The Cheddar Box Cafe

Today I told myself a lie. I said, «I’ll go someplace quick and get something light for lunch.» I ended up going to The Cheddar Box Café. It wasn’t very quick, and I certainly didn’t go light on my order. But I’m sitting here in a bonafide drug-​induced sugar coma. You see, friends, I got the chocolate ecstacy cake. It’s like a drug to me. I can’t quit it and I really don’t want to! This cake is rich, moist and the frosting is a creamy chocolate dream! Today I went with the ½ soup and ½ sandwich for my meal. Sometimes I change it up a little and do a ½ sandwich and ½ salad. Their salads are so, so good! The Derby pasta salad is my favorite! The «Say Cheese» pimento cheese is my favorite sandwich. I have been a customer at The Cheddar Box for over 13 years and I will continue to feed my habit as long as they are operating!
The servers are all super friendly and the prices are great too!

OMG, four fecta — quaint and charming, good light hearted southern charm service, scrumptious good olé country cooking and great Location. This was a winner all the way and I’ll be back. We started by meeting Dean our waitress who was a darling and pure joy to have guide us through our bfast. The coffee was hot, robust and fresh. The biscuits and gravy… heaven. The egg basket was delicious and a perfect mouthful of food.
If you have a chance stop by the cheddar box too across the street for sone delicious take home food

Holy moly sandwich heaven!!! I am one picky eater when it comes to delivering flavor and presentation, and Cheddar Box did just that!!!
When you walk into this cute little café, you are welcomed with good olé Middletown hospitality! There are shelves with tasty chips. My personal favorite, Voo Doo flavored chips by Zapps! My boyfriend is from New Orleans and he has made me a fan! The side where you order is small and quaint and perfect to sit alone! The café is on the other side, perfect for larger groups.
Ordering a sandwich was extremely difficult! They have everything from curry chicken salad to pastrami sandwiches! The names are clever and quite adorable for their items… H20, Say Cheese, It Ain’t Easy Being Green, Sweet Dreams, and many more! How cute!
After much deliberation, I went with the It Ain’t Easy Being Green and the famous strawberry shortcake!
I received my meal in less than five minutes and had to take the proper photo op– even though I was drooling and ready to dig in!!!
It Ain’t Easy Being Green is a house made Benedictine sad with made with BACON, sprouts, and lettuce. It comes with a bag of chips and pickles! Flavor blast is what I noticed when I bit into this little slice of green! It was juicy and sweet yet tangy. By far, the best Benedictine I have ever consumed! The bacon was crisp and easy to bite into! The entire piece didn’t slip off like many other restaurants when taking a bite! I always enjoy having the full flavor effect.
As for the strawberry shortcake, it was fresh and delicious! I am not the largest fan of sweet or strawberry shortcake. Shortcake to be exact… But I know where to come when I want a bite! I will be back to grab another slice and maybe even a full cake!
I highly recommend this golden ticket for a quick or relaxing lunch/​dinner :) go Cheddar Box!

I had the east meets west. Great! I am funny about texture of meat, especially deli meat, this was really good, really fresh. The fruit salad was amazing! Tea was good, and GREAT service! So glad it’s within walking distance from work :)

You will feel like a lady of leisure that lunches in this cute little place with the good eats. I had the Trifecta (3 salads of your choice) Honey Pecan Chicken Salad, Curry Chicken Salad and Tossed Field Greens – YUM! The Honey Pecan Chicken salad is Ahh-​maze! They sell it on the deli side for $ 12 a pound – spendy but good.

First time eating here, was a great experience. The tomato artichoke soup was fantastic and the honey pecan chicken salad sandwich was phenomenal. Definitely will be eating here again!

Love this cute place. Half is restaurant. Other half as deli, you can walk in and take carry out. Tried both sides. Great service. Great lunch menu. Offers dessert cakes. Yummy !

The Cheddar Box Café gets four stars, although I was hesitant to only give it three, which I’ll explain shortly. The food is simply wonderful!!! I will also give credit to the nice young woman who prepared my order as she was incredibly friendly and managed to get three sandwich orders correctly that had a few adjustments. I had to be over in this area around lunch time and my colleagues had mentioned how wonderful the food was. As a courteous colleague does, I offered to pick us all up lunch. I ordered the chicken salad sandwich, which is cleverly named World Famous. It is pretty darn close in my opinion. My colleagues ordered the East Meets West and It Ain’t Easy Being Green. Both of them were quite happy with their choices as well. The reason I hesitated on the extra star is due to the location and the inability to efficiently move the tables and the to-​go line. There was absolutely no parking so I ended up walking a ways to the restaurant; the wait to be seated at a table was out the door; and the to-​go line made absolutely no sense (which I attribute also to some of the rude and pushy patrons, not the restaurant). I would defintely come back some time, but it would have to be on an off-​time or the weekend.

