The Shaker Cafe
31 Main Street
Flemington, NJ 08822
908-782-6610
Menu: Lunch and breakfast sandwiches, salads, typical
Atmosphere: Eclectic, laid back
Atmosphere: Eclectic, laid back
Kid Friendly: Sure
Prices: Fair
Shake what your mama gave you! The Shaker Cafe in Flemington sits in the spot the Bagelsmith occupied for years. What happened to the Bagelsmith? I have no idea. I don't even know if there was anything that occupied this space between the two. Hey what can I say I moved out of the area years ago, but I do come back to visit, and over Thanksgiving my parents took me to the Shaker Cafe.
When I walked into the cafe the first thing I thought was, "This lady looks like she collected stuff for years and instead of succumbing to being cast on the show hoarders she opened a restaurant to stick it all her junk in." The decor is extremely eclectic. All the best items you could find at a garage sale. This place is my husband's knick knack nightmare, but it does give the place some character, and makes the atmosphere a little more interesting.
The Shaker Cafe serves Breakfast and Lunch Monday thru Friday, and just breakfast Sundays. Their menu is basic, hot and cold sandwiches and salads with daily specials. I am not saying this is a bad thing, just is what the menu is, and basic food done well, makes for a good place.
This visit I got the Tuna Melt. It was a normal portion and came with chips and a pickle. It was good, but I could have made it better at home.
When we ordered our food a unique twist is the counter gave us an animal to put on our table. We got a giraffe. When our order was ready they delivered our food to us. They also cleared our plates as they saw we were done, so I guess this makes it semi-full service. We had to pick our own table.
An interesting thing about the Shaker Cafe, is the name. My parents told me the woman who owns the cafe, collected salt and pepper shakers for years. If you know my parents, they could have made this story up, but the shakers on the tables were all unique which makes me believe they were probably telling me the truth this time.
So my impression of the Shaker Cafe? Well if I worked in the area, I would probably hit it up for lunch once in a while. The food was decent, prices aren't too bad, and there is a lot to look at in there, but I am not so sure about the service. The woman at the counter was nice enough but the woman who cleared our table got competely bent out of shape when my mother said she wasn't done with the napkin she cleared. When I say bent, she was noticeably irritated, it was a bit ridiculous. I also think the collection of shakers may dwindle the longer the place is opened. People used to steal the crappy shakers we had in Fuddruckers. I can't imagine them resisting the little elf heads, Amish couple or frogs!
My last bit of advice for the Shaker Cafe? Update your website! There is a link for events and the last one listed is from March 14th? The "About Us" link has a plug for personal chef services under the title Our History. It is all very confusing. Honestly this place makes me want to call my friends the Grieshabers and ask them why they are waiting to open their own place? Hopefully they read this, What are you guys waiting for????
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