Café De Wheels

3 years ago, if you’d ask me, I’d have easily given CdW 4 – 5 stars. They have REALLY slipped. The last 2 – 3 times I’ve seen them in the last month or two (@ MadTree Brewery, Party in the Park, etc, they have pretty much completely covered over their outside menu boards. Basically you can get a burger, maybe some pulled pork now. Gone are the Chicken Sandwiches (Spicy and not). No Cubans, no french fries. Your one side option is potato chips. Pretty much a burger and chips, and it even seemed like the burger size had gotten smaller. Maybe it was just general look of truck with tape covering 80+% of their menu board (classy!), and kind-​of run-​down in general. Kinda makes me sad. I used to think that they had one of the best burgers in town, probably top 5. Now, I definitely wouldn’t rate it higher than 2 stars. Oh well.

A friend and I stopped into Dive Bar for drinks and food while we were waiting for a show at the Bogart’s venue. We thought we would be eating at Dive Bar, but much to our surprise, Café de Wheels, or Basecamp1, was the provided food of choice here. I must say, I was very pleased with the quality of the food, and the service was even better. The owner/​cook was extremely friendly and handled everything – no other employees were in the restaurant, which I found endearing.
I ordered the Cincinnati Cuban since I was in fact in Cincinnati visiting. It was incredible. I made the perfect choice. The Cincinnati Cuban consists of slow braised pork, cottage ham, Swiss cheese, grilled onions, dill pickle slices, and yellow mustard. For only $ 7, this sandwich was extremely filling and tasted fantastic. I also ordered the Feta fries, which I highly recommend, too. The Feta fries are hot fries tossed in Feta cheese. They are so tasty and only $ 4. Definitely spring for some fries of some kind; they have a decent collection of different fry options. On the table near the serving window, there are bottles of red sauce. Be careful! This sauce is wicked spicy and will surely make you sweat. Use with caution, as I did not. Definitely check out Café de Wheels if you can catch it! Or just stop in at Dive Bar/​Basecamp1.

I love love love Café de Wheels. I have worked downtown for years and it is so hard to find a good, but affordable lunch. During the warm months, I stalk Twitter to see if this food truck will be by Fountain Square. The Wheels Burger is delicious! Fresh beef and carmelized onions go so well together. Add bacon and you will not be disappointed.
Cincinnati really needs to be more accepting of the food trucks. They are just like any other small business. They need support and if the city promoted them more, I see a thriving relationship for both.

As some of the people said already but I will put in a little different words. Their people skills are lacking, HARDCORE. I understand you may be busy but your in a business that requires at least a half attempt of a smile and greet someone when they come to your business. When I went up to the truck to order the guy only said «What do you want to order?» and the price total in the most monotone voice. Never asked if I needed any sauces or a drink or offer me napkins. The Cowboy burger was super tasty but on the small side of a burger. The fries were OK but nothing special. They are a little pricey because of the portion size. So overall it is a OK but I don’t plan on coming back at this point. So if the burger didn’t taste awesome, I would have given them the 2 because of lack of service.

I got the cowboy burger, fries and a coke for $ 10. I placed my order on the Café de Wheels web site so I wouldnt’ have to wait. My order was ready when I got there and it was still pretty warm too. The prices are a bit high. The fries were Nothing special at all, but the serving size was adaquate. The burger had a great flavor and the meat was high quality, but for the price it was VERY small! I was still hungry when I was done.
The staff on the truck were indifferent to put it in a nice way. They had no personality. No welcoming words, no offer of ketchup or napkins. No suggestions for extras. No ‘Thank you”. No «Please come see us again.»
If the staff was nicer I may come back one day, but I can get crappy service at McDonalds for alot less money.

Finally got to try this today at Washington Park along with City Flea.
5 stars for the Funky fries — tender pulled pork, steak fries, and bbq sauce. This was fan-​freaking-​tastic, seriously! Outside of Eli’s, this was the best pulled pork I’ve had in Cincinnati. Head and shoulders better than Montgomery Inn, certainly better than Olley’s Trolley, etc. I’d like to try their ‘super’ burger topped with the pulled pork next time.
–1 star for the terribly long wait to get a simple grilled cheese and loaded fries. I watched two people who ordered fried chicken sandwiches after me get served their food before me. I don’t know if they forgot about my order or what the deal was. They apologized for the long wait and the fries were good enough to make me temporarily forget, but they still drop to four stars because you shouldn’t have to wait 15 – 20 minutes at a food truck.

