This place is always....meh. I know it's a bakery but I wouldn't go for the desserts. In my opinion their desserts always taste stale. Today I had the vanilla bean cupcake and pecan pie bar and wasn't a fan of either. Had I just gotten the food, I probably would've given it four stars. I had the fried goat cheese salad which I liked a lot. Their French fries were also totally with it and they had good dipping sauces. I will say the jalapeño ketchup just tasted like regular ketchup but still all good. My mom had a sandwich and she said it was just okay. I'm sure I'll come back when I'm near there but probably won't ever take a trip just for that.
Natalie Z.
I love their coffee, the creme brulee latte is too sweet, but some other options (Vietnamese coffee and caramel leche) are much more balanced. I've also tried their quiche and caprese sandwiches before, both tasted great. Only thing is it gets super busy during weekends.
Meredith Mooney
I ordered an online order for delivery for our breakfast on our wedding anniversary. On their end, they thought I received my order. However, unfortunately, the door dash driver who picked up our order decided that they needed breakfast too and never delivered our order. I called the store and explained what happened. They said they would reach out to customer care and try to resolve the issue. The restaurant called me back, as promised. They offered to remake the order and I could come get it, but it didn't necessarily fit our schedule to do so. About 10 minutes later, the restaurant calls again and offered to bring my husband and I our order.The customer service went above and beyond. They have a forever customer out of me. Not to mention their pastries were to die for!
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Danish, Chocolate Croissant
Catherine Van Gilder
I haven't been to Mad Hatter Cafe since 2013 so I was super excited to be in Durham today and have the opportunity to drop in for dessert. I was so unbelievably disappointed at how dry my cupcake was plus the strawberry buttercream frosting was awful. I then tried a smidgen of mg shortbread cookie and it was just as dry. I should've mentioned it to the cashier before I left but I was running late so I had to just go. I ended up throwing away the cookie and only ate the cake part of the cupcake. For the price of those two items, they really should have wowed me as much as they have in the past. I hope the restaurant can take heed and get their desserts back to the way they used to be.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 5
Denise L.
I was a party of one, and I knew it would be busy with the return of students and brunch timing, but I waited over 30 minutes for a tomato mozzarella sandwich. The bread was toasted, but the tomatoes and mozzarella were just thrown on there. I had to go to the counter to ask about my sandwich, "the kitchen was backed up", but the gentleman who sat down next to me, 15 minutes after me, got his food first. I had to get up and get my own silverware and napkin, as it did not come out with the food.
Gale A.
I ordered the Black and White Cake, and an assortment of blueberry muffins, carrot cake muffins, and chocolate chip scones for a birthday brunch. The ordering process was so easy, and pickup was quick as well. The cake was incredible! Everyone at brunch wanted to know where it was from (and wanted a second piece...). It was beautiful to look at, sliced well, and tasted wonderful. The muffins were very moist and quite flavorful. The scones were delicious. The food was a huge hit all around - will definitely order for future events. 10 out of 10 going back for special event food.
Rachel S.
Met a friend for coffee this morning at Mad Hatter's and I will be back! The chocolate croissant was perfectly fluffy and the chocolate was divine. I also enjoyed the iced caramel leche drink. It was pretty busy on a Saturday morning and there were great options for seating indoors and outdoors. The outdoor seating offered tents, umbrellas, and heat lamps which is very accommodating for different types of weather. 10/10 recommend.
Stephanie S.
The food and baked goods are always fresh. Coffee is amazing. What sets this above expectations is the service. Shout out to Michelle ... when I asked for just a piece of bread to give my toddler grandson while waiting for our lunch, she gave me a slice of apple raisin coffee cake and wouldn't charge me! Everyone is super friendly and aims to please. Great service great food.
Saloni L.
Drink: Mexican hot chocolate Overall, the rancheros were fine, nothing out of the ordinary. I enjoyed the goat cheese croquettes but wish the goat cheese had some flavor mixed into the filling as well. Fun, casual brunch place!
