Cape Charles Coffee House

FANTASTIC SERVICE!!! Marshall senior and his son were amazing and made me something twice not even on the menu! They are happy to be serving you and the food and quality is delicious! Very friendly and funny and amazing at their job. Let’s just say I’ve been there 3 times in two days. Sunday they are usually packed but if you can you must go!!!

Have been to this coffee shop a handful of times during two visits to Cape Charles and have been impressed each time. Breakfast and lunch are both phenomenal. I particularly love their chicken salad sandwich, but everything else is also fantastic.
Also, Roberta’s carrot cake is one of the best I’ve ever had. It’s so good that this trip we asked for a whole cake to take home with us!

Seriously one of the best breakfast sandwiches around: the bacon, egg, and cheese on sourdough is an absolute must! Belgian waffle was also killer. Service and ambiance are also pretty friendly. All in all, a local staple that’s seems to be deservedly popular among visitors and locals alike.

I was browsing reviews on Unilocal & was stunned to see ANY not-​very-​good ones of the Cape Charles Coffee House!!! What???
This is hands-​down the BEST little coffee house within 300 miles (maybe more!). Admittedly I am a HUGE HUGE fan of this place. I drive over from VB weekly (pay the whopping toll both ways!!!) to enjoy the WONDERFUL homemade delicious food, fabulous warm camaraderie, small town feel and incredibly old-​timey atmosphere of the lovely building. It’s a WONDERFUL place & a WONDERFUL experience.
As I read the few bad reviews, I wonder «why?»…because clearly they are not deserved. The folks who write them seem to be city folks who come to town & likely hit the coffee house at the very busiest times. They complain about bad service… well, I come here all the time & have never had bad service… EVER. Do I have to wait sometimes? Absolutely! Especially if I come on a weekend morning when it’s slammed (because it’s soooo GOOD!). That’s part & parcel of small town living… it’s not going 100 MPH… it’s a slower pace. Maybe folks who don’t spend a lot of time in small towns have higher expectations of getting what they want… PRONTO. Waiting is foreign to them. I’m a transplanted NY’er…but have lived here over 25 years… you learn to slow down, you must slow down! :-)
What’s SO GREAT about this place is hard to describe… the food is FABULOUS. It’s made one dish at a time… not mass-​produced. The service is really great — from the classy ladies who dish up food with lots of smiles with a side of sassiness. The owners Roberta & Marshall are kind, friendly, accommodating & do whatever they can to make you feel at home. Roberta is one of the best cooks/​bakers I’ve ever met… and I’ve met some of the best. She knows her stuff. I’ve been coming here for decades — over the years I have seen her hire some local kids who are learning the ropes of serving or maybe need a little help.
Perhaps the people who wrote bad reviews got a new or inexperienced server.(??)…but again, Cape Charles is a small town where everyone really does know everyone else. You help each other out, you give people some leeway, you are gracious about someone new who is learning and are patient if you have to wait for a table or wait for your food. That’s how I see it. And when you do that, you walk away having had a rare, exceptional and very special experience… that IS Cape Charles, and is also the Cape Charles Coffee House. I for one will keep coming back… maybe twice a week now that I realize how AMAZING it is there and what a rare find it is.
By the way, I have written many reviews, not all good, of many restaurants… the Cape Charles Coffee House deserves a 5 Star place in my book.

Few times in my life have I come to a place with «so-​so» expectations and have been blown away by not just the quality of the food but the service and the ambiance as well.
We came here for brunch on this cold Sunday morning, had to wait a bit to be seated (often a good sign) and was traded to a spectacularly fresh breakfast. We had a full breakfast including Mimosas for the insanely low price of $ 28.
This place I highly recommended!!!

Definitely an aesthetically pleasing spot– their chai tea latte was delicious as were the iced mochas; we ordered BLTs, their Italian sandwich (phenomenal!), a grilled cheese and Caesar salad– all of which were delicious (especially the sandwiches)…only gripe was the service; our waitress was pretty nice, a little obnoxious (she lingered at our table for too long, but this is probably her first job as she is young) but incredibly (!!!) slow, had to ask for our drinks (waters) twice before finally getting them after 15 minutes, asked for an extra side of mayo for the BLT which never came, and had to request our check 3 times before she finally brought it out. Granted, we dined on a Saturday around noon, but I would still rate the service as sub par at best. Food however was on point. I wouldn’t dine in here again but would definitely order carryout.

This is one of those «I don’t usually write reviews but this was so bad that I couldn’t sleep with myself in good consci without warning other innocent travelers» reviews. This was the worst service ever. My friends and I walked in and found no host/​ess, so we walked to the coffee counter in the back and were finally met by a waitress. 3 of us asked if it was possible to order food to go at the counter, to which she replied «definitely,» while 4 others opted to sit down and eat. I was in the group that ordered food to go. The man taking our order had the slowest cognitive processing speed, then he directed us to the barista who was too busy making God-​knows-​what to even make eye contact while taking our coffee orders. We were able to get the coffee pretty quickly, though, then we went back to Slow Process McGee to pay (leaving generous tips for the cute mom-​and-​pop shop), and proceeded to sit in lounge chairs beside our friends who had sat down to eat. We waited, caught up on every single aspect of each others’ lives, waited some more, found the cure for lupus, waited, watched our friends who had sat down receive AND eat their meal, and then waited a bit more before getting up and walking back up to the counter. After standing at the counter while the busy bee workers of the establishment ran around for a solid 5 minutes without checking in with the malnourished women hunched over at the counter, the barista leaned over and made a snarky remark about how long our wait was, Slow Process McGee hobbled around making absolutely no attempt to speak to any of us, and then we caught the eye of an older lady on the phone who finally hung up and THEN got the ball rolling on making our food. At this point it had been about a 35 minute wait for our to-​go order. We finally received our food after another 10 minutes, apology/​condolences/​hospitality-​free, and we walked out in a huff, leaving our sitting friends behind. I just arrived back to our beach house and opened my pancakes, which greeted me without syrup. I am so hangry. I am seeing red. I haven’t had food in 47 years. My stomach is beginning the process of consuming itself. Yet I sat in front of this pancake/​bacon platter just to write this review.
After taking a bite, food is 4 out of 5. Service is –0 out of 5. So bad it made up a number.
Set your hopes low before entering this establishment and maybe you’ll get some great sit-​in service and be pleasantly surprised.
God bless.

