The Bridge Cafe

River (and well, bridge) side café, we sat outdoors to take advantage of the view and the beautiful old Main Street town’s quiet atmosphere.
Nice (almost meaningless but somehow this is the word that feels right), interestingly varied menu, outstandingly fresh (flavor and texture) spinach cakes (Sounds nice, right?), many fun beverage options (always welcome), and reasonably priced for the area and its many diverse places to eat (of which we’ve been to and enjoyed a good number).
The town’s center is tiny but is worth a side trip from any of the more popular, touristy, and crowded Delaware River destinations, particularly for lunch or dinner (Not a lot of shops.).
And it is, btw, a very cool, picturesque bridge…
Tell Ron at Decoys and Wildlife Gallery Brett says hey.

We love the bridge street café and stop in often. We usually stop in when we’re out motorcycling. They have bike parking out front too. Great coffee, single origin blends from a small coffee roaster is offered with many hand made pastries and outstanding food. Great staff and lots of attention to using fresh ingrediants. The owner is a nice guy too.

Great situation. The sodas and floats and milkshakes were great — real nostalgia plus. The sweet potato fries were excellent.

Most overpriced food I’ve ever had. Came here on a lovely Sunday afternoon during the Riverfest for a quick bite. I ordered the spinach cakes and salad. It was FIFTEEN DOLLARS for a small, withered, PLAIN garden salad. Barely any balsamic dressing. It also took close to 20 minutes to make said salad and cakes (not a food that requires heavy prep). I was highly disappointed in such a heavily trafficked spot. They did not live up to their ratings…
We also arrived close to closing, so while I understand the staff’s rush, there attitude was unacceptable. They were not very accommodating and would not allow us to eat quickly indoors. Will not be back.

When we stop in Frenchtown (which is frequently), we always stop at the Bridge Café for coffee and wonderful baked goods. There are two areas of the café: a dining room with seating overlooking the Delaware River, and the front part of the building with a counter, ice cream, and a few tables. (There’s also outdoor seating.) We’ve eaten lunch in the dining room (which is NOT formal – many customers are cyclists who ride their bicycles along the river), but most of the time we have coffee and a cookie or a piece of cake in the front part of the café. The baked goods are «to die for» and the staff has always been pleasant and helpful. It’s one of my absolute favorite places to slow down, enjoy a cup of coffee and a cookie, and watch the river and the people passing by.

An awful experience… where to begin…
First, we were seated at an outside table overlooking the river. Then we waited for someone to acknowledge us and take our drink order. And we waited. And waited. We finally had enough after about 15 minutes and decided to just go ask for drinks. Then the waiter comes over. He doesn’t offer any apology, just some lame excuse. We order our food (I got the Croque Madame) and waited another 30 minutes for that to arrive. During this time, we finished our drinks and never had refills. Well, the food arrives and it’s absolutely disgusting. The Croque Madame comes with some type of gray matter that is supposed to be ham. The sourdough bread is as hard as granite and obviously inedible. Our smug waiter comes over and I say «I can’t eat this. I can’t cut the bread with a knife.» He takes it away and asks if I want soup instead. I politely decline. The other meal ordered was a chicken sandwich. The only explanation I have for the state of the chicken… they used a rubber chicken. That’s all I can think of.
So we sit there… and sit there. Our waiter had vanished. Then I look inside the restaurant and there he is… eating his lunch! We finally had enough and we start to leave. We were never checked on to see if we want any more of the terrible food they serve. I go up to the hostess (who was the only positive of this whole experience) and tell her what has happened. I get the deer in the headlights look. Then Mr. Unprofessional Waiter comes up and argues that he didn’t provide bad service. He snatches the check from the hostess, and says «I’ll ring it up». Great. More dealings with this clown. He swipes my CC and hands me both receipts. I clearly write «Your food and service suck» on the receipt that they keep and write «0″ for the tip. Now the waiter is feeling bold…“I hope your day gets better» he says. «It’ll get better when I leave this place» I respond. He shoots back with «Peace». Peace. He really says this. The nerve of this a$$wipe. I lose it. Girlfriend pulls me out as I curse like a sailor.
And…scene.
I decide to call the owner the following day. She’s seems nice, but clueless as to how her staff handles people. She half apologizes, but always throws in a «but» when she apologizes. She offers a full refund and I accept. Not so bad right? WRONG! I check my credit card statement and that little smug POS added a tip. Now I call my credit card company and they remove the charge within minutes of the fraud case being opened (Thanks Capital One!!!)
I call the owner back and, again, she apologizes, but adds in that most of her staff are first time job holders. IMO, that should be their last job too.
So, congrats to the Bridge Café, the single worst dining experience ever and the inspiration for my one and only Unilocal review.

Great food in a quaint atmosphere! I had the catfish Po’Boy and it was AMAZING!!! The fish was super fresh with a crunchy Panko crust, on a brioche roll with juicy red tomatoes, red onion, crispy lettuce & homemade tartar sauce. It was server with a delicious homemade potato salad made with red potatoes & fresh dill, yummy! My friend had the Greek salad with shrimp, served with humus & pita bread, she loved hers as well. Both dishes were suggested by our super sweet waitress, Sarah and she did not steer us wrong! Loved this place & can’t wait to go back for the Po’Boy! Don’t pass it by!

Like this place.
Tasty food… great location esp if you sit outside (which we did). Great place to stop if you cycle here… right by the trail.
Will return here… food was excellent and good service.
Recommended.

