Food gets five stars but service gets 2. Some waitresses are super nice but a few have terrible attitudes. Wouldn't recommend going if you are strapped for time, especially on lunch. read more

Definitely worth a try. Passing through town searching for good salad/protein selection for lunch. HOME RUN!

Atmosphere: feels like you stepped out of Bradenton... take that as you will. Love the food, especially the tomato blue soup and the salads. I would say that the food is definitely better than many places in town and is often inventive and quite good. Don't drive to Sarasota--just feel like you did! read more

Loved the French fries. And they had fried okra. Sorry I didn't see it before I ordered.

Favorite restaurant in the area... Tiramisu runs a close second. Both Chefs have passion & execution! Just depends on what your in the mood for but Central Cafe does Everything very well! Soups , salads, entrees all outstanding! Go read more

Noisiest restaurant I have ever been too. Service very slow as it took :30 min just to get our order for food. Food, well if you enjoy paying $44 for soup two burgers & fries and tea this is your place. The burgers definitely are not worth $13. Place used to be great not anymore. read more

Stopped here based on Yelp reviews and was NOT disappointed! Restaurant has wonderful ambiance, very charming! I had the French American, husband had a jalapeño Swiss burger, daughters had chicken salad sandwich and a Caesar salad. All was amazing! Costa Rican Pineapple cake was fantastic! Highly recommended! read more

The noise issue is out of control. It is excruciatingly apparent that they need to put in some sound buffering. After my most recent visit to Central at lunch, having to yell at the person across the table just to hold a conversation, and the pounding headache I had by the time I left, I can't say I will be returning. It is apparent that the food is good and that is why the place is full of people, but the acoustics in the building make for an ultimately unenjoyable experience. I hope the owner fixes the problem and I will gladly return. Until then, I'll dine elsewhere. read more

Best kept secret in Bradenton! Great atmosphere, and friendly staff. Food is delicious and fresh! Salads sandwiches and entrees all so good. My favorite lunch spot and dinners so good! read more

Been there multiple times and have yet to be disappointed. Hard to believe that you're in Bradentucky when inside. The tomato blue soup alone is worth the trip. Excellent salads, sandwiches, and individual pizzas. Nice atmosphere. The only knock I give it is that it is VERY loud at peak lunch time. I highly recommend it. read more

All I ever get is the pizza with artichokes, red peppers and capers: amazing!!!!

We have had a fabulous lunch and 3 wonderful dinners and highly recommend thus hidden treasure to everyone!! The food is special and the service top notch!! 5 star quality! read more

Central Cafe - New American Near Me - Bradenton, Florida

Enjoyed an excellent burger with great fries. The seared tuna in a salad was also delicious! A mellow local cafe with fast service too. Had a wonderful swordfish dinner there a few weeks ago. Highly recommended. read more

Tomato blue soup and the tuna tacos are hands down my favorites from this unique location

If I could title this, it would read, "I'd pay $1 for customer service." I have eaten at Central Cafe several times and always enjoyed the food and service. Today was completely different! We were a party of four. The server, Ashley, was prompt in taking our order. My friends and I ordered lunch: two of us ordered ahi tuna tacos with greens, another ordered pork tacos with fries, and the fourth ordered grilled veggie sandwich with fries. While trying to eat the very bland ahi tuna tacos, my friend and I looked at each other and said something is missing. I've ordered the same tuna tacos in the past and enjoyed them. When our server, Ashley, asked how our food was, my friend and I told her the tuna was very bland and seemed like something was missing. She suggested wasabi sauce and we agreed that's what's missing. Ashley delivered a small plastic cup with about a tablespoon of sauce to each of us. It was a huge improvement for the tuna and bed of shredded cabbage in the flour tortilla. Fine. No problem. When we got our checks, we noticed a $1.00 charge for the tablespoon of wasabi sauce. When we asked our server, Ashley, if we were charged for the sauce, she said yes because it was an addition. My friend and are we both confused because we thought it was forgotten in the first place AND Ashley never informed us there would be an up charge for flavor. Instead of listening to us, she said, "Okay, okay! You need to calm down!" and walked away! Next, a young woman wearing a tank top for with way too much cleavage showing came and stood at our table with her hands on her hips. She didn't introduce herself, so we looked at her confused and then I realized she must have been sent to our table. I asked, "Oh, are you the manager?" She said yes. I told her we didn't ask for the manager but now she's here, I explained what happened. Her reply was, " You ate it and it's extra." I told her I've ordered them before and they were never bland until today. I was surprised she expected me to pay a dollar for flavor! My friend was upset and asked the dollar to be taken off her check. Erin, the manager, said she would not. My friend replied she would not eat there again and Erin quickly replied, "WE DO NOT NEED YOUR BUSINESS!" As we left, the server, Ashley, smiled sarcastically and said, "Have a nice day!" As a former server, I have always tipped well, regardless of the food. However, my experience at Central Cafe will go down in history as the first time I did not tip a server and the last time I eat there. read more

