Just left. I dont know what was colder, the food or the waitress's attitude. Food came outcold & the young waitress made sure to let us know she wasn't happy with her boss. Constantly slamming stuff around and rolling her eyes. We couldnt leave fast enough. 1st & last time there read more

I love supporting locally owned businesses and I have eaten at Cafe on the square for over 30 years. Their breakfast has always been great and it's been a hit or miss with lunch and dinner. Today was a miss. I know eating a late lunch anywhere is a gamble but this was really bad. I ordered the beef taco salad with water and coffee. Taco shell was FULL of grease, guacamole was old and turning brown, ground meat was lukewarm, coffee was old and cold and ice water was missing the ice! so disappointed in my cute cafe that's been here forever! If you go, try the omelettes, they are always good! read more

I don't understand these reviews. We come here several times a month, as a family with a 2.5 year old. Service is always good, they're kind to our son and the food is delicious. Their breakfast is one of our fave in town, it's a traditional American breakfast (think midwestern bacon & eggs with a slight TexMex feel). Big portions and cooked well. We love the French toast, breakfast burrito, and Spanish omelet. Only time service is slow is when it's busy - and that should be expected. read more

Love this restaurant! Great staff, great food! My first time coming in and I'll definitely be coming back. Very cozy local place my waitress Alli did an impressive job, very kind and always coming back to check on me. Props to the owner, this is a great place!! read more

Nothing fancy here, but it's a good solid cafe with traditional Texas dishes on the menu: eggs and bacon, grits, breakfast tacos, fajitas, sandwiches, burgers and fries, chicken and chicken fried steak. The coffee is regular drip, and so is the iced tea. I asked for hot herbal tea with my egg and avocado tacos, and the server brought me an array of choices with a pot of hot water. The atmosphere is old-fashioned, and so is the service. The prices are excellent, especially for a location on the town square. Lots of locals eat here, and not just the students. San Marcos is a friendly town, and I found myself in a conversation with a local one day that started because I had my small dog along out on the front patio. They have a couple of tables out there and table service, so if you happen to have a friendly furry friend along, they can accommodate you. Classic San Marcos casual cafe dining. Parking is on the street, and depending on the time of day, you can usually find it not too far away. read more

We had their Classic breakfast plate and French toast along with fresh coffee. First time there and the service was EXCELLENT! Recommend this place for locals and even tourists if just passing thru. read more

Loved the cafe atmosphere and location, home cooked food was good, waitress was nice. May or may not go back.

Dad and I were looking for a spot for breakfast. I've lived here for about 4 years and never came by this place. Came in on a Saturday and there was a large crowd, said the wait would be about 20 minutes till we could sit at the bar. We didn't mind and walked around outside. They called us and we walked back over. The servers were really friendly. The breakfast was actually delicious! We both got the combo plates and the potatoes were our favorite! Super crispy. It even came with a tortilla, which was not that bad. I would definitely come again. read more

Just stopping in while the rest of the family is fishing. Super-friendly staff, great service, and thoughtful pandemic behavior by everybody. Outdoor seating on the square is particularly nice. Definitely recommended! read more

My friend and I decided to come here early in the morning, there were only 4 customers and we were sitting right at the bar/table. They totally ignored us and spend 15 mins talking to other customers about random stuff. All we ordered were 2 waters and a orange juice. We didn't even drink them we were so upset so we just grabbed the check and left ! In the future I'm sure they will get better employees. read more

Waited an hour on my Uber eats order for them to completely ignore my special request on the order (was simply just to put the sauce on the side). So after waiting an hour for my breakfast I received a meal completely inedible. After complaining to the business they offered me no real solution. read more

Hometown place with a home cooking feel and taste. I love to their every chance I get. Most of my customer go to eat their while the wait on the service I provide to be complete. I have never had a customer come back yet and say anything negative. Give it a try I bet you will want to make it a place worth going too on the regular. read more

Ordered a breakfast taco and chicken fajita taco for my brunch here. I love that breakfast is available all day. Breakfast and lunch in one meal? How great is that?! My boyfriend ordered the Classic Breakfast plate and it was a great portion size. We left so full and satisfied! Also, our waitress Ashley was amazing!! We were needy customers and she took great care of us. Would definitely come back again! read more

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This place has affordable breakfast tacos and a quiet place to enjoy a good lunch. I recommend the veggie burger!

