The Lemon Tree

The Lemon Tree is a cafe on Brooks Street in downtown Wake Forest that also runs a steady catering business. Alongside the counter menu there is a whole list of ready-to-bake pans meant to be finished in your own oven.

Those run from entree meals for two or four to kale salads, loaded mashed potatoes, hashbrown casserole and bread pudding, with plenty marked gluten free. Regulars talk about the prices, the local snacks on the shelves and the staff, who get named in reviews more often than the food does.

What to know

• An entree meal for two is twelve dollars, and one for four is twenty-four.
• Side dishes are priced by how many people they feed.
• Stuffed baked potatoes come in buffalo chicken and broccoli cheddar versions.
• The cafe holds a 4.5-star Google rating from about two hundred reviews.
• Vegetable sides include Brussels sprouts with bacon and green beans with garlic.