Coffee & Cream — Restaurant in North Smithfield

Coffee and Cream has gone downhill over the years.

First, let me get this out of the way: I got a very bad case of food poisoning from tainted corned beef hash at Coffee & Cream about ten years ago. It put me in the emergency room, and I had a VERY bad time. In fact, I suffered long-term damage from it.

There's no doubt that the cause was the hash, because that was the only thing I ate that day. And it tasted so horrible that I only had two or three bites.

I don't order hash there any more, but my wife and son still drag me to Coffee and Cream for breakfast once in a while. I always resist. Why? Because the food just isn't that good, and there are much better choices in the area. Their coffee is outstanding, yes. In fact, it may even be better than Dunkin' Donuts. But the food isn't impressive.

Belgium waffles are always cold when they arrive, and lack the unique flavor that marks a true Belgium waffle. The bacon isn't memorable. The Italian toast (a local specialty) is particularly disappointing; rather than being a grilled wedge of real Italian bread, it's toasted slices of that faux Italian bread that's basically sliced white bread with sesame seeds (go to Bellingham Palace to see how great Italian toast SHOULD be).

They no longer serve donuts, which is a pity because their donuts were excellent; I wish I knew who their supplier was. Their muffins are rectangular and quite good; very moist and flavorful.

The decor, a racehorse theme, is charming and memorable. The exterior is likewise charming, matching the adjoining Beef Barn. Perhaps that's part of the problem; the Beef Barn is a classic, a gem of a place that makes outstanding food. Coffee and Cream looks as special...but it doesn't TASTE that way.

In fairness, my wife and son like the place.

Note: There was also a Coffee & Cream drive-through a mile or two away, at 146. It featured a giant mug which fountained when they were open. They had FANTASTIC donuts and coffee rolls there - the largest I've ever seen. I don't know if the two were affiliated. But that location closed a few years ago. It's an ice...

I will begin by saying that I was so hungry that the only picture I had time to take was of my partially eaten Peanut butter and Jelly muffin.

So, that said, let us get to reviewing.

The place was remarkably busy, though the 30 minute wait for a table went by quickly enough as I was in good company. When we got to our seats, service was prompt and food arrived with startling speed. How was it?

Pretty darn good.

I got the New Englander, a side of bangers, a peanut butter and jelly muffin, and a green tea.

For the New Englander, the eggs were prepped as requested, the bacon was floppy (I should have requested crisp), the sausage was passable, and the home fries were good - some Sriracha helped, as did adding onions for an upcharge. I replaced the toast with an English muffin as is my wont, and added Chocolate chips to my pancakes.

The pancakes were good. Thinish, crispy bits, fair amount of fillings. Not too big, not too small.

The bangers were really good. I'd rather have them than their regular breakfast sausage. Not as good as what I had in England, but still good.

The peanut butter and jelly muffin, grilled, was the biggest highlight for me. It was a little bit of heaven. It really tasted of jelly, and the peanut butter chips really worked to get the flavor one would be looking for.

The tea was good as well - of note, the water was hot enough for the tea to steep well, so cheers on that.

So, despite a long wait, the meal was well worth it. I would certainly go...

Good, not great. Friendly people and refreshing atmosphere however the portions are smaller then most places, and prices are a little higher. After ordering the He-man I was surprised to see sausage 1/4 of the size of most places, and rather small (6") pancakes. 2 shriveled pieces of bacon, 3 eggs were fine home fries were also good but I usually cant finish this meal at most places and I finished this with a little room left over. Wait time was 27 minutes for the two meals we know since we had an event afterwardsthat was time pressing. My wife ordered the house omelet which was more of an open face frittata with under cooked vegetables. They were crunchy and simply not cooked anywhere near enough. Her onions asked with her homefries were also not cooked. No caramelization color or flavor. She surprisingly said something to our waitress as she never has, and her reply verbatim... "that's the way we make it, you should have asked for the vegetables to be cooked first ". We did not realize we'd need to have a sit down with the cook for our meals beforehand to insure they knew how to do their job. It's simply common sense with experience on how to cook things properly, not as fast as possible. It's really too bad. We tried to like this place as we're local, and have been to the previous location for years, but with other local breakfast places caring more, costing less and providing better quality food and service with larger portions, I do not see us returning...