The Summer Kitchen

They have great soups and pretty good Mexican food.  However the service and pricing is what led me to give them 2 stars.  They are completely understaffed when I went in for a mid-week lunch.  I think there was just one guy running around and he was doing his best but it was slow.  Also if you want to split a meal and get the soup you have to pay $5.95 and only get one small cup of soup.  Seriously...it can't be that expensive.  Even with a full meal you only get a cup of soup...lame, I wanted to try a couple but wasn't allowed to.  You can't call it a soup bar and only get one trip.

We come back to Door County every year for four days and we always come for breakfast. Sometimes even twice during out stay. My favorite is the breakfast burrito. Every year we get great service and great food.

This is one of my favorite lunch spots in Door County. I admit, it's a little overpriced -- they increased the prices again, so you'll pay upwards of $12 for a cup of soup and a (large) sandwich with fruit on the side. However, I like the atmosphere, the service is usually good, and the food is creative and tasty.

I usually get something called the "baby boomer veggie club," which is three slices of wheat bread with cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, creamy herb dressing and sunflower seeds. The herb dressing and sunflower seeds really make this sandwich unique. When you place your order, you are given a cup to go up to the soup bar and choose your soup. There are usually 5-6 soups to choose from; I often get the chicken dumpling, which is very good and has tender chunks of chicken. If you don't want to order a sandwich, salad or entree, you can simply order unlimited trips to the soup bar (there's freshly baked bread up there, as well) and sample all of the soups.

You can dine indoors or outside here, but no matter where you sit, you feel as though you're in the middle of a garden. There's also kind of a vintage/cottage feel to the place. That's one of the draws of this restaurant -- it's very pleasant. The bathroom is tiny and could be better, but the restaurant itself is liking going to a tea party in your grandmother's garden. In fact, if you were going to take your grandmother to lunch, this would be the perfect place.

Other than being kind of overpriced, and not the greatest place to go on a day when the temperatures are in the 90s (this place doesn't really have air conditioning), the Summer Kitchen is a terrific place for breakfast or lunch. It's conveniently located right on Route 42 across from the Red Barn shops. There's plenty of parking.