Cafe 501 — Restaurant in Edmond

Definitely not what they used to be!! They’ve changed a lot over the years, as far as their recipes. Their pasta salad was over cooked pasta with basically Italian dressing celery and carrots. Horrible! And it used to be so good that I would order a side to take home. They also used to give this cheesey focaccia bread with their salads, and it was amazing. Now they just give a half slice of white bread. The dressings have changed too. I don’t like the new dressing they use in their Parmesan crusted chicken salad. Not to mention, the chicken breast was burned both times. I sent it back the first time, because I ordered my dressing on the side and they didn’t make it that way. I wanted to make sure that I liked their dressing (because they’ve changed it so many times) before I put it on my salad. And I didn’t like it. Their original was a basic balsamic and oil, and it never should have been tampered with! It was good enough to drink! Anyhow, both times they brought out my salad the chicken was burned. The second salad I had made to-go and I brought it home and fed it to my dog. (Yes, my dog eats salad. Lol) My mom and step-dad both ordered the chicken salad, and they weren’t pleased. Both of them picked the chicken salad off of the bread, because the bread had raisins and nuts in it, and it was very dry. The bread is definitely and important element to the sandwich, and this was a FAIL. They also used to have a chocolate mousse cake that was to die for, and it had these beautiful round disks of milk and white chocolate on them. Oh it was heaven. But...they changed that also! Their bakery selection used to be so colorful and fresh. I was like a little kid when I was in line. I couldn’t decide what I wanted. Yesterday’s selection was mediocre, at best. A couple of cakes, a caramel bar, and some dry looking scones. I was not impressed at all! I tried the caramel bar, and it was actually pretty good. That is the one thing I enjoyed. They also have pretty good iced tea, but unfortunately the tea was not finished brewing until it was almost time to leave. It’s like everything is cheaper now, and not as fresh or homemade. The service was just okay. I’m definitely not happy with the way things have changed, and this is how I’ve felt the last 2 or 3 times I’ve visited. It’s like I keep giving them a chance because I remember how good they used to be, and I keep hoping that I’m going on an off day. But it’s more than that. The recipes and ingredients are just not as good, and sad to say that was my last time visiting them. I’ll have to find a new...

Very disappointed in this restaurant and don’t recommend ordering a cake from here for any special occasions. I called and ordered a full strawberry cake a couple of weeks ago with no modifications for my boyfriend’s Birthday because he loves it. On Monday when I went to go pick it up, I asked for the cake and sat for 10 minutes until the woman who manages the pickups came over and told me they “accidentally gave away” the cake I ordered. I guess someone claimed to have ordered a strawberry cake and the staff working didn’t check the name on the order so they gave it to that person instead. She even showed me the slip with my name on it that described the cake so they had my name on the order. Mind you, they didn’t say they gave it away because I didn’t pick it up Sunday, they said they accidentally gave someone else the cake and didn’t realize it was supposed to be my cake until I showed up. She offered me 4 slices of the cake that they had left in the display (I needed atleast 5) and she ended up cutting and separating the slices into different to go boxes instead of keeping it just a half of a cake despite knowing it was for a special occasion!! That made no sense whatsoever to me especially because it made a large flower on the top of all the slices so it ruined the image. She claimed there ended up being 5 slices left, but from the looks of it, the slices are very thin from the usual slices so I’m guessing it was actually 4 slices total. She barely apologized for the situation aswell. She didn’t even offer me a discount for the slices despite this terrible experience and I ended up paying probably more for each individual slice than just for one whole cake. I was beyond distraught from this experience because I wanted to make his birthday special only to be given a couple separate slices of very thin and poorly cut pieces of cake that had chunks missing...

We went to celebrate our 5th anniversary. It started out with a WOW.. the appetizer was AWESOME.. Bread on the table w/ garlic and balsamic evoo was fantastic! Then came the salads.

Wife salad was good, nice portion, and presentation. (it was tonights special, so dont expect to find it on the menu). Mine was the chopped salad.. Entire salad was center of iceberg lettuce. Very bitter.. I did like the dressing, but would have had to smother it to mask the taste. Hard to mess up a simple salad, but maybe it would get better.. Nope.

Next dinner entree's . Wife had the Filet, very good, but not out of this world ($30!). The potatoes were very watery and supper smooth. we both thought they were instant.

My entree, well, lets just say. Ketchup is not a sauce. I had the meatloaf. (again, the potatoes were worse than instant).. It was a bed of potatoes, topped with grilled meatloaf (no flavor, not even beefy, just bland) covered in a ketchup like sauce and fried onions (like the ones on green bean casserole at thanksgiving). Broccoli (garnish?) was very soft (over cooked, and bland).

We had a side of Avocado Risotto - Tip, should not be crunchy to the tooth, but smooth.. It was not smooth.

Desert, Keylime cake.. ( I dont like cake ) - this was very good.. Nice, light flavor. (YUM!)

Service was ok, she was nice - though I didnt complain about the food, it was obvious that I wasnt eating any of it (salad, entree, side dish). maybe a visit from the manager, I wasnt looking for free food, but I was not going to complain in front of my wife on our special night.

Wife loved her sangria, my beer was good and fresh..

Would I go back? - Maybe, if someone else paid, but not on a special night. The price does not match the food.

My question, why was this place so busy, there are a hundred places in OKC/Edmond that are better.. I actually left hungry, and...