I’ve lived local to here my entire life, and the only reason I stopped in one day was because the frenchtown café was packed. There were no other diners in that day, yet it took my friend and I twenty minutes to get a cup off coffee. The menu offered a minimal amount of breakfast options. I chose the French toast, which was amazing, but then waited another twenty minutes to get my check with an empty plate in front of me. Honestly, I appreciate the fact that their food was worth the steep price, but slow service in an empty restaurant is just inexcusable.

Loved it here! A late summer day we sat outside overlooking the Delaware river. Greeted by a friendly staff we had the Croque (madame), a salad, and sweet potato fries.
All were great and I look forward to returning and trying the other menu items.

Great view. Quaint place with nice menu. We’ve made this a spot to stop and have lunch whenever we are in the area. Have been coming here for over 20 years and never been disappointed. Love their quiche and salad and all their salads are great actually. Good burgers. Love to stop here after a bike ride.
Love to stop here whenever.

Ambiance fantastic, the food was extremely so-​so.
The croque madame was not memorable, but the veggie burger was — only because the burger patty was extremely soft and pasty. The paste didn’t taste bad though, so no extreme points taken off there.

Looking for a nice place to eat? Check out the Bridge Café. Beautiful view of the river, with a nice breeze, and good food. They have indoor and outdoor seating, all still with a view of the river. Not a huge menu selection, but just enough.
I had a burger and my girlfriend had a chicken sandwich. The burger was ok, not the best burger I’ve ever had but good. The chicken was thick, juicy and seasoned well. The vegetables were also very fresh.

For a place that charges $ 11 for a foot long hotdog, one would think they could have given my sister a free ice cream replacement when her cone snapped in half and fell on the floor. No, instead they charged her again… you know, $ 4 and some odd change for a cheap cone and 2 scoops. I could buy a gallon of ice cream for cheaper than that! Their entire menu is ridiculously overpriced.

On a perfect Spring weekend when the urge to drive up river overcomes the need to work the garden, The Bridge Café is a great destination.
Frenchtown, New Jersey, named after French speaking Swiss businessmen who arrived in the mid-​19^th Century to bring a little entrepreneurship to this then as now backwater river town, is still a remarkably historic storybook locale. The Café is housed in the former train depot, and sits alongside the D & R Canal State Park trail, and but 50 feet from the mighty Delaware River, with a glorious view of the long narrow green steel truss bridge to New Jersey. It is easy to understand why a dreamer and author would choose this burg to settle in long enough to complete a manuscript. The sense of peacefulness and agelessness are pervasive. It feels like the gateway to a Tolkien hobbit den.
While food is a necessary part of existence, it is not the center of the experience I plug into here. Rather, sitting on the outside porch watching the river flow past, and its spirit flow within, dominates. But, the Café Burgers we consumed yesterday were substantial and tasty. The Whole Grain Bun, Romaine, Tomato, Red Onion and Pickle held together well. Along with the side of Fries, they filled us. BYOB if you wish. Decent looking sweets at the front counter might make a good companion to Small World Coffee brewed there.
You could observe that the prices are higher than for similar offerings in less «touristy» spots. That is a fair comment, but this is one of those rare places where paying for atmosphere is a reasonable recognition that you are sitting in a rather remarkable place.

Food was so-​so. The burger was over-​cooked and overpriced, with not much flavor. The special chipotle chicken sandwich tasted more like curried chicken, but was okay. The milkshake was great as was the view of the river. There were also fries on the floor and the table was of a flimsy material that made eating on it a bit annoying. Perhaps this place is better in summer or for a cup of coffee and not for the dining.

More than a burger! What a novel concept!
I have to say that this place did a great job of matching the quality of their food to the great location by the river bridge! I love to see a menu that makes use of great fresh ingredients and gives the diner something to choose from other than a burger or a slice of pizza. I’m a foodie and a good cook and rarely do I find restaurant food that tastes as good as the food I make at home but my wild mushroom polenta and brie with pickled bean salad and garden salad with fresh mustard dressing came close. The flavors worked well together and the entire plate was fresh and vibrant. I’m looking forward to the next time I have the chance to try something off this menu!

Location, location, location. We stopped in for cold drinks over the weekend and left disappointed. Service was bad, the owners/​cooks had some kind of stressed-​out conversation in front of us, and the iced coffee and tea were bad. The front counter/​seating area is a little insane with tons of signage and a run-​down feel. Ordering isn’t organized and there’s just one bathroom, so I can see how a pack of cyclists would make this a really annoying experience. Can somebody do a better job of this in Frenchtown, please? Of course somebody can, but they won’t have the location.

Food is ok, but don’t go there during the slow afternoon hours. The owner sits at the table closest to the front door like a pasha, barking advice across the room to the young women who work for him («watch what Iris does, see how hard she works?» that sort of thing) and drumming loudly on the table along with the piped-​in music. Can you imagine that sort of obliviousness when customers are having lunch at adjoining tables? Not going back.

We almost didn’t go here because the reviews didn’t seem that good. So, first, I will address that– I agree that the food was a little overpriced. However, I will concede because it seemed like most restaurants in the area had similar prices and this restaurant is on the river.
Our server was very friendly and attentive, and our food was as to be expected.
The food:
We weren’t that hungry, so we decided to split the Chicken club sandwich with Swiss and onion rings. We really liked the onion rings, and so we asked about them and found out that they buy them frozen, but that didn’t change how good they were!
We also shared a coconut/​pineapple ice cream for dessert. Again, they don’t make the ice cream on the premises, but it was very tasty and perfect for summer.