The Nasher Café

Came here for lunch with my boyfriend and loved it. We loved the Turkey Smoked Gouda Panini– the panini had the perfect crisp to it (not too hard and not to soft), it also had a great balance of flavors (there is a contrast of the red onions with the neutral cucumbers, sweet green apples with the salty gouda cheese, and the creamy sauce with the crispy apples and onions), and the panini had the perfect bread to insides ratio making the overall panini enjoyable and easy to munch on.
We also ordered the iced chai tea latte and the Nasher Club which had a great amount of meat and veggies in it– i loved the crispy bacon in the sandwich.
The almond bar was also very delicious dessert!
Overall great experience. However, the service was a bit slow

The Nasher is a great place for students to go because it’s on food points. I’ve gone twice for brunch, which I consistently think is decent but not fabulous. The first time, I got the salmon benedict which was very standard with no bells or whistles. The second time, I got the veggie omlete which was good. It came with a side salad that was just greens and dressing, and some house fries which were quartered potatoes with some spices on it, which were good.
Overall, the food was good, not great, it’s all very standard. I like the location in the museum or even sitting on their patio is nice. I’ve heard their dinner on Thursday nights is fantastic, but have yet to go.

Nasher? I hardly know her!
…Anyways…
While the Nasher is arguably one of the «fancier» options on Duke’s campus, I find myself walking away with a sense of disappointment more and more each time I go.
Given the busy nature of the café, it is understandable that the servers are busy, but service is still abysmally slow. Also, groups larger than 8 are no longer allowed; when I was attending a friend’s birthday party in the Nasher recently, we had to be split between two tables on the opposite sides of the café.
In terms of food, not much has changed. My favorite dish is still the salmon benedict, and I recently tried the cheese plate which was satisfying though rather pricey. They have recently redone the menu and now list the prices for the desserts, which is an improvement.
Though it saddens me to do it, it’s time to shift away from the Nasher, partly because of the high prices and because of the consistent lack of decent service.

We got there a bit early so we had to wait a few minutes before they seated us. Once we were seated, it took a while for the server to come take or orders. It seemed like he was the only server for all the tables. The manager seemed to be helping as well but there were too many tables for just 2 people.
I ordered the veggie Benedict and my mom got the southwestern omelette. It took a really long time for our food to come out too. The salad that both the omelette and Benedict came with was delicious, however, the potatoes were definitely too pepper-​y. My eggs were cooked perfectly so that the yolk ran a bit but not too much and the pesto sauce with the mozzarella and spinach was delicious! I thought the English muffin was a bit hard but the rest made up for that.
I probably won’t rush back here in the future because the service isn’t that great and the price is a little high but I’d say it was a good meal overall.

I had very high expectations for the Nasher Café and planned a special morning brunch and slow walking tour on a Saturday morning. After the tour [which was fantastic!] we meandered over the the café and I immediately realized I didn’t need the reservation. Maybe we were there on an off-​day, but this Saturday in early June, there was one other couple seated when we arrived at noon. Service was stellar and we were quickly served coffee and lattes, which were very average. We ordered the huevos rancheros and the ham benedict. Both meals were mediocre and left me feeling disappointed. The huevos rancheros would be easily made at home: black beans, scrambled eggs, sour cream, pico and cheese with corn chips on the side. Flavor was okay, but I wouldn’t order again when I could confidently make this at home for much less then $ 11. The ham benedict was again good, but very light on the hollandaise sauce [possibly even left off]. Better flavor then the huveos rancheros, but still lacking for a dish that i’ve seen so much talk about. Overall, not a place I’ll rush back for brunch, but I wouldn’t mind giving their dinner or dessert menu a look. I love the Nasher Museum, I just think the café needs to step it up a bit.

Fun brunch place to go to with friends. I always order the same thing: Salmon Benedict. You cannot go wrong with it. The desserts are amazing too. Probably my second favorite dining place on Duke’s campus. Super fun to go wander around the exhibits afterwards or go to the gift shop! MAKE RESERVATIONS.

Came here for lunch on a nice spring day. I’m a tarheel and this was my first time at nasher. I have to admit that I was quite taken with nasher! I ordered the nasher burger and it was delicious. It was very umami… and consisted simply of a large burger patty and an equally portioned layer of goat cheese. Savory and served at the perfect temperature. I’m definitely looking forward to coming back for brunch sometime.

