Eileen’s Bakery & Cafe

This place is exquisite! I don’t have enough words! We travel up from Charlotte NC to visit my hubbies parents & we must come here every visit! It doesn’t matter what your taste buds want everything here is satisfying!
They have breakfast foods like eggs Benedict, quiche, breakfast sandwiches, wraps & pasteries. Nothing is ordinary here. Everything is fresh, home made & unique flavors you can’t get anywhere else. This is a delightful treat! Don’t skip it!
Plus the quaint atmosphere of the old church is so charming & homey! I seriously can’t get enough of this place.

Located in a renovated church, this has got to be one of the most architecturally unique and stunning eateries that I’ve been to. If you’re in a hurry, there is a generous selection of baked goods and pre-​made sandwiches to choose from (with vegan options too!) or you can build your own. I went with the pesto and cheese croissant with a side of spinach salad. The salad in particular was perfect. The croissant was heavy on the oil in the pesto and sat uncomfortably heavy on my stomach, but otherwise the flavors and textures were superb. The staff were super attentive and patient.

Delicious, interesting food choices and delightful, conscientious staff.
I ordered a sandwich that was half the size of what I usually would eat and was expecting to be still hungry when I finshed. The sandwich was packed with quality ingredients and spices and was so delicious that I took my time and savored every bite. When i got to the last bite i was astonished that i was completely satisfied.
What a difference quality and skill make with food preparation. Duh!

Absolutely love it! It is a cute bakery. There coffee is great and so is their lunch. They also have really delicious desert. I tried it out with a gift card and enjoy going out with my mom to relax. It is a score, definitely recommend to all ages and tastes.

We stopped there on our way to Washington DC. We had chicken sandwiches, they were really tasty and homemade with fresh products. The deserts (apple tart and spicy cake) were also fresh and homemade.

Pretty good food but I ordered a double espresso and the barista pulled it way too long, like half a cup of coffee long with no crema. I wasn’t being difficult but I politely asked the barista for another one and her supervisor overheard and started berating me about whether I knew or not what an «expresso» was. I explained that I was a barista for two years but she started flipping out so I dropped it. Other than the uninvited shouting match it was nice. The krueller was pretty good and I liked the ambiance.

The iced crème brûlée coffee is AMAZING. I also had a tiramisu cupcake every chocolate lover needs to try this… Its not very tiramisu-​like a sit is awesome chocolate cupcake with a hint of espresso like but still awesome! My friend had a coconut raspberry cupcake. Also equally as great!

Love the food here, always fresh and very good. Today we had a tuna melt, hot cubano & a German soup with cabbage. (Can’t recall the name) So good! A little over priced for the portion size but hey. Lots of choices in the baked goods area. Def will be back again & again.

Loved their eggs Benedict and flourless quiche!!! Chai tea was also perfect!!! Would definitely go back!!!

I picked up a breakfast catering order from Eileen’s for an event down the street. They were able to accommodate my order for ~40 people on short notice which was great. The ham and cheese croissants were great! The other various breakfast pastries were delicious as well. I can’t comment on the more lunch-​focused items, but I’d go back specifically just for those ham and cheese croissants!

We were driving back to Richmond from DC and wanted something that wasn’t a chain restaurant. What a great find this place was. We usually try to visit places that are right off the exit. Eileen’s isn’t right off the exit, but it wasn’t so far away that we felt inconvenienced.
There was plenty of street parking available. It is a funky space, inside an old church, and the food was amazing. The chocolate croissant was buttery and flaky and covered in powdered sugar. YUM! The breakfast sandwiches were great. People working kept the line moving fairly quickly.
Thanks Unilocalers for helping us discover a new breakfast place when we’re on the road.

If you are watching your waistline or have no self control, then it’s best that you skip Eileen’s. You will have a difficult time deciding what decadent yummy to get, but get there first thing in the morning or else the selections will be sparse. Service is always with a smile, and during the warmer weather the back patio is so inviting that you won’t want to leave.

With my sister coming from the north and I the south, Fredericksburg is a convenient place for us to meet up. This time we decided upon Eileen’s Bakery.
I was curious about this place, since I had read it was located in an old church. While it did look like a church, other than a stained glass window, it wasn’t an interesting one.
You walk in and are faced with a line and we found out why. The first counter is filled with a nice variety of sweetness. Scones, cupcakes, etc. All better looking than the last. The next case has the sandwiches and sides, followed by another case with a few bakery items and finally the cashier.
I ordered an apple fritter and coffee. My sister had a sandwich, a boston cream with cherries donut and tea.
Finding a clean table was fairly difficult and there didn’t appear to be anyone assigned to that task. I managed to find one that was reasonably clean.
The apple fritter wasn’t bad, rather listless listless. The coffee was good. My sister like her chicken salad sandwich and we both loved the boston cream donut.
Upon finishing up, I thought to myself, I would come back here for the other bakery items and coffee, if the mood struck me right. Not an overwhelming endorsement, but the best I can do based on my first experience there.

