Country Fresh Cafe

Well I am sad to say the café has gone the way of every other restaurant in this spot. Closed for good. Hope they try again in a better spot.

Slept in one Sunday morning and woke up peckish and lethargic. Yawn! I was definitely ready for a hearty breakfast and it was more like brunch time! We fancied some good ol’ country fare and Unilocal didn’t steer me wrong when I zeroed in on Country Fresh Café. The name «Country Fresh» somehow sounded so good that morning and I was sure it would satiate the cravings of all three of us. Since we were family, we ordered 3 entrees to share.
Crepes are always enthusiastically received at any time of day. In CFC, one of their Crepes ($ 11.00) was dressed up with three savory toppings «Prosciutto, Apple and Crescenza». The crêpe itself was light and delicate. As I never had crescenza before, it must be the cheese that was slathered on the crêpe. It looked like mozzarella only tastier. Crescenza tasted like a soft cheese with a creamy texture and had a mild, delicate flavor. The prosciutto was thinly sliced with very little fat and this added a touch of saltiness and smokiness to the crêpe.
The Panini sandwiches ($ 11.00) were good but nothing too earth shattering. We opted for the Ham Club, which basically was a smoked ham with BLT. The bread used was a Telera Roll served with organic mixed green salad with their homemade sherry vinaigrette. I was however impressed by the taste. Though there were no visible grill marks, the bread still turned out to be toasty with a nice crisp crust. There was the right amount of aioli and the cheese melted perfectly. Sometime ago, I bought a George Foreman panini-​like gadget and was never able to replicate a panini close to this one.
I am an Eggs Benedict fan and it definitely caught my attention. It was hard to resist Crab Eggs Benedict ($ 12.00) especially when the hollandaise sauce was well made with a rich creamy and buttery flavor. The two eggs were poached perfectly. They were silky smooth and pillowy soft on the outside with perfectly round whites surrounding velvety and runny yolks inside. The idea was to let the runny yolk drip through the toasted muffin. The Hollandaise sauce had an even texture, thickness and flavor. The country potatoes with a smidgen of bell peppers and onions were seasoned perfectly and nicely done. The one minor hiccup was the crabmeat. Don’t get me wrong but I do love crabs. It was the briny tang of the crabmeat. It probably wasn’t the freshest or the best quality. This might well be due to my overly discerning taste for shellfish and seafood.
There were some negatives that I needed to address. It was so hot and stifling inside the dining room at 1 pm that every one was sweaty and uncomfortable. Granted the outside temperature was unusually hot at a scorching 95 °F! A couple of strategically placed fans should do the trick! Next we had to put up with several uninvited guests at the table. Flies galore and were most annoying not to mention unhygienic. Last but not least, the server inadvertently included two entrees that we didn’t order to our check. Their checks were not computerized but handwritten. Either trust the server and risk being ripped off or audit the check yourself. Although the error was quickly corrected, it still left a bitter taste in my mouth. Service was pretty ho hum throughout our entire meal and we did feel neglected. Regardless, I’ll come back when the weather is colder and hopefully the flies will be gone by then!

Really good food. This is a hidden gem I didn’t know about, but the crepes and chorizo omelet was perfect. I definitely recommend this place.

One good thing about this place is that Redwood Café is just down the road for when you go there and they are closed! This has happened to me twice — color me silly for keeping trying! The most recent was for breakfast on a Tuesday — website said they’d be open but at 9:15 they are very very closed!
I did manage to go one time when they were open — food is good if pricey but the service is where things get pretty interesting. They are new but really — it doesn’t take a lot of experience to know you never go back to the kitchen empty handed! And sitting watching them cut paper into circles to put on the table when you’d really like a coffee refill is frustrating. They seriously need to get their service «act» together and then it will be worth a better rating.

Great breakfast food. The service, the food, and the prices were all great. I ordered the veggie omelet with avocado, fruit, and southern style potatoes. The meal itself looked great enough to make me salivate before taking the first bite. Needless to say, it lived up to the taste indefinitely. It was also filling enough not to leave me in a state of food coma. If I am ever in the santa rosa area again I would like to come and try more of the breakfast entrées. I highly recommend coming for breakfast. I have yet to try dinner or lunch, maybe next time.

