Uptown Cafe — Restaurant in Louisville

I never leave bad reviews, BUT I wish I had known about this place before we walked in. My boyfriend and I ended up here after another restaurant had a very long wait for an impromptu Saturday night date. What a happy coincidence - we live right up the street off of Bardstown Road and had always driven by, but never stopped to try this place! Unfortunately, our service was terrible, our food tasteless, and our wait time was unbelievable (for an almost empty restaurant). Our waiter seemed to forget about us throughout our meal (despite being seated at a table in the middle of the front of the almost empty restaurant). We had to wave him down multiple times, for our drinks, for our appetizer, for our entrees, and finally for our check. Having been a waitress in the past, I can forgive a lot, but this was just bad all around. Service aside, the food was borderline inedible, and we were starving when it got to us after over an hour and a half wait between our appetizer and entrees. Our appetizer - stuffed mushroom caps - consisted of 5 tiny mushroom caps that could be eaten in a single bite and tasted like they were topped with sausages off of a frozen pizza. The grilled salmon portion size was fair, but it had no flavor, except for a little burnt bit on top (I mistook this for seasoning at first) and came atop uncooked and unseasoned spinach leaves and unseasoned white rice. They drizzled "wasabi soy" around the plate, but by the time it got to me it was dry brown wasabi splatter that you could barely get your fork through. The full portion of the duck ravioli with mushrooms had less than 10 raviolis in it and was somehow literally tasteless. The only thing we could taste in the whole dish, weirdly, were hints of chicken noodle soup in the thick slimy broth it came in. After over two hours there, we each ate about 3-4 bites of our meals before asking for the check and leaving immediately. What a waste of a great location, our time, and our money. I guess we should have seen how empty it was and left immediately, but with good reviews online we decided to give it a shot. We will...

The Uptown Cafe is just a perfect neighborhood restaurant that you visit all the time.

I do confess that one week I had dinner every night they were open when my floors were being renovated. The menu is very comprehensive and the food is always consistent. The Update Cafe is one of the best dining values in the city.

The Uptown Cafe has a very large bar, which is first come first serve. When the weather is nice, the patio is open. The patio is located on Duker which makes it comfortable to sit outside without all the traffic noise from Bardstown road. Just past the bar you will find the host station where you can choose to sit in the dining room with table service. Each meal starts with house made bread service.

They have two daily soup selections in addition to the shrimp bisque. The shrimp bisque is a must try!

For the appetizers the tower of onion rings are delicious. I think my favorite is the Stuffed Mushroom Caps, which has a brandy cream sauce. They have about five small plates that change every six or so weeks, which are always creative and taste great!

There are so great entrees that I find myself rotating through the menu. When I want to treat myself to a rich meal, I go for the Jaegerschnitzel. The mash potatoes are a treat unto themselves! They have great pasta dishes and you can even get half orders of pasta. They have really good linguine and meatballs, but I ask to hold the vegetables. There are great basa fish tacos and I like mine with french fries. My ultimate comfort entree is the linguine with sesame chicken. Some days you want nothing more than a burger with fries. They have daily specials for dinner.

When I’m being more healthy, I go for the spinach salad with grilled salmon.

The Uptown Cafe is known for some of the best desserts in the city! If cheesecake is your thing, be sure to check on the daily selection and be prepared for a slice of heaven! My favorite and birthday dessert is teh Gateau Ganache!

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We have been coming here for years, and our visit Monday night was the first time I have experienced changes. I have ordered the salmon croquettes for years. On Monday, they were visibly smaller and not as moist. They appeared to have a different outside coating. The mashed potatoes were as good as always. This dish has always been served with an excellent vegetable medley. All that accompanied the entree was 2 lonely stalks of broccolini! So, 2 of the 3 parts of the entree were really not up to what we have always experienced! Our waiter was excellent, and thankfully they have not changed the two breads that are both as tasty as always. We always trek to Bardstown Rd on Monday nights because they have half price bottles of wine. If they don’t reverse these entree changes we experienced this week, we will cut down on making that trip. Evidently others have seen the changes because the usually packed main room was only half full! The new owners can’t make changes that downgrade the dinner experience and expect loyal customers to continue...