Newman's Bakery — Restaurant in Bellville

This is a review of the castle (the bakery is great, but I deleted that part as I went over the character limit): We arrived at 10:27, parked, and walked to a covered area with benches where several people were already waiting. It was a very hot day, but they had coolers with ice water, and we were able to sit in the shade, so it wasn’t too bad. 10:30 is not the starting time. That is understandable, as you want everyone to have a chance to arrive, but 11:00 am came and went and we were all still waiting. It wasn’t until 11:15 that the presentation started. This is my one and only complaint with the entire tour. Someone should have come out periodically to let us know what was going on. Several people started wondering if we were in the right place, if there was some kind of delay, when was it supposed to start, etc. Just an occasional announcement from one of the helpers to let us know things were on track would have been appreciated. 11:15 “Lord Newman” came out to greet us. His presentation lasted about 20 minutes, as he talked about how he built the castle by himself with a helper over the past 20 years, with the first 8 years being the most productive; he hadn’t planned on it being a tourist destination, but opened it up for tours about 10 years ago. He focused his presentation to the children in the audience (all of whom had wooden “swords”); he “knighted” them and assigned them with the protection of the castle, to look for hidden dragons, and to rescue fair maidens (one note for him: He may want to start using “sir” for all the kids, as he misgendered one of the boys as a girl, calling him a “dame” and had him stand with the girls; the boy stood there quietly with tears running down his cheeks for the rest of the presentation). Overall, an interesting presentation about a fascinating castle building experience. After the main presentation, he had us follow him a few yards away to view the trebuchet, where he talked for a few more minutes (again, mostly to the children, telling them how invaders would use these weapons to invade castles). Then we had a demonstration of how the trebuchet works. That was pretty cool, as I’ve only ever seen them in movies. He then let us have completely free reign in his home. There was one locked door, but the rest of the castle was open for exploration (including his bedroom…I don’t usually let guests in my bedroom, so I was impressed he was okay with strangers roaming around everywhere). We were allowed to go to the top of the bell tower, we could ring the bells if we wanted to, we could explore the dungeon and the chapel, etc. A few people even tried running the huge hamster wheel that lowers the front gate. Very impressive. There were toy dragons located throughout the castle for the kids to find; I think they got a prize if they told Lord Newman that they had found a certain number of them. My husband has an architecture background, so was fascinated with the building itself and all of the details. I appreciated the thick doors and the locking mechanism. I think Mr. Newman said he even made most of the furniture himself. We were very impressed with the entire castle. One of the helpers was letting people feel what it was like in the stocks and to be locked up in the crows nest cage. That helper seemed to really enjoy his role and was having a blast. Whenever you were ready, you went to the air conditioned kitchen for lunch. We were all given a paper sack with a sandwich made on bakery bread and a bag of chips. There was water and iced tea to drink. And a huge spread of bakery goods: cakes, cookies, donuts, etc. The amount of food available, plus the delicious sandwich, was probably worth the $20 admission alone. Both my husband and I were impressed that Mr. Newman was opening his home to tourists without it being something he made much money on. He said it was meant to help draw business to his bakery, which, given the crowds in the morning, it obviously does, but still. He could raise his admission rates another $10 and it would still be well...

Came here for the first time with the kids. Nothing special about this bakery, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad or anything. They sell a bunch of donuts, pastries, and cookies. The line can get long and it can be an inconvenience for those being helped next because they don’t have a large menu sign of what they’re selling. For example, because I’ve never been here before, my kids and I wanted to ordered some breakfast, but the only visible menu were on their counter far from me so when the staff came up to me to get my order, I had no clue so she left. The menu only had breakfast items and not any of the bakery stuff so by the time I saw what they had, I felt the pressure on hurrying up and select random things. It just wasn’t organized well. I think they need a large sign that goes to the front doors where the line can reach so by the time the back gets to the front, they’ll know. On top of that, the information about the Newmans Castle wasn’t visible until you got to the front, but even that, you still have to inquire about the admissions otherwise, the staff won’t say anything. We ordered 3 admissions ticket for $20 which includes a free ham or turkey sandwich in a paper bag with a bag of Ruffles chips that you receive when you arrive to the Newmans Castle. They have to do a better job of making that information visible in the shop. If we had known, we would’ve bought just bakery goods instead of breakfast.

Anyways, we ordered the Roast Beef Sandwich, BLT Sandwich, and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich. Each came with Ruffles chips and a drink. We also ordered the soup of the day (Beef Potato Barley), but when it didn’t arrive to our table, I had to ask one of the staff members who then informed me that I had to get it myself. It was located by the front doors and it was all you can eat soup. We retrieved our free sacks at the castle. Overall, sandwiches were delicious, but nothing spectacular about them.

For the baked goods, we also ordered an Apple Fritter, Cinnamon cake donut, chocolate cake donut, jelly donut, and blueberry yeast donut. Nothing special about these donuts that you can’t get from HEB or Krogers.

Overall, decent priced for mediocre food. We drove a little over an hour to check this place out and it wasn’t worth it. Now that I’ve crossed this off my bucket list for things to do in Texas, we probably won’t be coming back unless we’re in the area again.

The female staff that helped me was super friendly and fast. She did her best to help me because she didn’t speak English well so she used her phone to translate to me. Parking lot is a One-Way and it’s small so once you pass it, you have to go around. They have lots of tables to dine on and restrooms that aren’t...

We went today. This is a scam. He makes you go to the bakery first to buy tickets and lunch. There was a weird smell out front and then my kid needed to use the bathroom. They were DISGUSTING-no way is the bakery passing a health inspection-which means there is a 0% chance my child or I will eat the lunch. Then, they gave us directions on a small slip of paper and once we got to the castle, it was a lot smaller than advertised. He makes us listen to a 25 minute speech where he repeats what he has said multiple times. (I honestly think he is mentally ill.) There was this poor dog tied up outside that was super dirty and looked hot and hungry. We went in and many parts had issues, some damaged, some unfinished, and there were wasp nests everywhere. Apparently, this is his actual residence which further supports the mentally ill comment. For those people trying to claim we should give him a break with our reviews because this is his home: It isn’t kind to show off your residence when you CHARGE people-that’s called a business. After seeing the state of the back rooms at the bakery and watching the person make sandwiches with their bare hands, we did not sit to eat. Furthermore, the history excerpts he has on the wall are blatantly false-he has a very romanticized view of history. Knights were not chivalrous, unless you were wealthy or important. The crusades were not about trying to help people and spread the word of God. The “Crusaders” and “knights”raped women and children more often than it happens now. Oh, and as we were leaving, he was screaming and threatening some people that were walking up because they hadn’t visited his bakery first (mentally ill). If this castle experience is magical I’m going to assume those reviewers they got paid so they lied. But really, animal neglect and health code violations shouldn’t be overlooked for an “experience”. People giving this...