I can’t wait.
DO:
–Fries topped with BBQ pulled pork and cheddar ($ 6)
DON’T:
–N/​A
PARKING:
–Food truck, so street parking?
Haven’t tried the burgers, only the fries topped with BBQ pulled pork and cheddar. Seriously, this is probably one of the best dishes I have tried in Cinci. Let’s start with the base starch. The fries were cooked perfectly — crunchy on the outside, soft and moist in the inside. Btw, they use steak fries. Next is the cheese, which was just a slice of cheddar cheese. Only complaint here is that I wish the cheese was melted through, but I’m being picky. What makes this dish is the BBQ pulled pork. Wow. I did not expect such high quality pork to be served at a truck! The meat was moist and succulent, the BBQ sauce was sweet but not overpowering. I can’t wait to try everything else on their menu.

The food: Ordered the veggie burger and sweet potato fries. The burger was good but it fell apart while I was eating it. They gave me the regular fries first, but then noticed the mistake and got the sweet potato fries done pretty quickly, they were really tasty.
The service: They were really nice, we chatted, they answered my questions about what was in the veggie burger. In the past I have had some veggie burgers that were not good at all, but this one was tasty, even tho it fell apart when I ate it.
I tried a nibble of my boyfriends BBQ pork sandwich and I want one myself now! I would definitely go back.

I always seemed to skip over this truck because its neighbors enticed me so (I’ve frequently seen it next to New Orleans To Go — and that’s my people). I finally got around to eating here today at City Flea. Since they’re known for their burgers, I had to get one. But which one? Ah, yes, the Tower of Power. Why yes, I did want more meat on the sandwich than that third pound burger. How did you know I wanted another ¼ pound of pulled pork? Delicious. The cheddar burger on its own would have been a good burger, but the pulled pork makes it great. In fact, one of the better burgers in the city. You just gotta find em first. I would point out that it’s $ 7+ for a burger, and that does not include fries or a drink.
Bottom Line: I’ll be back for the manliest burger I’ve eaten this year.

OMG… the Mt. Healthy Burger rocks my world… I dream about it… I swoon over it… It is the best drunk food on the planet. Why oh why can this food trunk not just follow my every move so that whenever the mood strikes me I can have one… Wait, that’s just a little creepy.
The Mt. Healthy is a top 3 best veggie burger in the city. Vegetarian or not, this is an amazing sandwich. At $ 7 it might be a little on the pricy side… but I am more than willing to pay it!
BTW– don’t get fooled! Just because it is veggie doesn’t make it low cal… there is nothing low cal about this burger. But after 1am, who cares?
Do expect a little bit of a wait for your food, especially if they just pulled up. Often it takes 15 – 20 minutes for them to set up before they will start serving and then another 15 – 20 for you to wait in the line and get your food. But totally worth it…

A couple of weekends ago, during our lunch break from the 5B Conference, I had the opportunity to finally try Café de Wheels. This food truck was gracious enough to park their operation just outside the convention center for conference attendees to order lunch. On first glance the offerings from this truck are very similar to Bones’ Burgers, which used to park near my office building during lunch. Basically burgers and grilled cheese sandwiches, though there are a few other choices from Café de Wheels including a cuban, chicken sandwich, and a couple of veggie options.
Since I was still nursing a decent hangover from the Cincy Beer Fest the night before, I decided I needed a greasy meal and went with the grilled cheese on wheat and an order of sweet potato fries, $ 4 each. Our group was keeping the truck busy, and it took a good while for my order to be ready, but I’m always happy to see things made to order.
My grilled cheese was as you would expect, nothing crazy but still a good lunch. I much prefer the more adventurous grilled cheese offerings from Bones’ Burgers, but this definitely got the job done. In hindsight, a friend of mine had good things to say about the homemade Mt. Healthy veggie burger, and perhaps that would have been a better choice. Or maybe next time I would get the chicken sandwich or even the cuban.
The serving of sweet potato fries was pretty large, but also pretty expensive at $ 4. However, they were perfectly cooked and very tasty! I didn’t have any dipping sauce, not even ketchup in the bag, but fortunately the seasoning was enough on its own. I do think $ 3 would be more appropriate to charge. Overall, I didn’t like this food truck as much as the similar Bones’ Burgers, but I would give it another try as I think there are some other sandwiches that are worth a try. I just wasn’t in the mood on this particular visit.

Good food truck. I like the Cuban and the Veggie burger the best, though the regular burger is tasty as well. The fries make a good side and though it may take a little time for your order… it’s a truck, the food is good, and to me that justifies a wait.
I’m not sure I’m totally clear on how to find this food truck, but they are frequently enough at places I attend (local events, Neon’s) that I’m not bothered by it. I think they have a Twitter account, which would explain why I (and not others) am unclear on their location communication efforts.

