I agree - it's best to eat dinner before shopping at Central Market, and you can do it right there. The food at the CM Cafe will take care of your gourmet cravings - their menu items vary daily, and they serve a little bit of many different types of cuisines. If you think you can hold your appetite until you're done shopping, you can take it all to go from the deli side. It's not the most inexpensive meal option - be prepared to spend about $10-$15 per person on a substantial dinner. But everything I've gotten from there is tasty. Although, I will say this - when you take your food to go from the Cafe, each selection is packaged individually in a non-recyclable plastic. How Un-Central Market. read more

I left a previous review under Central Market Westgate. It obviously should have went into the cafe section. So my review went as follows. Hair was in my meal. Photo to prove it included. This time the wifi just simply doesn't work and neither does HALF of their drinks at the fountain. Not to mention my pasta had the butt ends of my asparagus left in it. No thanks! Photo for proof as well. It's Monday. Lunch hour. GET IT TOGETHER! read more

See all

I'm a big fan of the quick service, delicious choice and the casual atmosphere! Bonus is I can grocery shop

Where the Grocery Store deserves 5 stars (we have been customers since the store opened) the Café is absolutely the worst excuse for a restaurant. I would be ashamed if I managed this store by the food that is sold at the café. Today, my partner and I stopped for a bite prior to shopping. I ordered a Chicken Sandwich marinated in a Porter Beer and she ordered the steamed veggie plate with a bowl of Quinoa. The chicken sandwich came out stone cold and was disgusting. The veggies were unappetizing, the kale was loaded in salt and Quinoa was stone cold. I complained about my sandwich which was replaced with your chili burger. This was one of the cafe's "Specials" but there was nothing "Special" about this offering. We will not eat here again unless we hear of drastic changes for the better. Shame, Shame Central Market Café. read more

Three and a half, really. I always seem to end up at the CM Cafe. It's (usually) fast, the food is decent, basically, it's something I don't have to think about. Plus, I'm not a huge fan of Hyde Park Bar and Grill and St. Philip never has less than an hour wait, so if I'm in the westgate area and don't want chain restaurant food, I am lured in like a moth to a flame. I can't quite put my finger on it, but things have gone a bit downhill over the past few years. The workers are generally uninterested in whatever issue you may have. And the soda fountain has a tendency to spray you in the face. But there are two things that they do incredibly well: chicken tortilla soup and the Cobb salad. In fact, I will declare the Cobb salad the best Cobb in town. Plentiful amounts of cheese, bacon, chicken, tomato, ranch dressing, and half an avocado make for the unhealthiest, yet tastiest, salad you will ever eat. The crowd here can be annoying at times. People spreading out a billion bags of groceries and consuming them on site, which technically is not allowed in the cafe (EDIT: someone sent me a rude comment that it is allowed, so I guess I was wrong). When I've just dropped $30 on dinner I'd like to have somewhere to sit instead of hovering over the guy eating a container of olives from the salad bar. But that's just me being petty. I will continue to go back because laziness. And it's also nice to be able to pick up some things from the grocery store without having to leave the building. read more

Close to home and i can multitask here. Works for me! The food selection seems to be ok, sometimes it is a hit sometimes a miss. As long as you have realistic expectations and are not expecting anyting gourmet'ish then you should be satisfied grabbing a quick meal here. People watching and convo' dropping can be kinda entertaining too! When my boyfriend & I went recently we witnessed the red hat club meeting which was fun to watch :) I am not a huge fan of central markets to go dishes so I somewhat pleasantly surprised the cafe food was better. Convenience is why I would choose to come here to eat. read more

I'm surprised the cafe has only three stars. I love Central Market, but it's a bit of a drive for me. Somehow, I had never eaten in the cafe until today. I met a friend there for lunch; we picked the cafe because we wanted something heavy on the vegetables (December was NOT heavy on the vegetables). So apparently, they have some new menu items (everything on the menu is new to me, of course). I ordered the dashi salmon belly noodle bowl. My friend ordered the falafel sliders with a side salad. The dashi noodle bowl was delicious (and I got the cute quail egg because I love those little guys). Her salad looked fresh and it was a generous portion. The falafel sliders are one of her regular orders, so they must be good. I love that this is in my favorite grocery store. I just wish it was closer to me! I was going to give this four stars...but the convenience of having a classy place for lunch IN my dream grocery store just makes it a five star experience for me. I would even eat here alone with a book and a glass of wine--and then do my grocery shopping. Hours of fun (to me). read more

When it comes to weekend breakfast, Central Market Cafe is one of the best options in South Austin. The huge dining area, large number of staff, and order at the counter service means there's almost never a wait--even at 10am on a weekend morning. Breakfast served until 11am! Late-risers rejoice! Options, options, OPTIONS! Some of the breakfast menu include: waffles, biscuits and gravy, migas, breakfast tacos, yogurt and granola, and (the best item of all) challah french toast. Many of these come in half and full portions too! Excellent coffee! Although the Cafe keeps a container of coffee in the self-service drink area, if you walk around the gelato counter, you can find an additional 4-5 different choices at the coffee bar area (which is included in your coffee purchase). read more

The problem is the food is so hit and miss... I've had some rocking dishes - the grilled chicken and brussel sprouts salad was amazing. I've also had some seriously disappointing dishes - the roast beef sandwich sounded good but was one of the worst beef sandwiches I've ever had read more

