Big Bean Cafe

Great place for breakfast! We were in this part of NH for a soccer tournament and searched out a place for a late Sunday breakfast. Read the reviews and we agreed to give it a shot. Place is small, but quaint. Did not look like much from the outside, but was well situated inside. Arrived around 12:15 and place was packed with a line. We stuck it out and were seated in about 15 min. Menu was great. Many of the basics and lots of different items. They make their own breads here (several different varieties) and use it for French toast. Very thick with lots of options. Pancakes are huge! Muffins and bagels were delicious with a great variety. Service was outstanding. Quick, efficient and waitstaff was very helpful in navigating the menu for newbies! Lots of coffee, tea options. Not the least expensive place, but quality, quantity and value were there. Definitely worth a return trip! Give this place a try! You will not be disappointed!

This is the best breakfast place on the Seacoast – probably in NH. The most creative for sure. Don’t miss the specials which always have a theme. And if there is a breakfast salad, order it! Their fresh fruit is a great potato substitution. The place is small (9 tables?) so get there early on the weekends. There is a bar inside and tables outside though. Worth the drive!

Best breakfast I have Ever had. I come here at least once a week. If the wait time puts you off, you are missing out. It is well worth the wait. I normally get the hippie, or the veggie bacon and their sweet potato hash is The Best! Their lunch is just as good as their breakfast, I normally get a chicken salad. I love their poppy dressing and they had a green dressing on a pervious special that they should make permanent, it was fantastic, I think it had maple in it. Now I am craving big bean and will probably be there tomorrow!

Best breakfast — easily worth the wait when there is one.
I have dreams about the food here. Almost every other time I go out to breakfast anywhere besides the bean I am disappointed.
Coffee is self serve (hell yeah!!!) and you can even take a cup to go at the end of your meal.
I try to branch out and try something new every time I go. I have probably gotten 6 different breakfast items and I’ve never been disappointed.
ALL TIME FAVORITE has to be the Spock. When I say I have dreams about the food, I mostly mean this plate.
I no longer live in the area, but if I was feeling adventurous there is no doubt I would walk 1,000 miles to taste the bean again.

A Newmarket favorite that never lets me down. Baked goods and coffee always taste fresh. Breakfast is my favorite and I am always pleased with my choice at the Bean.

First time here. Drove all the way from MA. Wait was long, food was quick and tasted well. However, once we got our food, the wait to get the check was absurdly long. I ran out of water, which should never happen at a restaurant. Ever.
All in all good experience but I would’ve liked the great service to extend to the end of my dining experience

This is literally my favorite place to get breakfast. During the weekend I like to get there early because it is a small space that gets filled up. People will crowd the small waiting area and the outside just to eat breakfast here. I have had most things on the menu and they also have bi-​weekly specials that are to DIE for! They use different types of things – like the pesto goat cheese – that other breakfast places may not have. The Big Bean has an eclectic homey feel from the décor to the mismatched mugs. This is definitely worth the wait!

We have been driving an hour to have breakfast here for two years, and it is consistently fabulous. Their menu is inventive, always fresh ingredients, and amazing bread and muffins. Arrive before 9 as their restaurant is small and the wait can be long. 100% worth it!

Have been 2x’s — good but I could also stay home and cook… very busy so go early — very polite folks that work there — surprisingly since they are «kids» do like the homemade bread/​muffins etc. and for the the other poster both times I’ve been — homefries are burnt/​overcooked…

This is my breakfast place. I love it love it love it!!! Everything I have ever had is sooooo good! The DownEastern French Toast with Raspberries is to die for!!! Just a tip; come expected a wait. I have lucked out a couple times and gotten to sit right down, but this restaurant is small but it is very well worth a wait.

Has to be one of the best breakfast places I’ve visited. A vegetarians heaven. Friendly staff that allows you to pick your seat if they aren’t busy. Self serve coffee, yummy smoothies, and fresh ingredients. How can you go wrong? Will be back more often, worth a bit of a drive.

There simply is no better breakfast place. Period. Inevitably you’ll have to wait unless you’re an early riser, so plan on that. But the food is simply amazing. Their various breakfast specials can’t be beat — just bring your appetite.

Excellent place for breakfast. I have eaten there as a meat eater, a vegetarian, and even a vegan and there is something for everyone here. The atmosphere has a cute hippie vibe and even when there has been a bit of a wait, it’s never for long and it’s always worth it. The price is right, too. You will leave full and satisfied without breaking the bank. Only one item in the years I have been that I disliked: a squash soup that was as thick as pudding. Other than that that one bowl of soup, every item I have tried – from real bacon to fake bacon, bagels with cream cheese, eggs, toast, coffee, hash, salad – it’s all top notch. GO! NOW!

