Lucille's Cafe — Restaurant in Ledyard

I spend more time here than i care to admit. The lattes here are probably the best in the area and the Matcha is easily the best I've ever had. It's enough to earn the place a 10/10 on its own...but the food. This place has no business serving food this good. A coffee place should not be THIS good at serving breakfast AND lunch. The THC is one of those coming-of-age sandwiches that changes you. I went into this place a boy, had a taste of that sweet, forbidden maple dijon and left a MAN. Bacon jam? Put it on everything. Their house-made syrups? I would take them straight and drink their coffee as a chaser. Their baked goods are bangin', the selection of flavors is humbling, and the sheer number of specials makes me regret that there are, conventionally speaking, only 3 meals a day. Besides the menu, the staff there are the chillest people who genuinely love what they do and have turned the place into a real hangout spot for locals, and by locals I do mean myself because I'm there at least once a week. Lucilles is a social paragon of the ledyard community, connecting local creatives and small businesses in a way that most places often attempt but never quite manage to pull off with such success. Game nights, movie nights, special events: it's a welcoming spot that I find myself going to whenever I'm in ledyard center. And I will be in ledyard center tomorrow, which means it's a bad day to be a shot of cheesecake syrup. There is nothing short of a crime that this place can do to keep me away. You've brought this on...

Honest review- menu board has no prices and is confusing to look at. Especially for those of us with ADD. Felt overwhelming. Staff was friendly and inviting. Cafe was semi-clean. Table was dirty. Entrance could use some sprucing up. Was surprised that a small Browne was $5 (also not marked with prices). Drinks on menu not priced either. Gave a tip at checkout, but then had to go back to counter twice to get drinks and food. Figured they would bring it out to the table. Guess not. Drinks were good. Food took a bit long to be cooked and it wasn’t busy. Food taste was just alright. Messy to eat the THC sandwich and wasn’t cut in half. Using a plastic knife that was made available was pointless and wouldn’t cut. Ate the sandwich deconstructed style to solve the problem. The smell of mildew/mold is a bit strong in the cafe, I’m mentioning this because the staff may not smell it much since they work there daily. Take a handful of napkins outside and sniff them. You’ll smell the mildew scent! Overall it’s a nice concept, but needs to display prices and make menu a bit easier to understand especially for newbies. Drinks don’t really say what is in them. Nobody wants to ask a million questions while trying to pick what they want. Providing more info on the board would be helpful. Food wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t outstanding either. Would go back again and give it another try. Spent around $50-$55 for 2 drinks, 2 brownies, 2 sandwiches and a bagel. A bit high in my opinion, but maybe just pricing for that area based on...

5 stars for coffee 5 stars for service and atmosphere 3 stars for breakfast sandwich 4 stars for the ricotta pistachio toast (I ended up doctoring it up with avocado, salt, pepper and balsamic reduction)

Overall I really liked this spot - tried it for the first time today. The Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Cold Brew was AMAZING and the guy working was so awesome - you could tell how much he cared about the business and customers! I ordered a custom breakfast sandwich and to my shock I was actually disappointed in it - it literally didn't taste like anything but all the ingredients SHOULD be flavorful (bacon, egg, cheese, avocado with hot honey on a plain bagel). Weird, right? (noting I was quite late to pick up my order but I don't think that would affect the taste that drastically?)

I'll preface this by saying I lived in NYC for a long time so I'm a bit of a bagel snob... but I do think the biggest lack of flavor contributor was the bagel itself which literally tasted like nothing - it was really just a subpar bagel with an unsatisfying texture. While they tout NY bagels, I think maybbeeeee because A&M Bakery (Bronx) is a wholesale bakery that makes store brand bagels like ShopRite and Key Foods, which I have found are just that (sub par) that could be why? But I don't know just a theory.

Regardless, I'll definitely come back again and give one of their signature sandwiches a try and opt for a different "delivery system" (aka different kind...