The Hollow Cafe

I go here all the time, never had a bad meal, it gets busy on weekends, that’s to be expected, servers are great!

Decent and reasonably-​priced fare at this tucked-​away café in Amesbury. Amiable servers and a wide menu selection make for a sturdy stop at this otherwise plain but perfectly adequate, nondescript eatery.
It is close to the Salisbury beach road and offers perfect takeaway fare for a beach picnic, especially when you want real food and not just (fabulous) fried food at the beach itself. Ideal in the offseason as well for those cooler beach visits when the food stands are all closed except pizza.
Would return for seconds at this non-​chain restaurant, definitely a local secret.

The place is dirty. The windows and décor don’t look like they have been cleaned in forever. The table was sticky and wet. The utensils were not clean as well. The place is run down and not well kept at all. They had a the air conditioning on a cool fall day and I was freezing where we sat. The food was sub-​par, I could have done better at IHOP and I hate that place. There are so many other clean and delicious places nearby that are so much better. I would not recommend and I will not be going back.

I was traveling in the area looking for a nice place for breakfast and this place was perfect. The café was clean, food was good and wait staff couldn’t have been nicer. Also, the prices were very reasonable.

This is another place I like to call the epitome of average. The food is average, the service is average, the prices are high, but the location is great. There’s nothing that makes it stick out either way and it seems to be the local breakfast joint for Amesbury folks. I’d write more, but there’s not much else to say. It’s breakfast, so if you want breakfast, come get breakfast at this place that serves breakfast.

Don’t ever go here unless you want to be treated terribly. I waited for a table for twenty minutes, and then the waitress seated some other people who walked in two minutes before because I was by myself. When I said that I had been waiting she said «I can’t seat you at a big table.» I frankly don’t care if they were busy and the thought of one person sitting at a table that more could sit at disturbs her; I came there and waited patiently for a table and deserved to be seated and served or at least spoken to with common courtesy. It was also clear that she was going to continue seating groups and leave me waiting. Just because I was alone doesn’t mean that that’s an excuse for poor treatment.
What makes it even worse is that just before she seated the two people who were waiting ahead of me she was telling them about some people who walked in and, without even inquiring if people were waiting, sat down at a table and she informed them they couldn’t do that because people were waiting. I guess she’s the only person who gets to be rude!

My favorite breakfast place in town. We were going every Friday am for a long while, but my circumstances changed and couldn’t get there the last few months, every Friday, but other days ;) classic small restaurant menu with excellent breakfast choices (try the hash or Hollow omelet) and a nice lunch menu as well as dinner ;) Daily specials posted on the chalk wall, make sure you check them out before you order take out is also available. large dining room means usually no waiting plenty of free parking very close to downtown area

Haven’t been here for some years — it was just as good as I remember. Quick, friendly service. We both had chili & cheese omelets & they were yummy!

We had a lovely lunch here on the first day of our trip. This place was recommended by a local. I had a BBQ pork sandwich without the bun, served with chips. My mom had a tuna sandwich. They have nice iced tea. The interior was recently painted and looks very fresh, a warm orange-​brown. The place wasn’t packed, and service from the waitress and the kitchen were at a good pace. The bathroom was clean. We saw them catering to all ages, including several tables with young children. I watched the snowman pancakes being prepared – if I were about 5 I would be VERY excited.

Cute place, was there at noon on a Sunday and was very quiet, shirt menu but very good food, plenty if options for a traditional brunch, convenient parking and location, attentive staff.

We decided to stop in the Hollow Café this morning. We’ve been there at least 10 times over the past few years. In all my years of dining out, this will probably go down as the worst service experience ever.
We arrived and there was a slight wait as you might expect on a Saturday. We sit down after 10 minutes and our waitress seats us with the enthusiasm of a hibernating bear. It turns out that this would be the best part of the service experience. We get our drinks (coffee and tea) and place our order. Our server takes our order in a manner I can only describe as aloof and not listening particularly well. My wife asked for a glass of water which only took her two requests. My glass of water took 4 acknowledged requests and then was finally delivered by another waitress. After 45 minutes of waiting and the tables that were seated after us getting their food, we were preparing to just pay for our coffee and tea and leave. Our server can see we are pissed and says that she’ll check on our food. Instead of walking to the kitchen, she proceeds to take two other customer orders and do her maintance jobs by the coffee machines. I could go on for two more paragraphs, but I think you get by now that the service was abysmal.
We will never go back. It’s a shame because it is close to home and the food is pretty good. The one star is because the food is a 4 and the service was a negative 3. I’m sure we will be sharing our experience with our friends, family and business associates as well. A classic example that it takes one bad experience to lose a customer for life.