I’ve had brunch, lunch, dinner, and dessert at the Nasher, and I think that lunch is the best deal. I usually find sandwiches very unimpressive, but Nasher sandwiches are something else. I wouldn’t willingly spend $ 10 – 13 on a sandwich elsewhere. The bread and content combinations are not ordinary and they are very tasty. My favorite sandwich to date is the Shrimp B.L.E. I’m always full after eating half (it also comes with a side), so I usually save half for later or share the meal and bill with a friend.

Good place for brunch. The wait can be tough so you definitely have to call ahead. This place takes food points which is why I go more often. Love the salmon omelette. Service is more iffy but they’re really busy.

Nasher is great for brunch. I know people obsessed with the French toast; I’ve had it and it’s pretty good. I loved their salmon eggs Benedict. Everything was exactly how it should be and it was a nice serving size. The menu has a nice variety to choose from. The outdoor seating is great when the weather is nice. The staff is friendly. Both indoor and outdoor seating areas have been very clean on all my visits. It’s smart to make reservations (especially for brunch) because large groups of students tend to take up many of the tables most weekends. This location is also great because they accept food points if you are a student looking for something different. Not to mention you can always check out the store and the art installations while you’re there.

This place wholeheartedly deserves a ⁵⁄₅. I went to Duke for undergrad and would always come here for brunch with my girlfriends. I still dream about their eggs Benedict and endless sweet tea. The ambiance is GREAT (you’re in an ART museum!). The staff was always friendly. Disclaimer: I haven’t been in a year so I don’t know about the current quality. But the next time I am in Durham, I will definitely be making a stop here!

Overall: Okay food, overpriced, bad service.
Our waitress was actually fairly rude, interrupting conversation multiple times to curtly ask us if we were ready to order «yet.» The coffee re-​filler accidentally spilled coffee all over the floor (luckly only some got onto my shoes and another party member’s shoes). The spill was never fully cleaned up (no one came to wipe off the table, just used a dry rag to mop up about 70% if what was on the floor) and I was never given a new cup of not overflowing coffee. It took almost fifteen minutes to get food boxed up and get check. I saw someone from another table actually go find their waiter in the kitchen to give them their credit card for the bill because they’d been waiting so long.
Food was over-​priced for what we got. Stuff came out lukewarm and the restaurant wasn’t even busy. Been here twice for brunch on Saturday and will not be coming back.
One positive is that the manager handled the food allergy in our party very well, although there were only one or two entrees they could make soy-​free. Perks for them knowing their ingredients though!

This is a great spot for lunch.
My favorite has to be the Caesar salad with chicken or grilled shrimp… although the sandwiches are pretty good too.
The atmosphere is nice and the service has always been great.
It’s a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours with lunch then a walk through the galleries.
I’ll definitely be back.

Hmm, hit up the Thursday night thing and this time I wasn’t very interested in the menu. I settle for a couple scoops of their sherbert. The passion fruit and coconut (with real coconut bits) were actually fairly decent, but I found it odd that the starters plates were more expensive than the main dishes. Salads, sandwiches and soup were that inciting. It needed an injection of creativity. The outdoor patio is a great place to relax though.

Excellent place to blow off some food points as a Duke student, but otherwise overpriced for the visitors and other non-​Duke students. Even though the brunch and dinners are excellent, for the price it is better to go with a Durham downtown restaurant. They serve a good eggs benedict and salad here on weekends, and the desserts are also fancy and decent. Not a place you want to go if you’re not visiting Duke or the small Nasher museum, however. Look out for their special events though, when they have a guest chef or themed prix fixe dinner to go along with an upcoming exhibition. Those can be interesting, but once again, a bit pricey.

I was a little disappointed with my recent experience at the Nasher Café. My Diet Coke was flat (which I mentioned, and got a fresh drink), and there was a hair (too short and dark to be my own) in my coconut gelato (which made me decide to stop eating). I did enjoy the veggie sandwich on whole wheat bread and pasta salad side, which were tasty.
The sandwich, soft drink, and gelato set me back $ 16 plus tip, which was a pricey mid-​week lunch. Duke employees can use their employee flex accounts to pay, which is a plus.
That being said, I’ll probably give the Nasher Café another try later I love the idea of a campus museum with its own café.