So good! For restaurant week a Co worker and I decided to get lunch here to go, and we were not disappointed! Their restaurant week special included two beverages, two side salads or soups, two sandwiches and two pastries all for just $ 20!
The soup came with some sort of poppyseed bread and butter and the butter tasted so fresh like it was just churned. The bread was soft and had just the slightest hint of sweetness to it.
For soup we got chili corn chowder, which the name is misleading. I thought it would be chili with corn in it, but not so much. It was not chili and there was no corn in it, I think they meant chili as in pepper, corn chowder as in they pureed corn to give it a correct texture. They put a cheese on it which melted and turned gooey so I wasn’t complaining after the initial confusion was gone!
My sandwich I ordered was the balsamic chicken, which had sliced chicken, balsamic aioli, lettuce and tomato on a seasoned hoagie roll. It could have used a raw red onion, but I could be biased, as I put onion on everything! The sandwich was amazing, to say the least!
For my dessert I went with pineapple upside down cake. It was adorable and single serving sized. The cake could have been more moist, but it wasn’t bad. More sweet than I typically like things, but still very good. I’m a little picky about cakes because I bake very well, so if it’s not better than mine, I’m not impressed.
Wonderful place, very cute inside the refurbished church. They have their sandwiches pre made so there’s virtually no waitfor your food. You go through the line cafeteria style and pay at the register, very efficient operations they have going on here! I’ll definitely be back!

Eileen’s Bakery & Café is actually an 1833 colonial church. When you step in, you go through another set of double doors to the main area. The place offers breakfast, lunch, and a cake menu, as well as catering services. The bakery cases seemed like slim pickings, but I realized that some of their pastries were set on top of the counter — they had cookies, breads, as well as quiche. I tried their popular Bear Claw (which was pretty large in size, but it was actually tasty; the filling of of the cinnamon, brown sugar, and the nuts with the nice glaze on top was pretty good; I think it would have been super terrific if it was more fresh and warm); a ham and cheese croissant (this was filled with a good amount of cheese, strips of ham, and dijon mustard (which I wasn’t really a fan of)); and, a blueberry scone with a glaze (at first, I thought it was an orange glaze, but it was just a regular icing; the scone was more like a muffin and moist, but it was not as blueberry-​ish as I thought it would have been, and tasted more just like a bundt cake). I also tried one of their cold teas, the Sweet Southern Lime Tea (this wasn’t as sweet as I expected and had a very subtle lime taste to it; it was refreshing, and served in a coffee cup (which I thought was kind of weird)). One of the employees that was helping us was very friendly and sweet, but when inquired about certain items, she didn’t have the faintest clue on what they were and what was in them T_​_​_​T (some of the cookies were labeled, but everything else, you just have to guess). There is plenty of seating within, but I noticed that it was just way too hot and humid in there — no ventilation, and it was just pretty uncomfortable. I’m glad I was able to check out Eileen’s, but not sure if I’d go back.
+Bear Claw (request them to be fresh and warm)
+no labels on items in bakery case T_​_​_​T
+extremely hot & humid inside: O

I don’t like giving 1’s but feel I need to on this occasion.
I ordered a cake here over the phone for a special occasion. The young lady who helped me on the phone was so nice and kind, I couldn’t say «no thanks» after being told the cake — a sheet cake — would be 65 dollars! I figured this thing has got to be «melt in your mouth gorgeous» — so what the heck, I’ll pay. I told the girl when I ordered that I’d be in around 4 p.m. today to pick up.
Running a little late, I arrived around at the bakery around 4:20 p.m. and the place was closed.
I never received a phone call (thy had my number) asking if I was on my way, everything ok? we’re closing soon, I wasn’t told to be there by 4 p.m. when I ordered as the doors would be bolted shut at that time.
After banging on the front door for awhile, the dishwasher from around the back of the building finally came out. He and another gentleman wanted me to wait in the alley until they figured things out — they told me no one told them I was coming. I asked if I could step inside, as I didn’t feel comfortable standing out there waiting while they f’d around inside.
When I finally saw the cake, I must say — the initial appearance did not «knock my socks off» as I thought it would. The decorations were just «ok.»
I got the cake to our event and was given an end piece when cake serving time finally came.
Biting into it — (I couldn’t cut it with a plastic knife) — the outer edges of the cake itself were hard as a rock — as if overlooked. The cake itself was dry, not moist. Nothing special here folks. Really.
Not much customer care (ie you on your way sir? Closing soon…), presentation blah, flavor in this one — sub-​par.
I’ve honestly has 100 percent better taste, quality and appearance for 2/​3rds less the price at Food Lion. I’ll take my business elsewhere next time.

Eating in an old church was a very unique environment! We stopped here on our way back home to pick up some treats, and I’m so glad we did!
I had a mushroom and cheese croissant which was very tasty. My only qualm was that I wish it was hot and not just taken from sitting out.
I also got three raspberry cookie bars and three chocolate chip cookies to go, and trying them later that day: DELICIOUS. Perfect cookie consistency (chewy, but not hard or crumbly) and just the right amount of sweetness.
We’ll definitely be back whenever we revisit Fredericksburg!

