Sunprint On The Square

It was our first time going there! We weren’t there during busy hours, which was a bless. (Oh who wants to wait in line for an hour…) The place was nicely decorated, and food was delicious! We liked the omelette and the pancakes a lot. The expresso latte was just about right. I was surprised that there is a real coffee shop inside the café because brunch places don’t normally have expresso drinks…(they have soy milk and almond milk too for folks like me who are lactose intolerant). Chicken pesto sandwich was just so so… but thats because my boyfriend’s dad is amazing at making pesto sauce so we kinda have high standards.

I’ve gone back to this place a bunch more, and feel like it’s more deserving of a 3-​star rating.
I feel like 50% of the meals I’ve eaten at Sunprint have been satisfying, and the other half pretty mediocre. I had a chicken wrap a couple months ago that was terrible. The Tuna Melt I just ate was weird, containing boiled eggs and pickles. I like my tuna salad a little less complicated than that: Good quality tuna and mayo. I cringe when I order a tuna melt and see that it’s been made with average canned tuna. At least give me albacore! And whenever I order the roasted potatoes as a side, they are not very good. They have the taste and texture of something that’s been sitting under a heating lamp. I’ve had their tabouli a few times, most recently it hasn’t been very good.
I’ve given them several opportunities to make me a good chai latte, but they have failed every single time.
I think what Sunprint does well is breakfast food. Omelets on a few occasions have been really tasty.
Another Unilocaler recently called the food here unremarkable, and I think that’s fairly accurate. What I once hoped would be my go-​to lunch spot is actually quite mediocre. Not terrible, but very hit-​or-​miss.

I have walked past the Sunprint café for weeks now and for some reason never pushed through the door. But this week I ventured in for brunch and was pleasantly surprised to find a bright, seat yourself dining room that had vast amounts of space. I didn’t even see the additional back room initially and it can clearly accommodate a huge number of people, as well.
On top of the numerous regular brunch options that looked great, they always have a few brunch specials that are definitely worth getting. I had the grilled salmon brunch special with two over medium eggs, fresh fruit and some of the best wheat toast I’ve ever had. The portions are large so you should definitely come hungry but it is so delicious you’ll end up eating it all. And you can’t forget to add some of their orange marmalade to the toast, I don’t even like jelly and I found myself putting some on every slice of toast I had. I will certainly be back to try their breakfast sandwiches and omelettes that my friends said were just as wonderful.
The only reason I didn’t give this five stars was because of the slow service at the front desk. I am not sure if the person there was slow or the register was what was taking up so much time but I certainly felt like I had to wait a much lengthier amount of time than necessary.

Unremarkable space & food. Brunch was good but I have no burning desire to go back.
You order at the counter, server brings food to you and clears your table. Ticket times were longer than I expected as it was busy but not 100% occupied as many 4 tops were occupied by solo laptop users.
I ordered the Mary’s omelette (bacon, cheese, mushroom, spinach), which comes with potatoes & toast. Omelette had a good ratio of egg to fillings, interior bacon was appropriately crisp. The potatoes are a disappointment as they cut the potato slices way too large (imagine a medium potato cut into quarters), without much seasoning. Therefore, you get a large bite of interior potato without much crispy exterior, and the potato inside is burning hot and requires a lot of cool down time. The house jam (some sort of berry?) is very good. Bottomless coffee is by Just Coffee co-​op, with 2 regular coffees and 1 decaf option.
The interior is set up a bit like a cafeteria in terms of floor tiling, beverages (fill soda/​coffee/​water). Free wi-​fi available and bathrooms are clean and nicely appointed.
In retrospect, the omelette was tasty but the entire experience didn’t thrill me.

Amazing experience on a Saturday morning. I came here with two other girls, and we just had a blast. We ordered the bloody mary and iced coffee (friend ordered coffee with caramel, which was much better than my hazelnut). I also ordered the egg combination and the egg sandwich on a bagel. It was all amazing, and my whole meal (with the drinks) was less than $ 20. My friend ordered French toast which looked pretty tasty also, and other friend ordered a custom omelette which she claims was also pretty good.
Best part? The homemade jam. Amazing, just amazing! We finished a whole jar of blueberry jam, and we asked the server if we would buy some (that’s how good it is, no exaggeration). I’m planning on returning on Thursday to buy a jar. Yum, I can’t stop thinking about it.
The environment was very open and so friendly. And I understand this is a weird thing to review, but the bathrooms are very nice. I wasn’t expecting a crappy bathroom, but I was so pleasantly surprised.
My only complaint would be that I did not enjoy the potatoes that came with my egg combination. I will probably ask for a substitute in the future, so it wasn’t a deal breaker for me. Overall, I really enjoyed it here! A great experience, and very good food, for little cost. That’s a breakfast I enjoy any day.

