Cafe Express

Pleasantly surprised. Food excellent! Staff busily always cleaning and helping out customers. My sandwich was excellent. Will definitely not scratch off my list but add to it. Worth the visit.

I ordered Tuesday night, January 5. I ordered a California burger, a club sandwich, and a cup of chicken soup. They said 15 minutes or so. I took about 25 minutes to get there and they were waiting on chicken soup, 6oz. They took another 7 minutes to complete the soup order. I returned to our hospital room across the street. The food was cool at this point, my fault. But the soup was not 6oz, maybe 4oz and tepid at best. The order was $ 27 total. All in all, underwhelming.

Overpriced, no atmosphere, bland food. I don’t see how this place has made it this long in Austin.

I had a meetup here and that required I work on my computer for a majority of the time. There is plenty of seating and the staff seems friendly enough. We ‘reserved’ a few tables in the corner where our group could sit and they more willing to accommodate. We sat right in front of what could actually be a better ‘room’ for groups because it had doors and a TV in it dedicated to its attendees. The wifi is free, BUT it died for about a half an hour around 12:15. Apparently, this is a usual occurrence! Luckily, we were able to connect to the Time Warner network and get a free 30 from that SSID. I ordered a coffee for a buck and change, they gave me a cup and I filled it myself at the coffee dispenser in the middle of the place. Restrooms are clean and I parked on the side of the street. There’s a two hour limit on the street. Someone in my party ordered tenders and said they were ‘OK’. Not the best he’s had. Someone else in my party had hummus and what looked like pita bread. Not a bad coffee shop at all!

Great food, plenty of space, great interior, patio and bathroom are cool! I definitely recommend.

I wanted to like this place, I really did. This place looks to have potential — — it’s got this bright look and appeal that make you think the food’s gonna be so damn good I’ll be coming back every damn day for more! Unfortunately my experience didn’t turn out that way. 2-​stars = I’ve definitely experienced better.
My co-​worker took me here and said it was pretty solid, I ended up ordering a Turkey Avocado Salad with dressing on the side. Adding chicken is nearly 4 bucks? No thanks.
Tables were open but they didn’t do a good job keeping up with cleaning them, but the manager came over to help us out. I totally dig the condiment bar filled with olives, roasted garlic, pickled carrots, small pickles, etc. I added some into my salad.
On the decline — I was pretty disappointed with my Turkey Avocado Salad. The dressing was (vinaigrette) was horrid — — thick and didn’t look good nor did it taste that good. These guys went really cheap on the good stuff — — I had 2 pieces of avocado the size of a quarter — — I repeat — 2 quarter-​sized pieces. And the same goes with the turkey — — about 3 quarter-​sized diced chunks. I was so disappointed in the lack of ingredients that I nearly took the salad back and asked for more or a refund, but since this was kind of a business meeting I opted to table the issue for my Unilocal review.
There’s also a lot of premium pricing going around — — with all that I was expecting a lot more for my $ 10 salad. Can’t say I’ll be back here anytime soon.

I belong to a group that regularly meets at Café Express each month, so they’ve had quite a few opportunities to impress me. Their food has always been mediocre, but today was the worst, by far. I had the black bean soup, which was pretty bland. The topping was a very thin ribbon of sour cream, that wasn’t worth the mention in the ingredients. The soup was going to be my only meal of the day, so I kept eating, even though I wasn’t very impressed with the taste– until I got three quarters of the way through the bowl and found a blonde hair in my food. Definitely not my hair (mine is not blonde, and it’s dreadlocked– a totally different texture than the hair in my soup).
That was the final straw. I’m sure my group will continue meeting at Café Express, but from now on I’ll just eat before or after my visit.

Alright folks I’m on the late freight again. 10.11.13 was the first lunch at café express. A couple coworkers had gone and I missed the trip. One of the two was on the hunt for eats and invited me along.
We pulled up to the restaurant and parking was tight. We ended up finding a space after playing jaws for 5 minutes. The building was cool and seems like it jad been painted recently. It wasn’t a smell just appeared fresh. The inside was cool and the staff cordial. They were patient with me considering how slow I was choosing a meal.
I went with the classic turkey club. The sandwich was a good choice. I had a nice side of sweet potato fries and a drink. It was cool people watching the medical crowd as I ate. I have introduced my Wife to the place and she likes it. I have been back multiple times and get the same consistency.
Café express good eats and good service.

A great place for lunch or casual dinner! Prices could be a little better, but I love the huge condiment bar and the pay up front feature. Fresh salads and yummy sandwiches– overall perfect spot for some casual American fare.

Good food but if you place an order «to-​go» don’t stand at the designated «to-​go» counter. You won’t be helped. Instead you’ll receive awkward stares from the cashiers at the regular order counter while they proceed to take customers ahead of you who arrived after you. But, like I said, the food is good.

i love this place no no i love this place i call my order in an they have it ready close to my job the beat burgers in town

I have been to Café Express many times in Houston and LOVED IT.
When I walked in it was FREEZING! It is 73 and overcast today so I was dressed accordingly but their A/​C must’ve been on 60 because it was frigid. Even the man behind us was covered in goosebumps. I mentioned it to the two girls behind the counter and they both just smiled.
I ordered a Greek salad with Chicken ($ 8.29 + $ 3.39) and a medium tea ($ 2.39). The ice machine was empty and we had to have them get it from behind the counter. The food came with no romaine and all iceberg and all of the iceberg was the yellow interior bottom portion. There was not 1 cucumber in the entire salad. I took it back and they made a grilled chicken sandwich and fries. The fries were not even completely cooked. Check out the pictures!
The best part was the sweet tea but when I was leaving STILL NO ICE!!! I will never return to this location and if corporate doesn’t do anything to help I will skip all of their locations.

