Cafe Central — Restaurant in El Paso

Disappointed.

Spent a week in downtown El Paso and tried every restaurant in the immediate area. My group even went shopping the day we had reservations to make sure we fit the atmosphere at the resturant. Left very disappointed.

The Good: -The atmosphere is second to none. This is the place in El Paso that you take your significant other to pop the question or celebrate an anniversary. The setting was beautiful. Wine selection. I'm not a big wine person, but I am well traveled enough to know an incredible cellar when I see one. If you love wine this is definitely a great place to dine. Food presentation. The chefs are talented in how they present the food. Each plate was unique to the food selected and looked amazing.

The Bad: Staff was inattentive to the point of borderline rude. Upon entering, if you've never been in the establishment before; you pass through the terrace area into the second front door. This is not obvious and bus staff literally stared at us while my group looked around confused. I had to flag someone down to get an idea of how to get seated. They currently require a temperature check before being seated. The Hostess pointed to the device but didn't explain how it is used. She became visibly annoyed when we asked what we were supposed to do. Lastly our waitress was good about keeping our water glasses filled, but would disappear for long stretches of time. I'm used to dining in Europe, were this is normal, but we were asked maybe twice through the meal if we needed anything, and this was when food arrived. Utensil use. Perhaps because of covid they do not swap your dirty forks from one point in the meal to another. When I'm paying the prices of an establishment such as this I expect to have a new fork from my appetizer to my entrée. Wait time: Again I dine often in Europe and don't mind a slow meal that will take hours. However the time between appetizer to main dish was ridiculous. The bread didn't show to the table until the appetizers were there and was never replenished after they were taken away. Expect at least 30 minutes in-between portions of the meal. Cornbread, I'd check your recipe for this. It was dry and almost stale.

The Ugly I ordered the duck and when asked how I would like it prepared I was surprised. Poultry is normally cooked one way, but I asked for it the way the chef thought best. Half cooked meat was slightly gross. Worse yet my meal was stone cold when served. Obviously with four people ordering greatly different plates on a busy Saturday, the prep time and cooking time differ for each member. However in a high-end establishment it is never acceptable for my meal to be cold. I am not one to send anything back, because I know the work that went into the presentation and I don't entirely trust complaining about food and it to return... unaltered. I highly suggest if your staff is having issues with timing a table's meal to offer the table the option of European rules. In other words sent out the food as it is done and not all at the same time. The manager waited until we had paid and were gathering our things to leave to ask how we enjoyed the meal. I gave him my honest assessment and my displeasure at the cold meal. He stood dumbstruck and muttered something about it being too bad that we had already paid. This was about the worst service recovery I have seen, especially at such a fine establishment. I explained I wasn't looking for a free meal, but that it never is okay to have cold food served. He stood shocked and let us leave with nothing other than a promise he would talk to the chef.

Overall a beautiful place, but a terrible experience and food not up to the price paid. The next time I am in El Paso I will frequent the other restaurants in downtown and avoid...

We have been going to Cafe Central since 2006-2023 for my birthday, Valentines Day and our Wedding Anniversary for years! We have Always enjoyed our delicious food, the amazing atmosphere and the excellent customer service!

This last time we went to Cafe Central it was horrible! First off we had a reservation at 6:30 and they were packed like sardines! You can’t have an intimate conversation without the people beside you hearing your conversation. They had us wait in the little area behind the piano for about 40 minutes. Other couples were waiting too, but they were standing up.

The food was horrible and a young girl was delivering the plates with a towel wrapped around them to each table which was so ghetto. Why does a 5 Star restaurant have someone dropping off their plates with a towel on it so she doesn’t burn her fingers, like they are being dropped off by someone off the street!

The mashed potatoes that come with the chicken was nasty 🤢 and the chicken was nasty too.🤢I have been getting this same dish for years. My husband’s soup was cold..The crab cakes were good but it looked really bad plated! My husband got prawns and they were cold also! He usually gets the lamb chops which are usually delicious but very expensive ($80).

The tables seemed extra close, like they just packed people in a tight space. They also have new chairs and looked like they redecorated, Not 5 Star Quality! Plus, the new chairs are not comfortable with the same little tables. The singing and piano playing was nice, but when the music over the speakers was on the speakers sounded very loud and the music was not good.

That night we saw a few people complaining. They even ran out of silverware!

The waiter was very nice, he had served us before. The wine was nice. We got our usual wine. The cheesecake was okay. Sometimes they put it with sorbet and a sparkler 🎇 and sometimes they don’t. This last time was a No……

The previous time we had went to Cafe Central I called to inform the manager about our experience because I didn’t want to write a bad review. This second time things were Really Bad, so I decided to write a review and let whoever goes to Cafe Central know that the standard of My Used To Be Favorite Restaurant has declined significantly.

We spend A Lot of money at Cafe every year. We spend around $150-200 on 2 people and if invite another couple it runs close to $350-400. We have told a lot of friends about this restaurant and invited a lot of people. I am Ashamed to invite anyone anymore because the service and food has totally changed and not the same quality.

Our Anniversary is coming up soon and we will be looking for a new restaurant...

The best I loved it there it was awesome. The food was excellent. Didn’t take very long to come out and absolutely delicious. Yeah, the service impeccable. All the servers were well dressed. They smell good they look good and they pay close attention to exactly what we wanted they made great offerings and suggestions on their specials and what they were Serving for that evening only as special on the menu as well as what would pair well for drinks with our meals. They also suggested great dessert before we even finished the order and the desserts were absolutely awesome. Unfortunately I don’t have any photos but they do have this one desert called the 24 karat gold bar cake, absolutely delicious the atmosphere wonderful towards the evening they have somebody on the piano in the main lounge area which resonates throughout the restaurant everybody around was very well dressed very inviting, comfortable, cozy exactly the place that I would love to return to unfortunately since I’ve moved from Elpaso and I now reside in San Antonio they do not have one of those restaurants here but if I ever return definitely, I will make sure to stop there for dinner with my wife of course we dined in and it was for dinner. The meals were comparably priced between $20-$30 depending on what you order we spent a little bit more because it was my wife’s birthday so she loved it and it’s a great place to bring your significant other on a special occasion. they actually have a valet that parks your vehicle and brings it to you once you’re ready to go so that was very nice. It’s also kid friendly, depending on when you come and get a little more quiet in the evenings but during the day, it’s still nice to come out with the family. They also have vegetarian meals as well as catering to those with allergies are all sorts so all around us a really really nice place to come out and just have a good time with...