Arethusa a mano — Restaurant in Litchfield

I've driven 30 minutes to Arethusa a Mano many times for an egg sandwich. I've always considered it "the best one". Today may be the last. The front staff is never very friendly. I ordered my egg sandwich, currently costing a whopping $9.35. If you want bacon or ham, add $3.30! Small drip coffee that is not organic - $3.10. You could potentially spend $15.55 + tax on a breakfast sandwich and small drip coffee!!! Ridiculous price. I would hope, at this price, the ingredients are high quality and I highly doubt it considering all of the additives in their ice cream shoppe across the street. Organic coffee in Woodbury is $2.65. Upon checkout on the iPad, good thing I looked and didn't just sign. Just sign and you'll add a tip. You need to push on "no tip", but you won't be informed of this. Tip? I'm ordering an egg sandwich at a counter and standing around to wait for it while my coffee gets cold, with hopes of finding a spot to sit once it finally comes out (took a while today and it's not busy in here at the moment). There is a sign by the register advertising "homemade syrups". So, I asked how they are made, because I've yet to find syrups that are not all chemicals. "I don't know. I don't make them." Hmm. Go ask the person who does? If that person is not here, how about having this information available? For those with allergies, this information should be available for everything offered. I don't have allergies, I just care about what I consume. I know. Rare these days. Dirty chair. Ridiculously high prices. Sneaky checkout process. Unhelpful staff. I'm...

This is a very high end store. A lot of people around here have a similar opinion of it. From an average person's point of view, it just too expensive. This is, no doubt, true; however I cannot deny that the food is top notch. My only complaint would be the regular coffee. If I'm going to pay 5 dollars( +) for a coffee, I would expect it made to my specifications and handed to me. In here, you get a cup, and told you get to make it yourself. It's just coffee. Sure it has a fancy name, and probably has some long winded story about it's travel from the mountains of Hipsterdistan, down Crunchy Granola river, but it tastes like coffee. And for that price, I'll go to Dunkin. Now that have made my only negative points about the price and the coffee, I will say again that the food is amazing. House made doughnuts, truffles, candies, pastries, bagels etc. Arethusa yogurt, and milk products. Also they have specialty drinks, including cappuccino and latte's. Everything I have had from here was a delight. For a treat, it's a wonderful stop, don't pass it up. Much like any Arethusa business, they elevate food products to delicacy. Once you finish here for breakfast, you can go next door for an ice cream cone at their creamery. And if you are in the mood for one of the best sit down meals at a high end restaurant that you will ever experience; head next door. Also owned by Arethusa Farms, al tavolo is quite possibly the finest of fine dining in the area. Bring your wallet, but you will eat...

Go here if you enjoy a really loud place, and then finding out your takeout doesn't have everything you ordered and there's not even a single napkin or utensil in the bag. If you can't even get takeout right just get out of business.

Update: Had to return from over 10 miles to get the missing breakfast sandwich bagel my wife had ordered. Staff was pleasant enough about making the order whole. But my group was delayed about an hour in our gathering. By the time we returned with after our second trip to the bakery.

The food is good but if you are a bagel traditionalist you will be disappointed in the bagels. Imagine a fine crusty French bread in the form of a bagel. Since I like fine crusty French bread it was an interesting and welcome twist on a bagel. But if you don't like an extremely chewy exterior crust you might not like it. So while the everything bagel was very good for what it was, it is not a traditional bagel. The portion of smoked salmon on the bagel I ordered was reasonable for the price.

1 - 3 stars. Unlikely I'll return given my other experience with Arethusa was their rather very ordinary ice creme in WeHa. Make the trip to Grass Roots in Granby for some really creative,...