Dutch Maid Bakery & Cafe

Quaint little bakery and restaurant with an *amazing* homemade country breakfast including made from scratch biscuits. Service was very friendly and atmosphere was cute, also.

My girlfriend and I stopped in and left with a few cookies and a few loafs of bread. The staff was excellent and really nice they even let us take pictures of their antique mixers in the kitchen (my girlfriend is a pastry chef and we like to nerd out on old equipment). Everything was so good and fresh. We will for sure be back!

This little store had nostalgic charm and a good variety of baked goods. However, it was not worth $ 6 for 6 different cookies – which were amazingly stale – and a 2“x4″ fruit cake for $ 8. Very disappointing.

Took a special trip and glad we did. Service was very friendly. She had us try a lot of samples! The cakes are great no matter which ones you try. The coffee cakes and cinnamon rolls freeze well. I brought several home for the freezer and they taste fresh when I defrost over night. Also bought some bread that was very good. My review is just on the bakery but I would love to go back for the café one day!
The building is very old and feels like you go way back in time!

A cute, quaint old bakery and café. The owner was amazing to us. We showed up 15 minutes till closing seeking a cake for a birthday on a family vacation in a very sparsely populated area. She found some layers she had left from that day, whipped up fresh icing and made us a beautiful cake. Wish we’d come earlier to have a sandwich. Hidden gem!

I wish there was a choice of 0 stars. Can’t believe this dump has an overall 5 star rating. History mixed with old fake flowers full of dust, some definite hoarding going on to boot. Went there with a group from Fifty Forward in Madison near Nashville, horrible experience, little choices, high prices. How come a GROUP doesn’t have the same food/​menu choices as other people at the café? I see from the menu online there are many more options than we were given. 3 choices, really? Several of us wondered where the fruit and vegetables were on that spring salad plate, the OWNER did say fruit and vegetables. Well, «fruit» indicates more than one kind of fruit and vegetableS means more than one kind. There was tiny pieces of watermelon and raw broccoli, no dipping sauce for it either. The pasta salad, potato salad and quiche were horrible. Not to mention she MADE a group of seniors take a drawn out tour, some of us wanting to sit and skip it but not being allowed to, because she had FORGOTTEN were were coming. Really? She gave us her sorry excuse about a computer glitch, but no, there’s NO excuse for that. I mean to rely completely on a computer which has its shortcomings and have no other options for reminders and setting up is really poor business habits. I’d of loved to have had a sandwich or soup, the bread and chicken salad were good, anything other than the choices given us, not to mention the prices were way off. $ 12.50 a discounted price? I can’t imagine the regular prices were $ 15.50, not that she let us actually see a menu, NOPE. I see what I had, on the menu for $ 8.99. Add a tiny side salad and ice tea, $ 12.99 max if not less pre tax, so what happened our $ 3 each senior discount that she wanted to give because of the screw ups? And about that bread that’s baked daily? Really? Maybe so but obviously breads baked ALL DATES are on the shelf together with no info on how long they’ve been there or will stay fresh. The rosemary olive oil bread I got started molding THREE DAYS LATER! I had to throw out a whole loaf minus 2 slices!!! The sweet breads were good & the cookies were also, except I ordered peanut butter cookies and was given gingerbread cookies. Boy my husband sure was disappointed on that. Can’t exactly return from Nashville to get the right thing.

This place is a GEM … History, Delicious Sweets, Kind staff, surrounded by natural Beauty!

Great place to eat near South Cumberland State Park. It’s legendary! Home made chicken salad on sourdough bread, vegetable soup, peanut butter cookies & chocolate chip Cookies are yummy!

MW
Very pleasant place to stop for a great meal or for sweets and bread. Very pleased with the hospitality shown to us. The owner even took time out of her busy schedule to give us the history of the bakery and some of the interesting stories of the family that started it all. Tracy City is fortunate to have such a great place in their town.
We had the Spring Salad and it was amazing– more than we could eat and such a variety on one large plate– potato salad, slice of quiche, pasta salad, fresh watermelon and pineapple and great chicken salad. We will definitely make this a stopping place whenever we are in the area or decide to take a nice day trip again. Thanks for such a pleasant time. God Bless!