Yay! A great diner to get fresh, local ingredients served quickly! The salad lettuce was fresh and you could tell the tomatoes were actually NOT refrigerated so they were delicious.
Took a party of 7 here for lunch on a weekday. Seated quickly, orders taken, overall service was wonderful. We had folks order the paninis, some salads and an omelette.
The only glitch was my order. I ordered the Nicoise salad, a go-​to order of mine if it is on the menu. The menu said «fingerling potatoes and tuna». To me, that means sliced tuna, but maybe that was my mistake? I was served a scoop of tuna salad on lettuce. I just can’t eat mayonnaise, so unfortunately, I had to send it back. I think the menu should be updated to state «Tuna SALAD». I got he Chef’s special salad instead which was grilled chicken, hard boiled egg, avocado and a smidge of pecorino. It was delicious and I was full until 7pm!
I can’t wait to go back and try a Panini!

This is our first time here. We really enjoyed it. We were welcomed with a smile and seated. The service was excellent and the young ladies were sweet. The food was cooked perfectly and I loved the country potatoes. They were creamy yet crispy. The décor was simple and charming.

I completely enjoyed my experience here. I went in for a Saturday brunch with my mom and 1 year old daughter. Although it is a nicer atmosphere then most if not all the cafés around they were great with my daughter there and had no problems with her being a baby and dropping food.
Our waitress was fantastic. She was so personable and fun and actually would stop to check in. We were able to have an actual conversation with her! She looked like she really loved her job and it really showed through with her costumer service.
Now on to the food. The food was absolutely incredible. Everything we had was delicious and I couldn’t have been happier with how it turned out.
Overall this was an awesome experience we will be back very soon.

My wife and I decided to try a new spot for breakfast and we had noticed the country fresh café on our way to our usual Cotati spot, Marvin’s, so we stopped in. We wanted somewhere else to go in Cotati cause my wife doesn’t like the coffee at Marvin’s so when we saw this place right next store we tried it. My wife really liked the antique Décor, the service was great and the food was pretty good! The French/​American combo was a great idea, I was able to get eggs Benedict which is my favorite breakfast and my wife was able to try a crêpe, both were really good. We will be returning because of our experience and because my wife likes the coffee!

I had breakfast here with some friends. Service was definitely lacking. My friend kept having to ask for her coffee. Slow… Her eggs bendecict with crab was not good. Overcooked eggs! My toast came when I was about finished with my eggs and country potatoes. The potatoes were ok.

We went for breakfast one morning as it was somewhere we haven’t tried. The service here was great, the décor was pleasant, but the food was a bit odd. I ordered savory crepes for breakfast and the crêpe itself was sweet. My preference is a savory crêpe with savory items. Our other dish was a ham and cheese omelette, nothing special there. The country fries were good, deep fried with a soft middle. Not some place we would rush to soon.

The food was excellent fresh. The service was AWFUL!!! We sat on the patio for breakfast they must of forgotten us.

We live nearby and noticed when the Marsala Jack sign went down and a little place called Country Fresh Café opened its doors. We neglected to try the food for several months after opening, and I’ve never made a bigger mistake in
. Every meal we have had at this amazing restaurant has been indescribable. I cant wait to sample whatever new special they’ve cooked up. Do yourself a favor and give this place a try. I promise you wont be disappointed!

(This should be 5 stars just based on competition in our area but if the French Laundry is 5 stars… well, you know. ;))
For years my family and I have been lamenting the fact that there’s nowhere to go to get a reasonably priced, good meal in our area. We wanted a restaurant that was a no-​brainer, that the whole family would agree upon — a local place that when you got home and didn’t feel like cooking you could easily head over to. We wanted a restaurant that served basic non-​ethnic food (for some reason we have found great mainstays for Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese, Mexican) but done well — you know, eggs benedict and french toast for Sunday brunch, burgers, pasta, sandwiches for lunch and dinner but mostly we just wanted some really great salads. Well, we found it in Country Fresh Café.
Honestly, there have been so many bad restaurants in the space that Country Fresh Café is located in that had I not checked Unilocal we probably would have never gone there. My daughter, her friend and I headed over there on a Sunday afternoon at 2:45pm (they close at 3pm) after the Bay to Breakers. We were starving and tired and the hostess and our waitress couldn’t have been nicer. We were there well past 4pm and never felt in the least bit rushed. We ordered tuna melts and a BLT panini. They were fabulous. Everything that came out of the kitchen looked great. The ambience isn’t perfect but it’s very clean (a big deal breaker in my and my 12 year old son’s book), cute and comfortable and feels welcoming just like those who run this restaurant.
We’ve been back for salads and they did not disappoint. After 14 years of living in Penngrove we finally have a restaurant within striking distance that makes a great salad. Our only request is please add a tostada or taco salad! So happy that Country Fresh is here! I agree with one of the other reviewers, they should change the name to Country Fraiche which takes it out of that typical greasy spoon, low-​quality, country dive category that is so prevalent in Sonoma County.

