The Little Cottage Cafe

I enjoy Liz’s food. It is fresh and wonderful and consistent. Her scones and breakfast burrito, are my favorite as well as the coffee. Whether you are there for breakfast, lunch, or dinner you will be impressed.

If you have children DON’T COME HERE. My toddler was being a toddler and drumming his feet against the wood under the table. I was working with him to get him distracted to something else and the man behind the expresso machine who had been shooting us looks since we got there leaned out and in front of everyone told me to make him stop. I was so embarrassed and humiliated, everyone was looking at us as the man repeatedly told me that (I asked what? Because I was in shock and was doing my best with my son, he wasn’t even being that loud)
I asked my boyfriend to pay for our coffees, grabbed my son and left in tears.
The food and ambiance looked nice, but this ruined my entire weekend and my son sobbed as we left because he wanted to eat there. We both walked back to our car crying, not a great family breakfast experience.

I’m a pretty good cook and we hardly ever go out to eat. I hate eating out, paying so much, when I can cook better. this is one of the very few places my family and I will go. Liz is a excellent cook, creative and always reliable! Don’t expect fast food, its good food, prepared as ordered with top self ingredients! what I really appreciate, besides the great food, is they don’t put up with bad customers! it is a small place and the hole place can be disruptive by one noisy, or rude customer. so often when people are on vacation they can be rude and expect others to cater to them at the expense to others. Fred and Liz don’t put up with any of that! so if you were asked to leave, or Fred seemed rude to you, it was probability you! ill always choose this place, well worth it.

I had never heard of this place, and we wandered in to see if we could get brunch on the patio on a busy Labor Day Weekend Sunday. They warned us ahead of time that there would be a 15 – 20 minute wait, which was fine with us. The service was very friendly from all of the staff, and they brought us delicious coffee while we waited for them to take our orders. The food was outstanding. I had a breakfast order, which was cooked to perfection. The food is fresh and tasty, not greasy and heavy. The bacon was amazing. A soup du jour of curried potato was different and very good. The other patrons were talkative and friendly (maybe local regulars, I don’t know) and it was a pleasant experience over all. Thanks to the owner and his staff, we had a great time. I will be back!

This place should be renamed «The Little Devil’s Café»! The owner is super inadequate and rude! He has no idea how a family business should be run nowadays. We were trying to have a seat outside on the patio (3 people only). The owner clearly can not think outside of 2 customers at a time! He was so troubled to come up with a solution to have us seated on one and the same table that he burst with anger and threw a plastic chair at us «to make an exception» !!! I strongly believe he needs a few classes of anger management! When we complained that he should be more courteous with his customers he said that he owns this place and he can do whatever he pleases. That’s when we left and told him to enjoy his ownership of the café by himself. I do not recommend this place and I would never set foot there again! Do not waste your time!

I planned to have a nice lunch here before departing Twain Harte — a town I’ve visited regularly since childhood — with my husband, two children, parents, and two dear friends. When I arrived with my infant daughter and inquired about a table, I was told that big parties weren’t allowed. I was then told after a brief (and, I thought, civil) conversation, by the owner, that he had considered making an exception for me but changed his mind. He then asked me to leave. I have truly never been treated so rudely in my life. And since sharing this story with friends — several with homes in the area — I’ve heard that this place is known for their rude and unwelcoming staff and is generally to be avoided. Lesson learned. This regular visitor will never be back. I only wish I could give it zero stars.

I would strongly advise anyone looking for a family friendly or customer oriented restaurant to stay away from this café! Today, (Sunday Aug. 2,2015) my daughter, her husband and baby attempted to get seating for my husband and I and two dear friends (Twain Harte residents.) She was told by a RUDE, abrasive, old man? Owner — that he would not seat us and to leave! He was not only rude, but he humiliated our daughter in front of other patrons and made her cry!!! Our friends were appalled and we will never return to this establishment. We know this is not the true «Twain Harte» experience. There should be a sign posted in front of the «little cottage Café»…no families allowed– BULLY on premises!
If I could give «The Little Cottage Café» Zero stars, I would!!!

For Tuolumne county, this is the best breakfast around! It rises above the greasy spoon standard that all other breakfasts in «these parts» seem to strive for.
If you’re looking for stellar customer service then this is not the place for you.
However…
If you’re looking for delicious coffee, quality ingredients, a variety of seasonal options & a peaceful setting (bests for groups no larger than 6)…then by all means please eat here!

