Cafe Stravaganza

Best breakfast I have had since I moved here. The Greek omelette… YUM. The eggs were fluffy, the potatoes flavorful, the pita bread warm. All the flavors worked together like a symphony…

We came in here because it was the ONLY restaurant open during the huge power outage in the Monterey/​Carmel area, the staff was very accommodating & helped find us a table where my service dog could be tucked away under the table so no one tripped over her or stepped on her.
The food was good, I had a veggie omelette with hash browns, and everything took a while to come out (probably because it was packed because of the power outage), but service was still good, despite how busy it was.

Excellent!!! I was so ready for a good, tastey, fresh, filling meal… that is exactly what I got here, and excellent service to… and it happened to be so very quiet… I like that a whole heck of a lot… this for me was the quiet before the chaos at the folks in PB.
I had a delicious tastey filling sandwich and opted for a side salad as my option as part of the meal. I had plenty of food. I also left quite full and satisfied. Thanks for the food.

So incredibly mediocre. Lots of old people eating here… probably because their taste buds are dead. Oh well… I’m full and didn’t get food poising, so that’s worth a couple stars.

Great food had dinner and breakfast very friendly and wholesome. Old school café style dinner. Would recommend to all families.

This is one of those Neapolitan joints that has a little bit of everything. The décor is a bit cluttered, although we enjoyed the cook books and anatomy manual in the book shelf over our table while we waited for a pizza. Their seasoned fries are ok, kind of Boardwalk style. Didn’t care for the pizza too much, was mostly cheese as a topping.
The service was ok, fairly attentive and pretty responsive. Prices were moderate for the crossroads and this spot served a purpose as a pit stop before a journey down past Big Sur. I would say 3 stars, but they get a bump for variety and I liked the quirkiness of their decorations.

We get takeout from here every time we are in Carmel. Their lamb stew is my mother’s favorite and this year we learned about the take and bake pizzas. Not inexpensive but delicious! The one with olives and artichokes (add ground sausage) is awesome! 20 minutes at home and it’s crisp and ready to go.

Fresh and clean flavors. I ordered the roasted leg of lamb sandwich with a cup of chicken tortilla soup. It was quite tasty. Ingredients were cooked very well, bread paired well with the lamb and I have no complaints. Tasted my wife’s beef kabob and that was pretty good as well

MUST VISIT! I was visiting Carmel basically because I had to. I was rear ended, and my trailer was destroyed. I am from Canada and I had to sort through options so that I could make it home. Harry, the owner, invited me in, fed me, and made sure I was taken care of. He helped with options for my trailer. And to top it all off, DELICIOUS FOOD! During a stressful time this place was a God send. Thank you so much. I couldn’t recommend this place more.

Not fancy but a really nice place. Great food. Great service. Nice people.
Great kabobs. We returned here several times for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We cannot say enough about the very good quality of Mediterranean and Iranian food.
We loved the unpretentiousness of the place in a city which celebrates its pretentiousness.

Such a great find in Carmel for lunch. Our food was great and the price was excellent. Definitely check this place out!

Amazing food, great service! Coming home after a long weekend backpacking in Big Sur and they made this experience awesome.

Delicious food and helpful service! The chicken kabab was delightful and the Spaghetti was hearty. We didn’t have enough room for dessert but next time would love to try the bread pudding.

Kann man getrost empfehlen … Nichts für die große Küche aber gutes Essen wie man es gewohnt ist… meine Kinder lieben die Burger und ich fand die Pizza richtig gut … Nur beim Geld rausgeben tat sich der Kellner etwas schwer … Naja ich denke es war bestimmt ein Verständigungsproblem … Auch preislich im Vergleich zu der Umgebung akzeptabel !

This is one of those strange 3 star reviews. i couldn’t really figure out if i liked it or not, and kept going back and forth… so the ever popular, middle of the road, politically correct non answer, answer, is what this place gets.
one thing positive… this place was one of the only places in carmel that was open late, and didnt have a line down the city block with an one hour wait. Also, the owner was at the desk to greet us as we walked in, and seemed extremely friendly. i guess thats two things positive, oh well, counting was never my strong suit.
Food was pretty good. Nothing special, and i felt it was slightly overpriced for what we ordered, but not insane.
Service was fairly poor. The server was friendly enough, but i felt like we were ignored and that he always had 10 other things to do. Our drinks were left empty almost the entire time we were at the table. Even when he did come to our table, you could see him look at the empty drink cups, and then just choose to ignore them. We actually had to ask him for refills.
Just an average spot in my opinion. Not the best, but you could do much worse.