Kayla Schilke
The worst dining experience I’ve had in a long time.I get they were probably busy, but that still doesn’t excuse how the staff acted or the fact several people who ordered their food *after* me received their food long before I had (even with the same dish).I ordered a Thai chicken wrap, and 3 side dishes for my toddler (scrambled eggs, a cup of fruit, and breakfast potatoes). It took over an hour to receive my food, and might’ve taken longer had I not gone up to ask (TWICE) about the status of my order. The couple who ordered food AND coffee after I placed my order had already grabbed to go containers to box up their leftovers to leave.When I went to ask about my food, I was ignored by the staff I talked to. After seeing her go to several more tables with food for people who arrived to the cafe 30 mins after I arrived, I went back up and had to ask a barista for assistance since the 4 staff bringing food to guests just ignored me and refused to make eye contact. I finally was told I was “next,” but I feel like they just overlooked me and forgot my order as several Thai chicken wraps came and went already. How long does it take to make scrambled eggs and throw some fruit on a plate? I didn’t even have a drink order. No one apologized or gave me a reason for why it took so long.Then after I *finally* received my food, after entertaining a hungry toddler for over an hour, I needed to-go containers to bring home leftovers. With their inattentive staff they should just keep containers readily accessible for guests, since I had to endure another 10 min wait of having staff continue to walk past me and not bother to assist before I finally had to interrupt someone and ask for a container. (I was up at the front, by the kitchen too…not just sitting at a table expecting service to be brought to me).I guess I have to choose one star solely because I can’t give zero stars, and the one plus they have going for them is having a changing table in the women’s restroom for us moms with small children.I’ll also say that this was the first time I dined in, but I’ve had a few to-go orders and had similar experiences where I was just ignored by staff while I waited for assistance. There was one time I had a to-go order and was waiting for 10+ minutes after the estimated pick up time, and when I finally asked someone about the order it was sitting back in the kitchen and no one had brought it out to the set of shelves they usually bring to-go orders to. So this doesn’t seem like just a one-off experience where I caught them on a bad day.A mother-daughter group sitting near me seemed to have the same experience where I heard complaints about waiting 40 mins for a salad, only to receive something wrong with the salad.It’s a shame because I love to support businesses and give praise where praise is due, but I will not be going back to Mad Hatter any time soon.
The ambiance here is very nice! However, the Rancheros dish was odd. The eggs are scrambled instead of sunny side up. The dish is served in a fried bowl, but the inside is not very saucy. The green salsa is served on the side and even the beans are dry. Some shredded cheese is used instead of cotija or feta. My avocado was not ripe.
Tara Kirby
Great place to eat. Delicious food. Only negative...as a first timer, I walked in and had no idea if you sear yourself or wait to be seated. No one acknowledged my presence so I had to just grab someone walking by in order to find out you order at the front and then seat yourself. Loved the food though. Everything I tried was delicious!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Toasted Croissant Sandwich
Allie-Greg Martin-Grover
We visited Mad Hatter years ago when we first visited Durham. I had such good memories of the best vanilla cupcake I’d ever had! We went again this fall to get a cake for my daughter’s birthday and also got a cupcake and cookies (because why not?). Unfortunately, none of it was tasty. The cake was beautiful (!!) but the icing tasted more like butter than buttercream and the cake itself was very dry. The cupcake and cookies were similarly low quality. We threw every bit of it away and bought a cake at a grocery store. I cannot say enough about the beautiful atmosphere and the super friendly staff in store, but we emailed to let management know about the poor quality of our desserts and never received any response. There are better (and cheaper) desserts in Durham, so we won’t be back. Bummer.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 5
Nasseeb Jaroush
The place is busy, nice and clean. I ordered a ginger bread cookie to go. Maybe it's me I've never eaten a ginger bread cookie that wasn't mass produced in some cookie factory. But this one was very Mnaa, didn't enjoy any part of it. No flavor, the texture felt stale. And for $4.50 +tax definitely not worth it.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 3
Jeanne Y.
A friend and I went to this restaurant/bake shop last Saturday for lunch. She ordered a quesadilla, which came in a reasonable amount of time, and she said it was tasty. Then there was a loooong wait for my eggs benedict. When it finally arrived, it was a major disappointment because the English muffin not only had not been toasted, it was actually cold. And I don't mean room temperature; it was like it had just come out of a cooler. As a result, the ham on top of it had cooled considerably, and I was left with at best a lukewarm dish overall. If we hadn't had to wait so long for the dish to arrive in the first place, I would have sent it back and asked for it to be redone. But given how long the wait for the first version was, I didn't want to risk having to go through another such wait, so I just made do with a lukewarm eggs benedict. Then we each decided to get some bakery items to take home. We both got a lemon bar, and I also got a cream cheese brownie, and my friend got a muffin and one or two other items. The next day we compared our thoughts on the baked good and we greed the lemon bar had very, very little lemon taste. My friend described it as a "sugar bomb" and said she threw it away after taking two bites. She said she had tried the muffing for breakfast, with similar results. I had the cream cheese brownie later and it wasn't bad, but neither was it great. Also, be aware that this place doe not accept cash.
