All Reviews
Maria Glazman
2 months agoThis place is a mystery. The view is gorgeous and the location is great, but the management makes questionable choices. I recently found out that since November only one person has been working there. Literally one person who doubles as a server and cook. Great dude, but why do this. It makes for terrible service and food. No hiring signs on the front door. The entrance was also icy and I saw multiple people almost slip.
AZAR
3 months agoThe food is very good. Originally started going for breakfast and everything always tastes great and is well prepared. Stopped in for lunch recently and the Cuban sandwich is wow! Excellent and big enough to take home half for dinner. With the new ownership, true chef level expertise and quality is showing up everywhere. Looking forward to what this place will become.
Barbara Sennrich
3 months agoI’ve never had a Cuban sandwich before but have been curious about it ever since I saw the movie ‘Chef’. While I don’t know how it compares to others, I’m glad this was my first one. It was AMAZING! Everything was made from scratch - the bread was freshly baked in-house, perfectly crispy, and all the ingredients were locally sourced. My friend had the Cuban coffee and was equally pleased. Can’t wait to go back for their cinnamon roles!
Lynn Pearce
5 months agoBreakfast was fantastic! The bread was fresh and the sausage was perfectly seasoned. Coffee was fresh, hot, and tasty. Would recommend!
Mikayla Moore
9 months agoAbagail was our server— she was so friendly and a great server. Other worker was helpful aswell, all over great service. The atmosphere was so unique, I loved all the local art on the walls! Also a great view of the lake if you sit by the window. The booths are super uncomfortable though, made it hard to sit there long…if you do go sit in a chair not the booths lol. I would suggest putting in some money to renovating them, only thing keeping this from 5 stars. The food was delicious! Large serving of pancakes and lots of sausage, 4 links! The hashbrowns portion was a bit small but they were still delicious. Corn hash is homemade so I highly recommend! Their iced and hot lattes were also delicious.
Nicole Din
2 years agoOur Server Abigail was very nice and accommodating Toast was amazing, lattes good, frittata was a little dry and would’ve liked a bit more cheese and salmon, pancakes were cakey I wasn’t a huge fan of those, scrambled eggs are good, hash browns good. I would say kinda mid but still happy I checked it out it’s a cute little place Does need a little dusting in the place I do kinda wish I went back to the omelette shop restaurant instead because was the same price I got way better quality of breakfast food
Reba
Edited 8 months agoUpdate as of August 2025: Sadly, I have to update my review. Traverse Bay Cafe has been bought and changed entirely. Came back a couple weeks ago while in town and was excited to get some Cuban bread, their signature French toast, and a cinnamon roll. We should’ve known when there wasn’t a wait to get a table that something was off. The menu options were minimal. “The Standard” came with such a small portion of hash browns it was laughable (come on, potatoes are very cheap….). The food tasted fine but with everything good about this place being eliminated and the menu being rather slim, we won’t be back. The only plus side is that our server was very kind and attentive. I love this place! My boyfriend and I have gone twice now on our annual trips to Traverse City. Despite being understaffed, the service is amazing and the food is too. It is totally worth the (really only slightly longer than normal) wait.
Barb Rice
Edited 3 years agoWhat a fun surprise! We’d seen this little place many times but never stopped in. We went on a Saturday around 1:00. It wasn’t busy (but there was a snowstorm going on outside…). There were three of us, including my 3 year old grandson. No one looked horrified when we brought him in so definitely family friendly. Great and attentive waitress. The food was delicious. I had the Cuban sandwich and gobbled the whole thing down. Everything was served with fresh cut fries that were perfectly seasoned. My grandson had the cinnamon roll (don’t judge, he was quiet!). My daughter, Cuban chicken sandwich. Everything was excellent and priced right. Definitely coming back for some great looking breakfast choices. UPDATE: we went back for breakfast and were not disappointed. Three of us had the frittatas (vegetarian, Italian, and sausage gravy). Crispy hash browns. Delicious. Although the table favorite was the sausage gravy. We got a couple of the cinnamon buns. They were slightly over baked so the crust was a bit tough. But the insides were great. As before, the coffee was noticeably good. Yes, we will definitely be back! Oh, I should note that our waitress was wonderful. Cheerful and attentive.