The Cafe

I work nearby and this is our go-​to lunch spot for business lunches. it’s a nice atmosphere, decent prices and good food for the most part. Not great, but good and to me fairly consistent. Service for us here has always been good.
Never been here for dinner or breakfast — always lunch.

Pleasant atmosphere at lunch hour, but the food a huge disappointment. We ordered quiche. After almost 45 minutes (the restaurant was not jammed with customers), we corralled our server and inquired. He explained there’d been a «little mix-​up».
In another 10 minutes, the quiche arrived. It was like no other quiche we’d ever tasted. It had the consistency of rubber (it actually jiggled when we cut into it), and we guessed that incredibly, it had been cooked in a microwave. After the one bite, we left the rest on our plates, and when the server eventually came to take our plates away, he actually asked «Was everything okay?» We stared at him in amazement but stayed polite as we described the condition of the quiche. But his eyes were already glazing over as he was not interested in addressing our complaint. He mechanically responded, «I’m sorry you weren’t pleased with your meal», whisking the plates away, and wasting no time bringing our check (for the full amount).
A truly miserable dining experience with a restaurant unconcerned with customer satisfaction.

The Café at Briarcliff is one of those hit and miss places. I agree there is no one ever in there. The food is awful to ok. Brunt burgers just don’t hit the spot with me…

I came to The Café with my grandma for my birthday lunch and we sat on the patio. I always love when there are so many creative food options. My grandma settled on the coconut chicken salad/​BLT combo. She seemed to enjoy her food. I LOVED my blackened salmon sandwich with guac, sautéed onions and provolone on ciabatta. The house-​made chips were excellent, too.
I will note that the food was a little salty, so if your diet calls for no salt stay away.
I agree with what the others said about the poor service to some degree. Our server was not very attentive, but it was okay in our case because we came for a leisurely lunch. Had we have been over our lunch hour, I might have been more disappointed in the service.
Overall, it was a good experience. I would go there for lunch again, but I don’t know if it would be special enough for a night out.

A fairly solid breakfast offering. I had breakfast here with dozens of other runners after the «5K Race for the Cure» at Union Station. We were all hungry after a brisk run and everyone seemed satisfied with their breakfast.
I would call the breakfast standard «Diner Fare». The food doesn’t seem as upscale as the dining room and surrounding areas.
The tab for 3 people that ordered Chicken Fried Steak, French Toast and an omelet came to about $ 40 with tip.
The service was super-​slow. It took at least 15 minutes after we sat down for a waitress to stop by our table to take our order.
I’m not sure if I would come back here again with so many other good options within a few minutes drive.

Really your closed on a Tuesday at 730pm. Will never try to eat here again, wasn’t great the first time now there won’t be a second time.

Message to the owner: Your servers are killing your nice restaurant!
I like the Café at Briarcliff. At least, I WANT to like it. I really do. The chef is great, spinning breakfast and lunch entrees in a unique and very tasty way. The atmosphere is a class above what you’ll find in most other Northland establishments, refined and well-​appointed, with soft lighting and an attractive, comfortable space. The food is VERY good.
But the service is consistently… well, atrocious. Good luck finding a host or hostess (or anyone else) to seat you when you arrive — unless you’re willing to walk around the corner and peek in through the kitchen doors. Oh, there everyone is! Standing in a little gossip clutch sipping drinks and chatting with each other. Hostess, servers, bus staff. Pretty much everyone. Pretty much every time.
When you finally pry someone away to seat you, be prepared to flag your server down for every interaction. «May I please have some water?» «May I please have a coffee warm-​up?» «We only have one place setting… may we please have silverware and napkins?» «Pardon, may we please have our check?» «Oh, and could we please have a little less ATTITUDE?»
I may sound like a high-​maintenance pain in the behind, but I’m really not. I’ve worked in the service industry, and know it’s hard work — but I also know how easy it is to make great tips, just by covering the basics in a prompt, friendly way. The staff at the Café is always under-​trained, and always turning over. With only 1 or 2 exceptions, we meet new servers every time we go to the Café, and we get to have a new adventure in being ignored.
So why do we keep going back? Good question, and one we keep asking ourselves. The food really IS good, and it’s such a nice quiet spot for a calm, relaxing breakfast… we just want to love the place.
I wish the owner could see just how close the Café is to excellence — and how only the servers are preventing this. Every day. One customer at a time. People will stop coming.
Even us.

Surprisingly good western burger and Crazy good sweet potato fries. My friend said the tomato basil soup was exceptional. I have been here many times before, noticed today that it was very dirty… needs more attention. All seats became full over the lunch hour, so it must remain popular.

I went to this restaurant for lunch. At the begginning I was a little exceptical because of the reviews from the Unilocalers plus it is in a new area in town where they are trying to make it very upscale… so I was expecting, sub-​par food with high prices. But, after coming so many times to Kansas, I am getting tire of the same places to eat.
So… I was wrong! The place is very nice and classy but the prices for lunch were not bad at all.
Everything from the 3 type of hummus appetizer, the soup to my sandwich was very good. The personnel is very friendly and respectful.
There is plenty of things in the menu I still want to try so definitely I wil go back, maybe next time I can have extra space in my stomach so I can choose something from the «Happy tray» (the desserts).
Give it a try… you will not regret.

Had lunch today. Wife had salmon salad that was excellent. The rest of us had hamburgers that were very good.
Service was very good.