Cute little place on the square. Food was good and our servers were very sweet. They load up their mimosas HEAVY, which I like. I had the chicken fried chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans. I finished the whole thing, green beans were seasoned perfect. My boyfriend had the breakfast tacos and he enjoyed them as well. All of this came at a cheap price so you're not overpaying for brunch. Definitely will come back read more

Cafe on the Square isn't much to write home about. If you're expecting a classic American-diner experience, you've come to the right place. The food is good in most cases. Sometimes, when you order your favorite dish, it'll just come out not tasting quite right, for one reason or another. For example... My girlfriend orders the tortilla soup nearly every time we go, and on most days it tastes great, but on other days, it tastes just off enough that she didn't want to finish it. It's like that for a small number of other items on the menu. Sometimes my omelettes taste weird, and other days the same omelette is delicious. But in any case, there are a lot of food items that are consistently good. I'd recommend the Nacho Especiales platter, the biscuits and gravy, the patty-melt, and pretty much any breakfast item (besides the omelettes). Conversely, the menu seems to pride itself on its Mexican options, which taste like white people made them. (you know what I mean.) As far as mexican or even tex-mex goes, you can find better options elsewhere. The waitresses always do a great job of being sweet and attentive. They keep the coffee pouring, they take our orders promptly, when we have a complaint, they apologize and deal with it in an appropriate manner. Truth be told, Cafe On The Square is good most days, disappointing on others. I'd recommend taking a chance on these folks just so you can decide for yourself whether it's worth going back, but if you don't, I wouldn't blame you. PS, the free wifi advertised in the menu RARELY works. read more

For the All-American breakfast experience, this is the place to go, as long as it's not on a Sunday after church. Saturday mornings are usually bad too. Any group over 4 people is going to have an ESPECIALLY long wait those times. I wouldn't choose them for variety but if you come in wanting burgers, bacon, pancakes, and no-flair coffee, this is the place you go. They do those things well, not to mention VERY affordably. read more

I really like their location and ambiance. I ordered the ham and cheese omelette which was just ok but my brothers breakfast burrito was awesome. Also the bacon was crisp as was hash browns. Beautiful view of the Square and place is busy and food takes a bit but for sure I would recommend read more

I highly recommend this place 100x over ihop. The food was delicious and came out in around 10-15 minutes. Our waitress was friendly and did an awesome job. I cant believe I haven't been to this cafe before it was great! I will be returning soon read more

I ordered the chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, & green beans. It was piping hot & delicious!

Food was delicious! Waitress was very nice and attentive! Service was a tad slow, but definitely didn't mind just sitting and talking

This morning was my first time here with my family. I liked the vibe and Madison, our waitress, was super. Unfortunately, the food was mediocre after taking about 30 minutes to get to our table. I had the 2 pancakes w/2 eggs, sausage and a side of hash browns. I wish I could say it was worth the wait. I will be willing to give this place another chance. read more

Love this place! Food is always good. We have become regulars! Plus they serve breakfast all day which is my favorite part

Great breakfast and great service. We love this restaurant, the location is perfect and we eat here every time we visit my daughter at TSUSM. read more

Nice, Clean, and Quite. For a quick stop in with friends lunch this is close to campus and a great change of pace from the usual fast food, Chinese, or Chipotle style burrito joints that blockade campus like the Trade Federation around Naboo. I had the Philly sandwich with onion rings. Not a traditional Philly. Had nice thick pieces of sirloin grilled to perfection with nice chunky onions and bell peppers. The waitress was attentive with quite a full lunch rush. Can't wait to go back. read more