This is my first Unilocal review. This was a very bad experience. Service was nonexistent, but when we did receive assistance, it was lazy and rude. Food was average and not worth the money. Location is nice. The owners were very unhelpful, rude, and slow. The barista was snarky and «accidentally» burned me with hot steam after I complained about how long our to-​go food order was taking. The food for a to-​go order took twice as long as the food for a sit down meal. What?! Overall, bad service, overpriced, and not a great experience to have while on vacation.
Unilocal cherry popped!

Was okay… not that special.

What a fabulous find! This restaurant is located in the historic district of cape Charles. I had the California spinach salad which was fresh and full of ingredients including wonderful avocado. The dressing was a delightful vinaigrette. My husband had the Caesar salad. The lettuce was fresh and the dressing was tasty. I’ll keep the 5 rating for the food and ambiance but the chocolate ganache cupcake was dry. It was probably good 2 days ago.

We came here with a local and so glad we did! The Italian sandwich was yummy! Also our waitress was very nice and friendly! Loved my ice coffee! My daughter loved her fruit cup and hubby said his rueben was yummy! Jeffery the host/​busser was very friendly and informative! Will definetly be back!

Really pretty and cute. The coffee is good and if you want something small for lunch I would go here. The same applies to breakfast. I think out of everything the architecture above was the best.

Young son and I made a road warrior pit stop at the Cape Charles Coffee House last week on our way home from Newport News.
It sits a couple of clicks off Rt. 13 on the main commercial street of this historic southern charmer of a town. The railroad still operates on a trunk line across Mason Avenue. The building is a restored storefront done Victorian style with lots of deep greens and gingerbread details. The coffee bar in toward the rear of the first floor, requiring a walk by about a dozen tables nicely spaced on the floor. There is a large staircase just past the bar, on either side of which leads to the kitchen or the bathrooms.
Very attractive.
The barista was family to the owners and a pleasant conversationalist. He informed me a little about the operation while doing his alchemy to produce a fine latte.
As far as a worthy way station on the road of life goes, the Cape Charles Coffee House only needs a few ghost stories to make it a completely compelling dropby between here and there.
Take 20 minutes out of your life and come by. It is a sweet stop.

Beautiful coffee house in Cape Charles that was perfect walking distance from my hotel. This coffee house is authentic to the town that I went to both mornings for breakfast during my stay at the Cape.
All the employees were friendly and it was nice seeing the regulars every morning. I cam here off season in the winter, so it was slower than normal. I went with the traditional breakfast, 2 eggs with bacon, toast, fresh fruit and a cup of coffee. You can never go wrong. Real cool place located in the town that you should try out.

I was initially worried by the negative reviews on the service, since great food can never overcome poor service. However, I’m pleased to say that our server was very friendly and accommodating to special requests. Great setting and it was enjoyable watching the locals interact and conduct business in the familiar fashion of small towns. As breakfasts go, the food was good and fresh. I had basic bacon and eggs which is tough to screw up, while my wife had the BELT, which is a BLT with egg. She said it was a nice addition to a standard BLT and «breakfastized» it. There were some good cakes in the pastry counter that we didn’t get to sample, but there’s always next time…

The building itself is adorable. Cute spot, great location. I had heard a lot of people say that this was THE go to spot, so of course I headed there first thing. Maybe it was too overhyped, but I expected more?
The service we received was fine, not like the other reviewers here received.
The vanilla chai tea was amazing!!! Probably the best I’ve had. The rest of the breakfast (eggs over easy and bacon) was the same as anywhere else. Nothing special.

Service was slow and rude. Not sure worth the wait and experience.
Food was mediocre but service caused the 2 star rating.
They need to rethink the model as tourism is important to this area.

We were just there for sunday breakfast menu. Ordered blt with egg. Just fantastic. The service and coffee great as well. Really cool place.

Great little spot off 184. Thanks Unilocal for yet another great find! We are just driving through and wanted a good cup of joe. My DH got a ‘better than decent’ cup of coffee. I got a delicious chai and our daughter got a chocolatey, yummy, deliciously whipped cream hot cocoa (her words).

You don’t have a lot of options in town, and they do a fine job at the Cape Charles Coffee House.
They open at 8:00 on the weekend (which seems late for breakfast/​coffee places) and the service can be small town southern slow, but you’ll get used to that.
Food is good. Portions are fair. I don’t think you’ll leave claiming anything is the best you’ve ever had, but it gets the job done. They serve fresh fruit with your breakfast (sliced strawberry and an orange slice in our case). The building interior is beautiful.