Judging by the reviews, it looks like this place had a few kinks to iron out in the early days. My experiences here, and my most recent one put the Café near the top of my list for getting lunch in Briar Cliff Village.
I ordered a Cobb Salad with Ranch dressing. It was a pretty standard salad, but delish none the less. The dressing was dwarfed by the salad. They gave me the most minuscule portion of dressing I’ve ever been served at a restaurant, but it was probably closer to the actual serving size we’re all supposed to eat but don’t.
My sister ordered a hamburger with sweet potato fries. The hamburger was good, but the sweet potato fries were to die for. I would come back just for those!
Another in our party ordered a breakfast item that consisted of Granola, yogurt, fruit, and a muffin. The presentation was lovely, and the fruit looked really fresh and good.
Our waiter seemed very attentive at first, but as often happens he forgot about us toward the end of our meal. We had him bring the check with the food since we were in a rush, so after we paid he disappeared. No water refills even though every glass on the table was empty and the restaurant was not really busy. The atmosphere is nice, but we were seated just beside the bar, and there was a T.V. with some kind of white water rafting show on. Sort of distracting and it didn’t fit with the rest of the ambiance.

Atmosphere is great, which is what you would expect from a restaurant in Briarcliff.

I’ve been here before and have had mostly under-​whelming experiences but today just put the seal on the package. My recommendation: skip this for better options.
We had a group of six. We were seated in an area where it was the temperature of a fully-​functioning meat locker. When the check came we were all searching for exact change so we didn’t have to wait for change or credit card slips in exchange for the humidity and warmth outside.
Service was rather poor. There were mistakes made on a couple of orders but the server did not check on us until long after the food arrived. Food was nothing notable. My cobb salad was quite boring compared to most places. It was a plate of chopped romaine, a small amount of diced tomato, blue cheese and bacon. I think it was supposed to have avacado but mine did not — probably the item that was 86-​ed instead of the egg.
The few who had the chicken salad sandwiches seemed to be pleased with their food. Maybe I’ll choose this next time, if there is one.

I didn’t check the reviews for this place until after we had eaten there — thankfully.
We thought our lunch was superb. Started with the wonton nachos with crab — these were really good. I had the BLT with creamy chicken vegetable soup. The BLT was delicious with avocado and a cherry jalapeño mayo, soup was great. GF ordered the berry spinach salad and loved it.

We’ve been to the Café before and have always had excellent food and service. But not this time. The food was good or at least mine was. My husband had a salad and they gave him a very small amount of dressing. Our waiter never did check on us. I finally asked someone else for more dressing but my husband ended up eating most of his salad dry. We didn’t get refills on water or tea. Again, I finally asked another waitress for more hot water so I could have another tea. I have no idea what our waiters name was but he needs to find another job. He did come back to take our money but then he charged us for things we didn’t have so we had to send the bill back also… and this was just a simple lunch folks. Not sure we’ll give them another chance.

It was our first record breaker this summer as I walked into a super packed, slightly posh afternoon crowd in Briarcliff. People squirmed as though they were seated close together. The inside doesn’t flow well, you sort of find something around every corner but with that office cubicle feel. I opted to get it to go. I ordered the Winter salad and the portabella burger and didn’t wait long. It was about $ 13.50, which for there I thought was reasonable.
The salad was amazing! Beets, sweet potatoes, Spaghetti squash, walnuts and blue cheese on a bed of Spinach, for some reason it’s not on the pdf menu on the website. Holy Fiber! The sandwich was Huge! It was perfectly seasoned and juicy like a good mushroom should be. I didn’t even mind the bun, this is coming from a picky bread eater.
The desert display case was impressive but decided to honor my fiber commitments for the day. I have no real desire to eat at the restaurant but I will go back and for take-​out any day.

I went with other guests who visit often and have nothing but positive acclaim. We had a rather unsavory experience, and I’m not sure we will return.
The flatbread appetizer and salad were delicious and perfectly cooked. I definitely recommend them. I also like their bread, which is warm, soft and accompanied by three dipping sauces.
I had the chicken saltimbuca (a specialty) and was underwhelmed. The chicken was dry on the outside. It tasted like catered food; too much salt to make up for the lack of flavor. The sauce was oily and congealing. Though it came was advertised as coming with broccoli, I found the two pieces served more as garnish than a side dish.
Another in our party ordered the halibut, and it was a pathetic portion size. The dish was good, but much too small to be enjoyed. My husband had a sampler of their smoked meats, which were very good, but are being removed from the menu.
For dessert we had macaroons based on a suggestion. They were so hard, we couldn’t cut through them with a fork.

Tried to go to Trezo Mare for lunch at Briarcliff West but it was closed on Sunday in spite of their posted hours, so ended up at the Café for brunch instead. Once should have been enough for me, but my better half persuaded me to try again. Nothing was awful, but nothing was good. Tasted like cafeteria food. Their «signature dish,» tomato bisque soup, was too salty to eat.

Nothing about Briarcliff Village is second best, and that includes The Café. I came to the café for a lunch interview, but my nervousness didn’t dampen my appreciation for The Café’s menu. Everything I saw waiters walk by with looked great. When our food arrived, my berry spinach salad was perfect, and the flat bread, sautéed spinach, turkey club and cheesecake that others at my table ordered kept everyone quiet for a few minutes as we happily munched away.
The restaurant does have a café feel, but it’s not too noisy to talk. I liked it so well I tried to go back for brunch one Sunday. However, my lunchtime preview will have to do til next time because when brunch ends at 3:00, the restaurant closes for the rest of the day. After looking over the dinner menu online, I look forward to trying The Café for dinner too.

I tried this place three times and so wanted to like it, but it sucks. I believe it is a management issue. Service is bad and I have never received an order that was 100% accurate. My time is more valuable.
Go across the street and have an awesome panini from Pastry Goddess.