Great college diner with your average fill-your-belly comfort food. No frills (although not necessary), good variety, very friendly staff, and great hours. This place leaves you feeling satisfied and wanting to come back. For breakfast, lunch, or dinner, you can't go wrong with this place. Good place to go to grab a table, a newspaper, and a mug of coffee with free refills. PS- they make a great gyro! read more

When you're a student and poor, a diner with diner food at cheap prices and good service is important. Cafe on the Square is a little better and a little cheaper than IHOP. Pros: Reliable. Having known and spoken to several of the staff, I know the owners treat them very well, which is something of a novelty in a college town. Cons: Don't order the fancy coffee -- just get the brewed stuff. Really wish they would loose all the beer signs, which are an eyesore. read more

{ cough } { cough } { cough } So, I tend to be pretty live and let live with establishments that allow patrons to smoke. Hey, if that's how they want to operate their business, they have a right to do it--as long as it doesn't spill out into the sidewalk, y'know. And I have a right to take my money to somewhere with cleaner air. ;o) So, yes, much of my low rating here is for the fact that this is one big smoking section, and it's downright stanky all over as a result. No, sir, not a fan. The food is mostly passable Texas home cooking and diner fare. The only thing I've had here that was really bad was the salmon, which was overcooked to the point where it became a dry lump of something that used to be a salmon filet, but sure didn't taste like it anymore. Stick to the Tex-Mex and the breakfast noms. My chicken tortilla soup was downright delicious, and it came in a fairly large bowl when ordered as a side. Win. It's just... { cough } I'm no fan of the smoke. Blecch. read more

I ate breakfast there yesterday morning in between classes (weekday around 9 AM). The waitress the was relatively nice without over doing it. The atmosphere was pretty relaxing/laid back and had a small town dinner feel. Most of the customers looked to be regular locals enjoying their morning at a leisurely pace; the average age was probably mid-40's without yours truly. The Coffee: Very smooth but on the watery side. This is probably not a negative point for it's regular customers that enjoy weaker coffee. I did happen to notice that it was Douwe Egberts which happens to be the same coffee served at the Bellagio's breakfast buffet. The refills were timely. The Food: I ordered two breakfast tacos, a migas and one with hash browns and grilled onions. The filling was good and the tacos were very warm and freshly prepared. However, my standard for breakfast tacos are for the tortillas to be freshly made; they were not. Freshly made tortillas usually warrant a 4 star, if not a 5 IMO. The Price: excellent value for the breakfast tacos but all of the other plates were over $5. I would rate the prices as average but not exactly value-priced. Overall: 3 stars b/c it's a decent breakfast place but I wouldn't drive across town for it. Chris read more

When I was a college student in San Marcos in the early 1990's, Cafe on the Square was a venerable institution for good food, cheap beer and local politics. When a friend and I met in San Marcos a few nights ago, I regrettably suggested Cafe on the Square. I had no idea it had changed so much. We both ordered the chicken fried steak, assuming it would be a specialty of the house (this is San Marcos, Texas, after all). What a mistake! It was inedible. Disgusting. I gag just thinking about it. Right out of the box-- a frozen cutlet, served as a "chicken fried steak" in TEXAS!!! (Non-Texans may not understand how shocking this really is.) The sides were mediocre, the atmosphere unchanged in 20 years, and the server friendly but singularly unhelpful. I don't blame the new owners for trying to make a buck off the tourists. No, I blame the server who allowed us to order this mess. She easily could have asked if we knew we were getting a breaded cutlet from a box instead of a chicken fried steak, but nope... she took the order and slung that crap at us without blinking an eye. The friend I was with refused to "make a scene" and send this greasy imposter back to the depths of Hell whence it came, so she paid the bill, and we left. I just hope she didn't leave a tip. read more

I was really wanting to like this place. Unfortunately, after waiting for over an hour (expected 20 minutes) we were sat at a table. Then a waitress came and told us we couldn't sit at the table anymore and another family needed it. We then had to do an awkward walk out of the restaurant and keep waiting. Once we got a table, the food was just average, tasted like it was frozen. However, the chips and salsa were great! I would come back for those. read more

