A photo of breakfast quiche, hash browns, and an egg sandwich. This week the brunch location of choice was the Spring Hill Cafe. The Daily Campus / Olivia Hickey
Need to know where to stop by for brunch this week? We’ve got you covered. Last time, we checked out Dog Lane Café. Now, we travel a mile down the street to another nearby spot: The Spring Hill Café.
Located right on Storrs Road, Spring Hill is a short drive from campus. Just a bit too far to walk feasibly, it serves breakfast, lunch and everything in between. We arrived at about 10:15 a.m. Other than another table of two, the café was pretty empty. The lack of people allowed us to take in the decorations. The dining area was cozy, but functional, with greenery and fairy lights around. We would be remiss not to mention the attached storefront, featuring a cute array of succulents, art and local products.
Looking at the chalkboard menus all around the single-room café, we chose the best brunch options we could. We decided to order an egg and cheese sandwich, a slice of quiche, a blueberry muffin grilled with butter and an order of hash browns. We each ordered a hot coffee, which was refillable. The total came to less than 20 dollars.
The coffee came out first. We were already quite pleased by the very cheap price to add on coffee to a meal, and it seemed there were plenty of options for both hot and iced flavored coffees. The coffee had a good consistency to it — not too watery, and fresh-smelling. It felt like a decent home-brew. For our refills, we decided to try the winter spice and salted caramel flavors, which both earned high marks in our book.
As for the food, each item was served on a small individual plate of a blue-green color, with the main dishes having an added orange garnish. This made the portions seem larger and made the brunch easier to share.
A photo of a gooey blueberry muffin. It was one of the breakfast items ordered at the Spring Hill Cafe. The Daily Campus / Olivia Hickey
The blueberry muffin came out very quickly. Simply put, it was delicious. The gooey and sweet blueberries paired very well with the buttered muffin, and the warmth from the grill was much appreciated on such a chilly day. A great treat, it only whet our appetite for what was to come.
As for the main courses, the quiche and egg sandwich came one after the other. The quiche was alright. There was plenty of egg, but it lacked the rest of the fixings. The crust at the bottom was so wet that it seemed to disappear. On the top edge though, the crust was much better. For the price of four dollars, it was a fair slice of quiche.
The egg sandwich was appreciated similarly. It was cooked well on a delicious bagel, but with only one small fried egg, it felt like it was missing something. Perhaps the blueberry muffin was a necessity, as without it this egg sandwich would not fill someone up. All that being said, it was a good quick meal for the price.
The hash browns were the only miss among the food. The two patties were crispy and spongy enough, but they lacked anything to set them apart from frozen hash browns. Among all the other comfy food, these lacked the same qualities.
Is Spring Hill Café a brunch destination spot? No. But it’s not trying to be. Spring Hill Café succeeds in its goal of being a cozy place for some food and coffee. It features reasonable prices and a good environment. It’s not the kind of place you plan to go to a week ahead but instead where you decide to stop by on a whim. In this way, Spring Hill Café succeeds at being a good choice for a quick weekend brunch or study session. Especially with its proximity to campus, any UConn student should consider stopping by.
Olivia Hickey is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at olivia.hickey@uconn.edu. She tweets @oliviahickeytv.
Peter Fenteany is the associate opinion editor for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at peter.fenteany@uconn.edu.
