Cafe Magnolia

Our school was taking students to see a show at Kentucky Center, so we were able to have a meal here. The meal was delicious (children had chicken fingers and the adults had spaghetti), and the wait staff was great. Thanks for this great experience for our students!

This place needs to be put on Robert Irvine’s «Restaurant: Impossible». Now.
My husband and I visited Café Magnolia on a Sun. evening at about 7:30pm, greeted by an empty front desk. The phone started ringing and no one answered it, even when a host came up to greet us. The restaurant was nearly empty, yet the host sat us right next to another full table, making our tables the only two filled tables in the room. One might think that the same server would be working both tables, but alas, each table had a different server — not efficient.
The server asked if we wanted a drink. Chris asked for a beer/​wine list. The server said they had a wine list, but no beer list. As such, we asked for the wine list. Ok.
I have an allergy to certain dairy products, so I explained it to the server. He responded that my question was «confusing» and «complicated». Another strike. Who says that to a customer?
The server said he would go check about the dairy products, which is completely acceptable, except for the fact that he continued to try to take my order before returning to the kitchen. Thus, I had to give my order with the option to change it later. Awkward. My entrée said it came with a choice of potato — I was not asked for my choice. Chris wasn’t asked for his choice, either. Chris did have his heart set on a Caesar salad, which was on the menu. He was hoping to get a small one in place of the garden salad with his meal, and we were fine with paying any extra fee that would be added. The response from the server was simply, «No. It’s a garden salad,» with no upgrade option. When asked the dressing choices, the server said, «Just you know, regular,» and listed a few. Caesar was not listed. Remember, Caesar salad was on the menu.
He eventually brought the wine list, which was boring and uninspiring. Someone that looked like a manager bussed a table, but left two sets of wrapped silverware. Shortly after that, someone else came and wiped off the table. Well, she wiped off half the table. I never saw if she wiped off the rest or if she took the sets of silverware that were hanging out on the table, but analyzing the rest of the evening, I am going to go ahead and guess that we are looking at a «no». Gross. Not saying this would happen, but what if the patron that was previously sitting there unwrapped the silverware, licked it, and wrapped it back up? My mind went to Robert Irvine and I could see him acting it out and rightfully scolding the employee in his awesomely British accent.
The server delivered our salads, which, besides the fact that one of the tomatoes didn’t look so hot, were pretty good. It also turned out that the server was unable to determine an answer to my dairy question, but that happens sometimes. A positive here was that he figured out that I wouldn’t want cheese on my salad. The wine list sat on our table, alone and ignored. After a few minutes, the server reappeared and said to me, «You have to choose your side.» Not kidding — that’s what he said. Apparently, there was dairy in the «choice of potato» that I didn’t choose. So, I chose fries (which ended up being tasty, by the way). The wine list still sat on our table, still neglected.
Really, at this point, we had to be amused. We looked around the restaurant and noticed that it was quite messy. There were numerous crumbs on the floor, including a large, partially eaten cracker — or piece of bread — sitting under our table. I don’t actually know what it was, but I would guess it was probably stale.
More than ten minutes had passed since the original presentation of the wine list, including the two above-​mentioned visits from our server. Finally, he reappeared and asked, «Do you want any wine or beer?» Wait, what? Beer? Our original question about beer had been overlooked, save for the statement that there was no beer list, leading us to believe there was no beer available. Confused, we asked if they had beer. He simply said, «Yes.»
He didn’t continue.
We asked what beers he had. The beer list wasn’t much more intriguing than the wine list, but oh, well.
Then, the time came for food! Chris quickly determined that he was expected to move his salad plate himself, as the server hastily began placing his meal down without first removing the salad plate. Another awkward moment for the evening. But then, we ate. Our steaks were cooked perfectly. Let me say that again. Our steaks were cooked perfectly. I am talking birds are singing and all is right with the world perfectly. Thank you, Chef!
Stuffed, we concluded our meals and walked out of the restaurant. On our way out, we walked by someone we thought to be a manager. As if knowing the best possible way to impeccably match the experience of the evening, with no punctuation in her voice and without looking at us, she unenthusiastically blurted, «Happy New Year come back and see us again.»
Yeah, I’m gonna go with a nope on that one.