Nous avons beaucoup aime les pancakes le bacon le breakfast burrito et la gentillesse du service.

We were heading to 17 mile when we got hungry and decided to stop in the mall area before heading to 17 mile. We saw this restaurant and decided to eat here. As soon as we walked in, the restaurant is not big. It has 2 separate dining area. My wife got the Hawaiian burger and I got the lamb burger. The burger was big and juicy. It was a little expensive. The service was great and the server was very nice.

My friend randomly choose this place after our 8 mile hike. I was hesitant at first, but the atmosphere looked relaxed and welcoming. And that was exactly what we needed.
What a pleasant surprise! The food was amazing! It came out in a timely manner and the presentation of the food was remarkable.
Loved this place!

This place was a total surprise!
Stopped in for a quick breakfast and ordered the Carmel omelette! Best I’ve ever had! The pancakes were fluffy with a great flavor.
Oj was fresh squeezed and the service was exquisite! I’ll be back when in the area…
Thank you for starting my vacation off so great!

Love this place, awesome atmosphere and customer service. Great menu, with a lot of choices, and large portions. The staff is very friendly. The place is clean and vibrantly decorated.
Been here multiple times and will return.

A fun café in the crossroads with a few tables outside. There is a Persian /​Mediterranean flair along with some California classics. It’s fair price for this area, that tends to run high. We had the kabob combo, tasty although a little dry, my sister had the chicken/​Gorgonzola salad, she liked it but it was fantastic. Comfy atmosphere, decent wine list

I think by now it goes without saying that I ENJOY EATING! A LOT! NOT sooo much the eating part but the experience you get from eating, the atmosphere, people, vibe and well the food, the smell, and how it dances on your tongue and slides down your throat or try’s to stomp out any and all taste buds.
JV and I come here because it’s close to where we are staying and has been here before! It’s late and even with the snacks we had in the car I’m STARVING like a FRICKIN HOSTAGE. It came on all of a sudden because at one moment I was fine then the next I thought I was dying! NOT GOOD!
There is plenty of parking since it is late and most shops in this strip mall are closed or about to close. But either way there is plenty of parking which is always a good thing! We walk in and are greeted right away and seated! Again it’s late so most peeps have probably left. There is only one small group of ladies there besides the two of us and even they had finished eating and were just chit-​chatting and enjoying each other’s company!
We sit and the FRIENDLY SERVER asked what we wanted to drink! I got a water with lemon and JV got a club soda. We perused the menu and chatted a bit trying to figure out what we wanted! When I’m that kind of hungry I want EVERYTHING! This is NOT GOOD because I can easily over eat! I was flip flopping back and forth between this salad and a meal. Then I wanted a salad and a meal then I just wanted a meal, then just a salad, then dessert, then an appetizer and salad and then I was unsure AGAIN! Goodness I was getting on my own nerves.
By the time the server came back I had narrowed it down to a salad or a meal. She asked if we were ready and JV got the Chicken kabob dinner which came with steamed veggies, rice, pita and a little yogurt. I decided to be a sudo-​copy-​cater and got the combo kabob dinner with lamb and chicken and it came with the pita, rice, steamed veggies and yogurt.
It didn’t take any time for our food to be prepared and brought to us! It look GREAT! I tried the veggies and they were perfectly steamed for me. Not TOO hard or soft. The lamb was REALLY TENDER and juicy and I liked that it was cooked medium rare with onions but NOT OVERLY SEASONED. I REALLY LIKED the yogurt which I think had some cucumber in it! I even asked for more because it was tasty! The chicken was grilled with onions as well and TENDER and JUICY! I didn’t eat TOO MUCH rice because it was so late but I tasted it and it was LIGHT and FULFFY! I also didn’t eat the pita because it is just bread and I was feeling it but it was ok too!
JV enjoyed her food as well! She almost ate everything on her plate! We probably should have gotten the salad if were planning NOT to eat the rice of pita! But oh well maybe next time! They also brought us a basket of bread which was warm and good! I only had a small piece with the oil and spices which was ACTUALLY REALLY YUMMY tasting! I was pleasantly surprised that they didn’t rush us out! THAT was REALLY NICE because it did get a bit late at one point! They just quietly cleaned up but didn’t make a huge commotion or start vacuuming around us!
Overall I will be back because I enjoyed my food and the service was GREAT! I would like to try something else like pizza, mango walnut salad or the chicken apple gorgonzola salad which both sound AHHAMZING! I also eye-​spied a lamb burger which I have had at another place and loved so they have a bit of a variety for me to try and I hear they have a pretty decent breakfast! So that is ALWAYS another option!
Thanks AGAIN for feeding the beast!