Carrigan Cafe — Restaurant in Saline

I stopped in here for a quick lunch recently. Strangely, they didn't have prices for their food on their menu. I saw that the sandwiches were small, so I ordered two sandwiches, soup, a scone, and a coffee. When the cashier told me that my total was $50 I started laughing. I didn't protest, I said that I was just surprised that my total was that high since I couldn't calculate in advance without the pricing listed on their board. After that she asked for a tip in addition to the $50 lunch price. I wasn't thrilled but figured the cafe's pricing wasn't her fault personally, so I left her an additional tip. As I was sitting down, the two cashiers then proceeded to banter back and forth behind the counter about how rude I was and how outraged they were at me for laughing at the cost of my nearly $60 total lunch. Protip: If you are going to charge customers obscene prices for basic cafe food without posting your prices and a customer, while surprised, is still willing to pay your full prices and then proceeds to give you an additional tip on top of that amount, it's probably not a good idea to say mean things about them while they are still at your cafe. Absurd prices...

The cafe is clean and relatively quiet and a place we have frequented quite often over the years. The problem really is a slipping of food quality.

Our favorite is the Veggie Crunch sandwich which is a load of crunchy veggies on bread slathered with hummus on one side and cream cheese on the other. Really tasty and quite filling! The last time we ordered the sandwich we noticed how the size had shrunk as they changed the brand of bread, understandable as the Ed’s Bread bakery had closed but a poor second to what it used to be.

This time not only had the bread size decreased, but the amount of veggies had also shrunk and there was a barely discernible (I wasn’t sure it was even there until I pulled the sandwich apart) smear of hummus and cream cheese on the bread - basically a fairly tasteless sandwich of bread and veggies. And despite the size reduction, the price remains at $8.50. We felt the sandwich was well worth the price back when the quality was top notch, but the last two experiences tell us it is time to move on to other...

Visiting Michigan for the first time this week, and I went to Carrigan Cafe this morning on the hunt for a bagel to start the day. When I walked in, I saw they had a cinnamon vanilla bagel on their menu, which I had never seen before. When I asked about it, the lady at the counter kindly brought them over to show me and confirmed that they are in fact as tasty as they sound. She seemed surprised I had not heard of these bagels before, but understood why when I said I was from NH. She then proceeded to tell me that she was the owner and that the bagel was on her as it was my first time in. Totally not necessary but SO appreciated. And she was right, it was the BEST bagel I’ve ever had. Karen, you made my morning! I can’t wait to come back and get another bagel before I...