Kitchen Counter Cafe — Restaurant in Saint Johnsbury

Decided to take one of my best friends to St. Johnsbury for his birthday weekend-he showed me the town online and told me about Dog Mountain, so, of course I booked a 5 day trip to the historic VT town! Well, we both love breakfast. I always felt I could eat breakfast any time for any reason so whenever I go anywhere, my first search is “where to eat breakfast near me”. We tried another place the first day…but the second day we went to The Kitchen Counter. It was the best decision for breakfast and the first morning was all I needed to know that this little cafe would steal my pancake, egg and bacon filled heart! I ordered the eggs Benedict with tomato and spinach (I try the Eggs Benny at every breakfast place) and I was not disappointed. Coffee is self serve and free pours. If you sit on the stools at the counter, the servers and chefs are right in front of you serving and making your food while conversation fills the room. The busier it seems, the better this well-oiled machine runs. I decided I would return for the remainder of our trip.

The second day, I couldn’t decide if I wanted blueberry pancakes or the biscuits & gravy with eggs, so I got both and our hostess was full of smiles and a bubbly personality. I haven’t tasted a more satisfying sausage gravy than when I made it myself at home with my grandmothers recipe. It turns out Crystal, the chef, makes this homemade sausage gravy in-house and special for Sundays…I am SOOOO glad I got the opportunity to experience it! I would give The Kitchen Counter Cafe a 10 out of 5 if I could and I encourage you to walk in with a hungry belly because you are bound to be satisfied! They do have vegan and gluten...

Overall it's a pretty good place with a great atmosphere, it's small and tucked away on railroad street but I was surprised by how busy it was, most tables were full and there were multiple people at the counter.

Food: The food is fairly average, you can see that care and skill are put in by the cooks, however the ingredients appear to be in part pre-frozen. The taste wasn't special but portions are good. The prices on the food are fairly high especially for the quality, I suspect this is because of the low total sales volume, they are open only for about 6 hours 6 days a week. It's more a of a small dinner than a cafe, a lot of local cafes were out competed in the crowded st.j coffee market in 2019-2022. Their coffee selection is very small by comparison.

Service: the service was good and the lady at the register was nice and doubles as the waiter. It's not to the level of larger establishment but it was still better than your average costumer service experience, the cooks were nice and social as well

Atmosphere: this is definitely the best part, the atmosphere is great and homey, however the building needs some repairs the bathroom area is very barebones, and there's a large part of the ceiling where the rafters are exposed, but the small dinner aesthetic with a classic counter seating facing the cook stations is very very well done. It's pretty clean despite the aging...

Polite, outgoing staff. Funky atmosphere. But this is April 2024 in Vermont...one of the greatest foodie states in the US, and the breakfast food here was astonishingly dull, flat, and boring. It's not that it was bad or poorly made and served. It was just BORING. There were no spices visible anywhere near the kitchen, and the food's flavour reflected that. The pancakes likely derived from a very large box whose first ingredient was dehydrated cardboard. At least they were served with real maple syrup. If you're elderly and want unexciting food with predictably little creativity or spice, this is your place. I'll wait until the menu and pizazz improves...