Been wholeheartedly wanting to try a Café de Wheels burger and halfheartedly trying to find them at lunchtime for a while now. Today at City Flea… success!
I got the ‘wheels burger’ ($ 6) and a side of fries ($ 2), which seemed slightly pricey for food ordered from a truck, but everything was delicious and I ultimately think the quality justified the price. The burger was definitely in the top 5 for me in Cincinnati: buttery soft, but substantial bun, juicy thick patty perfectly cooked, and that onion marmalade – wow, I wish I could have that on all future burgers I ever eat, ever. The fries are thin and well-​seasoned, very good. Next time, I think I’ll pony up the extra $ 2 to try the sweet potato fries.
So the only thing that’s just inherent with a food truck is the need to find a place to eat. Luckily in this case, we managed to snag one of a couple of small tables nearby, but if they made the food containers a bit more to-​go friendly, that would be even better.

Delicious! I’ll admit that I have only had their feta fries but they’re so good I don’t ever feel the need to order differently. Maybe one day I’ll find some willpower and try another item. It does sometimes feel like it takes a while to get your food but everything is made to order. Worth the wait.
We usually spot their distinctive black truck on Main Street near Japp’s and The Drinkery on a weekend night. As someone who frequents OTR, this location is perfect for my late night cravings. The service is not very consistent as far as friendliness of staff goes. That’s okay though because your interactions are very limited.
If you see Café de Wheels in the area, do yourself a favor and walk up to their window and order some delicious food!

I love that I can follow their Twitter account (@theburgertruck) and interact with them. I highly recommend the Mt. Healthy (veggie) burger, as it has some unique and wonderful flavor. As others have said, one is able to pay with credit cards via the iPhone Square app (if you have an iPhone, you can get this device too, I did.). The wait is often a little long, but hey, this is not really fast food, so chill out :). Their prices might not be the best, but, hopefully this means they will be successful and not close down (especially since the food truck market is becoming rather saturated).
If you get a chance, try this place out, hopefully you will enjoy them as much as I do.

I’ve been trying for months to find the opportunity to drive from Mariemont downtown so I can try this tasty treat. We’ve had a rather snowy winter thus far, which doesn’t bode well for The Burger Truck, but today I finally ventured downtown to give it a try. It was pretty cold while waiting, but I knew that I could have sent my order via text ahead of time, so that was no one’s fault but my own.
Burger — 3.5÷5
It was cooked a little beyond my ideal temperature, but the meat itself was still good.
Toppings — 3.5÷5
I skipped the onions and tomato on my burger, opting for cheese, mayo, ketchup, and lettuce. Except I got the tomato anyway, which I wasn’t thrilled about on principle, but the toppings were above average.
Condiments — ³⁄₅
I suppose it’s not really fair to judge this section by The Burger Truck’s lack of condiments, but because it is indeed a traveling meal mobile, I will cut some slack here.
Burger to Bun ratio — 4.5÷5
The bun is amazing. Probably my favorite part of the burger.
Side — ³⁄₅
The fries were good. Not outstanding, but above average for sure. Next time I will go for the sweet potato fries. Or maybe even some ketchup to accompany this potato-​y fare.
Total — 3.5 out of 5 [rounded up to a 4 for Unilocal rating purposes]
I can imagine the convenience of Café de Wheels working in the CBD, and – despite the lack of convenience regarding proximity to my workplace – I cannot wait to go back, especially when it’s nicer outside.

Let me preempt the question I know you will already have: why in the dickens, Angela, did you order a fried chicken sandwich at a place known for its burgers?! I don’t know, it just sounded good. And it was.
The chicken was literally a fresh breast fried in a yummy coating on a nice grilled bun. It took a little longer, since as the staff explained, they had larger pieces this time and they wanted to make sure it was cooked well. Due to the thickness of the chicken, I think it was a little hard to get flavor in the meat, but it tasted really fresh and it was pretty good. I probably would not order it again, because it wasn’t THAT kind of good, but if you are in the fried chicken sandwich mood, you really could do much worse. The fries were really tasty. I’m fairly certain I really should have gotten the burger, but I’ll try it next time. And try another sandwich after that. And another. The workers were nice and since I went a little later on a rainy day, the line was non-​existent.
If anything, 4 stars for being a food truck with good fresh food. To uh, quote Facebook: «Like.»