I highly recommend the Maine maple melt! It sounds weird but it’s so damn good! The food was really tasty, but the service was just ok. We waited 25 minutes to be seated and no one greeted us. Then we had to wait 10 minutes to order. Great food but service could use some work.

I really like this place, I have not been disappointed good food, different dishes, beautiful colors everywhere!

Good food but not amazing. I’ve been here many times (about 10) and there is always at least a 15 – 20 minute wait to be seated. If I’m going to wait that long to get a table PLEASE don’t make me wait 15 to take my order and another 30 minutes to serve it. It’s practically an all morning process going here.
Tasty food but not really worth the wait.
FAIL

Great place for breakfast food and home cooking! I eat here often as it is within walking distance. I would highly recommend the eggs benedict and the french toast. I usually ordered the real maple syrup which is served warm. If you are looking for a great breakfast at a good price, you aren’t going to find better in the area!

The Hollow Café was a good experience. I do not like trying new places to eat, but was in the area and hungry. Menu was simple and filling. The French toast was awesome, my eggs were cooked perfectly. My only small complaint is the French toast got cold really fast. Would of been 5 stars if not for that. Go eat there! I’m going back. And will eat the French toast first.

My husband and I just stopped here on our way to Portland for a mini vaca — so glad we did! The atmosphere is very warm and friendly and the coffee is strong (very important!) The menu has a lot of variety and fun options. I got the Shiver Me Timber omelette and my husband got the Ciao Bella omelette. Both were delicious and very filling. The waitresses were friendly and very attentive to coffee refills, etc. I got the sense this is a regular spot for a lot of locals which is always a good sign. We’ll definitely be back in our future travels!

Stopped into this place on our way to a music festival in Newburyport. After trying two other places on the way (who were apparently no longer serving breakfast at 11:45am on a Saturday), we stumbled across this gem. They serve breakfast ALL DAY — win!
Server was friendly and quick to refill the coffee (clearly the way to my heart). He also made some great recommendations on breakfast selections. I went with the Tex Mex Tango Succotash Omelet. SO delicious — you won’t be disappointed with the BBQ pulled pork, corn and hash medley. Also had one of the turtle pancake specials. It was nice and fluffy as pancakes go and HUGE (plate sized!)
Highly recommend stopping in for brunch!

One of the only good breakfast places around the area.
I rarely eat out at breakfast places but for here, I’ll make an exception.
This place and Mad Martha’s café are the best breakfast places around the New Hampshire/​Mass area.
Hollow Café has great food with delicious chocolate chip pancakes.
The staff is very friendly. (We were served by a red haired lady.)
As far as food goes, you got a big selection.
The Tex Mex Tango omelet is pretty good.
Overall, Hollow Café is worth visiting.

Stopped in here on a Sunday morning around 11am with the bf. To our surprise, there were plenty of tables open and we were told to seat ourselves. As far as I could tell this is a very casual table-​only establishment (no booths).
We both ordered orange juice, which was pulp-​free (not by request) but delicious. I ordered a cheese omelet with homefries and the bf ordered two pancakes with a side of bacon. The waitress described the pancakes as «dinner plate size», and she wasn’t joking. His pancakes were enormous and incredibly fluffy (see pic). He also said his bacon was good, not quite as crispy as he likes but good. My omelet was smaller than expected but tasted fresh. The homefries were DELICIOUS, «very potatoe-​y» is how my bf so scientifically described them. I’d say they were some of the best homefries around…
Overall this place was underwhelming but not bad. If we were passing by again I wouldn’t be opposed to stopping in, I just wouldn’t drive out of my way to get here.