This place is always....meh. I know it's a bakery but I wouldn't go for the desserts. In my opinion their desserts always taste stale. Today I had the vanilla bean cupcake and pecan pie bar and wasn't a fan of either. Had I just gotten the food, I probably would've given it four stars. I had the fried goat cheese salad which I liked a lot. Their French fries were also totally with it and they had good dipping sauces. I will say the jalapeño ketchup just tasted like regular ketchup but still all good. My mom had a sandwich and she said it was just okay. I'm sure I'll come back when I'm near there but probably won't ever take a trip just for that.
I love their coffee, the creme brulee latte is too sweet, but some other options (Vietnamese coffee and caramel leche) are much more balanced. I've also tried their quiche and caprese sandwiches before, both tasted great. Only thing is it gets super busy during weekends.
I ordered an online order for delivery for our breakfast on our wedding anniversary. On their end, they thought I received my order. However, unfortunately, the door dash driver who picked up our order decided that they needed breakfast too and never delivered our order. I called the store and explained what happened. They said they would reach out to customer care and try to resolve the issue. The restaurant called me back, as promised. They offered to remake the order and I could come get it, but it didn't necessarily fit our schedule to do so. About 10 minutes later, the restaurant calls again and offered to bring my husband and I our order.The customer service went above and beyond. They have a forever customer out of me. Not to mention their pastries were to die for!
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Danish, Chocolate Croissant
I haven't been to Mad Hatter Cafe since 2013 so I was super excited to be in Durham today and have the opportunity to drop in for dessert. I was so unbelievably disappointed at how dry my cupcake was plus the strawberry buttercream frosting was awful. I then tried a smidgen of mg shortbread cookie and it was just as dry. I should've mentioned it to the cashier before I left but I was running late so I had to just go. I ended up throwing away the cookie and only ate the cake part of the cupcake. For the price of those two items, they really should have wowed me as much as they have in the past. I hope the restaurant can take heed and get their desserts back to the way they used to be.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 5
I was a party of one, and I knew it would be busy with the return of students and brunch timing, but I waited over 30 minutes for a tomato mozzarella sandwich. The bread was toasted, but the tomatoes and mozzarella were just thrown on there. I had to go to the counter to ask about my sandwich, "the kitchen was backed up", but the gentleman who sat down next to me, 15 minutes after me, got his food first. I had to get up and get my own silverware and napkin, as it did not come out with the food.
I ordered the Black and White Cake, and an assortment of blueberry muffins, carrot cake muffins, and chocolate chip scones for a birthday brunch. The ordering process was so easy, and pickup was quick as well. The cake was incredible! Everyone at brunch wanted to know where it was from (and wanted a second piece...). It was beautiful to look at, sliced well, and tasted wonderful. The muffins were very moist and quite flavorful. The scones were delicious. The food was a huge hit all around - will definitely order for future events. 10 out of 10 going back for special event food.
Met a friend for coffee this morning at Mad Hatter's and I will be back! The chocolate croissant was perfectly fluffy and the chocolate was divine. I also enjoyed the iced caramel leche drink. It was pretty busy on a Saturday morning and there were great options for seating indoors and outdoors. The outdoor seating offered tents, umbrellas, and heat lamps which is very accommodating for different types of weather. 10/10 recommend.
The food and baked goods are always fresh. Coffee is amazing. What sets this above expectations is the service. Shout out to Michelle ... when I asked for just a piece of bread to give my toddler grandson while waiting for our lunch, she gave me a slice of apple raisin coffee cake and wouldn't charge me! Everyone is super friendly and aims to please. Great service great food.
Drink: Mexican hot chocolate Overall, the rancheros were fine, nothing out of the ordinary. I enjoyed the goat cheese croquettes but wish the goat cheese had some flavor mixed into the filling as well. Fun, casual brunch place!
