Sophia's Bakery & Cafe

My favorite breakfast/brunch place in town!

I'm so sad to hear they are closing, "for real" this time.

We have gotten almost everything on the menu from their sweet crepes to their omelets. The menu is almost leaning on the side of vegetarians, but there is a chorizo omelet which is always a solid choice.

Their bakery items are top notch, you can see them come out of the piping hot oven from their open kitchen.

Remember it's cash/check only!

Grab some baked goods and freeze them before they're gone forever! :'o(

PROS: Solid brunch fare
CONS: Insane wait times, cash only, limited seating

The food here is pretty solid. Great eggs, potatoes, and tacos --- and lots of standard brunch dishes to choose from. Very reasonable prices too. However, the place is insanely small, and we arrived at a busy time, so the wait was atrocious! It took 2 hours to receive our dishes after setting foot into the restaurant... Is the food good? Pretty good. Good enough to warrant a 2 hr wait? Likely not. If you can catch a non-busy time to drop by and happen to be craving brunch food, it's worth a stop.

Amazing breakfast in a super cozy environment! Honestly, this could be the best breakfast spot in Madison. Be sure to bring cash though.

Walked in, chose a table with some available seats, and went back to the counter to order. It's pretty cool to see the entire kitchen and the array of pastries on sale; the cashier herself was also super friendly.

I ordered the cottage cheese pancakes, and my BF ordered the grilled ham and leek omelette. Both were absolutely amazing! Super fluffy and light, with raspberry sauce adding the right amount of sweetness for me. The omelette had a great mix of salty and sour from the dill, and was amazing and delicious. The prices were also very reasonable.

Given the coziness of the environment and the food, I can't recommend this place highly enough!

Nice place, very friendly people, food seems to be very healthy and nothing "industrial". Very crowded as well and "studenty" feel.
My omelette, I asked without peppers and wasn't possible...hummm...not so much hand made. And no cards and no wifi. Nothing special. Food was good.

What a letdown! I had heard from two friends in the area that it wasn't as great as I was making it out to be when I pitched Sunday brunch to them, but they were right. It's a hole-in-the-wall weekend brunch place (closed on weekdays) with uncomfortably close quarters and not particularly fantastic food, though it's plated well. On the whole, it just doesn't make much sense.

Expect a wait on the weekends, especially around 11. We arrived well before but still had a good 15/20 minute wait. The door opens into a packed room the size of my living room with its only path of egress also packed with counter orders. The orders apparently take longer than the wait, so they're queued up while you most likely wait outside (since five people are already waiting in front of the water/coffee self-serve and any remaining floor space). There is a menagerie of tables and chairs, so there's truth in that Sophia's is likely best for those dining alone, as there are many single chairs left in the overcrowded tables. Those seated closest to the wall are physically unable to leave unless those at the tables closest to the counter get up. When such a high price is put on ambiance, I wouldn't agree that Sophia's is homey as much as a fire hazard. I don't understand why such a successful place hasn't expanded.

The omelettes are the way to go. Sophia's pancakes and waffle were bland and somewhat dry on their own. I felt that even IHOP did them better. I found the cottage cheese pancakes uninteresting. My friend was leaving basically the whole dish over and it wasn't tasty enough to pick at. The berry syrup that accompanied it was almost sour. I don't think the cottage cheese pancakes are more than a managed risk--you have to really like either cottage cheese or pancakes in order to enjoy it. I had the banana walnut waffle and immediately regretted not ordering the asparagus omelette. Even with the banana, the waffle wasn't very tasty. My friend's breakfast sandwich (egg on croissant with fruit) was beautiful and definitely the best dish of the table, even with the fruit out of season. The eggs were not bland, and were cooked thin and appeared more oily than buttery. The kicker, though, is the syrup. Consensus at the table was that the the table syrup was awful, though "real maple syrup" is on the menu for extra. This is inexcusable for a brunch place, perhaps a deal breaker. Breakfast food has its off days, which can be excused, but when the refuge of syrup is also inhospitable, might as well not bother. If I were to come back, I'd try the coffee cake and choco croissant.

It just didn't seem to make a lot of sense--the insane popularity, the insufferable claustrophobia, the family-style tables with no one talking to each other, the inability to move once seated, the ordering way in advance and paying after the meal as an afterthought. There appears to be some tradition here, and it's likely the most sane way to manage the joint, but I can't help but feel that this was low on my list of better brunch experiences. Likely better off with Madison Sourdough or Eldorato. I expected much more from the top rated brunch place in Madison.

The cottage cheese pancakes are the must-try here! Together with the fresh raspberry sauce, it's a perfect combination to start an energetic day!
The place is packed with people on weekends. So make sure you come ahead of line.
Need to try those omelettes next time. They also look so good!

