Hardware Cafe & General Store

We came back for our yearly visit to upstate NY and the Hardware Café!
The menu is varied and the food is delicious. Owners Susan and Larry Lemon and their staff make everyone feel at home and try to accommodate most requests! The atmosphere is warm and there is a full array of unusual gifts, clothes, pieces from local artists, and folk art items in the adjoining store. I consider the Hardware Café to be the «gem» of Fair Haven and wouldn’t miss a chance to stop there for breakfast and or lunch! The experience is not to be missed!
Jeanne & Chris Brown Hobe Sound Florida

Not Family Friendly. We were suggested to go someplace else.
We visited on a Saturday morning. Our visit was short — we left before ordering. We were greeted by a man in the door and were directed inside by the man after we were viewing an outside table. Once inside one table opened up. We went to sit at the table and the man told us he needed to clean the table. We had our 3 year old and a 3 month old in a car seat and felt in the way of other diners, so when the man proceeded to clean off another outside table that no one was waiting for before ours we decided to just sit down. The man came back and told us with irritation that he needed to clean the table but we didn’t mind him cleaning it while we were seated. He then told us the baby in the car seat, (which we had placed on the floor because the booths were too narrow to accommodate it) was in the way and could have things spilled on the baby. He suggested to have a booster seat or high chair so we agreed thinking he would bring back a high chair that we could place upside down to set the car seat in (which most restaurants know about). The man brought us a booster seat. Since our baby is only 3 months old and cannot sit on her own yet, we told the man that the booster seat would not work. Trying to please the man and the restaurant, I picked up the sleeping baby out of the car seat (which woke her up, but she was quiet and happy) while my husband ran the car seat back out to the car. When the man came back he wanted to take our order, but we hadn’t had time to look at the menu yet. The man seemed irritated that we only had a chance to offer our drink orders and he told us it would be 20 minute to get our food once the order was placed and that there was a diner a mile down the road we could go to instead. Our 3 year old is well behaved and sits quietly, colors, and does not whine. She has waited for food longer than 20 minutes and stays well behaved in restaurants so we didn’t have a problem waiting. However, at this point, from the start we did not feel welcomed so we decided to leave. We felt unwanted because we had a child and a baby to accommodate. I’d like to believe the man had intentions of being helpful and nice to us, but we left feeling disappointed and not welcomed.

Great place to eat. Can’t say enough good things about this place. Everyone was very attentive. Full of interesting history pieces, and antiques.

Enjoyed an excellent lunch including a delicious frozen chai drink with friendly service.

i’m camping at fair-​haven SP, I had breakfast sandwich and home fries with coffee and the food was very good along with good service. the only thing I would have liked better was if they opened earlier but 8 am is not too late. It’s also nice they have wi-​fi

My boyfriend and I stopped at the place while we were on our way to the Ren Fest in Sterling. This wasn’t planned, we just saw some place to grab breakfast and we checked it out. Boy, were we totally suprised.
The charm of this place is absolutely unbelievable. It had the feel of an old country store. We really didn’t browse around that much. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a lot of time to spare.
The food was amazing. They serve these sausage patties that were out of this world. If you love sausage, you gotta do the patties. I had an omelette that was filling and tasty. He had french toast that was so good. Once again, he refused to share.
One down fall, they ran out of home fries. What is it with me and going to places that run out of home fries? Man, I love me some potato product.
The service was great. They were friendly, swift and on point. The next time I am in the area, I will be sure to visit this place again.

We roll through Fair Haven every September on our annual bicycle trip up to the Thousand Islands area. We always stop at the Hardware Café to enjoy the food, good service and ambiance.
I used to go there years ago when it was still a hardware store and when the building across the street housed a nice little family restaurant/​diner. We were sad to see the restaurant close, like so many other businesses before it in the small, seasonal community of Fair Haven, so the Hardware Café is a welcome addition.
BTW, the food is great! Every visit we’ve tried different items and have never been disappointed. The soups are homemade and not to be missed and the sandwich I had last week on fresh sourdough bread (maybe also homemade) was fantastic!
I wish them success. See you again next year ladies, I hope!

Love, love, love this place.
What a great, homey place to eat. A ton of character and every kind of knick-​knack on the planet for souvenirs. The customer service is awesome too. Whenever we go to Fair Haven we stop in, it’s a must see spot to visit if you’re in town.
Robert Pfeifer

Being in that neck of the woods in Upstate NY, it’s almost impossible to find an eatery that doesn’t make you want to make a doctors appointment to have your arteries cleaned afterwards. Hardware Café is a unique little café in the very small town of Fair Haven along lake Ontario. Old hardware store converted into a little store (beach items, shirts, kids stuff, etc.) as well as a cool little café serving soups, wraps, salads, paninis and such. Atmosphere is very unique and food is above average for around that area. Can I rave about it? Not really, but if you are a non greasy spoon eater and will do anything to avoid Franchise food… Trust me go here. Not a bad experience at all.

It is a very cute small town general store/​sandwich shop. They people were all very nice and it had a wonderful atmosphere. If your ever in Fair Haven, NY definitely stop in.