakfast Spot! Food and service! There is plenty on the menu for everyone plus…read morespecials. The restaurant is much bigger than it looks on the outside! It's packed with people which says a lot about it on a weekday morning! Locals and tourists (like us!). We were seated right away, offered menus abd our server came back quickly to take our drink orders. I waa pleasantly surprised to see a nice selection of teas on the menu, only in New England. I ordered Ear Grey and it was perfectly seeped! Both my husband and I ordered the Farmer Don. Comes with Eggs, Protein (I ordered sausages and hubby had bacon), home fries and French Toast. I upgraded my French Toast to cinnamon and it was so good! Delicious and perfectly prepared food! Our excellent server was McKenzie! Thanks for a great breakfast!

loved! this was my first stop in Salem & it did not disappoint! My waitress was incredible - I wish…read moreI remembered her name to give a shout out but she was wearing a black bandana, had 2 braids & tattoos! The food was great - I had a GF egg & mushroom breakfast sandwich. the mushrooms were marinated and to die for! I also had a nutty professor latte which was 10/10! Overall, cute, cozy place & great experience!

Gulu-Gulu is a solid, casual stop if you're in Salem and need something quick and affordable…read more Gulu-Gulu Cafe has a laid-back, artsy vibe, but overall the atmosphere and food both fall pretty average, nothing bad, just nothing that really stands out. One plus is that they do have some gluten-free options, which is always appreciated, so it's definitely doable if you have a gluten allergy. Overall, it's a convenient lunch spot if you're nearby, affordable, easy but not necessarily a must-visit.

Awesome place, amazing food and treats! Never ate a bad thing here, all made in house & you can…read moretaste it! My fav is the veggie press (also you can get 1/2 sandwiches for a great price + still large enough to be a full meal for me at least)

a&j king artisan bakers is great for any sandwiches, bread or pastry cravings. it's very small,…read morethere was absolutely no seating available, so i had to take it to go. i came in 10 minutes to close (which is early, 3pm) and ordered a delicious cold turkey sandwich on fresh sourdough. it was on the menu including bacon, which i requested without, but i feel they should take off the upcharge for bacon if you're not getting it, especially because there's not a lot of turkey meat. the turkey sandwich with bacon is $3 more than the other sandwiches, probably because of the bacon. they have a huge case of fresh, delicious pastries and breads, what "p- bread" WISHES they could be. the sandwich was delicious though, i'll definitely be back for more. they also wrap their pickles thoroughly, it will take some time to unwrap them. turkey sandwich 9.5/10 ambiance: 4/5 (very small, no seats) food: 4.7/5 drinks: n/a service: 4/5 a&j king artisan bakers: 4.2/5

First things first I had no idea how to get to the parking lot in the back. If you don't go in…read morethrough the back you will awkwardly be standing at the front of the building waiting for someone to notice you because the hostess stand is in the back of the restaurant. Not very tourist friendly because we're all trying to figure out where we're going and looking at GPS and not even noticing that in dark letters on the sign it says there's a parking in the back that you don't notice until you've already found parking on a side street. Just a bit frustrating but not much to be done about it. I got a hot chocolate and it was fine, just a standard diner-like hot chocolate. Then the burrito came and although it was supposed to have cheese and chorizo in it, all I tasted was beans and pico de gallo. Barely tasted the eggs. It was HUGE also and the beans are filling so I couldn't finish it but I was just disappointed in the lack of balance in the flavors. I will say the apple cinnamon waffles were fantastic. The crumble on the top was my favorite part. I would just get that next time. I tried my mom's eggs benedict and did not like the hollandaise so I'm glad I didn't get that, I think the waffles might be their specialty.

From the looks of things this is probably one of the better restaurants in Salem. Fully decked out…read morein Halloween swag, this old house, turned converted restaurant is a busy spot. The spaceci itself is tight, loolts of tables are squeezed in. Be ready to meet new people, lol. The staff was cordial and service was pretty quick. I looked at a lot of different plates when I came in and decided to stick to my regular diner choice, grilled cheese & fries. My friend was far more adventurous with the turkey sausage eggs Benedict. It was good, very much so met the standatd. My friend said her dish was weird, but edible,thought it would be better with turkey bacon. Note: there is a parking lot in the back of the building l.

What a cool and tasty coffee shop…read more We had the Ham and Cheese and Bacon Pastry. Both were delicious. We also enjoyed the Chai Latte and Carmel Macchiato. Both were delicious and flavorful. The service was prompt and quick. No complaints! The ambiance is what you would guess for Salem, MA.

Pro tip for tourists ... there's no where they let you use the restroom without being a customer…read more So if you need to use one AND want a tasty treat, come here! We had a few chocolate croissants, they were flaky and warm and very tasty. We had a chilled apple cider too, I highly recommend. The cafe was clean and the bathroom was also clean!

