45th Parallel Cafe

I always see so many cars outside so I thought I’d check the place out. I’m a little disappointed. The manager is brusque, not sure if he was having a bad day. He wasn’t very friendly at all and directly turned me off.
I ordered blueberry pancakes. They’re big, but mediocre. Not worth the amount of money I paid for them.
I could constantly hear the manager’s conversation with his staff. He referred to his sweet customers dismissively as «old people» and made generalizations.
I don’t think I’m coming back. Should have gone to the other café in town.

Good breakfast, not great

This message is for the owner:
1 7:30am, snow on the ground, 38 degrees — windows open all fans ablaze!
2. Waitress attitude SNARKY!
2. Response to turn fans down — no reply (non caring).
4. For this a walk out of four paying customers with no future business for ZIP!

Great cozy spot for lunch! Their portobellos and chicken quesadilla is wonderful! We visited here two years ago and the food is still great two years later.

The oatmeal is quite possibly the best we have ever had. A great mix of oats, grains, almonds and dried cherries, with a light sprinkling of brown sugar. Your choice if you want cream or milk on the side. The cherry chocolate chip pancakes were also a hit with the family. Other egg dishes all were delicious, fresh, and quickly served.

I would love to have written a review of this charming looking restaurant and candy shop but the hostess was so full of attitude and such a foul person we simply left and went across the street to the Blue Lotus Café.

We had no idea where to stop but we were hungry and had got up from camping. We stopped here and gave it a try. Ordered us each greek omlettes with gyro meat added. This was one of the best omlettes of my life!!! The wheat toast was homemade and realy thick and good. We were offered an outdoor seat in the corner. It was absolutely incredible. What a morning and what a breakfast. Our server was realy genuine and the food was out in no time (less than 5 min from the time we ordered). If you go, check out the restrooms. You just go into the backroom, through a series of doors into an old converted 1950s doctors office hallway and the down some halls through some more doors and corners and there you are. I left bread crumbs in a trail so I would be able to find my way back. This is a place worth stopping. Do what we did… greek omlette baby, wheat toast, black coffee. We will make this a for sure stop ever time I’m in the area for the same food, same seat.

Great food! Stopped for a late lunch after biking on the Leelanau Trail. I had the big breakfast burrito and it was yummmmy! The waitress and other staff were very nice and friendly.
Overall, a great experience and would recommend it!

Totally average place. We visit Suttons Bay twice a year and I know better to visit this place but since Martha’s wasn’t open and my kid was hungry we came here. The food is ok at best. DO NOT fall for the Morrell Mushroom Omelette! …at $ 15 it’s not acceptable for half the bites to not have mushrooms. The omelette was also very small and tough. However they have a great location and I imagine the business rests on that.

I wish I could give it more stars because what I had for breakfast (the Thompson) was delicious, but I cannot.
Needless to say, the service was less than outstanding. They would not let us sit outside because the few tables that were unoccupied needed to be saved for the larger parties. Fine. So we sat inside and ordered. It seemed to take awhile and when we did get our food, my husband had some nasty items on his bacon. He asked for some new pieces and it was virtually the same. At that point, we were more than fed up.
Great food for me, terrible service. And to top it off, the young lady who took our money had an issue accepting our change because she already put it in the register. She was confused when we said we have the change and need a dollar back. Needless to say, we won’t be back.

Bummer — we were directed to seat ourselves with a wave of the hostess’ hand. Soon she came up and insisted we move to a table for 2. The 2-​seat tables were jammed in near the drink station, etc. I told her we wouldn’t stay unless we had a comfortable table. She shrugged, we departed. I actually had the menu in hand when this all went down. Oh well…

The food at the café was great! The best part was walking through the candy store whicjh is attached. What a great selection of unique and delicious candies and chocolate. My wife and kids had an extremely difficult time choosing which fudge to take home with us. All of it was so good we walked out with 7.5 lbs of fudge. Our favorites were the caramel chocolate and the dark chocolate with cherries. The staff was very friendly abd helpful.