The worst dining experience I’ve had in a long time.I get they were probably busy, but that still doesn’t excuse how the staff acted or the fact several people who ordered their food *after* me received their food long before I had (even with the same dish).I ordered a Thai chicken wrap, and 3 side dishes for my toddler (scrambled eggs, a cup of fruit, and breakfast potatoes). It took over an hour to receive my food, and might’ve taken longer had I not gone up to ask (TWICE) about the status of my order. The couple who ordered food AND coffee after I placed my order had already grabbed to go containers to box up their leftovers to leave.When I went to ask about my food, I was ignored by the staff I talked to. After seeing her go to several more tables with food for people who arrived to the cafe 30 mins after I arrived, I went back up and had to ask a barista for assistance since the 4 staff bringing food to guests just ignored me and refused to make eye contact. I finally was told I was “next,” but I feel like they just overlooked me and forgot my order as several Thai chicken wraps came and went already. How long does it take to make scrambled eggs and throw some fruit on a plate? I didn’t even have a drink order. No one apologized or gave me a reason for why it took so long.Then after I *finally* received my food, after entertaining a hungry toddler for over an hour, I needed to-go containers to bring home leftovers. With their inattentive staff they should just keep containers readily accessible for guests, since I had to endure another 10 min wait of having staff continue to walk past me and not bother to assist before I finally had to interrupt someone and ask for a container. (I was up at the front, by the kitchen too…not just sitting at a table expecting service to be brought to me).I guess I have to choose one star solely because I can’t give zero stars, and the one plus they have going for them is having a changing table in the women’s restroom for us moms with small children.I’ll also say that this was the first time I dined in, but I’ve had a few to-go orders and had similar experiences where I was just ignored by staff while I waited for assistance. There was one time I had a to-go order and was waiting for 10+ minutes after the estimated pick up time, and when I finally asked someone about the order it was sitting back in the kitchen and no one had brought it out to the set of shelves they usually bring to-go orders to. So this doesn’t seem like just a one-off experience where I caught them on a bad day.A mother-daughter group sitting near me seemed to have the same experience where I heard complaints about waiting 40 mins for a salad, only to receive something wrong with the salad.It’s a shame because I love to support businesses and give praise where praise is due, but I will not be going back to Mad Hatter any time soon.
Food: 4
Restaurantji Recommends
The ambiance here is very nice! However, the Rancheros dish was odd. The eggs are scrambled instead of sunny side up. The dish is served in a fried bowl, but the inside is not very saucy. The green salsa is served on the side and even the beans are dry. Some shredded cheese is used instead of cotija or feta. My avocado was not ripe.
Great place to eat. Delicious food. Only negative...as a first timer, I walked in and had no idea if you sear yourself or wait to be seated. No one acknowledged my presence so I had to just grab someone walking by in order to find out you order at the front and then seat yourself. Loved the food though. Everything I tried was delicious!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Toasted Croissant Sandwich
We visited Mad Hatter years ago when we first visited Durham. I had such good memories of the best vanilla cupcake I’d ever had! We went again this fall to get a cake for my daughter’s birthday and also got a cupcake and cookies (because why not?). Unfortunately, none of it was tasty. The cake was beautiful (!!) but the icing tasted more like butter than buttercream and the cake itself was very dry. The cupcake and cookies were similarly low quality. We threw every bit of it away and bought a cake at a grocery store. I cannot say enough about the beautiful atmosphere and the super friendly staff in store, but we emailed to let management know about the poor quality of our desserts and never received any response. There are better (and cheaper) desserts in Durham, so we won’t be back. Bummer.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 5
The place is busy, nice and clean. I ordered a ginger bread cookie to go. Maybe it's me I've never eaten a ginger bread cookie that wasn't mass produced in some cookie factory. But this one was very Mnaa, didn't enjoy any part of it. No flavor, the texture felt stale. And for $4.50 +tax definitely not worth it.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 3
A friend and I went to this restaurant/bake shop last Saturday for lunch. She ordered a quesadilla, which came in a reasonable amount of time, and she said it was tasty. Then there was a loooong wait for my eggs benedict. When it finally arrived, it was a major disappointment because the English muffin not only had not been toasted, it was actually cold. And I don't mean room temperature; it was like it had just come out of a cooler. As a result, the ham on top of it had cooled considerably, and I was left with at best a lukewarm dish overall. If we hadn't had to wait so long for the dish to arrive in the first place, I would have sent it back and asked for it to be redone. But given how long the wait for the first version was, I didn't want to risk having to go through another such wait, so I just made do with a lukewarm eggs benedict. Then we each decided to get some bakery items to take home. We both got a lemon bar, and I also got a cream cheese brownie, and my friend got a muffin and one or two other items. The next day we compared our thoughts on the baked good and we greed the lemon bar had very, very little lemon taste. My friend described it as a "sugar bomb" and said she threw it away after taking two bites. She said she had tried the muffing for breakfast, with similar results. I had the cream cheese brownie later and it wasn't bad, but neither was it great. Also, be aware that this place doe not accept cash.