City Cafe — Restaurant in Murfreesboro

My wife and I chose to make a day trip to the City Café in Murfreesboro on March 7th. It had been 10 or 15 years since I had dined there and my wife had never been. While driving to Murfreesboro from our home in Gallatin, I shared warm memories with Janene about my many trips to the City Café back in the 1970s, '80s and '90s. I told her about the crowds, sometimes having to wait for a table outside on the bench under the front window; about the 6 or 8 guys who were always holding court at the "Men's Table" near the front door; I prepared her for the best cloverleaf, yeast rolls she had ever had; the dilemma we would face deciding whether to order the chocolate meringue or the coconut cream meringue pie; the wide variety of country-cooked vegetables - I told her she was about to be treated to some of the best food Middle Tennessee had to offer. As we walked across the street toward the Café, I showed her the front window that once was part of the lead-in to the intro to Monday Night Football, with the theme being sung by Hank Williams Jr.

Then we walked in. We arrived at 12:30 - right in the middle of the lunch hour. The Men's Table was empty and there were fewer than a dozen customers dining in the restaurant. A voice from behind the rear counter announced that we could sit anywhere we wanted. The entire plate-lunch selection was written on a chalkboard on the wall, consisting of 2 meats and 6 sides (photo included). The desert selection included 3 cobblers, 1 pie option (chess) and cinnamon rolls - that is it! (also photo included). The remainder of the menu is a below-average selection of sandwiches and salads. Apparently, there was not a single meringue pie available, which for the City Café is some sort of sacrilege.

The quality of the food is barely average. Gone are the magnificent, cloverleaf yeast rolls. The yeast rolls we were served were small, pillow-shaped rolls that were dark brown (over baked), probably received by the Café, frozen. The chicken-fried chicken breast (with white gravy) was good; the chicken was moist and the gravy was good. The vegetables were average, probably coming out of a #10 can delivered by a Sisco truck. The sweet tea was good, but for more than $2.00, it should have been.

Service was adequate - the young lady that served us was sweet and friendly.

And last, but not least - the prices are very high. Janene and I each had a lunch plate (1 meat and 2 or 3 vegetables - no desert) and sweet tea with lemon. We added a 20% tip and the final bill was a few cents under $40.00 - ouch!

To say that we were disappointed is an understatement. The current City Café is not even a blurry shadow of its former self. Way beyond being a disappointment, considering the magnificent, culinary history of this venerable landmark situated at the geographic center of Tennessee, our experience was a dining disaster. If you are considering a trip to the City Café, don't expect much, because it is no longer the City Café that we have all known from the...

Let me start by saying that I like City Cafe. Not necessarily because of the food--which I will address shortly--but because of its working-class atmosphere, its honest character, and most importantly its historical significance. It's a great place to go drink coffee and read the paper.

As for the food, I must admit I've only had breakfast items: omelets, breakfast plates, and biscuit sandwiches. The common component amongst those items being eggs, which is the main topic of this exposé. Oftentimes, when eating an omelet or breakfast plate, I am reminded of comments by the late, great Jesco White:

"I took the butcher knife and put it up to her neck. I said if you wanna live to see tomorrow, you better start fryin' them eggs a lil' bit better than what you're fryin' em. I'm tired of eatin' sloppy, slimy eggs."

Now, on the surface this seems to be a little brutal, but for me, it's less about the butcher knife and more about the eggs. On multiple occasions I have received an omelet that wasn't quite done. I would cut into it and would find small globules of translucent egg here and there. The same occurs when I ask for over-medium on my breakfast plate. The bacon egg and cheese biscuits have always been delicious though.

Again, despite that, I will continue to dine at City Cafe, but if one desires consistent, properly cooked eggs and can stand cigarette smoke, I suggest Wall...

My food might have been good if it didn't have a long curly hair in my eggs, or a small black hair on the rim of my plate. I ordered a breakfast with eggs, bacon, grits, coffee, etc. I ate 1 piece of bacon and the eggs when I found the hair in my mouth. I just could not eat anymore. My friend informed our server and I just asked for my meal to be removed from the ticket. I'm not usually a big complainer, but I felt that was a fair request. I had already lost my appetite, so to remake my food would have been a bigger waste. Later, I found out she discounted my food by only 10%. Just not cool at all, considering how other people might have reacted. Also, no visit from the manager with an apology or anything. Not professional at all. It was my first time visiting this restaurant, and I can't say I will return. There was 4 of us, & we were all going to be paid together, but our bills were all handed to us separately, which I thought to be odd and inefficient, but it is just the way they keep orders from being mixed up I guess. On another note, I just want to add that my friends had the country fried steak meals and they said it was delicious & perfectly satisfying!! I hope this review is met with some changes on proper food handling & a better...