I ordered the salmon and eggs special from the New Year’s Day menu. The salmon was flavorful and pulled apart nicely; it wasn’t overcooked and dry. The price, under $ 10, was reasonable. The staff was attentive and ensured we were satisfied with our orders. Bottomless cup of Just Coffee was self-​serve.

Overall, I was not impressed with my experience at Sunprint. I walked in and the man behind the counter took his time getting through each order in an unprofessional and unmotivated manner. If you don’t want to be here, why should I? Zero enthusiasm when he was interacting with me.
While the space was clean and presentable, it was rather boring and seating was limited for any party over 4. I debated ordering a glass of orange juice but when I saw the man pouring a glass of it from a generic-​brand carton at a price comparable to fresh-​squeezed at another joint, I immediately changed my mind.
I ordered my waffle with whipped cream and strawberries and took my seat at a table. The syrup container was on the table, cold and sticky. My waffle came looking decent. However, after I poured the syrup on my waffle and took a bite, I was COMPLETELY disappointed. Zero flavor in the actual waffle and the whipped cream tasted straight out of a can. I could’ve made a better product at home for under half the price.
A breakfast place without fresh-​squeezed juice and warm syrup? Are you kidding me? 2 stars because the place at least looked ok.

Sunprint holds a special place in my heart. It has the feel of a high-​end cafeteria, but I mean this in the nicest way. The atmosphere is laid back and casual, and the food is better than one would expect.
You’d think that standing in a line to order your food, getting a number assigned to you, and grabbing your own cup of coffee would mean that the food would be subpar, but it is far from it! They use fresh, local ingredients and they serve Just Coffee!
The staff is friendly and the service is fast. This is my go-​to spot for breakfast. Try the breakfast burrito, breakfast sandwich, or the waffles with whipped cream/​strawberries!

My wife and I come here almost on a weekly basis during the farmers market for breakfast. The food and coffee is low cost and tastes great. We’ve only eaten here for breakfast so I can’t vouch for their lunch menu. Also, service is quite quick and often we will have our meal in about 10 minutes from the time of ordering. I would highly recommend giving this place a shot!

Went in after the Farmer’s Market last Saturday. The food was good but the employees were obviously not happy to see our kids there. We ordered a hot cocoa for my daughter which was entirely too hot (steaming). I approached the counter and explained that the drink was meant for my six year old and that it was too hot. He kind of argued with me about it and offered to put in ice cubes. I told him that ice cubes wouldn’t help, could you add some cold milk? Luckily the small woman behind the counter jumped in to help. The hot cocoa ended diluted and warm with ice cubes. Not the best service. Not sure that we will go there again with the kids. Great place otherwise.

We went back for breakfast at their new location, and our experience was much better. Good food, skillfully prepared.

I had heard a lot of great things about this place and today I decided to try it out. The restaurant is bright, cute and chic. The staff was friendly and even though I ordered to go, they chatted with me while I waited for my food. I got a Santa Fe salad and it was very tasty. It had grilled veggies, chicken, avocado and salsa and salad. It was flavorful and pretty. Perfect for the first real spring day of 2014!

Note to everyone everywhere attempting to cook tofu:
SPICES.
It’s a tricky ingredient to master, but if you’re putting it on your menu you should have something tasty to back it up. Sunprint’s scramble = large chunks of flavorless tofu with a few veggies mixed in. The potatoes are dry and lacking. I maintain that the place is worthy of 3 stars because I like the bright new space and I’m willing to go back and give it another try. Overall, I wasn’t impressed.

