The Hatter Cafe

Just off the main road through Mentone, Alabama, The Hatter Cafe serves breakfast and lunch inside a building decked out with chandeliers, teapots, and enough Alice in Wonderland touches to make clear where the name came from. It shares its property with The Hatter Country Inn, and the whimsical, storybook decor carries through both businesses.

Roger and Pamela Wald opened The Hatter Cafe in 2018, a couple of years after first discovering Mentone in 2016 and deciding to build a life there. They took the phrase “the secret, Alice, is to surround yourself with people who make you smile” as something close to a guiding idea, and the cafe reflects it: a gathering spot meant for celebrations, quiet mornings, and everything in between, set inside a remodeled home turned into a cafe and country inn.

Breakfast at The Hatter Cafe runs the classic Southern route with a few flourishes. The Egg Choice Plate and Creamy Avocado Egg Toast are both $11.95, a straightforward Egg Sandwich runs $8.95, and the griddle turns out pancakes and waffles for $9.95 apiece. Challah French Toast and Biscuits and Gravy are $11.95, and a Southern Herb Breakfast Casserole tops the list at $12.95. Sides include creamy stone-ground grits, bacon, sausage, ham, hash browns, and fruit, most in the $2.95 to $3.95 range, alongside coffee, specialty coffee, and a full tea list.

Lunch leans further into Southern comfort cooking. Alice’s Chicken Salad Sandwich and a Hatter Waffle Sandwich are both $12.95, a BLT Biscuit runs $10.95, and the Turkey Wrap and Veggie Sandwich are $11.95. For something heartier, the Southern Staples section offers Chicken and Biscuits, a Hot Brown, and Cornpone Pie for $12.95 each, plus a Meatloaf Pie with cornbread and Cheddar Grit Cakes for $14.95. Salads, including a Poppy Pecan and a Pear and Gorgonzola, run $10.95, and sides like mac and cheese, cole slaw, cornbread, and Southern hot corn round out the plate for a few dollars each.

On Friday and Saturday evenings, The Hatter Cafe extends into dinner service from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., with a separate rotating dinner menu offered as a downloadable PDF rather than a fixed printed list, so the offerings change from week to week.

The dining room itself is part of the draw. Chandeliers hang over mismatched tables, hats and teapots line the walls and windowsills, and the overall effect is closer to walking into a storybook than a typical small-town cafe. It is the kind of place where a family stopping through Mentone on the way to DeSoto Falls or Little River Canyon can end up staying an extra hour just taking in the details.

That character is by design. The Walds built the cafe as an extension of The Hatter Country Inn next door, and guests staying at the inn often wander over for breakfast before setting out to explore the rest of Lookout Mountain. Locals treat it more like a neighborhood spot, a place to catch up over coffee or grab a sandwich between errands in a town where there are not many other options for a sit-down lunch. That mix of overnight guests, day-tripping visitors, and regulars from around DeKalb County gives the cafe a steady rhythm through the week, busiest on weekend mornings and quieter, more local, on weekday afternoons.

The Hatter Cafe is open Thursday through Monday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. for breakfast and lunch, with dinner added on Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. It is closed Tuesday and Wednesday. The cafe is located at 4277 Alabama Highway 117 in Mentone, AL 35984, and can be reached at (256) 634-2018 or by email at info@TheHatterCafe.com. Given its popularity with both locals and visitors passing through on Lookout Mountain, arriving early on weekend mornings is a good idea, especially for anyone hoping to snag a table before the breakfast rush sets in.