I like the Cheddar box as a locally owned business. You walk in and it’s reminiscent of a hole in the wall dinner. Small table and chair sets. Deli style ordering with the prepared food in big bowls on display. Lots of drinks you can buy from the bottle.
The food isn’t bad. I think it’s a place where you love it or hate it. The Benedictine BLT is very good altogether. It was actually featured in Food Network’s Magazine as the #1 must try sandwich of Kentucky in late 2012. I can understand why.
I would avoid the honey almond chicken salad, however. That was almost inedible in its level of sweetness. The curry chicken salad is tolerable.
In fact, I’d probably skip the chicken salad altogether and go for different dish next time. It seems to be popular with people of a certain taste… the people I saw ordering and eating were mostly those over 55 years of age.
The staff is friendly and it’s usually pretty busy around lunch time. It’s a popular spot with locals. Stop in and support a locally owned business and try that «must have» state sandwich. If you love it, this place is probably for you.

We have been eating here for years it seems. Pretty much the only thing my wife would eat during her pregnancy!
The House Salad is fantastic, get extra dressing! :)
I love the Say Cheese and The Veggie. Both are good sandwich’s and FRESH!
It is a little pricy, we always get it to go for lunch, but it hits the spot on so many levels!!!
The Ladies are always nice and helpful!!!
p. s. Never heard any of them sign Barry Manilow! LOL

Well… be ready to wait. This place was packed for a late lunch on Friday. It was seriously to the brim over flowing. We waited about 20 minutes and were seated in a comfy booth. Our service was solid. The orange sweet iced tea is bomb diggity but definitely sweet. WHOA.
I got the house garden salad with dijon and I loved it.
I also tried the «It’s not easy being green» half sandwich with benedictine and it was NOT so great. I almost vomited from the amount of benedictine they put on my sandwich and it was pretty flavorless, so it was like glue on a sandwich. BOO. Not happy… I didn’t send it back b/​c …well I ordered it and I wanted to try something new, since it’s a «Louisville thing». In any case, I’ll order a bigger salad next time. It was delish!

Great simple food. I had the pecan chicken salad sandwich and the derby pasta. My boyfriend had the burrito and a spinach salad. All of it was delicious, but be warned, the place packs out quick for lunch (especially during Christmas week!) so take your food to-​go or get ready to wait!

Not ready to eat in, take out only. To busy to eat in if you sit at table people cannot get in the coolers without you getting out of your chair. They also forget to serve you. If you are not giving the coffee you ordered with a half hour I suggest you leave.

Very busy weekday but the service was friendly and reasonably fast for ordering and getting the food.
Nice menu selection. I like being able to feel good about ordering a salad while I’m actually getting a huge amount of chicken and sauce and bread…
Prices were higher than I expected by the name of the place but not unreasonable for the amount of food and general quality. But still, don’t expect to get out of here for less than $ 10, more likely $ 12 or $ 14, for lunch with tax and tip.
Curry chicken salad (3 large scoops) was very tasty and a large portion. I asked if it came with bread and was told a bread and crackers bowl would be brought to the table. Which it was, but it was one basket to share with more crackers than bread. I assume I could have gotten refills on the sliced french bread pieces but it was so busy that flagging a waitress was not easy.
Coworkers lunches were rated highly also, with one getting the chicken curry salad sandwich and another getting the trio of salads (basically 3 large ice cream scoops of her choice of 3 pasta type salads)
When we got the checks we sat them at the edge of the table with the credit cards ready to go. We had no idea that we were supposed to pay up front and it would have been nice to know that instead of sitting there wondering. It is a simple thing, but something of a pet peeve of mine not to be told «Here you go, please pay up front» or «I’ll be back for that when you’re ready to pay»
I would certainly come back, I’ve been told the tomato artichoke soup is very good and I’d like to try some more salads. But I’d come during a little more «off hours» for lunch.
Stop by the fish and wine shop next door while you’re there. House smoked salmon Thurs-​Sun and a huge selection of olive oils.

