Cafe 66 BBQ Restaurant — Restaurant in Florida

When Cafe 66 popped up on my portable eatery fount, my first thought was, "I didn't realize Route 66 went through Vero Beach, FL." Don't bother to check with Google, I can assure you that it does not; therefore, this must be another road trip themed restaurant. "Maybe they'll at least have a good burger," was my final thought on the matter as I hit US1 and pointed the BBDO machine south.

Pulling off of the highway and onto Route 606 (Oslo Rd) I headed due West. As I left the coastal area, I couldn't help but feel I was perhaps in the middle of the country as there was nothing but flat pasture land and cows for miles on either side. Did you know that Florida is one of the top 20 beef producing states in the nation coming in at #18? The more you know. As I entered the parking lot for the Cafe (which is attached to a feed store), I did sorta feel like I was on old Route 66 cruisin' from The Windy City to Tinsel Town and stopped somewhere in Missouri for chow.

Stepping up to the counter, I realized that other than a few outdoor tables and benches, this place had no inside seating options. Walk up, place your order, grab a bench and wait seemed to be the way to go here. I stepped up to the counter, grabbed a menu and began to dissect it with my eyes. If the fare tasted half as good as it looked on the menu, I was in for a special treat. The creativity took the standard burger to a whole new level, which is hard to do these days with burger joints on almost every corner. I put in an order for one TKO Burger and one Cowboss Brisket Sandwich, a large unsweetened ice tea with sides of fries and coleslaw, respectively. Given the crowd present, the wait for my food was negligible, grabbing the to go containers, I headed out to a bench and plopped my butt down to commence reveiwn'.

After one bite of the TKO Burger I knew I was in Beefy Paradise. The ground beef was obviously prime, obviously hand formed, grilled to a perfect medium rare, the bun was toasted and the bacon was, well, bacon. It tasted farm fresh and like the burger was cooked to the absolute perfect degree of doneness. The blue cheese was fresh, delicious and complimented the burger like a Chevy Small Block 283 complimented the '61 Vette. Topped with thick slices of fresh cut tomato, dill pickle angle cut burger chips and fresh onion it was a burger fit for a Highway King.

Eyeing the Cowboss Brisket sammich, I could only hope it measured up to the standard set by the TKO Burger. From the bottom up, the bread could be grilled and a tad fresher or perhaps from a different vendor as it did not clear the bar set by the Burger, in fact, it didn't even come close to taking a facial on said bar. However, this fact soon became moot as the meat was again, Beefy Paradise. The Brisket was obviously smokin' for hours in the back as it basically melted in my mouth with so much slow-roasted barbeque goodness. In other words, this meat was the bomb! The sauce was also obviously made on site and not from a bottle or can as it tasted freshly made and complex in its union of flavors. This was now in my top 10 of favorite BBQ sauces. Moving on to the true test of good Southern BBQ, oh who am I kidding, it's all a true test, anyway, on to the coleslaw. The slaw was hand cut, hand shredded, hand made and mixed with an obviously made on site sauce which made this some out of this world slaw! It felt like my palate had hit the Jackpot with this version of the Southern staple. My, my, my but that sauce was tasty, complex, sweet and had a slight bite to the finish. Hark! All ye restauranteurs, THIS is real coleslaw. I would feel remiss if I at least didn't give the tea a passing note. It was brewed fresh on site and like everything else, sans the Brisket bread was the real deal. This place has success written all over it and I sincerely hope they are in business for decades to come.

The Big Boy says, "If you are anywhere within 25 miles of Vero, FL., this place is well worth the drive to cow country." #bigboydiningout...

Went here for lunch would give the food a zero if I could. That is not BBQ. First off the BBQ plate with all the meats on it — everything was served cold the Mac n cheese, beans, brisket, sliced beef, turkey all luke warm to cold. The sliced beef was very bad lots of fat on it no flavor it really was like it was just boiled meat. Brisket I guess was supposed to be chopped it was more like pulled really not that good. The turkey had a weird taste almost like a turkey loaf that was reheated. Seemed to be a lower standard of meat. Beans were just beans nothing special. Fried shrimp platter just ok. We took stuff home but it went in trash when we arrived all this after I took a bite again and said no way. Thought about leaving it all at the restaurant but didn’t want to get into it since the waitress was nice. She was good so she got a tip but the food was not…. Hate to see people spend that kind of money for food especially for that price @lunch that is….. Maybe some like it or other dishes are better but if it comes out cold and really not up to par flavor wise/quality — well…….. you would expect more from a place that promotes this type of food. Maybe others will like it — not for us. The desert case stuff didn’t look good in there when I walked by. ...

Me and my husband treat ourself once a week to breakfast, it is my husbands favorite meal of the day! We live in PSL but come all the way to Vero for Cafe 66. Not only is the food amazing and never disappoints, but the atmosphere and people that make this place run so smoothly are second to none! We never have to wait long to be sat or even for our meal! We have found our place! Special shoutout to some of our favorite people here! Skylar runs around this place like she’s got wheels! And We absolutely love when we are blessed enough to be sat with Danielle or Sara! They have the best playful personalities! And come right back at us when we are being sarcastic! Those are our kind of people! Don’t get me wrong everyone here is super helpful and seem to work well together to get the food to the tables! If I was to have a complaint it would only be that I have to smell the amazing barbecue when walking to breakfast but can’t get any until lunch time! As much as my husband loves breakfast it is not my favorite and I would love to be able to actually find a time where we can hit the sweet spot, time wise, where he can have the breakfast that he loves and I can actually order from the lunch menu! That would be absolute perfection!! In my...