Sunburst Restaurant

My wife and I went in, sat down on metal folding chairs, waited quite a while to be acknowledged. Nada. The owner/​cook never noticed us. We walked out undetected. Very strange. It was like a funeral in there. Nobody under 70 years of age. Nobody had food either. Twilight zone type vibe.

Fantastic local fair. Nothing fancy but leaves you craving it. Eggs, bacon, dairy, maple syrup are all from local farms and they taste so fresh. Their pancakes are just the right texture (not too flat or too fluffy) and flavor like grandma used to make. Once the staff there gets to know you it’s like you’re one of the family. This place is totally a local’s hangout. Whenever we have out of town guests, we make sure to bring them here, and many of them ask to return every time they come back.

Hosted a breakfast there for my mother’s 70^th birthday. Owner and staff went out of their way to make the day special for my mom– they even bought her flowers! Solid, home cooked food, delicious blueberry muffins, and hard working staff. Just the type of small business we need to support and foster. Thank you for a memorable experience!

Meh. The service was not good. But since the cook/​hostess/​waitress was like my grandmother so her rude demeanor was slightly more bearable. all the food came out at different times. It’s not kid friendly and she took a spoon away from my son because he was making too much noise with it. the food tasted like something your grandmother would make but not in a good way. The chocolate smoothie was delicious but unfortunately that was the only thing we enjoyed.

It feels like you are sitting in a living room: flowery wall paper, fire place… The furniture is not the most comfortable (folding chairs and wobbly wooden tables).
The food is great. It’s like your mom’s cooking. All ingredients are local. Basic dishes, nothing fancy, made right in front of your nose. Love it!

Met my mother in Sturbridge for some early Christmas shopping today. I chose Sunburst after reading some of the reviews on here and I am so glad I did! This is a cute little café, with a «visiting Grandma’s» feel to it. Service was friendly and attentive (lot of refills on coffee!) and the food was delicious, appropriate sized portions and reasonably priced. I am a vegetarian who eats eggs and dairy and there were plenty of options for me. If you are looking for something fancy or with a menu equipped to meet special dietary needs, like gluten free, this is not the place for you. If you are looking for a home cooked meal in a homey environment, then I recommend checking it out. I will go back again.

I wanted to like this place, I really did. There was literally one other person in the place when we went in. The décor is plain tables with folding chairs and it’s quite dirty. I used the bathroom when I was there and I don’t think the bathroom exhaust fan has EVER been cleaned. They didn’t have a gluten free menu, but were accomodating with my requests. I ended up getting 2 eggs over easy, home fries and bacon. The eggs were standard, as was the bacon but the homefries had a really weird taste to them like they were old. DH had a spinach and tomato quiche. The serving was quite small and he said it was average, nothing great. Would we go back? No.

The Sunburst Café could easily be confused for your (not fancy) grandma’s eat-​in kitchen & that’s a good thing.
The menu is straightforward, hearty fare, cooked with love & served with a smile. The regular patrons serve coffee, when the place gets busy, and the overheard conversations are worth the visit, almost on their own.
My son’s oatmeal was a large serving of slow-​cooked Irish oats, with a small pitcher of real maple syrup. My husband’s eggs were perfectly over-​medium and the corned beef hash was tasty (if not inspired). My omelette was crammed full of veggies & large enough to serve two.
I would caution those who are looking for something more generic. The tables are folding-​leg laminate, the chairs are metal folding with cushions on the seats, the cups are paper, the napkins are the kind that come in packs-of-1,000 at Costco. But the food is homemade & reasonably priced, the ambience is friendly & community-​popular, and you can pay with cash or a personal check.

Favorite breakfast and lunch place since I was a kid. Can’t go wrong with the egg salad sandwich.

Breakfast at the Sunburst… Unfortunately there were no flashes of brilliance at the Sunburst today. It was the downstairs living room of a house, but uncomfortable. The kitchen was just that, a house kitchen. A place clearly ill equipped to cook food for groups of people. I was part of a large party, waited about 50 minutes for our food and the meals trickled out one at a time.
In the end, the food turned out to be pretty solid. The bacon was hearty and crispy, the eggs and home– fries were tasty. Additionally, people agreed, the toast was very good. The ladies working there were very nice. I am sure if you are a local, it would be a nice place to frequent, because you are literally getting a home cooked meal.

Just inside the front door to this as-​country-​as-​they-​come breakfast spot is a list of the local farms Sunburst supports, so we were won over pretty quickly. This is the sort of restaurant that you are in deep gratitude of finding when you’ve been stuck in the middle of nowhere eating white flour, cheese, and iceberg lettuce (aka, the only non-​meat foods around) for days.
I had oatmeal with yogurt and fruit, and my newlywed spouse had a breakfast sandwich. Even the bacon on it was from a local farm! The wait was a bit long, but given that you could see the one woman in the kitchen making everyone’s food, it was quite forgivable. Service was a touch slow as well, given that there was only one woman taking on the entire place, but she was sweet and friendly. We were won over by touches like the cute sayings on the bathroom wall and the perfectly-​ripe local fruit. Sunburst is an adorable café in a town I have every plan on never returning to.

I usually appreciate a family restaurant and a home-​cooked meal, but this was like visiting a relative’s house that you don’t enjoy going to.
Upon arrival, we were politely greeted. It was all downhill from there. The place was empty except for two ladies sitting together. We asked for some water which came quickly. I ordered coffee that took so long to come, we thought ther server forgot. When it finally arrived, it tasted pretty bad. I ordered the egg sandwich and the butternut squash bisque. My friend ordered an omelet.
A party of one and a party of two came in while we were waiting. The wait started to feel long and we noticed the party of two did not place their order even though they were sitting for a long time. One of the guests actually had to go remind the server they were there.
There was a child or grandchild of a worker going in an out of the door. Then he started crying and whining. We heard his name repeatedly as he was being talked to. There was also a guy who either worked there or was a family member talking and he sounded aggitated. Then he left.
Our food came a good 40 minutes after ordering. My breakfast sandwich was OK. The bisque had good flavor, but was watery. My friend’s omelet was way overdone. The server noticed and said if it was too well done, they would make another. My friend said she would take it only because we had waited so long and had enough of the drama. We wanted to get out as fast as we could.
I used the bathroom before leaving, and a woman was cooking over the stove with one hand while holding the boy on her waist with the other hand.
We left there wishing we could have a do over and and go someplace else.

Love this place — especially for the non-​greasy homemade breakfasts including special muffins and great quiche