Richard's Coffeehouse — Restaurant in Ontario

Best coffee shop in town! Quality food and drinks. Games to play. Live entertainment. Across from Brockville Art Centre. This is the Oldest Stone Building in Brockville.

The building at the corner of King Street West and Perth Street is an often overlooked part of Brockville’s past.

Once known as the Nehemiah Seaman House, the structure is the oldest stone building left standing in Brockville, built in 1816 on a plot of land purchased by Seaman a year earlier for 200 After a span of 80 years, during which time the property was a residence and then a saddle and harness business, it became the site of a bloody gun battle when fox hunter Ur Lapointe, armed with a shotgun, placed himself behind a large billboard behind the Seaman building and began shooting.

The ensuing gun battle left one man, Peter Moore, dead.

The Seaman house was purchased in 1911 by candymaker George Howison.

The family operated a confectionery there until the late 1960s when the building was rented to Cowan’s Dairy Bar.

Howison’s daughters, Marion and Helen, never married and continued to live together above the main street shop until the middle of the last decade. Into their 90s. It sat dormant for years. Now it is the talk...

On our north east road trio, we took a detour across the boarder from Alexandria Bay to Brockville, Ontario, walked through Canada’s first railway tunnel both ways, and stopped off for some pick-me-ups at Richard’s Coffee House. While enjoying our matcha lattes and pastries, Arlene asked if we could sample offerings from their upcoming dinner service menu.

We tried 3 tastings, each delicious in its own right. First out was a penne dish served with a tomatoes and green peppers, balanced with onions and spices. Then we tried a minced beef sandwich with a special brown sauce. The shredded red cabbage provided the perfect crunch to a savory sandwich. We ended with a Nashville chicken sandwich, served with shredded green cabbage. The tangy heat from the Nashville sauce teased the tastebuds.

My favorite sample was the minced beef sandwich, but I’d be delighted to eat any of them again. Stop by soon to see what’s new...

Conveniently located on the other side of the street from the Metro grocery store and the Brockville Arts Centre, Richard's Coffeehouse offers a very good selection of professionally-baked goods that are bound to please those of you who are looking for that sort of thing, albeit more on the expensive side than you would expect from other cafes and bakeries, largely due to the more artisan-style of baking you will get there. My motto for high-end places like this one: if you can afford to go to them as often as you'd like to then by all means, do go there. You won't be disappointed. In addition to high-quality baking there is also spacious seating with a great view of King Street, a convenient location, and it is now wheelchair-accessible. Plus there are some nice deals like coffee and a muffin for under $3 (at the time this review was posted). Good, friendly and attentive service and very locally owned. Highly...