I had my wedding here in May, so this will be a long but all encompassing review of all different…read moreaspects of the Hawthorne. When I was looking for venues, I wanted all inclusive and one location. I spoke with Christine Madigan via email and then over the phone. She assured me that the Hawthorne did weddings well. We booked, signed contracts, set up a room block and everything. The room block: 3/5 stars I originally worked with Beth who set everything up for me and then was transferred to Rob as positions changed. I initially had 15 rooms in my block which we filled pretty quickly, but I saved one for my husbands grandmother so she could stay onsite. She called to book a room and was told there were no rooms. There were rooms so I called and spoke with Rob because she was pretty upset. He assured me we had rooms and for grandma to call him directly. Evidently the folks at the front desk didn't understand how the room block was intended to work. This happened over and over and over again. I really wish they would have set it up so my guests could book online because I heard from nearly half of my guests that either they couldn't get the days we were promised or the room type they wanted. I even had 3 couples stay at another hotel because of this so Hawthorne lost out on money because they couldn't get their booking system organized. One of my couples ended up in a room with a TWIN BED for 2 people. How is that even possible? Meanwhile I had a single person in a room with 2 queen beds and 2 bathrooms? Like I get accommodating people's requests, but a little critical thinking and communication would have gone a long way for comfort here. I doubt those people will come back to this hotel for this reason, which is sad because its such a lovely place. The menu tasting: 5/5 stars We were invited to a tasting of hors d'oeuvres, dinner selections, wine, cocktails and wedding cake. It was amazing to be able to sample items we wanted to serve without doing so blindly. Their food is phenomenal so we were excited to be able to share this with our guests. Wedding planning: 5/5 stars I received packets of information before booking Hawthorne as my venue, so I was aware of the pricing up front. I was even able to create a quote using their pricing sheet so nothing was a surprise. Christine was available to answer all of my questions throughout the process. As we got closer, she gave us homework to complete so we were ready for our big day. We created a signature mocktail, filled out place cards, went over our timeline, dropped off welcome bags, etc. Everything leading up to our wedding day (outside of booking guest rooms) was super smooth and easy. Pretty much everything was provided by the venue. I only had to book a photographer, content creator, photo booth, DJ and HMU on my own. The rest was handled for me which really made things so much smoother. We ended up well under budget, too! Wedding day: 3.5/5 stars If I could go back, I would hire a dedicated day of coordinator who worked specifically for me and not the venue. Christine was great, and did her job well, but she wasn't dedicated to me the entirety of the evening. And she and my mom were butting heads over things we were promised and not delivered. My mom did my wedding florals. We asked in advance if we could have refrigerator space and a private room to set up in. We were told we could have both, and on the day of, there was magically no fridge space, access to water, or a secure room to work in. It was extremely frustrating to be promised things and then not have those promises fulfilled. We were able to pivot and adapt, but that added so much stress to me on a day where I should not have added stress. The room she was working in was also being used as storage for a wedding the following weekend. The hotel has tons of space so I'm not sure why it had to be there but it seemed at that point it was a battle of wills more than anything. My photo booth company arrived right at the time we were about to start our ceremony, which was planned in advance, but the way the rooms were set up he ended up being in the lobby. This turned out to be really fun for wedding guests and random hotel guests to watch, but it was a bit awkward at first. Some of the items we brought for our reception were not brought down and we had to track people down to retrieve those. There was a room upstairs that was dedicated for us to hide away in and eat our appetizers, but I wanted to be with my guests and the appetizers never made it to me and my husband so I was told they were good but I didn't get to try them all. Dinner was absolutely amazing. However, I heard SO MANY complaints afterward about our bartender. I guess he was rude, and terrible at making drinks and when people tried to go to the other bar they got turned away. Overall I had the best day ever and would do it over again with a few tweaks :)

It's a neat historic hotel with a GREAT location. We had 5 in our group with a double queen room…read moreand they brought up the roll bed and extra towels before we had barely opened the suitcases. The room was nice, no complaints. I loved the lemonade in the lobby. Bonus: free parking. Here's the kicker... I accidentally made the reservation for the day prior, so we didn't have one when we got there (we were on a 10 night trip in 5 different hotels so things got scrambled). To make a long story short they found us a mostly comparable room and credited the charges for the previous vacant night. That's pretty amazing and basically saved this working-class family's vacation from being a downer.

Visited in Dec 2025, Absolutely loved this little diner and i always think back to it. We had…read moreissues finding parking at first and I came in to ask and not only did the people working help direct me but the others eating also offered to help! The hospitality was so incredible I felt so welcomed and at home here. The food was delicious and portions were big!! I loved the amazing home-y feel we got here and would love to return someday, everyone was amazing, plenty of space to sit and eat.

Absolutely nails that warm, welcoming morning vibe with food that feels made with real care--fresh,…read moresatisfying, and consistently delicious. You can tell there's pride in every detail, and the owner is genuinely one of the most amazing parts of the experience. Super kind, hands-on, and clearly passionate about what they're building.