Scone House Café ,0S050 North Winfield Road, Winfield 60190 (630.854.3730). Pastries $3.25; savory $3.75; seasonal flavors $3.25.

It is a chilly Tuesday morning in September and you were not able to have a cup of coffee before you left the house. Driving past the old Gnarly Knots, and the many new and modern apartments, you then pass Scone House Café and remember that the Wildcat Chronicle has an article commending the food and service of that establishment. And so, like Carlos and Anthony, you pop in.

Walking into the Scone House Café on a warm Saturday morning, the fact it is a new establishment is obvious. The décor was simplistic, and looked somewhat thrown together. After opening in 2017 and recently moving to Winfield, it is no surprise they do not have a lot of decoration. From the start, it was evident they were so busy focusing on their customers and not decorating. The smell of scones baking in the back winds its way through the restaurant and out to the parking lot, perhaps because the sheer amount of people lined up out the door. 

The café has many pre-made scones set out in display cases, so the first half of the line passed through the restaurant quickly, but as soon as the stock of sought-after pastries ran out, the wait became a slow drag. Waiting, however, is not a bad thing: it can be hard to remember that this place is still new and needs to learn how to run most efficiently.

The Scone House Café can be described as a bustling yet quiet place. When these two reporters arrived,  it was still early in the morning. Almost every customer had mutual respect for one another. This was evident by the silence and the tranquil feel of the place although the café was very crowded.

Scone House Café was started as a one woman with an idea to create a restaurant centered around “scones baked with love”. The owner went to Kendall Culinary School for her degree, then worked the farmer’s market circuit for several years under the name Sweet Sensations. . The brick-and-mortar café opened for breakfast and lunch on March 25, and their current hours are 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The service was more enjoyable than we thought it was going to be. Knowing that there was a large volume of customers – as well as many new hires – the management was ready and willing to help out with any job. The manager, who was  dealing with customers and training new hires at the same time, was able to remain professional and upbeat. The line moved relatively fast considering how many people were there on a Saturday morning, and the time that it took to check out was much faster than expected. It took 10 minutes to check out and receive the food, even though when we entered the queue, it was out the door and out onto the sidewalk. 

The style of the café was such that patrons walk up to the counter and pick out what they want. The servers then go to the back of the restaurant, gather the items selected, then bring them out to your table. 

The café had a large selection with many different flavors and places of origin. This establishment heavily draws from English culture and puts an American twist on it. The restaurant also featured a twist on a bacon egg and cheese that one would normally see in America, though this time incorporating the English nationality into their product.

We ordered many different products. The chocolate chip scone was just basically a dryer chocolate chip cookie, but it was still high quality with regard to the ingredients. The chocolate peanut butter scone was rich, and the peanut butter chips were the best compliment to the flavor. The blueberry scone was not as dry as the previous ones because the blueberries were fresh and kept the pastry moist overall. The lemon zest scone was one of the best because it was refreshing without being too sweet to the point that it becomes unenjoyable. The butterscotch scone was not too sweet and it did not stick into your teeth like many other butterscotch products. The bacon jalapeno scone offered  a fun twist on American and English foods and did not seem like a dessert item like many other of the pastries did.

Scone House Café is a family restaurant that was a hit with the locals. Although the décor can be improved the feel and atmosphere of the place felt like it has been there for years. The Scone House Café is recommended to anyone looking to try something new or wanting to spend some quality time with family.