Have eaten here in the past and always enjoyed the food and service. After today I will not return. Late lunch, 1:20 so only a few tables had customers, however we waited several minutes before anyone spoke to us and then several more minutes until we were seated. I told the hostess we were on lunch hour so service needed to be punctual. Well service was slow as a turtle, and non of us (3) was pleased with the food. The salad greens were not fresh, cheese was served on a sandwich after specifying "no cheese", my burger was overcooked and dry and the fries were barely warm. The server only smiled when she presented the checks. I could go on, but I think you get the idea. read more

Been here multiple times and everytime is really good. Good serice and really good food. Will definitely return.

We came upon this restaurant by accident and what a great wrong turn we made. The Bruschetta was the best we have ever had. My husband's cheese burger was delicious. I don't ever eat hamburgers out but when I saw his I asked for a bite. It was amazing. He was lucky I gave it back to him. I ordered the Central salad. It was overflowing with greens, strawberries, red ripe tomatoes, mandarin oranges and nuts. Not only was it huge but delicious. We wanted to eat outside, even though it was hot, because we had our small dog with us. The waitress, Kara, brought her some water. We were the only customers outside but we received excellent service. It was a great experience from beginning to end. read more

Well if your looking to go back for the traditional chicken salad salad don't go back. Not sure why they add grapefruit and large orange slices to the salad which makes it impossible to cut and eat. I got my salad to go and they didn't even put dressing with my salad. So I guess I'm suppose to eat the salad raw. Make sure you check your order before you go I've received many mistakes with the lack of double checking the staff does. read more

Sorry guys and gals, but I had been to this place a few other times and was excited to take a coworker there for lunch... we were seated and then nothing. Waited trying to be patient and finally flagged someone down for drinks. Different person delivered them, we weren't ready to order but should have as, again, no one came back... asking a passing server if we could order finally our server stopped by. I asked for no onion and my friend asked for no lettuce or tomato... we were informed it all came on the side so.... (take it the way we serve it) was the attitude. Hmmmm, never heard of such a thing. Oh well, let it go. Again, no one came back for refills on the tea.. someone else delivered the overcooked burgers... AGAIN, no one comes to bring the check. By now we are annoyed and ask to speak to a manager. A woman comes out and listed to our concerns but didn't seem to worried about the snotty attitude that our long, dark haired server had... I said I would not return and she didn't seem to care. She was not the owner as I asked her... DOES THE OWNER KNOW THIS IS HOW THE PLACE IS BEING RUN? DOES THE OWNER CARE THAT PEOPLE WON'T COME BACK? Let's just say, if I'm paying $14.00 for a burger, you better be delivering it to my room. read more

Local gem just off the edge of downtown Bradenton. Very nice atmosphere with a great design in place. The staff was all very friendly and the food is top notch. Definitely go for a pizza or the tuna tacos. Best in the area. read more