I want to much to give 45^th Parallel more stars, but I truly just cannot, it would be untrue.
Four of us came here for breakfast one morning and everything started out just fine; we were greeted, seated, and given water. While we were browsing our menus, we were asked to move to another table which honestly was fine, but pretty unprofessional considering we were settled in. Our waitress seemed extremely young, maybe too young even? She took our drink orders and brought everything to us properly, but my coffee mug had prevalent lipstick stains on it. It wasn’t the nicest surprise. I pointed it out, and she exchanged it for me without a word. Just a kind tip: smiling or just saying «Oh, I apologize for that, let me get you a new coffee» would be much better than a glare and quiet turn away.
We waited very long for our food; about 40 minutes. This was where I decided that the service needed some serious fine tuning. We were patient and felt that since the workers were so young that maybe they just started or something. We gave them the benefit of the doubt.
The food was good– the best part of our experience. Everybody was happy with their meals. So, in the end, had the service been a bit more upbeat and professional, we agreed we would have come back in the future. Sadly, we will likely go elsewhere next time.

We just had lunch there. Got a waffle. Was good, but had to pay an upcharge of $ 1.50 for REAL maple syrup! Used the bathroom after lunch. Had I seen the bathroom before lunch, I would have walked out. That was the dirtiest bathroom I have ever seen!

Awesome breakfast. I am very picky about my eggs and bacon. The hash brown potatoes were favored and delicious. The bread was whole wheat from Traverse City bread company. The bacon… BACON…was delicious. I’m ready to go back and order a plate of bacon. My spouse also had a great meal. This is my new favorite breakfast restaurant. For quantity it’s Spartys, for French breakfast Amis Passororia, for quality and quantity it’s the 45^th Parelell.

This was the best accidental finds during my recent trip to Traverse City. We were looking for a good brunch place to visit before leaving town, and 45^th Parallel was very much beyond our expectations. So many things on the menu looked so good, but I decided to go with the Bridgett’s Quesadilla, and I have zero regrets. Here’s the description — «Sautéed Portobello mushrooms, grilled chicken, onion, baby spinach and salsa. Served on flour tortilla, finished with fontinella and Monterey Jack cheese and sour cream with tortilla chips.» You can’t go wrong, and it didn’t. They’re not kidding about this being a meal. I couldn’t even finish it. Everyone in my party that tried it admitted they were a little jealous. It had a good amount of all of the ingredients, they didn’t skimp on anything. It was completely delightful and I would recommend it to anyone. The décor is very cozy and not stuffy. The best part of 45^th Parallel is that it’s connected to the Candy Store. It’s brilliant. You go to the café and have an unbelievable meal, then you go into the Candy Store to buy all sorts of old style and new candies, chocolate, truffles, and fudge. Well played, 45^th Parallel!

Based on the fact we never received our food before we gave up and walked out, I cannot recommend this café. Waited about 30 minutes for a table after being told 10 – 15 minutes. Ok no big deal, it was lunchtime. But then we ordered. We noticed no one else was getting food. We waited. Nothing coming out of the kitchen. An hour later we walked out. The table next to us also walked out. Food sounded good but not worth the aggravated wait. Won’t go back.

We went here on a whim as we were out wine tasting. As my wife jumped out to check the menu, a woman who was exiting took a couple of minutes to tell my wife how great the place was and even highlighted a couple menu items. Good sign. Even though they seem to be known for breakfast, they have a decent lunch menu as well.
We were seated pretty quickly and waited on immediately. I ordered the tomato basil soup in a bread bowl and the BLT. My wife ordered the quesadilla. We were both impressed at how fresh everything was, and how everything seemed scratch made. Just a good place to stop for homemade, down home cooking.

A great breakfast joint with decent choices, and nothing that is going to knock your socks off, yet, somehow we love it and keep coming back. The coffee is terrible, so I recommend getting a latte over at Frida’s across the street and bringing it in (if you are sitting outside). People are friendly, service is fast, and in the summer, it’s fun to sit outside, read the paper, and watch the world zip by.
When you’re done, you can pop into the candy store next door and buy some nostalgic treats.

Food is fine. Not bad, not good. The outdoor seating is a plus. I’ve eaten here twice. First time was pretty decent. Second time, service was unbelievably bad, mainly the host. Estimated time to seating: 5 – 10 minutes. Actual time: 30. You know how it goes… you’ve put in 15 minutes, you gonna leave now? Host keeps promising 5 minute more. Once sat, we waited over an hour from order to food.
Please, don’t seat more people than the kitchen can handle.
Won’t ever be back.