I frequent this place during the morning weekdays. I stop in for the «Breakfast Special.» If I recall correctly it is priced at 3.95. Super cheap. You get two scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes, and two toasts. I enjoy the seasonal cherry and strawberry jams that they offer. Delicious! I honestly find this to be a very satisfying breakfast that keeps me coming back every week. I also tried their cake frosting coffee which was very good! I love how the sun beams in the morning and it really does give me a sun-​roomish feel. May go back tomorrow morning because writing about the breakfast is making me crave it again!

The food has never been impressive during my visits. Their specials seem odd to me most days and like other reviews have mentioned; the combos clash.
It’s pretty bland and they have no edge compared to other local options.
Most importantly, I hate their outdoor furniture. I have hit my hand many times promenading down mifflin because their metal area sticks out so far. I’m not gonna view you favorably if my hand feels depressed.

Not the best place in Madison by far, but Sunprint had decent healthy food. I had the veg sandwich… it had way too much bread :-/​Salads were ok, but nothing great. The BF had the cuban, which wasn’t great either.
In no way was the food bad, it just wasn’t somewhere I would to twice while on vacation…

I like the new location. I have only tried the coffee & pastries so far but both are still excellent. Monkey Bread, mmm. The new space has a nice café feel that looks suitable for just relaxing, lunch or a meeting (they still have meeting space).

3 different vegan tofu scrambles — that aren’t really scrambles — instead, cubes of tofu with about a tablespoon of overcooked veggies. Pretty flavorless. But if you must get one of them, get the florentine as the oregano adds a little bit of punch.
Roasted potatoes — bland.
Tabouli (vegan) — that isn’t really tabouli — no parsley. Not what I expected.
Fruit salad — mostly melons, which I like, but most people wouldn’t.
Coffee was good.
Since there aren’t any other vegan breakfast options in the neighborhood immediately around the capitol square, they deserve 3 stars. In LA, they’d be 2. If you can make your way to Monty’s Blue Plate Diner a couple miles away, you’ll find better fare.

This is an update from my 3÷19÷13 review of Sunprint’s old space. After it was posted, Susan, the owner, wrote to me to invite me to check out their new space on Mifflin, promising that they had addressed a lot of the problems I mentioned.
I’m happy to say, she was absolutely correct. Gone is the dropped ceiling, meeting room vibe and it’s replaced with sassy French bistro style. Pleasant big-​band music pumps through the speakers, and there’s now a patio in front and a back bar area for socializing.
Though they may be sad there’s no longer a line out the door (nearby Alterra took care of that for them), I’m delighted. The new POS system makes ordering zip along and you are given a number so a server would bring food to your table (unlike the last place where you had to loom and hover to hear your name called). It didn’t seem like an unreasonable length of time for my turkey sandwich to come up, either.
I haven’t sample a huge array of the updated menu, but true to Susan’s pledge they now offer a variety of side options other than roast potatoes. The salad bar is still a deal and has a wide variety of options. I understand they are also open for dinner, but I haven’t checked that out yet, though the sandwich board advertised roast duck one evening I walked by. I’ll also give bonus points for using locally sourced meat and produce, though admittedly they always have.
If this were my first review, I’d give 4 stars. With so many great, similarly priced options on the Square, Sunprint’s food and value doesn’t exactly match it neighbors, though it’s certainly fine (I haven’t had the guts to try the soup again, though). Previously, my main complaint was that everything there seemed so lazy: the menu, the décor, the staff, even the guests. But they appear to have addressed almost all of these problems. How often does that happen? A+ for effort, Sunprint!

Pro’s:
Good variety including vegetarian food, so everyone in a group can find something that works.
Lemons are provided for water (that’s worth a star right there, for me)
Sunny, pleasant décor.
Enough space between tables that you can have a private political conversation with colleagues or a juicy dirt session with the girls.
Quiche du jour! And I’m almost always in the mood for that.
Cons:
Quiche is almost always full of meat, so no quiche for you, vegetarians.
The soup and sandwich special only gives you the choice of one type of sandwich each day. So when I ordered the vegan soup, my only sandwich option was roast beef. There is something wrong with this picture.
The roasted veggie roll up I had on my last visit was filled with tough, veiny lettuce. Who wants lettuce paired with roasted Mediterranean veggies? I thought it was an odd choice in the first place, made worse by the fact that the lettuce wasn’t edible.
That said, they have done better in the past and I will keep it in my rotation. Their star is really breakfast. If they served past 11, I would be here much more often.