This is a tough review. This place screams good restaurant when you walk in the door Second the ingredients are very good. Sounds good so far right? Our server was subpar. We had to ask what the specials were, when asked to describe an app, what we got was very different than the description ask for lemon with tea etc. Prices were high but the ingredients were good quality usually I'm ok with that The big problem is everything is just thrown together A pile of lettuce, cheese not melted etc No creativity or thought given in the presentation I'm tempted to give 2 stars since you can fix the sandwich once you get it and the ingredients are a good quality ( except the bread tasted a bit hard, from yesterday) but you should not have to do that. This is getting a bit long winded so, the last thing is we paid $60 for 3 sandwiches 3 ice tea and a bun with semi melted cheese. I think you can find better read more

A neat place and decent food. But with defective pricing. Too many places around with better food and prices. Had salads @ $13 each and they brought tiny little containers of dressing. We asked for extra and got charged $.50 for each. Oh, the service was horrible. Will not be back. read more

We arrived and were seated promptly. However after we received our water, which mine had a hair in, the waitress did not come back to us until we went inside and requested some service. Several waiters walked past us and didn't ask us if we needed anything or even address us. This was about 10-15 min after we got our water. When we finally did get service, we waited about 20 min for a salad and tacos. The Arnold palmer had way too much lemonade in it and was not good at all. read more

GREAT place! Food, ambiance, sweet people working there. Marc & Donna have helped make East Bradenton living a lot easier for us locals. The tomato soup is addictive. Love their chicken salad too. If you're wallet is thin, come for for lunch instead of dinner. Keep up the good work! read more

I stumbled upon this restaurant a few years ago as it is right down the street from a lighting store that a very good family friend owns. I was in her store and was hungry and she recommended it. I have now eaten there about 5 times over the past 3 years when I'm in town. In fact, I plan my trips down there around being able to eat here at lunchtime. The inside and outside are both great spots to eat. The decor inside is rustic, yet modern and inviting. Outside the patio is surrounded by flowers and covered and this is where I sat on my most recent trip there this month. My mom and I split the Mediterranean salad, which comes with tons of roasted veggies....think asparagus, artichokes, tomato, capers, shaved parmesan etc. It is delicious and always appropriately dressed. We also had a pizza with spinach, artichoke and capers....man did we get our veggies in today. This the perfect amount of food to split. The pizza is thin and crispy crust with a good amount of cheese and toppings. It was piping hot and everything tasted very fresh. The service is always very good and my water glass was never lacking! This is a must for lunch in Bradenton! read more

I had the most wonderful experience at Central Cafe recently, which has new owners, but still has part of the original family on board. The menu has many of the Central classics, but there is also a nice variety of new items. I enjoyed the amazing, as always, french fries plus a banh mi sandwich which was incredible. It was nice to see that Central has maintained it's charm, great service, and unique menu. read more

Love the place, food excellent ! Had crab cake, tasty not a Maryland crab cake but tasty. Fries are the best, chicken salad very good. Going back to try something else. read more

We got very lost trying to find this gem but it was certainly worth it!! We are from Ohio and we wish we could take the place back with us! Delicious menu priced just right, superb ambiance in the wonderfully restored Central Hotel Waitress went way out of her way to make us feel so welcome. read more

I love this place. I would sell my mother for the California Club, and I like my mom. The french fries are fresh, none of that frozen processed crap that you get every where else. They actually have a decent wine list, which is hard to come by in Bradenton. I have a really hard time believing that people would come here and not like the food. I have been eating here on a regular basis since they opened, and I have yet to have a bad meal. The atmosphere is great, casual and fun. I love this place, it makes me forget I live in Bradenton. read more

Used to love this place but it has gone completely down hill. Staff/ owner change perhaps?? Took almost an hour to get my food, which was mediocre at best. Staff was not even apologetic about the long wait, even made light of it. Then, the food was lukewarm....Never going back, neither should you! read more

This is a great ind. Excellent, unpretentious food at reasonable prices. The Ahi Tuna was perfectly grilled, not overwhelmed by the pepper crust. The generous 8oz portion over greens was $18. Guest had the coconut shrimp over salad greens... also excellent. I'll be back every 2 weeks. Note: Lunch/Dinner weekdays only. No Sat/Sun. read more

What a great surprise! I was impressed with the food, service, and decor. It felt like a restaurant you could find in any large city.