Tried Cafe on the Square for the first time ever yesterday because we were looking to have an early lunch and Sean Patrick's didn't open until 11:45 (LAME ALERT!!!!) Anyway, this place was exactly what you would think it would be. It had breakfast foods and a bunch of sandwiches for lunch - just typical diner fare. I had the BLT which was pretty solid. It's hard to mess up a BLT so it's my safe choice. While the BLT was good, the fried pickles blew me away! At most of the restaurants in this area, they serve pickle spears, but this place does fried sliced pickles and they're battered to PERFECTION and served with a side of cool ranch. It's the perfect combination and I will seriously keep coming back to this place for these pickles! I've never had fried pickles in my life and I LOVE fried pickles! As far as service goes, it was great! The waitress was attentive and kept coming to check back on us without overdoing it. Bottom line? Come here for the fried pickles! read more

They have grits. If a place serves breakfast but not grits, keep driving. Popped in here for breakfast and it was very good. A nice selection of breakfast options, fresh squeezed juice and good service. If you're in town on a visit, skip the IHOP and chain places, visit a place like this on the square. read more

We just had a terrible experience at this place. We waited over an hour for our food, even though the restaurant was half empty. We watched two tables seated after us get their food 20 and 10 minutes before us. Our waitress offered us no explanation, and in fact seemed to be actively avoiding us. Our drinks were only refilled when we flagged her down and reminded her, and she seemed annoyed when we did this. When we complained, we were basically told we could leave and there was no manager on the premises. When we finally got our food (after an hour, we were so hungry we didn't want to go get food somewhere else), it was mediocre. Definitely not worth an hour wait. I don't know why we received such terrible service when those around us with the same waitress got their food in reasonable amounts of time, but I suspect it's because we were a group of visibly queer women. I can't imagine why else our waitress would have treated us so poorly. read more

We were very disappointed!!! The waitress got our order wrong the soup was the horrible and a chicken fried steak had the paper still on it after it was cooked from the Premade patty. read more

Cafe On the Square - Breakfast & Brunch Near Me - San Marcos, Texas

Let's just say that Cafe on the Square gets the job done. Every time we've gone we've sat at the counter and had decent service. Their caldo (which we asked to bring out first but didn't) was lukewarm this time around. Meh. At least it's served properly with a side of arroz. The chalupa plate also came with a side of rice. The chicken fried steak and eggs were a big disappointment for the price. Luby's makes a better chicken fried steak goddamnit! I'd stick to the breakfast stuff if I were you. The server girl made it sound like they're not too smart in the kitchen. read more

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I went to the Café for the first time today, after living in San Marcos for 8 years. I sat at the bar and wasn't acknowledged for 10 minutes (not even a "we'll be right with you" ). I ordered the chicken fried steak and eggs with hash browns. 1. It took 35 minutes for my order to come out (There were only 5-10 tables at the time) 2.The eggs and hash browns weren't seasoned, even slightly. 3. Counters were disgusting. I can honestly say I will never return to this establishment. read more

We have been coming here for about a year and enjoyed it. We like the location and the down-home-diner feel. The food is good but not above average. It was our go to spot for mornings we wanted breakfast and didn't want to cook. Then, all of the sudden, the prices were jacked up on us. I don't know if it's in my head but it seems like the food quality went down. I'd rather drive to Austin or New Braunfels for phenomenal diner food at affordable prices and spend the extra cash on gas. We won't be coming back. read more

I've been coming here for a long time (close to 15yrs). I agree with the others that the wait time for food and service can be somewhat long at times. It's really one of those places to visit if you don't need to rush to be somewhere. However, that aside, the food is good, classic comfort food. My husband and I enjoy sharing the "Three Amigos", which is chips, salsa, guacamole, and queso. Put some guac on your chip and dip it in the queso! So good! I've had breakfast, lunch, and dinner entrees here and all have been good. It's a San Marcos institution definitely worth trying. read more

2 hours wait and breakfast was marginal. This place has been here for a long time and has great potential to be a legacy restaurant but service and quality need help. Nothing that a good manager could not fix. I think their losing customers like me because of complacency. Sad. read more