Great place to stop on a road trip. The bread and desserts are family recipes. I also loved the chicken salad. They were a bit overwhelmed by our group of 10, but did a great job and very friendly.

Great hospitability and great pastry and breads. They did not have coconut cakes on our visit and my mother has been getting there for over 60 years. We will get them next time.

I make fairly regular trips up on the plateau for my other hobby, nature photography. A few weeks ago I was photographing Foster Falls, which required a drive through Tracy City. I noticed Dutch Maid Bakery but did not stop. This was a mistake. I returned to Foster Falls this morning for some additional photography, due to poor conditions on my last trip. It was cold, but the photography went well, and I was back on the road well earlier than I expected. As I passed through Tracy City, I remembered it was Small Business Saturday, and gave it a what the heck. I’m glad I did.
Dutch Maid Bakery is located in an attractive older building. There is street parking, and there appears to be a side lot, although that could be for deliveries. The interior is covered in tchotchkes of a rural nature. Maybe too many, as the store is a little confusing at first. Then the mental filter kicks in and you detect food. This morning, the smell of bacon wafted in from the attached restaurant. Yes, a restaurant. Your smells may vary. The store is ringed by glass display cases. Each is carefully concealed behind various tchotchkes, so there isn’t that meat locker feel that some bakeries have. There are also tables in the center with baked items, and more tchotchkes. At the back, artfully concealing the entrance to the restaurant, is a wooden shelf holding bread.
A quick survey revealed breads including sourdough, salt, and pumpernickel. I purchased the sourdough. Decent, although it is a little industrial in shape and packaging. The right of entrance display case had brownies, cinnamon twists, and various other sweets. I purchased some cinnamon twists. They are very tasty, if a little sticky. The center table had pies and similar items. I did not want pie, so no pie procurement took place. However, I did notice strawberry cider. Strawberry you say? Yes. It is from Rock Pile Farm. I purchased this. It is like liquid strawberry candy. Awesome. They also had several other favors. It isn’t cheap and comes in wine bottles. The left of entrance display case had turnovers and the single greatest cookies I’ve ever tasted. I bought cheese turnovers and had then for lunch when I got home. They are excellent. I’m especially impressed by the lack of grittiness in the cheese… so many places over sugar the cheese and get it all gritty. I also bought sugar, gingersnap, and peanut butter cookies. The sugar cookies and ginger cookies are my new favorite cookies. There is an initial hardness… you think, is it stale? Nope. Then it crumbles and dissolves. Score! Butter! Well done! They are large and thick, but I ate most if them in the car for breakfast. The peanut butter cookies were also very good, but softer and less of a textural wonder.
Some constructive criticism… They were understaffed this morning. Someone didn’t show up for work on time. The register had issues. And, some prices were not clearly marked… but most were. But, everything was handled with grace and a smile, so I’m not concerned. Just don’t be in a rush… thankfully I wasn’t. ;)
Overall, I’m very impressed by Dutch Maid Bakery. If you are up hiking on the Gizzard, hitting Savage Gulf, visiting one of the local falls, or just passing through Monteagle on I-​24, take the short detour to Tracy City and give them a try. I’d even consider driving all the way from Nashville just to visit them, for a special occasion, and I wouldn’t think twice about it from Chattanooga. ⁵⁄₅!
**5/​11/​13 Update: Nothing has changed with the food. I did want to point out that you better be assertive if you go during the breakfast rush, because apparently the staff is shared between the café and bakery, and the café seems to be the priority for the staff. Makes sense because they are probably getting tips, but unacceptable from a business standpoint. I was ignored and alone in the bakery for nearly a half hour today. I’m not changing my review, but I did want to express my frustration, and also tip off potential customers that you better make an effort to keep the staff from forgetting you…