Ignore my previous comment about not taking credit cards — in fact, they DO take credit cards, which makes them all the more awesome.
I also may have been too harsh about them not being friendly. I think it’s the fact that they’re stressed. They always have a huge line of people eagerly and often impatiently waiting for food and it can be a little much. Perhaps their curtness comes not from a bad attitude, but a focus on getting the job done.
Still, mmmmm…

A few weeks back I went hunting for the elusive Café de Wheels and instead found a gastric crisis after an ugly culinary collision with the truck from Señor Roy’s Taco Patrol. Since then, I’ve managed to track down the Café de Wheels and can report that they are doing their part to uphold the cause of the Cincinnati food-​truck assault.
Agreement here with those who say the Wheels Burger is one of the best in town: a generous patty properly cooked to order, with the zingy special-​sauce-​like «Mike’s Mayo» and a really good balsamic onion marmalade. It’s delicious. The only problem with the burger is that it’s not only a sloppy chore to get through, which I don’t have a problem with per se, but it begins to become soggy from the condiments before you can finish it. The «Cincinnati Cuban» is another excellent offering from the limited menu: It’s not too far off from a traditional Cuban but adds grilled onions and just a dab of yellow mustard.
The fries are decent enough, but I sure wish I could pay less for fewer fries than Wheels’ $ 2 price. (As with Five Guys’ fries portions, the size is overkill for a person dining solo.)
I see a couple of complaints in the other reviews about slow and gruff service, but I’ve been to Café de Wheels when there’s no line and it’s been super-​fast and pleasant.
A lot of folks are excited about these food trucks, because the concept of a mobile restaurant is indeed pretty cool. But when the idea is actually put into practice, I’ve got to cast a dissenting vote. My main complaint about these trucks, beyond the their fleeting and undependable whereabouts (I do not stay tethered to a computer or smartphone to track their locations), is the lack of seating, unless they happen stop right by a park with benches or tables. Café de Wheels does go to the trouble to set up a couple of two-​tops on the pavement by the truck, and I credit them for that, but otherwise you’re on your own. (Then there are the debatable issues of sanitation and of customer-​stealing from bricks-​and-​mortar restaurants…)
Anyway, a big thumbs-​up on Café de Wheels’ food, which probably warrants four-​stars-​plus for this type of heavy greasy-​spoon fare. Got to round it down to four, though, for general food-​truck annoyances.

Burgerquest!
Wheels Burger
American cheese, lettuce, mike’s mayo, tomato, balsamic onion marmalade 5.00
Cooking Style/​Temp: medium well, griddled
Additions/​Subtractions: as listed
Burger: 4
5 or 6oz, fresh ground beef. nice texture, packed nicely. juicy with a nice exterior crust. very enjoyable.
Bun: 3.5
seemed like an approximation of a brioche or egg bun, either way, it was pretty good, grilled/​toasted, but kind of deflated as i ate it. that being said it didnt disintegrate, which was good.
Toppings: 2.75
a lot of places are doing fancy versions of onions lately. these really didnt do anything for me an added and extra «wet» ingredient which i didnt think was necessary. dunno what was special about mike’s mayo, but it was good.
Accoutrements: 4
café de wheels offers 2 types of fries, krinkle cut (plain and with feta) and sweet potato. the sweet potato fries were awesome and the krinkle cut ones were delicious, though i dont think the feta was a good addition. most of the feta just collects at the bottom of the basket. if youre doing unique cheese fries you should do something that melts and clings to the fries. If they insist on using feta, i’d suggest making some kind of feta/​or even goat cheese sauce for dipping, especially for the sweet potato fries. I just saw they have chevre cheese, that might be a better approach.
wow. too much fry-​losophy.
the veggie beet burger was visually interesting and actually very tasty
Also a plus is they offer a good looking cuban sandwich, chicken sandwich and In N Out Animal Style (!!1!). $ 2 for bacon is a little steep, $ 5 for this burger is very good, but $ 7 as a bacon cheeseburger, I don’t think so.
Atmosphere: 4
i should give a 5 for this because its a fuckin food truck and food trucks are fuckin awesome. They were very friendly, and move around town in a pretty good rotation, though setting up in a little more central location downtown some days (ie fountain square, with all the available outdoor seating) would be awesome. And here’s where the points come off, but that’s ok. Where they are doesnt make for very quick eating when theres not really anywhere close by to sit. I know Cincinnati has some stupid laws going on regarding parking and food trucks and stuff, but hopefully with all these food trucks popping up, maybe they can make some revisions.
Overall: 3.65
A very good Fast Food Style burger, served fast out of an awesome truck. The burger was as good as you’ll find downtown for lunch, and post-​drinking in northside or clifton. i hope they can stick around and cant wait for warmer weather to enjoy some al fresco burgers.