I wish zero stars was an option. Absolutely terrible food and service. The «blackened» ribeye was gray on the outside and raw in the middle. Looked like it was cooked in a George Forman grill. Had a ton of salt crusted on it (presumably to kill the taste of the meat). Steak tasted like it came from the loser of the last Kentucky Derby.
Service was terrible.
Breakfast was at least edible but service was slow and surly.
Plenty of other options within walking distance of the hotel. Don’t even think of eating here.

Stopped in really quick for a to-​go order. The cashier was very nice and quick with my order. She made sure to constantly check on it. I ordered the Kentucky Bacon burger with seasoned home fries. The food came out hot and the fries were still crispy when I got back to my hotel room which tells me they were nice and fresh. The burger was huge, the meat was moist and the bun tasted fresh baked.

The worst food plus awful service!!!
I’m an easy person who can pretty much eat anything but this place is very bad. Nothing is good. Don’t have to believe me; try it yourself!!!
One of the waitresses added her tips to my card automatically and tried to play dumb. I worked in a restaurant business for over 8 years, I know exactly what you were trying to do. This old lady was getting about $ 8 tips already from the food vouchers and she put$ 11 extra on my card just for herself!!! Wow!!! Really? I walked to the cashier and she tried to play dumb as well. Finally, I called the manager and he came out to fix it like he wasn’t surprise at all.
Be Careful guys, this place sucks like no where else.
I couldn’t give no star so I just put 1 star and no pictures for this place. Didn’t even wanna eat here after my first meal if I didnt have vouchers, I’d never step back to this place ever again!!!

Had lunch with co-​workers today. Awful. Slow service. Incorrect orders (by a waitress who didn’t write anything down — just relied on her «memory»)! And the food was bad bad bad. Even though it’s convenient to my workplace — I will NEVER eat there again.

Delicious Swiss and mushroom burger with fries. Friendly atmosphere located in the attractive Galt house hotel. Easy dining.

I had a very late dinner here on 6÷8÷15 because I had just arrived in town, was staying in the hotel, and did not know what else might be open. No one was in the restaurant because it was about 10:00 pm. Therefore, the service I got was excellent. The server was very friendly and helpful. The Reuben I ordered, however, was the worst I have had but came with good fries. The sandwich was edible (as I had been traveling for 13 hours and was starving?) but it contained hardly any ingredients and was dry. Reuben lovers will know that a Reuben should never be a flat, dry sandwich.

Food not great. no staff. This was a bad idea. Waited for a drink refill for almost 20 min and there was only 4 tables in the restaurant. And 4 different staff walking around not waiting on tables. The glut house needs to replace this with office space

Ordered a Greek salad with grilled chicken. I was pleased that it was seasoned and cooked nicely. There was just the right amount of feta cheese and olives to the salad. I do wish there was some pepperocini which would marry well with the flavors. Needless to say I cleaned my bowl.

Shameful. We’ve had better breakast on an airplane! No one wants to eat cheap Sysco food anymore, especially in a «foodie» town like Louisville. Watery egg product, bland bacon, styrofoam hashbrowns all for $ 15 a person. We were so turned off by the experience, we swore off the hotel’s other restaurants, afraid we’d have the same experience at three times the price. Why don’t they offer FRESH, local products? Would it hurt to have someone peel an actual potato for hashbrowns? There were four staff members hanging out at the register chatting… maybe use some of that money towards decent ingredients.

The breakfast buffet is solid — it isn’t the largest in the world but has everything that I need to get some energy before a long work day. Wonderful service. Great for large groups.

Awesome service. Burgers a little dry. Baked spaghetti was good. Kids meals were a great deal, but burgers are a little overpriced.

Stayed at the Galthouse for a week and was boasting to all i knew of the food out in town. I stayed in at the hotel the last night to avoid driving to amazing restaurants just a few miles away. How i regret not doing so. «Large» chicken wings. I dont think so. Dry, boring, uneventful. Onion soup with 3 cheeses and «thinly» sliced onions. Nope. Too much salt and warm at best. Entry level quality cheeses used. Long story short, get in your car and drive away from here.

