River’s Edge Café and Bakery

I visited this place with my friend. Service was just terrible. We were there for so long to be waited and waiting even longer to have our food. Seems like they forgot about our order. There were only two three tables occupied. Coffee and foods were ok. Going there again? Don’t think so.

Tried a couple of cupcakes here yesterday. The cake was moist and the frosting was yummy. The staff was helpful and friendly. A bonus, they were open later than other local bakeries.

UPDATE:
After the great experience we had during our inaugural visit, we were looking forward to going back. Oh what a departure it was, our second visit was NOTHING like our initial visit, it was genuinely disappointing. We specifically came here for the chicken orzo soup (it was delish the first time we were here). We were speaking with our waitress and told her we came here for some soup and asked what the soup dujour was and she said «French onion». On the menu under the soup section it states «our chicken-​orzo soup and soup of the day». It wasn’t until we placed our order that the server informed us they were out of chicken-​orzo soup. One would think she would have told us when we informed her we wanted soup.
Food and service was a immense letdown it was incompetent at best. We ordered 2 sandwiches, the mozzarella and vine ripened panini and a grilled chicken wrap.
On the menu the written description of the mozzarella and vine ripe tomato panini explicitly declared «vine ripened tomatoes» in actually they were pink in color, hard and tasteless. My wife ordered the grilled chicken wrap and the server ask her «what type of wrap would you like, we have sun dried tomato, spinach, plain and whole wheat». So she order the spinach. After waiting 35 minutes for our order (we were the only customers in the place) which consisted of two sandwiches it more than fair to say we were very disappointed when the wrap came out on a whole wheat wrap, not the spinach we ordered. Our server dropped off our food and we still were not furnished with our silverware. I can not understand why there we SO MANY errors and misidentified service failures when we were the only people in the restaurant. We will afford the place another opportunity to win back our business because of our first experience.
If I wasn’t there previously I would have given 1 star this time but decided on a 2 with the hope it was just a unfavorable day for all involved.

Terrible. Found this on Unilocal,decided to go with hubby and toddler for somewhere new to try. I’m not sure why everyone’s so excited as it’s a VERY limited breakfast menu.
Hubby ordered the Eros omelet and asked for a side of sausage to be put in the omelet, I ordered a short stack of blueberry pancakes, and we ordered a sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich for the boy, and asked for no bread, just the sausage, egg, and cheese scrambled together. We also ordered 2 coffees and a blueberry muffin.
Hubby’s omelet arrived with no sausage, and was dry and tasteless. Boy’s scrambled eggs arrived as a pile of dry scrambled eggs with a sausage patty next to it, no cheese anywhere. My pancakes were pretty good, light and fluffy, but when I went to add some of the «house syrup» on the table, it was as thin as water and had no taste. We never got the muffin, and despite asking twice, never got coffee refills.
When we were finally able to flag down the waitress (which took a very long time given how small the place is), she apologized for all of the issues and gave us the omelet on the house. We were therefore very confused to receive a check for an omelet and a short stack of pancakes… Hubby went to the counter and she realized she gave us the wrong check. The whole experience was a comedy of errors and a very disappointing breakfast.

Really great place to stop by for some coffee or lunch! Awesome sandwiches and salads and the inside is a great place to relax while enjoying your food! I always stop here when I’m in the area. Highly recommended.

Forget it… walked in waited 10 min to be told to sit anywhere… Most tables were a mess with dirty dishes… found a table in back ordered steak and cheese wrap and a chicken chili… Waited 30 min!!! Waitress brings wrap and Mac and cheese!!! Food was ok service horrendous

I come here only to use their bakery when I need something. I’ve eaten lunch and breakfast here and always have been very disappointed. I ordered fish and chips here and the fish itself is lost in huge plate of french fries. The fish itself was two heavily braided 1 inch wide 4 inch long skinny strip of fish. The chef should’ve been embarrassed to plate that. The place is a great idea but misses the mark by a long-​shot.

We found this restaurant on Unilocal.We were looking for someplace to grab an omelette. This restaurant is simple friendly and the food is superb. The eggs were done perfectly. The vegetables sautéed beautifully.
If there is a tiny complaint it is that the coffee is too mild for my taste. I almost forgot to mention that the prices are extremely reasonable.

Such a cute little bakery/​eatery. A few glaring concerns for my taste however. The pancakes are not very good. Very batter-​dense and not very tasty. I had the healthy pancakes. The home fries looked like they were fished out of the fryer oil bin and plated up and served. The opposite feelings come to mind when you see the lunch and baked goods however. Very odd. The bakery is like baked goods heaven. My feedback, perhaps a healthier touch to the breakfast items or better preparation? There is also a very loud regular customer there who I’ll leave you to discover on your own — if you dare. Promising features here, but order your baked goods and lunch etc. and take them to go.

I was at Rivers Edge for a quick easy lunch because i was in a bit of a rush. I was greeted right as i walked in the door during what looked like a busy lunch. Luckily they had delicious looking sandwich wraps ready to go and freshly made. I was in and out quickly and the price was great. I will be back to Rivers Edge again.

Solid 3.5 star place (wish Unilocal allowed half points) place for a quick dinner or takeout. The sandwiches are certainly filling and the sweet potato fries are legitimately outstanding. The sandwiches are pretty typical of what you get around here if not a bit bigger. The breakfast sandwiches are decent and I want to try the brunch. Their coffees are good not great. There is often live music and a patio for the nice weather. They recently started serving booze. The service is decent but it’s more café than proper restaurant so keep your expectations in check — fine dining it is not.
The baked good are pretty good (cookies, cannoli) though I haven’t tried the cakes or pies but they certainly look great.

