Dolce Italian Café

Tiny coffee joint on Elm Street in bustling downtown New Canaan offering authentic Italian coffee and delicious baked specialties. Not only breakfast items but yummy looking salads and paninis as well! Really small cost indoor seating area and a small patio seating area make this potentially better for take out than dine in. Overall very cute!

The food was of low quality and overpriced. My husband and I ordered the avocado toast, which came on a thin slice of supermarket-style "multigrain" bread — not the sourdough you’d expect — topped with a small layer of pre-packaged avocado paste instead of fresh slices. The croissant was decent, and the coffee and cappuccino were fine. Hygiene was also a concern: the plates and cups didn’t seem properly cleaned, and the restroom had no liquid soap or paper towels. The one positive was the friendly staff who served us, but unfortunately, that alone doesn’t make up for the poor experience overall. On our next trip to Canaan, CT, we’ll be trying other options instead.

Automatic espresso machine is a bad replacement. Looks like old pic showed better drinks from a manual machine. No discernible crema, just an artificial looking foam plopped on top. I tried the shop a second time with the same result. I can buy a machine. I want barista craft from an espresso. This felt zero effort.

No complaints about service or atmosphere. coffee was notably good. ordered two soups, tomato and lentil, the only two options. Tomato soup had a 1/4 inch thick rim of oil around the soup, no garnish, no bread served on side. The soup was so mediocre, and came out warm, not hot. despite taking 15 minutes to come out. What else could the soup have been doing for 15 minutes other than getting warmed up? I’m often in this area for clients and I wanted a nice spot to get a coffee and light lunch. However, I unfortunately don’t think i’ll be back.

My 2nd time here but the 1st time, I didn't like the coffee & because they don't have so much options, so this time, I went somewhere else to buy it. Anyway, after almost an hour roaming around undecided where to eat (because I'm not from the area), I finally decided to grab some Tuna Panini. I'm glad I did cuz it's the best Tuna Sandwich I've ever had -- the multigrain bread was crunchy & the proportion of tuna to the bread & salad was spot on, not too much mayo which I really love...unlike other Tuna Sandwiches I had in the past where the filling is dripping while you take a bite on it. The only thing though is that they haven't updated their pricing either online or the menu. It is stated that it's $13.95 online while $14.95 on their menu, that's why I was quite surprised when I had to