In Dexys Midnight Runners’ classic one-​hit wonder «Come on Eileen», the song was inspired by a childhood friend with whom the lead singer had a romantic, and later sexual, relationship in his teens. His Catholic upbringing led to a fascination with the taboos surrounding sexuality. How the heck is this relevant you say? wait for it… Eileen’s Bakery and Café resides in what used to be a reformed Baptist church in the Historic District of downtown Fredericksburg with the main church area serving as the dining room and the Sunday school classrooms as the kitchen and bakery production areas. If loving Eileen’s sinful selection of delectable baked goods and drinks is wrong, then I don’t want to be right!
For my first visit, I ordered an apple fritter paired with a vanilla latte. The apple fritter was served warm with a orange zest glaze and generous chunks of freshly spiced apples and the vanilla latte was made from a recipe the owner brought down from Seattle (a close second choice was a spicy Mexican hot chocolate). The counter is lined with several delectable hearty breakfast wraps filled with freshly scrambled eggs and cured meats and the English muffins are made fresh on the premises which is a welcome upgrade to the assembly line prepackaged components at [insert your favorite chain restaurant].
In terms of their pastries and cakes, rather than give you a rundown of their selection, all you need to know is that they are a local favorite for catering to weddings both offsite and even onsite (it is a church after all and there is a lovely garden patio when the weather is warmer) so that should give you a general idea of the level of quality and artistry that they place on their sweets. Lunch offers a deli-​level variety of freshly baked breads, cheeses, and home-​made soups highlighted by a curried chicken salad in the cold section and a panini-​pressed Cubano in the hot section.
Service was warm and inviting and with the high ceilings and ample dining space, it serves as a popular place for group gatherings and formal events. Much like the town of Fredericksburg, the selection of edible goodies and beverages reflect a link to the past with traditional favorites all made daily by hand before dawn as well as providing accommodations toward a changing world with creative flavor combinations and influences from abroad.
Great, I’ve officially cursed myself with an endless accelerating loop of «too-​ra-​loo-​ra, too-​ra-​loo-​rye-​aye» every time I step into Eileen’s bakery as a result of typing this review. Why must you be so dang catchy?

Eileen’s provides really delicious drinks and baked goods in a lovely setting. It’s a one-​of-​a-​kind establishment in historic downtown Fredericksburg. Converting older buildings into businesses is nothing new, but how often is it that you can enjoy coffee and a freshly-​baked muffin in what used to be an old church?
We enjoyed the comfy sofa seating available, with a coffee table in the middle, where you can place your drinks and snacks or maybe lay out a board game or two. It’s almost like being in someone’s living room. They also have reading material for kiddos, nice touch.
If this spot was closer to home, I’d probably organize a gift exchange for the holidays here since it’s really spacious and charming.
Some of their special latte mixes contain dairy; be sure to ask. Other drinks are customizable, and the substitute milk is soy.
Overall, a great place to catch up with friends, unwind, and laze away on a Sunday morning or afternoon. I can see this place being really popular with families and groups after religious services. It’s also a good spot for entertaining friends from out of town.

So… we were walking in downtown Fredericksburg and Eileen’s Bakery & Café caught our eye. As we approached the entrance, two women were leaving. One said to the other «I knew they were coming in here!» I asked her «Is their stuff good?» «Oh, yes it is!» She answered. «Well» I said «I guess we made the right choice». The reply — «You sure did!»
Upon entering, you first approach the case where the baked goods are kept. The assortment was eclectic — 1 large coconut cupcake, a couple of small but attractive pies, some pie slices and what caught my husband’s eye — German spice cake. The lady behind the counter was very friendly and patient as we made our selection. We bought 2 of the German spice cakes to go.
Eileen’s also sells pre-​made sandwiches which they will bring to your table for you. They also have sodas and juices.
Later that evening, when we were back home, we split one of the cakes, as they are small. When I opened the container they were in, I was immediately hit with the smell of cloves. Each cake also had a thin apple slice on top, which we both thought was superfluous. But that cake — OMG! It was delicious! Not too sweet, not too rich — just right. It was dense but moist with a light confectioner’s glaze on top. In addition, it had that homemade look to it rather than a mass produced product where everything is perfect. This is a cake to be slowly savored. After finishing it, the taste of cloves just lingers in your mouth.
The next night we ate the other one. My husband heated up his portion and told me that he thought heating it up brought out even more flavoring. It had me wishing that I had done so with my portion, too.
Based on that cake alone, I was ready to give Eileen’s 5 stars… but…considering it was the only thing we tried, I held back. Eventually (in the spring) we’ll take another day trip to Fredericksburg and will definitely stop in at Eileen’s to sample some more of their baked goods. Heck, we may even sit awhile and try a sandwich!