Sweet Dutchess Kitchen + Café — Restaurant in Aurora

I want to be fair and kind as possible especially when it comes to restaurants that are run by passionate and involved people.

My boyfriend and I came in without a reservation or calling the restaurant to see if they would be able to accommodate a table for two, but we were looking to get a table outside despite the gloomy weather (we knew there would be a break in the rain).

When we entered the restaurant we were greeted by a man that I believe could have been the owner of the restaurant, he informed us that he was going to check if there was a table available, We suggested that we could sit outside on the side of the patio overlooking the parking lot. He expressed concern for the potential rain but we expressed we really wanted to sit outside, so immediately he stopped what he was doing to go set up a table (Thank you for stopping what you were doing to set us up a table, I know you were in the middle of doing something, this action of yours did not go unnoticed; Thank you).

However the table that was set up for us was at the opposite end of patio, we didn’t want to make a fuss as we appreciated that the individual went out of his way to clear a table, prepare a umbrella for us, etc.

We sat down and realized we weren’t given a menu or drink list, so we sat and waited for a waiter/waitress. For a moment we feared that we had been forgotten, but our waiter quickly came out and realized we had no menus, He apologized and quickly ran inside and brought us the menus, took our drink orders and then our meal orders. My boyfriend had some sort of coffee - oh my goodness it was delicious, I had the roast beef dip sandwich, My boyfriend had some sort of croquet sandwich I believe. Prices were fair considering the dedication of the dishes, and the sizes were huge! We paid the bill and went home and were so full from lunch by them time dinner hour came!

The store portion of the restaurant is beautiful, I love it. I was very tempted in splurging on all the goodies that were available for purchase. I think any food-lover would love this restaurant and the store.

I appreciate (whom I believe was the owner) the man who made an effort to setting up an outdoor table for us. I could tell he was concerned about potential rain, and he was clearly involved in working with his team, I appreciated when he checked in on us about our meals. He was attentive to us considering how busy the restaurant was, which was very kind considering we had not made reservations. I’m happy I got to have lunch here and I will come again (with reservations of course), This place would be perfect for couples wanting to go out for lunch to celebrate...

It was a Friday and found this place in google. So decided to give it a try. We called to order take out and it was 30 min before closing and kitchen is just about to start preparing to close the kitchen but they are willing to take my order. Thx! :)

We ordered 3 items: Open face smoke salmon sandwich - the sandwich is a generous size and the ingredients are quite fresh. The combination of the ingredient between the smoked salmon, pickled onion and cucumber goes well together with the bread. I wouldn’t this is the best sandwich I ever had but its a good sandwich. The 3 potatoes ball are good, warm and creamy.

Dutch style Caesar salad - this salad tastes different than the Caesar salad I normally had. They replace the croutons with something that also looks like croutons but tastes about like couscous (I could be wrong). I liked it. The “bacon”, it’s replaced with some other kind of fried pork belly. It’s salt with some nice pork fat, it’s guilty food for me but I loved it 😆 and goes well with the salad.

Mushroom salad - this salad has lots of different little ingredients and makes this salad great. The mustard vinegrette goes well with this salad.

I enjoyed the food very much and would visit again but the total cost is about $63 for 3 items and not cheap in my opinion. I should of ask for the itemized receipt because I don’t know how much each dish cost. It would be nice for them to provide the itemized receipt without me asking.

Considering the good food quality but the price is abit on the high side, I was struggling if giving a 4 or 5 stars. I would want to give 4.5, so I round up to...

"Sweet Dutchess" is relatively new to Aurora, went there for brunch on a lovely fall day. The welcoming was pretty nice from the host who asked if we had a reservation (you will need one as the place is somewhat small) we did not but the accommodated fast. The menu is nice and simple, we had a salmon croissant, poached eggs with spinach and mushrooms on a bed of toast and Shatsuka. The last one was nothing so spectacular but the salmon croissant and the eggs were really tasty and fresh. The atmosphere is really cute and cozy and you can sit outside. The service was quite disappointing, our server missed several things from what we needed, forgot to bring water and just was not into making the serving experience a good one for us. One of the other servers when asked to please bring us water, gave me a really nasty passive aggressive look and... she did not bring the water herself asking somebody else to bring it for us. I have lived in Aurora for more than 20 years. I am a visible minority and never ever, have I had a problem with people making faces at us or mistreating us but there was unfortunately something about the service here that my family and I did not feel comfortable with, almost a bit "snobbish"; too bad since I am not going to be returning here to give them my business and I will not recommend it either. Watch management, with a restaurant you NEED excellent friendly service otherwise no matter how good the food is, people will not come back. It's really sad as we initially thought we had finally found our weekend...