Soup nazi (Seinfeld reference) of Twain Harte — «No food for you»
Family has a cabin in area. Decided to get married in the same beautiful location. We (wedding party) decided to meet at the café. 5 people arrived first, then 6 more. I arrived with 2 others. When I showed up, there was open free tables. We sat down just as the 6 got done ordering and the first five had started eating. 15 minutes passed and not so much as a hello from the bald white male with the colorful glasses about to fall of his nose. I made mention that I was very thirsty and needed water. The first five said they were told that a certain number of orders are taken at a time. I got up and went to the counter, asked if he had bottled water and he said I needed to go to 7 – 11, then asked me if I was ready to go. I assume he thought I ordered. I told him I was still waiting to order and he just said «oh, ok.» I asked if I could have water while I waited. He looked bothered and said «yeah, I guess» and gave me a small plastic cup of water. I sat back down took out my phone and the first 5 quickly told me about the no phone policy and said the «guy» will get mad. 4 more people showed up with an open table available, I overheard him tell them it was a 20 min wait just for him to take an order. We all left to go across the street to the sportsman coffee shop where we were greeted, seated and given water. 5 min later ordered food. The «guy» seems like a bully and the food may be great, but if you get there on his time, don’t upset him or it seems like he may scream «No food for you! Next!»

Very quaint place for a slow paced brunch with fresh food. There are always a few specials and most of your breakfast basics are covered whether you want a full or light meal. Huge coffee cups and a good selection of fresh fruit (I hate melon so I was excited to see pineapple, kiwi, and banana). The gentleman who has served me both times isn’t the friendliest, but he almost adds to the charm. Seating is limited so be prepared to wait during tourist season.

fantastic food great coffee and lunch to die for.
Just wish I could get Fred interested in soccer!

I love this place. Quality food and service. The two most common negative reviews about this place is that it is too small and does not allow phones. Which are some of my favorite things about it. Nowadays you see everybody on their phones the whole time. So it is nice to actually talk to other people, or read the paper that they have available there. If you are like me and enjoy a small, quiet place with great food and coffee you will love this place. Fred is extremely friendly every time I go in and if it is baseball season you can always talk about the Giants! This will always be one of my favorite hometown breakfast spots.

We visited Twain Harte all the way from San Francisco to have a nice weekend getaway. This morning after a walk we were looking for a nice place to seat and have breakfast with our two girls. The young one is only six months and has a stroller. Since they don’t have a ramp my husband pulled the stroller up the stairs and a rude guy who works there (old/​bold guy) came to us with a disappointing face and told us we had to leave because strollers aren’t allowed. What a disappointment and bad way of welcoming families. They should just have a sign that says NO KIDS ALLOWED. We won’t ever go back to that place even if we had a free meal!

Why do this place even bother to have a kid menu when it’s totally not kid friendly. If you have kid, please STAY AWAY from this place. Especially one waiter, white man about fifty, tall and skinny was extremely rude to us because we have a child. Don’t waste your money here. You can get the same quality of food elsewhere.

Small wood siding cottage looking place, thus the name, very little parking, but we had high hopes. The menu is good, from bagels and croissants to omelettes, scrambles, eight lunch sandwiches, salad, kid’s meals, soup, large mocha/​latte selection. Even scones and cookies. There were four of us, and we were squished in our seating as the isn’t a great deal of room. It would be perfect for one or two visitors. Not too friendly, and ok food. We didn’t hurry back, and rarely see it open now.

Large parties not welcomed. Simply because the space is too small. No cell phone allowed. Has a lot of potential, but waited 30 – 45 minutes for our food only to have it brought out wrong. At that point it wasn’t worth sending back.

Cute and small, very quaint and perfect for two-​four people. Loved the friendly atmosphere. The food is home made, fresh and seasoned perfectly. You might have to wait a bit for your food, but the coffee is soo good, and the food worth it. If you want fast food, greasy and tasteless, don’t stop in here and take my seat! ;)

Been coming here for more than 10 years but these days I can never count on this place. I love the food but their hours change almost every week and I am tired of finding it closed. Seems like this happens to me almost half the time.
So today, after pulling up at 1:20 PM & finding the damn closed sign up once again, we’re having Top Shelf Margaritas at El Jardin which is a Twain Harte restaurant you can ALWAYS count on… Cheers!

Used their website for the address which took us to a completely different place (there old location). I called in and asked where they were located, the owner talked down to me like I was stupid. The place wasn’t hard to find had we had the right address. We got to the place, walked in and were stared at blankly so we asked if we sit ourselves or if they sit us. He looked at us and said «you’re the ones that called huh?» He sat us down and when he came to take our order we asked for a croissant egg sandwich with turkey. He said it was turkey bacon but my mother does not eat pig. So I looked to my mom and asked what she would want instead. He rudely said «I’ll let you figure out» and walked away. But I was just about to ask if we could just do it with cheese and no meat. He comes back and says «we can do the sandwich with cheese and no meat»
So all in all… If you’re not a regular, expect to be treated rudely and like an outsider. Good scones though!

Not only do they have the best coffee in town, but their breakfast leaves you with nothing to complain about other than eating like a mountain man. I’ve been there several times in the past, but upon visiting Twain Harte again, I realized that my memory served me well by returning. Service is absolutely fantastic, the atmosphere is cozy with friendly town faces! Little Cottage, you have once again impressed me! I promise, I shall return…