Cafe Deluxe - West End

Made reservation but not acknowledged, so seemed like we flaked out - despite asking that the reservation be noted.
Food was not as flavorful as at Wisconsin Ave location.

We went to Cafe Deluxe on a Sunday for brunch. The food was fair and the service was poor. Waiter did not come around to refill coffee or water or to take additional drink orders. We had to find someone to bring a coffee pot. I grabbed the water pitcher from the service cart to refill waters. Husband went to bar to get mimosas refilled. It wasn't that busy, several empty tables around us and what appeared to be plenty of staff milling about. They seemed poorly trained or organized. I'd call this a management issue. It's a nice facility and could be a great neighborhood treasure but the ownership needs to step up the day to day management. I rarely give a bad review so I hope this will have a positive impact.

My steak was served at room temperature, and was not seasoned at all! Our server forgot many items, and service was very slow. They should have at least comp’ed my entree. Never again will I return.

We loved the food and service so much we went back 2 days straight!

The food was unexpectedly bad. I ordered a spinach salad wt grilled chicken. The grilled chicken had a bleak coloring of an expired meat and tasted the same. I certainly did not appreciate the serving from what looked and tasted like a previous (or older) day leftover. Will take my business lunches somewhere else.

great service and attentive wait staff good value for DC

Great place to meet for a business luncheon. Will be back.

Service was awful

Went for restaurant week during lunch time. Service was incredibly slow. Waitress was barely present. The food was delicious except the creme brulee where it was cold. Which blew my mind because you literally take a blow torch to the dish as a finishing touch. Plus when the server brought us the bill she didn't charge us the restaurant week deal and it took an extra 10 minutes for them to correct it. The food was delicious (minus my cold creme brulee) but if their service continues to be that awful, I'd never go back.

Convenient location, good dishes, servers aren't terribly happy to be there but will do a good job.

As we started our luncheon, we were told that there would be a test of the fire alarms for several minutes. This should have been done mid-morning (say 10 AM) before the place is filled with patrons. In addition, fire alarms closed the doors trapping birds inside the restaurant. Need better acoustic control, the place was maybe 75% full but very loud.

Great service, good food and decent location!

We enjoyed relative quiet on a weeknight, able to carry on a conversation without raising our voices. The classic atmosphere is similar to the original Cafe Deluxe and it remains good food for a good value.

Group of 7 colleagues met for dinner while at a conference. Great restaurant choice with many dining and beverage options. Our server, Kai, was amazing. Kind, fun, efficient!

We usually have great experiences here (I think we've been here at least a dozen times over the years). As usually, I made it clear when we arrived that I have a gluten allergy and needed the gluten-free menu, which I then ordered from. When I ordered my dinnner (a salad), I was upset to see that there were croutons on it. I let the waitress know immediately, and she sent it back, but it is concerning when a food allergy is not taken seriously.

Waitress got order wrong, took a long time to bring back correct order, had already eaten part of my meal by the time the correction was made, waitress was not very attentive, disappeared for long periods of time (although it wasn't very crowded) and seemed somewhat annoyed with our requests (paper napkins, ketchup, mustard, etc.). Food was just ok, service was slow. So slow that we had to leave without getting receipt or correct change because we were running a bit late.

The food was good, but the service was not. I’ve had better luck eating at the bar vs a table at this restaurant.

Went for breakfast for the first time in quite a while. Service was excellent, as was the food.

The service was abysmal.
The portion of tomato soup was almost non-existent. The flatbread I ordered was fine and tasty.
And I've been to this restaurant at several of its other locations on numerous occasions and at least once before at this location, but have never had an experience like this one. I don't know if I'd return to any of their locations very soon.

The food was one of the worst meals I have had. I ordered kale salad wt grilled chicken as an add on. The salad had no taste and was so heavily covered in Parmesan that I simply ate the chicken and left the salad in the plate. I am
Left wondering how can a simple kale salad be made that terrifyingly bad. Not going back for sure.

Good location, friendly staff, just things forgotten we had ordered. We were tired after a long day too.

The food is not bad, nice quiet-ish place with good breakfast choices. It’s basically a better Ihop

We didn’t get our coffee until after the food came out, the server didn’t really check in on us during our meal. We observed other tables were slow to get their orders and their bills.

Our server was wonderful, especially with the young children in our party. She knew the menu well and made informed suggestions. We had a wonderful time.
The only criticism we had was that the a.c. was too strong. We stepped outside to warm up, then came back in. Other than this small problem, we had a lovely dinner!

We went to the cafe because it was nearby. Service was very average. The fans were on at such high speed we were freezing as were customers around us but we were told they could not be turned down. It definitely took away from the experience.Food was good.

Terrible service. 10 minutes before they talked to us. 35 minutes later no food. Manager did nothing.

The food was great but was let down by the service. The person seating us was annoyed that we wanted a table by the open windows (it was a beautiful hot sunny day), as opposed to the table she had been told to seat us at. Despite it being a very hot day, our water glass was never refilled, not even once, and it was hard to get any servers attention to get a refill or pay the check.

‘‘Twas good!

The fans were apparently broken and couldn't be turned down or off so we froze while eating dinner. I prefer the brunch menu than the lunch/dinner menu. Wait staff took awhile to seat us and bring out food although the restaurant wasn't full or busy.

😎👍🏼 great spot

Terrible service. Waitress was more interested in checking her phone than taking our order. After placing order, waited 45 min before we tracked down waitress and cancelled order. Nothing had come out. Pita and hummus appetizer takes 45 min to prepare?? Ridiculous.

Took an hour to get our food on a Sunday morning. It was not very busy.

Overall a great meal and experience. The ceiling fan was broken and stuck on full blast, though, which made us into icicles in the middle of summer.

We were there for lunch to celebrate a graduation. It was very cold, and we were seated right under some fans. They were unable to turn them off and could not change the temperature. The food was fine, but the server did not come back to check on us, refill drinks, etc. Theyndid offer our daughter the graduate a free dessert, but overall it was a disappointment.

Tasty food and big portions. But service was horrible. Waiter didn’t smile. Okay fine. Got the order wrong for both dishes. Not fine. Later brought us a dish we didn’t order. Then gave us the wrong bill. Last item: We asked to have half a dish put in a box to take home. (again portions are really nicely sized). The waiter took it but after a few minutes we asked to find out they tossed it out.

I invited somone who had never been in an American restaurant before to lunch. He ordered the Fried Chicken salad and pronounced it very good. He was impressed favorably. I had the Tuna melt. It was sort of average in taste. It lacked a kick. We were seated in a room with onlly one other occupied table; although this ws excellent for conversation the servers kep forgetting we were there.

Prices very favorable.

Food and service was excellent.

Excellent Lunch at reasonable price. Good place to meet.

This was not a good dining experience. Several crying children were seated next to us. The crab cake contained more bread than crab. Chicken was dry and flavorless. Service was slow.

This is a pleasant place for a downtown lunch. The service is very good, the booth seating was prompt and comfortable, we weren't rushed. The soft shell crab special was fresh and tasty. One downside is that the restaurant is part of a hotel and the rest rooms are through the hotel. This is a bit awkward.