Emma's Cafe — Restaurant in Sterling

Ate here twice. One party has a gluten allergy. Tried breakfast & lunch. We love that the food is made from scratch with fresh garden ingredients & real maple syrup. Gluten free bread is available. Wait time was short and the taste of food was very good, with the exception of the hash. The hash was very salty & spicy with a Mexican spice taste. Not your typical corn beef & potato breakfast hash that I was expecting.

If you have Celiac Disease or nut allergies, I would not trust the preparation, as it is not a certified gluten free kitchen. The gluten free baked goods are unwrapped, in an open case, right next to all regular baked goods containing gluten and nuts, so there is cross contamination. I did not witness staff preparing the food, but suspect the grill was not cleaned free of gluten before preparing my breakfast items, or gloves may not have been changed, as I got very sick eating breakfast, with gluten ingestion symptoms.

I was ok with a gluten free sandwich a few days before, but it was obvious an ingredient not in my sandwich had rubbed up against the bread, due to the color. Luckily it was not an item with gluten. I realize there is a lot involved in offering true gluten free food, but when one party has a gluten allergy and/or celiac disease it must be all gluten free, or nothing consumed.

The inside of the restaurant has ample seating, but is very echoy and a bit loud with music and a tv going, as well as the food prep area is mostly open. The restaurant also has outdoor seating, but the stench of a neighbor's septic, both days, made it unpleasant outside.

It was also dissapointing to see people without handicap plates or placards parking in the no parking portion of a handicap spot, which is the loading area for wheelchair vans. Since there is only one handicapped parking spot, this regular practice (we saw two different cars do the same thing) makes the parking and restaurant inaccessible to anyone in a...

Cute little place. Some seating indoor and outdoor. The tree only shades so much outside though. The staff is very friendly and attentive. They have several regulars and knew what they tended to order when they got to the front.

Got three things.

$5 Large Cold brew Peach Iced Tea. Cold, tasty, pretty darned good for a no added sugar drink.

$11 Stuffed French Toast. It's a cream cheese topping, and it's mostly if not all straight cream cheese, so it's not some crazy sweet sugar dish. Just a light dusting of powdered sugar that's mostly for looks. The bread is dense and eggy, the cream cheese soft and creamy, the strawberries are fresh and juicy. I would like either more strawberries or smaller chunks of them, I guess I'll just have to cut up my own strawberries, oh the horror. The two strips of bacon, are bacon, bacon is delicious - thin sliced, cooked right between crispy and chewy.

$8 The Hungry Man (replaced ham with sausage). Egg, sausage, egg, cheese,bacon, egg, cheese, bacon.. that's literally what I'm looking at. Oh, and an English muffin too, though there are other bread options. You can tell those are fresh cracked from the shell eggs. It's real cheese too, I can almost taste the name of the cow who gave the milk to make this cheese. I would probably ask for another piece of meat in the future, unless you want the egg to really be the central flavor. Lightly toasted bun. Added some jam from their selection. Delish.

All in all a great eat for $25.

No stars off for this, and they do have two bathrooms, one of which must be larger since it's handicap accessible. But, I almost feel like a single bathroom might be preferable over making out with a strange wall as I potty, much less wipe. I sure hope they clean that wall at...

On Saturdays, Sterling hosts a market in the middle of town and Emma's is just across the street. We went over and hour prior to close and I was pleasantly surprised by how they surpassed all my expectations: good price, good eating area, ease and efficiency of ordering, polite service, quality of food, and portion control.

First the price. Two meals were $20. I expect to pay double that just about where I go and often will skip eating out just because of how unaffordable it is.

There's inside and outside eating areas. I was really impressed with how well decorated the interior is. I'm a sucker for the patio lights. I wish outside was available..it had rained recently and we didn't bring a towel. It'd be nice if an employee could've wiped down all the chairs and tables.

Ordering is fast and friendly. They give you a number and they come find you. Everyone is very nice and smiles.

The food .. I hate ordering eggs anywhere because they're frequently overcooked. There wasn't a burned egg on the plate. The bacon was cooked perfectly too..see the picture for proper bacon stiffness.

Best of all, the potion was just right I dislike so much to go to a restaurant and see an overwhelming plate of food and then force myself to finish it because I paid for it. People will load you up on potatoes. My plate was manageable and satisfactory.

For all the reasons, we can expect to be somewhat...