If you’re judging this as a regular restaurant it’s going to disappoint.
But if you’re judging it like a museum cafeteria, and you don’t over-​order (and thus over-​pay, since it’s a little spendy for what it is), then you’ll make out OK.
The charcuterie plate was good enough — with really nice Marcona almonds, mediocre salami, and a choice of 2 out of 5 decent cheeses — but overpriced at $ 15.
Most of our food was uncooked and thus should have come out much sooner … but the hostess noticed, and gave the boys some free ice cream for our trouble (that was literally worth a *).
One tip: when we were finally ready to eat, they said it was a 35 minute wait — so if you’re checking out the collection, it’s a good idea to check the wait BEFORE you start…

Nice place for lunch. I had soup/​salad combo and the tomato basil soup was fantastic, some of the best soup I had. Very deep/​complex flavor. The salad was all greens but fresh and nice. I also ordered the charcuterie and cheese plate. It was also nice, I like that I had the option of picking which cheeses. My only disappointment was that the charcuterie element consisted of four shaved slices of salami, not exactly a complex mix. I had a very nice and competent server but she was a little overwhelmed, so it was hard to get drink refills (or even order); thus the four stars. Also, keep in mind you need to pay for parking and it starts at $ 2.

A delicious place to eat, particularly for a Duke student who is looking to get rid of FoodPoints! My parents and younger brother came to Duke for graduation weekend, and I took them here to snag a nice relaxed lunch. The facility is great because it is set inside the Nasher Museum with plenty of skylights and tall windows to give ample natural lighting. The establishment is chic and the service friendly. We decided to splurge on an appetizer and individual drinks on top of our entrees. It was a fabulous meal.
The appetizer was the smoked salmon with red onion, egg, capers, dill cream, and cucumber on flatbread crackers. Talk about presentation. Leave it to a museum café to have artsy tableware. The salmon was indeed quite smoky and thinly sliced. It was great on top of the crackers. The capers were a nice touch of bursting sourness, and the dill cream complemented the whole appetizer well. I’m not sure how I felt about the eggs — I could’ve taken them or left them. Everyone enjoyed it though.
My mom and brother ordered the Italian cream soda for their drinks. Their pleasant surprise was that the soda actually had cream on top that had to be mixed in. It was a great vanilla flavor. My dad got a large cup of Joe Van Gogh drip coffee with cream and raw sugar crystals on the side to add in. He liked it too.
As for the entrees, my brother got the classic club sandwich composed of hand sliced chicken breast, bacon, sharp cheddar, tomato, Romaine lettuce, and mayonnaise on sourdough. His side was a potato salad that none of us particularly liked because of the abundance of mustard seed. My mom got the Asian chicken salad which was mixed greens, red cabbage, carrots, oranges, cashews, and shredded chicken dressed with a ginger miso vinaigrette. It was tastefully tangy. My dad got the Nasher burger which was a large beef patty, sharp cheddar, fried onion threads, tomato, and roasted garlic aioli on a Brioche bun. He really liked the beef used and we all did too!
My lunch was their red, white, & green panini which had smoked mozzarella, garlic pesto aioli, oven-​roasted tomato, and baby spinach on rustic house bread. It was a bit too buttery on the bread but was overall quite tasty. Definitely better hot than cold/​warm (I had leftovers). I added chicken breast to mine and realized that it could’ve been had without because the other ingredients were quite hearty and heavy. My side was quinoa with a tangy, citrus sauce — I enjoyed it immensely. What a delicious lunch. Nasher never disappoints me.

I’m so underwhelmed by the Nasher Café. I came here for brunch once and another time for dinner. I wasn’t impressed by the service for brunch, but it was so long ago I can’t identify specific incidences. However, I was pretty annoyed by the service during dinner.
Considering we had a reservation, we were basically ignored the whole evening. It’s not even like they were that busy, they had enough wait staff. And I stared *REALLY* hard at all the servers and even said «Excuse me» to get their attention. I think they were literally trying to ignore us while we tried to get: Menus, bread, water refills, etc.
The food is decent & so is the serving size. However, DO NOT GET TIRAMISU!!!
Their tiramisu is HORRIBLE. It tasted worse than gas station tiramisu (if gas stations sold tiramisu). It was incredibly dry, lacked any hint of coffee/​espresso, and was completely unappetizing.
To be frank, I would eat elsewhere either before or after a visit to the Nasher. Their food is not impressive enough to overlook the service.