123 Union Sq
Milford, NH 03055-4231


Average Overall Rating:

(5 out of 5)

Average Coffee Refill Rating:

(3 out of 5)

(2 out of 5)

Review by: mericson on 2/12/2011

Overall Rating:

Coffee Refill Rating:

Expense Rating:

I had thought I would never have a breakfast that exceeded some of our favorites around the country like Ruth's Diner in Utah, Cat's Paw in Bar Harbor Maine, L'Auberge De Sedona in Arizona, or Bette's Ocean View Diner in Berkeley, CA. However today, unexpectedly in small nearby Milford NH our family had our best breakfast ever (and we have had some great ones).

We love the many local ingredients including NH syrup from our favorite Ben's sugar shack. One of our our favorite local touches is the option to upgrade your eggs to local farm fresh organic eggs! An additional nice touch is three choices of coffee, the cheapest "cup o'joe", and locally roasted house blend or daily special coffee.

Our first time at this restaurant, we ordered four very different breakfast options. The country-friend steak, the southwestern eggs benedict, the apple oven pancake, and the buttermilk pancake stack. Uniquely, ever item we ordered was absolutely great.

The buttermilk pancakes, were big and fluffy and cooked perfectly (unlike some other NH 'barn' pancake restaurants we know). The pancakes were good, but seemed rather plain in comparison to the other dishes we ordered.

The apple oven pancake was quite good, not as big or the same as an original pancake house oven apple pancake. We tend to like the more eggy/custardy oven pancake, but this one was still quite excellent. It was more reminiscent of a very large apple-Cinnamon roll on a plate. It was nice it wasn't over sugared (as OPH's are) and not overcooked / burned as sometimes oven pancakes can be.

The southern-friend steak was incredible. I have never had a breakfast steak as good as this, it was a nice thin piece of real steak (not cube-steak) battered in a simple egg wash, and apparently grilled rather than deep-fried. It was a nice touch, remenescent of a veal cutlets. I liked the tender coating over the typical crunchy deep-fried chicken-friend steaks you might find. The pièce de résistance though had to be the incredible sausage gravy, it was absolutely perfect, I never thought I would find sausage gravy at a restaurant nearly as good as my wife's, and this was nearly as good. The only thing possible improvement might have been a side of additional gravy to go with the mile-high biscuit served with the steak, or perhaps some tasty jams to slather on the biscuit.

I saved the best for last... the southwestern eggs benedict. Indescribeable, heavenly... one bite was ecstasy. My wife's words were, my only complaint is I couldn't eat more! This beautiful and tasty dish was constructed on a base of cheddar-jalepeno biscuits, that were light, fluffy and at least 3 or 4" high. We aren't talking split biscuits here, but two full biscuits layered high. On top of the flavorful, probably best biscuits we ever had, was thinly shave country ham, I've rarely encountered this American alternative to proscuitto. Over the country ham was a perfectly poached locally fresh organic egg. And, then... oh, then... fantastic obviously fresh-made, perfect consistency and flavor hollandaise. It was obvious that it was freshly hand-made given the way it 'broke' as we ate it. We are so tired of lousy hollandaise, it was a treat to find the real thing again. (too bad it was a special, not a regular item)

Our service was friendly and good, but did have to ask for more coffee and cream. Had a fun time joking with the chef/owner when he saw us taking pictures. Did I mention, not only was the food great, but it was so picture perfect we had to take photographs, and the warm hospitality of the family ownership was very welcome.


(psst... don't tell their owners, but I was quite amazed at how reasonable and fairly priced their excellent food is)

My advice, walk right past the nearby popular/famous Red Arrow Diner with their greasy-spoon food, and go to the reasonably priced, phenomenal food at The Riverhouse Cafe (but save us a place in line won't you?) And, while you are there, why not try some chocolate covered bacon!

Award Nomination: Best Breakfast Ever

Review #22009


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Reviews submitted here are meant to pertain to breakfast only. While Mr Breakfast cannot vouch for the validity of each restaurant review, he feels pretty good vouching for the excellent character of the residents of Milford, New Hampshire - who are primarily responsible for the review(s) you see above for The Riverhouse Cafe.