On the Road Again: Canterbury Garden Cafe in Fennimore, WI

On the Road Again:  Reviews and notes from our group travels outside Madison.  Always within driving distance!

Short Summary:  The cutest little tea house and cafe along the Mississippi River!

Location:  1080 9th St., Fennimore, WI
Website:  http://www.canterburycafeandrosegardenflorist.com/

Fennimore, for those that don't know, is a little town about a little more than an hour west of Madison as the Google flies.  We stopped there purely by chance on our way to an Iowa bed and breakfast -- clearly there's a god that looks after travelers and restaurant reviewers.

The Canterbury Garden Cafe is just a block off the main drag as you take Highway 18 through town.  It's conveniently marked with an old hand-painted sign on 18 advertising a "Victorian Cafe - 1 Block" or something like that, and it's well worth stopping for.

The restaurant (and gift shop, and ice cream parlor, and florist, and maybe some other business ventures wedged in there too?) is housed in a massive old Victorian house.  Each of the three or four little dining areas has its own decorative theme; we sat in the airplane room with a view out over the front porch.  Tables are laid in fine restaurant style -- multiple spoons and forks, crystal glasses; heavy brocade tablecloths in rich colors.  The owner/operator (who chats with all her guests) has years of restaurant experience and it shows everywhere.

Food is exceptional and, for Madisonians, fantastically priced.  For about $10 a head we got massive croissant sandwiches in varying kinds (the country fried steak sandwich was out of this world), bottomless cups of the tea/coffee of the day, soup, potato salad, green salad, apple slices drizzled in caramel, and a dainty little scoop of Chocolate Shoppe ice cream garnished with mint for dessert.

Wow.

Throw in very personalized service (including hot hand towels before and after, and an owner who gave us a couple of her farm-fresh apples for trail snacks when we mentioned that we were hiking that afternoon) and you've got a must-stop treat for anyone traveling along US-18 through Fennimore.  Or maybe make the town and it's toy and doll museum your destination for a day trip?  Up to you -- but stop at the Canterbury Garden Cafe.  We were floored.