Mad Hatter Cafe — Restaurant in Salisbury

Aesthetically this restaurant was nice and my wife and I wanted to try it out. We’re from out of town so we relied on a close friend’s recommendation so we were initially excited to try. We tried this place on Friday, November 29th, around 11:40 in the morning. Our server, a gentlemen in his mid 20’s with a septum piercing was very nice and went above and beyond to ensure my wife and I had a nice time. Yet, he was inattentive considering it was less than 10 people in there and he was taking everyone’s orders. No fault of his, but where were his other colleagues to serve and assist him? My wife and I ordered the S’mores “Latte” to start. While the presentation was to die for, the taste was horrible. It essentially was iced chocolate milk with marshmallows, chocolate syrup, and a graham cracker. Adding the fact that it was “iced” would’ve been helpful considering the description is a tad misleading. The oyster Rockefeller was disgraceful.

The crab drip was the best out of the appetizers we tried. As a native Salisburian, the weird tiger sauce/raisin tasting, gluten-free bread crumb combo was egregious to say the least. They ran out of crab imperial for the fried green tomatoes, they ran out of calamari (though we were interested), and then a child was wandering around the restaurant for a few minutes, perhaps the owners daughter?

Unfortunately, the best thing on the menu was the mimosa flight and unfortunately during my travels back from my suburban DC to visit Salisbury, I won’t be visiting this restaurant any longer. Suggestions would be to focus back on the basics: Reduce the menu options to what the chef and owners identify as their “bread and butter”, try to have at least 2-3 servers available, and don’t have your servers on double/triple duty with having to make drinks, prepare food, and serve. I understand times are hard but a little bit of effort will ensure this place stays open in...

Wanted to take my wife out for her birthday and treat her to some brunch. After a little browsing of reviews and places nearby we came upon the Mad Hatter. It is tucked cozily into a building along with Ugly Pie (amazing pies) which you can hop on over to right after your meal for a delicious dessert thanks to the two businesses having a door in the wall between them.

Right when we came in we were warmly greeted by the waitress who made sure to let us know what lunch specials were available and also giving our two year old son a tiny Jenga set to play with!

The menu was not too big which was nice because it makes you feel like the owner understands what they cook really well and anything you order is probably going to come out delicious. As we were browsing the menu a gentleman, the owner, came and chatted with us and introduced himself as the Hatter himself and was very welcoming and funny. As you can see in previous reviews the owner loves to get to interact with the customers and seems to love what he does!

I chose to make a breakfast bowl with Hash Browns, Sausage Patty, Scrambled Eggs with Cheddar Cheese, Avacado, and Extra Bacon. My bowl came out steaming hot and looking great. Everything was cooked perfectly and I basically are the whole bowl within ten minutes.

My wife chose the Lemon Ricotta and Blueberry Pancakws with a side of Bacon. The pancakes were gigantic and came stacked three high. They were covered in a sweet and slightly tart blueberry sauce with whole berries. The Lemom Ricotta spread was artistically spread beneath the pancakes so that you got an even amount with each bite. Her and my son managed to eat about three quarters of the pancakes and I polished off the end.

We both left the place feeling satisfied and happy with the price of the meal. We will definitely be back whenever we are feeling like having a quality...

It’s been a while since we have been to Mad Hatter Cafe. A member of our party is recently gluten-free so we decided to visit because of a decent selection of gluten free items. It was Labor Day so we expected a crowd. When we arrived the restaurant was relatively empty (only 4 parties seated). We initially only saw the bartender and no waitress. She eventually came out, but made no real effort to acknowledge us. Another couple entered after us and the waitress continues to wait on the large party, but tells us she will be with us shortly. More time passes and she eventually comes to a table near us where food was already on the table to see if they needed anything else. She finally addresses us only to tell us today that we need to have a seat on the couches. When I gave her an incredulous look she said (with a bit of attitude), “I have a party of seven that I am waiting on”. We sit down on the couches and two more parties come in after us. The problem is that there were PLENTY of tables available. We could not understand why she didn’t just seat everyone and let us peruse the menu and/or get our drink orders instead of having about 10 people standing around the hostess stand. Eventually, the bartender comes out to seat us and another party (not sure why he didn’t do this sooner). Another waiting party decided to leave when the bartender told them it would be another 30-45 minutes before they are seated. The bartender took our order and the food came out pretty quickly. It was plated well and the portions were large. It tasted fine overall. Unfortunately, the unnecessary waiting to be seated while the restaurant was mostly empty and the waitresses poor service really made it an unpleasant experience. Unfortunately, we won’t be going back for a...