My wife and I had dinner here Saturday night. The atmosphere and décor were nice. Our server was attentive and very helpful when we asked questions. The shrimp Louie was one of the best I’ve had. My wife had the fettuccine with chicken and she really enjoyed it. I had the salmon with a carrot/​sweet potato purée and mango chutney, served on grilled asparagus. The salmon was perfectly cooked and delicious. For desert we had the panna cotta which was light and flavorful. The candied walnuts on top were a special treat.
The server said the dinner menu changes regularly, so check the web site for the current menu. Looking forward to the next visit.

This place may not look fancy or have the best décor, but that’s not very important to me. The food is great and the owner/​server was very warm, inviting and attentive.
We got many items on the menu; shrimp Louie salad, mussels with pasta (with fresh noodles from Pasta Shop in Oakland) amazing!, bruschetta with cheese prosciutto and green apple, crab cakes (–amazing!, lots of crab, not too much filler), and clams which came with a delightful creamy sauce yum!
Everything was very fresh and flavorful. Everything was made to order, yet still didn’t take long to arrive at our table. Service was great.
This place is a winner, and great addition to Cotati! Can’t wait to try a crêpe and breakfast items.

4 ½ Stars
I feel a little sad for Marvin’s In Cotati which is a breakfast & lunch restaurant just few hundred feet away from Country Fresh Café in the same mini-​strip mall. Because Country Fresh Café is a better restaurant with better food and more delicious dishes.
I’ve had four or five meals here already and tried Country Fresh Café the same week they opened. They’ve shaken out all the settling-​in pains and are in full swing now. Every breakfast I’ve had here was excellent with the most recent one being the best so far.
If they have the Crab Benedict breakfast special I highly recommend it. The Hollandaise Sauce was extra tasty and I think they used some orange juice or zest in the recipe. It was sooo good!
The breakfast potatoes are great, the water glass is a «County Fair Drinking Jar» mug, and even the orange garnish was so ripe and tasty.
One of the owners, Natasha, is a sweet and nice person who often doubles as a server. I can tell she puts a lot of love into her restaurant and it shows. .. you can taste it in their food too.
The other owner, Edgar, is a pleasant man who is very attentive to guests and makes very sure you are happy with your breakfast experience.
Their business cards say this is an «American/​French Fusion Restaurant, with their logo being a rooster, a French symbol.
I certainly agree that Country Fresh Café is something the Cotati/​Rohnert Park area can «Cock-​a-​doodle-​doo» about!
Thank You, Natasha and Edgar, for your warmth and friendliness. You have a lovely restaurant!
Review 0132

Our second time there. The Airline Chicken is moist and flavorful, the secret ingredient is lemon in the gravy! Wow! We also had a delicious lentil and bacon soup. Crab risotto was cooked perfectly, We haven’t had the Flat Iron Steak but it is their best seller. Both times the service and food were excellent, How often do you get disappointed by dessert, It does not happen here the Kahlua Bread pudding was moist, tender, flavorful and not overly sweet or too coffee flavored, a real hit! Take your own bottle of wine and savor it from bistro glasses!

Called Country Fresh Café on a Friday for a party of twenty on Saturday. They were happy to accommodate us even with such short notice. We were seated in one half of the restaurant at two separate tables. The décor is so lovely and warm. It feels like you are in their home. We brought our own wine since they don’t have a corkage fee, yeah! There were three children in our group and the chef made little hamburgers sliders for them and plastic drink cups with a lid and straw. Everyone loved the food favorites at the table were the salmon, flat iron steak and the airline chicken.
I love that they focus on locally sourced and organic ingredients. The service is unbelievably accommodating, everything we asked for was graciously provided. We ended hanging around until about 10:00pm which is well after closing time but they never rushed us out or made us feel like we had to leave. I can’t wait to go back and try breakfast and lunch. This is my new favorite local restaurant!

Had brunch today (first day they served their breakfast menu, we were told). Excellent! My wife had eggs benedict, cooked hard, and they were absolutely perfect; I had the egg, gruyère, and ham crêpe. Though a somewhat odd combination (though I love all the components), it was better than I’d expected. The eggs were perfectly cooked over easy, the ham was really tasty (tasted almost a little smokey), and the crêpe was outstanding: thin, light, and slightly sweet. I’ll definitely be ordering more crêpe dishes in the future, as the chef obviously knows just how to treat them. The potatoes that accompanied both dishes were exceptionally good. Soft and flavorful, with a crisp exterior. Coffee was good and dark and rich. I’ll be happy when they get their liquor license, as a mimosa would have been a perfect touch! A little pricey, but you’ll definitely leave satisfied. Excellent service, too!