This was our first time visiting — and let’s just say that this first impression was awful.
There was a tiny line and the girl taking orders seems so stressed and put out that customers were even there…
We ordered two coffees (one house and one mocha) — the house coffee was okay and the mocha coffee was disgusting and received AFTER we completed our «meals».
Speaking of meals — oh my gosh, hospital/airplane/cafeteria/Denny’s/ihop food is 100% better. Our eggs were cold, side dish was unidentifiable and the silverware was dirty.
We were not impressed at all. We may have caught this place on a ‘bad day’ (however, by the plethora of reviews — this seems to be the norm for them) we won’t be back.
There are many other café places on Lamar with better quality food, beverages. atmosphere and service.

Café Express food is okay. The service is good but there’s something about it that makes me feel it’s one step above Denny’s. I remember getting the American Classic Platter which was basically scrambled eggs, wheat toast and potatoes and I thought this was okay. Granted it wasn’t the most creative breakfast but I had to season it just to make it edible. They are always out of coffee. The coffee I had was just gross. You can say Café Express is for people who don’t like to try Kerbey Lane or Magnolia.

Good food amd very friendly service. Happy to get a kids meal amd they let me get it. They have cheeseburgers and build your own pasta as well.

This place reminded me of the Stepford Wives, but in a nice way. Pleasant food, pleasant staff, but I started looking for anything that resembled a personality. I get that may not be the prime directive here, and if you insist on having a Unilocal characterization, let’s go with «Hipster Luby.»
Café Express is quick, it’s convenient, and my grilled chicken with pesto & sides could have been a poster plate from a Sysco catalog. Think bionic love child of an In-​N-​Out with food from some fast-​casual dining chain, like a Mimi’s or Cheddar’s or Marie Callender’s. Without a waitstaff. There’s nothing wrong with that, I just can’t think of anything great about it either. Seriously, a whole bunch of interesting lunch choices out there, just tell me what you’re in the mood for. People are strange, lunch can be stranger.

I think with all of the wonderful breakfast locations in Austin, Café Express falls short. The service is wonderful and the staff is nice, but the food is hit and miss.
I visited Café Express after a long run to grab some breakfast. I enjoyed the breakfast taco I ordered, but I was slightly puzzled with the strange salsa.
I also ordered the french toast. I would say the french toast was definitely a departure from what I expected. The toast was gummy and doughy on the inside. I’m not sure if this was intended, but the texture bothered me a bit. The syrup topping was also not a straight up maple syrup, but rather a super sweet caramel syrup. If I could go back and choose to order something else I probably would. The entire dish was entirely too sweet for my tastes.

Not worth it.
Salad: lettuce and spinach. No veggies. Hard thick pieces of lettuce.
Sandwhich: small ice cream scoop of tuna in the center of bread. Hello high school lunch lady!
Soup: ice cold Campbell’s
$ 10 for this??? At least the tables were dirty and the wait staff could’ve care less about helping you (they actually advertise that you don’t tip there which must explain the service).
Complete waste of money. Did I mention urine all over the bathroom floor? Stick to someplace you know like the Quiznos down the street or Central Market.

Café Express
Well, I don’t just want to beat them up or anything, but honestly, I wasn’t impressed. I do try to put things into perspective when eating at a restaurant, especially since there are so many factors that can impact a guest/​guests dining experience.
They are a fast-​casual concept, where you order at the register and you pick up your meal, so there are no servers or tipping. Still, I was new to this particular restaurant. I stopped for breakfast and ordered the Sausage Classic Platter with an orange juice and water. The gentleman who helped me seemed nice enough.
The food came out quickly. My plate included scrambled eggs, 3 turkey sausage patties, a small bowl of hash browns, and bread. The hash browns were pretty good, topped with cheese and bacon bits, with just a small amount of onion slivers. The eggs were eh, just some normal eggs, which I topped with their Melinda’s Hot Sauce. I did not like the turkey sausage. I just wasn’t impressed, and they were on the cold side. The bread was bread. It’s bread.
I did have to go back for my orange juice. It’s a 10oz bottle of Tropicana. The gentleman apologized, and I do understand that stuff happens and we all might miss something from time to time. No worries. Staff did walk by without acknowledgement, which was a bummer. I think they might have been working on a small catering or were tired. Still…
It’s just not for me. I probably won’t come back.

The employees at Café Express are rock stars. I find them to be helpful and very nice. The food is really great, and I feel that (as a frequent diner) they are getting past any of their consistency issues.
It is my feeling that the food comes from high quality ingredients, It is a great place to have a nice/​casual meal with young ones as well — plenty of booster seats and high chairs. I may nit-​pick about how much or how the food is presented, but the food is always really tasty — that never changes in my opinion.
I feel lucky to work next door to good people and food.