In my trip to New England, my friend took us here. It’s on the corner of a Newmarket where an old bank used to be (just repeating what the placard said). We went on a Friday morning at 10:00 AM and it was packed! I’m always pretty impressed when restaurants are packed at random times.
I liked their «coffee bar». I could go up and get a refill anytime and since I drink a lot of coffee, this was pretty good.
Food was scrumptious, too! Living in California, I’ve never seen anyone pan fry muffins before, but it added a pleasing flavor to it. If I didn’t order so much food, I would have ordered another one of those pan fried muffins. So yummy.

I go out of my way to meet people here for coffee because invariably I will eat here. You can’t pass up the menu. I’m a one-​note wonder, however, and tend to eat the same thing over and over again. One thing I do like is the sweet potato hash browns with over-​easy eggs on a bed of spinach. Sounds weird, right? Well, it’s really, really, good.
Everything is good, apparently, as the other people with whom I have dined really enjoyed their meal.
Here’s another thing about the Café. You know how many restaurants will put a side of fruit on your plate and usually it’s tasteless and kinda grodie? Not here. They give you a whole bowl of fruit (with the meal I order, anway) and it is quite delectable. It’s the only place where I trust that the fruit is actually going to taste good.
My only criticism is that the place has a bit too many flies. But, in a weird way, that’s a good sign. It means everything is fresh! But I wish they could do something about it… but as it’s winter coming up, it’ll be less of an issue.
I don’t really care for too many restaurants in New England. But this one never disappoints. They also don’t hurry you out, even though the place can get crowded. They like you to enjoy the meal and your company, and there’s a common decency of the patrons to allow others waiting to dine to experience what the diners just experienced, so the traffic flows nicely.

Always the best breakfast and lunch! This place is amazing. There’s always a line out the door on weekends it’s so good! Servers are friendly and efficient. Comforting atmosphere, good coffee and teas, interesting specials.
They bake their own homemade bread which is so incredible I dream about it. Then turn that bread into French toast and you’ve got yourself a party in your mouth. Every egg dish and sandwich is spot-​on, with perfectly cooked home fries or other sides. The hippie (fresh fruit with homemade granola and French vanilla yogurt that makes me drool) and the Brooke (eggs Benedict with goat cheese and basil pesto) are standouts for me. The Big Bean never lets you down. Eat here. Die happy.

Stop it, Big Bean. I can’t handle how delicious you are. Even in December your fruit cups are still fresh. Hands down best breakfast on the seacoast, and best value for your dollar. Portions are unfinishably large. French toast is cut into huge slices. Muffins are giant. So many different combinations of delicious it’s hard not want to come back just to try more options. Tasty seasonal specials.
The staff moves fast, but be prepared to wait, especially for parties of more than 2. But it’s always worth it.
Personal favorite: down east French toast.
Boyfriend’s favorite: Biscuits and gravy.
If I could give the bean more stars I would.

A small establishment with homemade breads, specials, local art, organic and vegetarian options!
Worth the wait and always a pleasurable dining experience.
Highly recommended!

Absolutely delicious food, be prepared to wait and also be prepared to deal with a lot of UNH douchebags including trying to climb over them to get both inside and outside the tiny restaurant. Besides that its worth it, I promise. No seriously go there. Now.
Self serve coffee bar to nurse your hangover while you wait in line, plenty of vegetarian options including a super delicious meatless sausage that they put in the ridgemont (a phenomenal breaskfast quesadilla, probably my favorite menu item). And I’m not a full blown vegetarian, I still make room for breakfast meats, but its just THAT good. I really do with they could somehow expand, the demand is clearly there, and the food is just A +

I’ve fully come to grips with the fact that my favorite breakfast place is 5 hours away from where I live.
I stopped in here after seeing a concert in Durham the previous night. I only had the morning since I had a long drive back home. Despite the great reviews, I was skeptical at first. It’s somewhat cramped, the décor is so-​so, and the line to be seated wasn’t particularly orderly. They don’t take names. You just wait in a line which can go out the door into the arctic death zone that encompasses all of New England at this time of year. Nothing survives out there except for pale white people.
Since I was really hungry and I tend to have a particularly nasty disposition in such circumstances, the prospect of coming away in good spirits that morning wasn’t promising.
But damn, did they deliver. After a 40 minute wait, they delivered in a way that has me still thinking about it. I feel as if my breakfast life prior to today was a sham. I’ve been lied to. This is what breakfast really is.
99.9% of breakfast spots in America don’t do it like this, and they should. I’m not afraid to admit it: my favorite breakfast is no longer at the In Between Café in Red Bank, New Jersey. It is, my friends, at the Big Bean Café, located in a town I may never have the chance to visit again.