I am sure it would have been nice but the woman behind the counter really DID NOT HAVE TIME FOR ME. When I walked in I went to the case to look through it to decide what I wanted. There was NO one in line, and no one waiting. As soon as she saw me looking she asked what I would like so I told her I needed to look. She did not go away but continued to peer over the counter and watch me read the tags and look at the food. I thought this was rather rude. As I left one case and moved my eyes to the adjacent case she again asked me what I would like. I told her I was still looking but would let her know as soon as I settled on something. She then kind of let out a huff and walked a few feet away only to return in about 45 seconds and said, «Have you made a decision?». This is the point where I should have walked out but I have read the reviews and didn’t want to miss out. I decided on the curry chicken salad and a piece of cheesecake. She scrambled to get them and quickly stepped to the register and rung up my purchase. I will mention that she did not zero out the scale with the container so just know that you are paying for the container’s weight as well as your food. I was surprised because I have never seen a shop do this before. My grandfather and uncle both owned meat shops and you zeroed the scale with the container then filled it. But whatever. She took my money and then shoved my food at me so I left. I checked my clothes and then my teeth in the mirror in my car. I wasn’t wearing doggie doo or spinach in my teeth so I am not sure what the rush was to get me out. I even smelled my underarms and breath. Check. Both ok. Oh and they didn’t close according to their sign for another hour and a half. The cheesecake wasn’t very good but the curry chicken salad was. Just FYI.
Won’t be back.

Visiting this restaurant on rotation with my preceptor allowed me to try some options I might not have had a chance to enjoy otherwise so this will be a pretty inclusive review.
Upon entering the shop I was taken back to the grocery in Norton Commons (brain not able to find the name in my memory, but there is only ONE there– so if you’ve tried it you’ll know what I mean and if you haven’t, you’re about to find out!), but with MORE options!
They have every kind of home-​made style «salad» so to speak. Think chicken salad with grapes and nuts, ravioli type cold salad, and even a chicken curry salad.
After becoming addicted to curry recently from Shalimar restaurant/​buffet (see review– this place is excellent too!), I was eager to give this unique salad a try, and I am glad that I did.
I accompanied this generous portion of chicken curry salad with a large unsweetened ice tea. My preceptor had both of their soups and I also had a half-​sandwich with it that was filled with some kind of dill green sauce that was unique but not worth much to comment on. I can’t remember the name of it, but it was meatless and for a breaded concoction I’m typically looking for more sustenance. I took the rec from the waitress for what would be good to accompany the curry, and though it was ok– I’ll get something else next time.
But this brings me to the service– this place rocked. They provided us with suggestions and allowed us to stay even after they CLOSED. Yes, you heard right, we had the place all to ourselves.
After reviewing financial statements for an hour and slowly eating as we kept forgetting out food, the manager informed us that they would be closing their doors to the lunch crowd but that we were more than welcome to stay and work if we didn’t mind the vacuums. They even gave us some coffee as we had drained our teas and we needed to be refueled with higher octane.
The other part about The Cheddar Box Café that really made me impressed was the atmosphere. The staff greeted their lunch crowd with enthusiasm and familiarity that was really welcoming and something I’m always looking for in a local establishment. That is the #1 reason I frequent them.
Why not 5 stars? I have to say, the sandwich just wasn’t what I was hoping for. I lean closer to 4.5 stars since the experience was so good. Unfortunately, I can’t get that option on this site.
They also cater– check out their menu!

Nice place, mostly frequented by women over 30. It’s a rather «girly» place, and the décor and food choices reflect this. I was there with four women; I would not go there with guys.
The food was good, the service was decent. I can’t say fairer than that.

Great Homemade Feel.
I am always looking for a quality place to spend my lunch hour so I can be energized for the rest of the day. The Cheddar Box Café is like having your mom pack your lunch with all the extra TLC.
I had the Tomato and Artichoke soup with Benedictine Bacon sandwich. My coworker had the famous Derby Salad and the Everything That Is Good For You sandwich. Everything was very delicious and well portioned. Even though this place was jammed packed with tables inside and outside and ton of to go orders coming in, I was finished and back to work within the hour.
I’ll be stopping by the Cheddar Box for all my missing mom meal needs! I know so cheesy… that is why this restaurant and I are perfect together.

The CB, as I lovingly refer to it, is one of my favorite spots in Louisville! I’ve never eaten a bad meal. It’s perfect for lunch with friends or take out on the way home from work. All my out-​of-​town friends love it.
The Honey Pecan Chicken Salad is my favorite. Some honorable mentions: Black Bean Ravioli, Cheddar Pecan Torte (great for parties!), and the Derby Pasta

Such a great place to grab a bite to eat, no matter what you are in the mood for. They have two locations here in Louisville and both are equally as tasty. I love picking food up here and taking it on picnics and to pool parties. The desserts are the best I have had. The tiramisu and the homemade carmel cake will kill you, but you’ll die happy! I would also recommend the quiches and macaroni and cheese, both are excellent.