The Cottage Café

Open: Seasonal (May to Thanksgiving)

The Cottage Cafe is a charming waterfront café and bakery tucked along the Ausable River in Grand Bend, with a bright cottage-country atmosphere and a patio overlooking the water. It’s a lovely change of pace from the busier beachside stretch, offering a quieter place to settle in for breakfast, lunch, or something freshly baked.

Breakfast is served all day, with hearty favourites like breakfast burritos, smoked salmon bagels, pancakes, French toast, and the Cottage Country Bowl, while lunch brings sandwiches, salads, flatbreads, and grilled cheese. The bakery case changes daily with croissants, scones, muffins, butter tarts, brownies, cookies, and their especially popular cinnamon buns. There’s also a lineup of specialty drinks, matcha, lemonade, and locally roasted coffee.

The real draw is the setting—grab a table on the riverside patio, watch the boats go by, and let breakfast stretch into a slow morning. It’s an especially nice stop to add to a Grand Bend day when you want good food with a little more scenery.