Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Rogan's Bakery & Restaurant in Exeter

Since we are so busy during the week, my wife and I look forward to enjoying a delicious breakfast on the weekends. We are regulars at a number of places and like to find something new every now and then which brings us to our next review, Rogan's Bakery and Restaurant in Exeter. Located on Portsmouth Avenue and in business for over 20 years it took us a long time to sample this one.




At first glance of the industrial looking façade, you may take a pause and wonder about the restaurant. We thought we had turned into a car repair shop but then realized that we were indeed at our destination.



Certainly looking nothing like a restaurant, I walked up to a side door and pulled on the knob, nothing happened. Okay, this is not the right door. You need to walk around to the front and you will find the entrance. On the left is the main dining room and to the right a general seating/waiting area.

Per usual we checked out their menu that includes most of the basic breakfast items. They also have their own bakery and we were very tempted by their homemade grilled pumpkin bread but took a pass on this trip.

I chose the stuffed French toast.



My vision of stuffed French toast is a 1/2 inch to 3/4 of an inch of sugary cream cheese between two pieces of French toast along with a strawberry sauce on top. They almost got it right but unfortunately the middle layer was just a small spread and nothing more. Don't get me wrong, the flavor was very good but it could have been better.

My wife had the Bakeshop Benedict which was made with a twist.



Instead of the traditional grilled English muffin, the corned beef hash is served over grilled homemade cornbread. It was delicious according to my wife and she would order it again.

While the food was tasty, the visit was marred by the poor service from our waitress. She didn’t speak at all. She arrived at our table without a smile or a hello and stood there which we took as our signal to order. She never asked how anything was or if we needed anything. In fact, when she dropped off the bill, she threw it on the table and walked away. She seemed to be just going through the motions albeit poorly. We hope this was just someone having a bad day but either way it is not acceptable.

Overall we liked Rogan’s and plan to return. The outside is a little deceiving and could use some spiffing up. But we say that their customers will not care as long as the food is delicious and servers make patrons feel that they are welcome in the restaurant.