The Red Cottage Restaurant
Address: 36 Old Bass River Road P.O. Box 560 South Dennis, MA 02660
Website: The Red Cottage
1. Initial impression of convenience, parking, and location.
- Historically a nightmare to park at they have recently done some renovations to improve the amount of spaces available. On a busy day cars will be parked down the street.
- A short drive from Patriot Square Marketplace and Exit 9A off the Mid-Cape Highway.
2. Wait time to be greeted, seated, and atmosphere.
- We were greeted quickly and directed to a small table near a wall. Kindly wished a nice breakfast.
- The open kitchen and counter seating took up one side of the restaurant and the tables (no booths) filled the rest.
- Old timey photos lined the walls telling the story of the way Dennis and the Cape used to be.
3. Server introductions, impressions and attentiveness.
- Vanessa, our server, was very friendly, and didn’t mind having to come back multiple times to see if we were ready to order yet.
4. Variety of menu options (too many/too little)
- The menu at The Red Cottage is ginormous. There are multiple pages of combo options, entire pages dedicated to sweeter breakfasts, and numerous sides that can be ordered in different ways.
5. Menu highlights of uncommon items.
- Boston Brown Bread (it’s steamed in a can!)
- Grits
- Masa (Portuguese Sweet Dough Roll)
- Multiple Gluten free items, English Muffins, Pancakes, French Toast and Waffles
- Crêpes
- Multiple flavours of bacon (this is the good stuff peoples, not that bacon flavoured dust wafer shite offered in most places)
6. Speed of food delivery, and first impressions of plating, initial aroma.
- The food was delivered mere moments after we thought “where’s our food?”.
- Our food was layered on top of itself. First appearing like a small sampling but then opening up to more than we could eat.
- Looked like a delicious homemade breakfast.
7. TASTE!
- Coffee; the coffee was fairly standard restaurant style, and was refilled often.
- The Gentleman could not make up his mind. It took deciding against pancakes to finally break down the menu to a reasonable, manageable size. The menu listed the towns of the cape and attributed different combinations to them. The gent selected the Harwich plate that came with two eggs, two meats, toast and a side. Ample availability to select some specific offerings. There are three types of bacon! That means that two meats can be bacon and more bacon. The gent chose the default Applewood Bacon as well as the Cajun Spiced Bacon. The cajun was just the applewood with spices but not spicey. The acclaimed homefries were requested done up in the popular Red Cottage fashion; mixed with ham, onion, pepper, tomatoes and mushrooms (no mushrooms for this guy please - they accommodated). He eggs over-medium were eaten atop the white toast per his usual. The jams were neatly organized on the table offering all popular pre-packaged options. The plate took some time to clean, though not a crumb remained in the end.
- The Lady has broken her fast here multiple times, and opted for her breakfast of choice “The New England Puritan Breakfast”. Although not an actual typical Puritan breakfast (really, the Puritans generally ate porridge, cheese and bread in the morning), this is still a meal that will punch you in your face-hole with deliciousness. This menu option comes with a giant slab of bone in ham, which is not the ladies favourite, she swapped it out for Applewood bacon instead. In a giant plate bowl of baked beans (not those Zoodle tasting tomato canned beans either), two perfectly poached eggs were nestled amidst a stack of bacon and delectable Boston Brown Bread was on the side. Now, some may go to Wikipedia in search of what Boston Brown Bread is, and then shudder with disgust. Don’t knock it until you try it. Nom nom nom nom nom. The Applewood bacon is thick cut (9 slices per pound) and is made specially for The Red Cottage, as are the other flavours. This bacon is not pre-cooked from a package like those other places.
8. Value of product.
- Yes
9. Payment options.
- Cash Only, there is an ATM in the back in the event that you have no cash with you.
Overall Rating: 10/10 would eat again.