This was a great place to have a leisurely lunch after our Housatonic River Watershed hike. I enjoyed the Greek wrap and fries. The café has comfortable outdoor seating and friendly service.

The food here is great! Best weekend pancakes of anywhere I’ve ever tried! Great sandwiches and salads, great entrees for dinner, amazing baked goods and friendly staff all make this a favorite spot for me! I love to sit outdoors and enjoy an evening with a glass of wine and maybe a light salad. Weekend mornings I’m all about their enormous pancakes!!! I like the blueberry short stack which I can only eat half of. I’ve also had the apple and plain. The coffee is good and it’s a nice way to start the morning. If you like bakery items such as cakes, cookies, cheesecakes etc. this is the best in town. They also do a fantastic business around the holidays so give them a try if you don’t have time to make it yourself. You won’t regret River’s Edge, just don’t get between me and my pancakes this weekend!

Fries were awesome. Both the Goliath burger seemed steamed with absolutely no flavor salt and pepper please. Just to be fair I returned for lunch and the sandwiches are pretty awesome but the service needs to be stepped up a little so I gave it one more star

Nice atmosphere. Feels like a bakery and the displays look very tasty. Menu has good variety and the staff is very friendly. Owner stopped at the table to see if we liked our food and she was very nice.

If you need a place to take a break and have a bite while driving the Merritt between New York and points north like Boston, do yourself a favor and stop here. SO much better than a combo gas station/​coffee shop, especially in summer when you can sit outside on the patio.
Delicious, creative, healthy takes on simple standards like turkey sandwiches. A full-​service bakery inside to tempt your sweet tooth. Friendly staff. Clean bathrooms. Very easy on/​off the highway (exit 53). A cool view of the Sikorski helicopter plant as you turn off the Merritt. And there’s a gas station less than half a mile north. Not really a takeout kind of place (other than the bakery), so don’t come here in a rush, come to sit down and enjoy the great food.

I so want to love this place. They have the concept café and bakery that works in many cities but they just can seem to get it together service wise. Always are scattered trying to get and place your order. Forget things and it takes a while. But they have a great breakfast lunch menu and I have hopes they will figure out the operations side of the business.
The bakery seems to be more the focus than the café piece. Turkey sandwich to go took almost 25 minutes. A second girl wanted to ring me up a second time. I will try one of their «famous» burgers next time… when I have an hour to kill!

Expensive! Food is ok. Desserts are ok. Cupcakes were very dry and no one enjoyed them. Cheesecakes were fine but nothing special. Breakfast looks good but cost way too much. Sandwiches were big but overpriced. But if you like paying a lot –go. And service was blah! No order as to who was first or second and they didn’t care. That really stinks! Cutters! Lol.

Unbelievable. Took a team of 15 girls, they were very friendly & accommodating. Great service. Even better food. Tasty treats galore. Paninis, burgers, wraps, subs, hot or cold, grilled. You name it. Coffee, beer, an array of choices in between. A diamond in the rough just off highway 15.

Met a friend this weekend for a quick bite and some gal catching up. We discovered River’s Edge Café and Bakery in Ryder’s Landing shopping center off the Merritt in Stratford. Cute spot tucked in amongst a few other restaurants and booming with lunch crowd on a Saturday.
Few small tables outside overlooking the parking lot — not so appealing. Small dining area inside which was pleasant enough and suited our needs. Ordered our lunch which was brought to our table in a pretty timely manner.
First, service by staff was very good. No complaints there. Took our waiter’s recommendation for Healthy Gobbler sandwich which we thankfully shared. The kitchen staff kindly split the order on two plates and did a nice job with presentation.
Menu described 100% natural turkey, avocados, roasted red peppers, turkey bacon (which was delicious and not usually a fan), fresh spinach and choice of rye, wheat or whole grain. No whole grain to be had, so rye it was. We opted for cranberry spread on the side which was a nice touch. Both were extremely pleased with our choice. Bread was fresh, turkey moist and obviously home roasted, and no skimping on portions. Sandwich was $ 7.99 and well worth the price.
I had hoped to try their Italian Wedding soup which was special that day — no go, Sold out.
Plenty of choices for beverage in a cooler by the deli section. There’s an extensive breakfast menu featuring Challah French toast and the «gourmet» quiche looked just delicious.
Specialty pancakes are available on weekend only and range from $ 7.99-$ 8.99. Carrot cake pancakes and very berry blueberry pancakes sounded appealing!
There are a few Italian specialties with the norm chicken, meatball or eggplant parmesan and a create your own sandwich or panini on a roll or grinder. Those ranged in price from $ 4.99 to $ 7.79.
River’s Edge Specialties featured a host of choices including of course the Comanche, B-​52 Bomber, Philly Chopper, and The Apache. Sikorky’s is right across the highway…
Burgers are plentiful including the O Marone! with ground beef stuffed with mozzarella, fontina and provolone, topped with their own marinara and served on toasted garlic bread for $ 8.99.
Add chicken to one of the «house salads» for $ 3.00 which bring the price up to $ 9.99 to $ 12.99. Nice choice of dressings.
Even the gluten free have a shot at a tasty lunch with a half dozen of offerings including Meatloaf Cupcakes with sweet potatoes and chives for $ 8.99 lb.
There’s a full service bakery offering pastries, breads, rolls and cakes. I purchased 3 cupcakes for a treat for dinner with hubby that night. $ 2.75 each and threw them out. Spoiled by Sugar in East Haven — River Edge needs to ramp up their cupcakes with a better crumb on the cake and a more flavorful frosting.
All in all, I would definitely return to this little spot and explore the menu. Don’t expect anything more than what they specialize in. Just good ingredients and some creative combinations, that is except for the cupcakes.
Great spot for lunch…