Nice place, good food and drinks. I will definitely visit again. Waitress are very friendly!!!

Excellent quality ingredients, well prepared, with friendly service at a fair price. What is not to like.

What a great little place! Has been recommended to me multiple times as a great lunch stop as it is so close to my work. Great atmosphere and even better food. I had the Californication sandwich, which was topped with really fresh and tasty ahi tuna and paired with some delicious home-style fries. Friend I was with had a salad which they also raved about. Ran into some other people I knew there and they said their burgers were amazing. Great outside seating area and quite busy at lunch time which to me really says something. A bit loud inside but once the food arrives you completely forget about that! A+ read more

I'm really hating to leave this bad review because we used to absolutely rave about the Central Cafe. The tomato soup, oh how we craved it, dreamed about it, looked forward to it with drooling anticipation. No more, I'm afraid. Now we will just miss it forevermore. I don't know if they are boiling it or what but it was broken and bitter the last two times I've been. Two times ago I sent it back. Even the cranberry juice tasted awful and got sent back. The pizza was good just not good enough to make up for the rest. Last time I was there, a week or two ago, the soup was marginally less bad. The pork taco was bland. The fries were cold and greasy enough to send back and not much better the second time. The cranberry juice was fine, though. The service was very sweet in spite of us being so unimpressed with the food. We've been going here for years but we won't be going back. Maybe in a few months we'll try just in case they get it together. In the meantime I will try reproducing the tomato soup at home. It's got to be better than what they're doing now. It's super super noisy so it's kinda hard to enjoy the cute ambiance of the place anyway. read more

Central Cafe has the greatest food in Bradenton. Their bread is to die for, and the soup is great. The Caprese salad is my usual, and the pesto dressing it unlike any other you've had. The price is more than I can afford on a regular basis, but I'll pop in for a beer and some bread if I'm short on cash - delicious carbicide. Oh, their fries are great too! read more

The food was so good here, I evened walked to the kitchen and complemented the staff/owner on what a nice place and how fabulous the $22.00 ahi tuna was. Everything was great until we received our check and was charged .50 cents for some extra creamed wasabi sauce that I asked for. Keep in mine, the portion of tuna was worth the 22 bucks, but for the amount of tuna that was given, the wasabi sauce came up short. I asked the very nice waitress for some more and finished my delicious meal. I returned to the owner and told him I thought it was a bit cheesy, but not sure if I got through. My wife said I should do a Yelp and when I checked, sure enough I saw someone posted the same complaint. Mr. Mark, you have a wonderful restaurant here, rethink on the simple things that turn people off. I'm sure most of us could afford the .50 cents, but that's not the point. BTW, we didn't use any of your salt, have any water or use any ketchup. read more

We drove 60 miles out of our way to eat at this restaurant since we were on vacation and the reviews were so good. We had a small coupon to use also. When we entered, there didn't appear to be a hostess & there were numerous empty tables. My husband asked one of the servers if we were supposed to seat ourselves. He, very indignantly, replied "no SIR! We seat you." We found someone to take our name and waited 25 minutes before finally being seated, noticing there were about six tables still open. There was a fairly busy lunch crowd but many places to sit. The server took our drink order, brought our tea, & I asked about their fried okra and she said they had taken it off the menu. I told her we had a restaurant.com certificate and she said in a loud voice, "oh that is a scam." I told her that it certainly is not & their restaurant name was clearly printed on the certificate which I had purchased. She told me that they would not accept it & we asked how much we owed for the tea. She said it was $5.00 and said, you mean you are not going to eat because of the coupon? I told her we certainly were not & it was the principle of the thing. We gave her the $5 and left. I have no idea how good their food is and I will never know. We have been to many good restaurants and some not-so-good, but we have never been treated so disrespectfully. They want people to think this is an upscale New York type restaurant. Trust me, it is not. I would not recommend this little hole-in-the wall restaurant to anyone. read more