Was staying at the hotel so came here because it was convenient. It was 7am on a weekday and the place was empty. I sat down because I thought I had to eat in but apparently you can call and put your order in then pick it up. The server was kind enough to box up my food and coffee to go. Just had eggs, hash browns, and sausage but it was delicious and the portion was good. Standards like pancakes and eggs Benedict were available on the menu.

Service staff was friendly and polite. The rest was below average. The proteins on the Buffett were lukewarm at best. I had fries that were old so I asked for new ones. The new ones were warm but the grease they were cooked in was old. The chicken soup was actually good.

I’ve been here three times now, and the food has been great each time. We’ve come with our kids and without. The breakfast buffet is very good, though a bit pricey. My two kids loved their special bow tie french toast.
I’m not sure about all the critical reviews – we really enjoyed our meals here and I’d go again for breakfast or lunch.

It’s essentially a diner with a buffet.
I ordered off the menu, two eggs and sides, and was happy with my pick. Companions were swayed by the size of the buffet and all flocked to gorge themselves on lukewarm meats.
Fortunately I came out ahead! The buffet is more expensive and is what you’d expect: stuff that’s been sitting out too long. Given how many empty tables there were, it should have been a no brainer to order off the menu!
Servers were nice, coffee was pretty bad. Again, standard diner fare.

Came here twice for the breakfast buffet and am actually very surprised this place got so slammed by you guys! It’s a good breakfast buffet, and the servers are quite prompt in asking what you want to drink. I was surprised though, because my experiences on the two days were quite different.
First day: Good orange juice, food was very good, and I ordered a custom omelet with no mushrooms or sausage (I already had sausage on my plate). He proceeded to make an omelet with no mushrooms. I didn’t complain, but on the off chance I was allergic to sausage and didn’t watch him make it — I would have ended up like Hitch. I also asked for a little bit of each cheese and he proceeded to dump both cheeses on top and it was way overkill. Overall though I was very happy and would have given it 4 stars.
Second day: The server mentioned the orange juice looked pinkish so she was going to wait. I said give me apple juice instead. She ended up giving me both, which was fine, but her comment about the orange juice made me feel weird and also drove home the fact that this is machine poured from concentrate. The scrambled eggs looked very runny, so I ordered two eggs over easy which were cooked great, albeit too much oil. When I came back the scrambled eggs looked better, but why get it from there when they cook you eggs?
I was still hungry so I went back and asked for a ham, onion and cheese scramble. He put a scoop of ham and some onions and began to cook it. Looked promising. Then after it seemed they would be cooked, he put another scoop of ham. What? Then he put the eggs in and made a scramble, which was chock so full of ham at that point that it was a ham platter with some eggs to hold it together. I picked out the eggs which at that point were super salty.
Bottom Line: Order carefully, then watch him every step of the way. If he messes up, have him start over. You’ll be a lot happier with the finished product.
Either way, I don’t think it warrants any less than 3 stars. I would definitely go back, but carefully.

This place… is fairly terrible. If it were in a strip mall I’d probably give it more stars because my expectations would be lower but if you’re going to attach yourself to a historic swanky downtown hotel and introduce tourists to what ‘Louisville cuisine’ is you need to better represent.
The food was decent. My first go at a Hot Brown (yes, I’m a Louisville native. So sue me.) was delicious. The coffee was terrible so no bonus points received there.
The bigger issue was attached to the cafeteria-​esque lunch buffet set-​up and dining area that reminded me of a hospital waiting room. Or a conference hall. Or hotel lobby furniture. Hey… what if… nah, surely The Galt House isn’t THAT tight on budget? Simply put the ambiance was at odds with the food and surroundings which led to failed expectations. The wait staff didn’t help.
Renovations and a kick-​start to the crew would do Café Magnolia a world of good. If you want a decent to-​order breakfast you could do worse but if you’re looking for curb appeal this ain’t your place.