I like Sophia's. I like it a lot.

It's the type of place that you'll drive right past and have to circle back around because you missed it as it is pretty inconspicuously situated.

And though it is quite a tiny shop, the inside is lovely. The seating is very limited, but it always works out that you have a place to plop down.

The menu is posted on the wall as you walk in and you'll order at the counter then wait for enough seats to clear up. Once at your table, the kitchen will start cooking up your food. And it is very good food. But more on that later :)

There's an overall aura to Sophia's that is so charming. Maybe it's the fact that you sit down next to whoever happens to have room at their table or it could be the way that you can peer into the kitchen as if you're in someone's home. Anyways, it's just a lovely place that makes you feel happy.

Coffee is serve yourself at a cute little station with a collection of mismatched coffee cups. Again, rocking that charm.

Now it's the food that's the real star.

-If you're feeling adventurous, the COTTAGE CHEESE PANCAKES are an absolute must-try. The cottage cheese results in an incredibly moist and tender cake that makes these pancakes nothing short of amazing. Seriously, once you've had a taste of cottage cheese pancakes there is no turning back. They are intensely crave-worthy. Next thing you know, you'll find yourself at an IHOP, crying at the inadequacy of what is now a clearly substandard pancake. Sophia's is the pinnacle of pancake goodness that, once experienced, will be impossible to erase from memory. Be warned.

-The breakfast potatoes of baby reds and some sweet potatoes were rustically chopped up, seasoned to perfection, and ever so scrumptious.

-All egg and omelets that I've tried here have been perfectly prepared. I love dabbling into their specials menu as they tend to come up with creative ingredient combinations for their omelets.

-The bacon at Sophia's is happy bacon. One order gets you a great portion and it is quality. These are some pretty big pieces of meat that have a nice peppery, maple taste to them with just the right amount of sweet.

After every trip to Sophia's, I always leave thinking I can't wait until next time.

Awesome food, and super friendly staff.

Checked out what fellow yelpers had to say about Sophia's and all sounded pretty great. So we stopped in and gave it a try!

So I'll just say I do think this place is a bit disorganized, as to the placement of everything and the whole process of ordering, seating, and getting your drinks.

Walked in and there was a huge line, people just kinda standing everywhere. Once you walk in you realize how tiny of a restaurant it is. But...it's cozy, loved the interior. While you're waiting in line you can look up on to the wall at the menu to try and decide on what you want from all the amazing sounding choices. Once to the counter you put your order in, and then the wait continues. There are approximately 4 tables, and one little bar area with stools along the window. And when you're there at a 11:30 on a Sunday morning, you can imagine the wait we had. And when I said this place is tiny...it's tiny. There is really no good place to stand while people are trying to grab their coffee, or water, or go to the bathroom, or put their dishes away.

Once we finally got to table, we put our name in, and took in the atmosphere a bit more. I will say...I think it's a pretty neat idea to have 'Group Tables' so you're sitting with strangers, and get to make some good conversation with someone new!

Once our food came, I was pleased with the presentation of my meal. I ended up getting the 'Grandma's Sweet Cheese Blintzes' and oh my where they good! A bit different I couldn't pin point what they reminded me of. But the sweet yet, sour/bitter filling, and the light syrup on top, all paired so well.

I come from a very large family back in Michigan, where family get-togethers meant having a whole lot of people crammed into one tiny place. Always included: rubbing elbows, feeling cramped as you waited in a disorganized line, trying to keep up with a plethora of dirty dishes, and having that awkward table top conversation with a family member you wouldn't wave hi to if you saw them in the street. I miss the chaos, but I got a little fix of it here at Sophia's.

Sophia's is small, but homey. She's only open on the weekends, so you can imagine the high influx of patrons that flock to her craving Sunday brunch. The place gets packed. As you wait to claim a seat next to complete strangers, you nestle in what little space you have. We eventually sat, and our order was then set to prepare (made to order!). We talked and laughed with other diners next to us while we waited. I enjoyed the company.

I had the Croissant French Toast with raspberry spread. I am not too keen on sweets, but this is a definite exception. The toast was soft and doughy, and the raspberries sweet and sour. It brought me back to the days my grandfather would make it, with all my cousins and I waiting around the kitchen island, fighting over who got the first helping.

In the end maybe I'm too sentimental, but I really liked my experience at Sophia's because it reminded me of home.

I usually don't like brunch, I don't get it, not my meal. However, I quite enjoyed this place, very cute, and I thought their food was above bar.

I had an omelette with veggies and some nice side of potatoes. The dish was well executed, tasty, and very light. I topped with a chocolate croissant that was good, but not great.
The owner is very friendly.

The downsides: eternal waiting time, not so clean kitchen, cash only. Not sure I will go back, but I heard it is closing soon anyway.