CAFE ESPECIAL Köln — Restaurant in Cologne

A very disappointing experience. I had my eye on this restaurant all week as it looked very good. We arrived at 19.20 and were quickly given a table outside. After a few minutes of waiting we ordered 3 beers and shortly after that we ordered our food. After about 30 more minutes I had to get up and go looking for our beers as they had been forgotten by the waiter. While we waited even longer for our food, we noticed people coming after us, being served and finishing their food. The customers beside us explained to us that there was a staff shortage in Cologne so we waited patiently for a while longer (the restaurant wasn't too busy and there were about 6 waiters). At the one hour mark we called our waiter over to ask about our food. His face dropped as he realised he had forgotten to order our food for us. This is very disappointing as the forgotten beer and seeing us sit at the table for over an hour, and bringing us 2 bowls of corn chips didn't remind him to order our food for us. At about 20.40, after wasting well over an hour, we had to leave and find a proper restaurant that would not forget to serve our food. I refused to pay for the round of 3 beers that had been eventually served to us, to which the very apologetic waiter agreed. Great looking food, restaurant, menu and prices but pretty useless waiter in...

Recommended by a colleague, I decided to give Cafe Especial a try with my recent visit to Cologne. Upon entering, you are greeted by a plethora of sensations: from the vibrant colors of the restaurant, to a wonderful aroma of the food filling the restaurant. There’s also an outdoor seating area which, paired with the Cologne Summer Time is quite the treat. Albeit it being a bit noisy, however it was during the afternoon rush hour and no fault of theirs.

I myself had on three things: the Beef-filled Chimichangas, a Long Island Ice Tea and a Caipirinha. I wasn’t overly impressed with the cocktails (but that’s just from a personal preference where I expect them to taste a certain way), but when it came to the food, one word sums it up: spectacular! Overall, great food and service.

If you’re in Cologne next time and are in the mood for Mexican, give Cafe Espacial a visit....

Do not dine here if you have allergies or diertary requirements ! The restaurant appears when you arrive to have a very easy to read allergen guide on the normal menu. I have a milk allergy and let this know to my server at the start of the meal. When ordering my desert, they had several vegan options. One options was vegan but said it had cream. I asked the server when ordering if it was vegan and he assured me it used vegan cream. I ordered the dessert, and when it arrived I checked again if this was vegan, and was told yes again. I then ate some of the dessert, and asked my family to try to check if they thought it was vegan. Everyone said they thought it tasted like dairy. After this I asked a THIRD server if the cream was vegan. He went to check with the kitchen and came back 10 mins later to tell me in fact it was...