We went here to eat on Tuesday and ordered the Dashi bowl and a Mediterranean salad. The Dashi bowl had almost no flavor and was very disappointing! The Mediterranean salad on the other hand was delicious. I had to ask if they had any flavorings or at least soy sauce for the Dashi. I was directed to the sushi cooler for some soy sauce which helped a little, but still, aside from a bit of ginger there was nothing. Overall I give them three stars as they are usually pretty good, but they need to improve the recipe on the Dashi. read more

So just to start know that this is a cafe inside of a grocery store albeit a great grocery store at that. The menu consists mostly of hamburgers, pizza, salads and wraps so there's not much to choose from. I had a partner in crime with me so we shared the Margharita pizza and had two sides of grilled veggies and sweet potato fries. The sides were stellar and so was the pizza except for an odd smell off of the crust at the end. I didn't notice it until I was chewing on the crust. It didn't take away from the meal. I spent about $16 on all that food and fed me and my lady. Good for an easy and quick meal. Remember it's a grocery store first. read more

My boyfriend and I came and were taken back by the wonderful array of different kinds of food they had! Although it was a bit pricey we managed to find some soups for $5 each! I had the tortilla soup and it was very delicious, then of course the moment I saw the gelato I had to one so I got sweet cream and coffee; it was super yum as well! :) read more

The Central Market Cafe is a great, affordable place to grab a quick meal. The food is always very fresh and healthy too. I prefer their breakfast options over their lunch options. They make great migas and hearty breakfast tacos. It's nice that they have local microbrews too! I love stopping by the cafe with my little ones for a quick bite before we start our grocery shopping. It makes grocery shopping a lot more fun! read more

Central Market Cafe - migas... yum - New American Near Me - Austin, Texas

If you order Migas at Central Market Cafe on Westgate. Make sure you get the real thing. Last week I ordered Migas at CM Westgate, and I got some sort of scramble eggs, with a few chips, onions, tomatoes, and some cheese on top. Plain and very sad dish. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture then. Today, I went to Central Market N. Lamar and ordered Migas. I am enclosing a picture of the Migas plate from CM North Lamar. A note to management: Must keep quality standards high, and respond to your customer's complaints. read more

Central Market Cafe - Central Market North Lamar, Migas. - New American Near Me - Austin, Texas

Great live music several nights a week, together with the BYOB (from the excellent CM wine&beer section) policy make this a great casual dinner place. Dancers attend the band performances in droves, some are quite good. Great place to bring kids, too, and the little ones we saw behaved well. read more

I forgot to take pictures of the central market cafe but I really liked the options you had and the price wasn't too bad, the portions seemed a bit smaller than most places, I paid $17 for a kids meal of grilled chicken and veggies and a sandwich and a drink. The tea selection was awesome though! I would come back just to want to try a few other things! The drunken chicken sandwich though was really yummy! read more

Went here for lunch and am just annoyed and appalled at the food we were served. Does anyone in this place have a clue?? Does anyone look at or taste the crap they send out to people? Flaccid, overcooked to dark brown(but room temperature) flank steak that was sliced yesterday and left out to air dry served in a tangle on a mound of undressed greens with the ever present red onion rings and slabs of cucumbers accompanied by a lovely plastic cup of watery tasteless ranch dressing. For $10 I have to toss my own salad?? And flavorless gruel- like asparagus soup with a lifeless grilled cheese sandwich that was oddly not even warm. Looked like the cheese was melted the same day the flank was sliced. Grrrr and argghhh! read more

Great place to eat before shopping with an ever changing daily menu. The specials of the day are displayed so you know exactly what you're getting. Mainstays on the menu are pretty good and burgers and salads are top notch. Just wish the fries were made from scratch and not frozen. Seating and cleanliness can be hard to come by during rush hours but the staff is always clearing off tables as fast as they can. Wanted to give 3.5 stars. Curse you Yelp. Would we go again? Of course. We shop here all the time. read more

Gave them another try. Still horrible. Never again. Steak salad ingredients were terrible. I think Mickey DS would have been better, and I don't eat fast food. But this was a poor excuse for a plate. A rip off even at $10. read more

Westgate Central Market deli is so very not good and some choices are inedible. However Central Market deli on Lamar and 38th is excellent. Nothing is nasty as some choices are at Westgate. The delis are very different in quality and choices. It seems they must have very different chefs. The ones at Westgate deli are not good at all. The ones at Central Market Lamar deli are very excellent. The choices reflect the talent of each chef from not so good to delicious. I'll travel from my home near Westgate all the way north when I want good deli food. Central Market home office should do some quality assurance tasting at Westgate Central Market. I asked one chef to please not serve crunchy black beans but they still were in the black bean corn and jicama salad. Then stopped making it and said won't be back until spring. (WHAT????). I bought that same salad today 11/6 at CM Lamar and it was delicious!!! Don't go to Westgate CM deli. Do go to Lamar Westgate deli!!! read more

Yummy food. I've never had anything bad from here! The staff is friendly. The food can take a little while to come out, so don't eat here if you're in a big hurry! I got the quinoa tabbouleh with falafel today. It was tasty! read more

Central Market Cafe - New American Near Me - Austin, Texas

Love love love this store amazing . So much I decided to work here ! I love the food the foodies and especially the pastries

For some reason my wife like to go there but we have yet to have decent meal. Maybe my expectation are to high since they do have the freshest selection of ingredients to choose from. Thought they had a cooking school or classes. Just can't execute the simplest of dishes.Would expect something better than dry/overcooked hamburgers, cold sides(fries, mashed, beans, veg). Dried out chicken and mahi mahi. Stale buns. What ever happened to hot food hot/ Cold food cold? This was not an single experience else I would not yelp. Over the past 3 years I have never had a good experience in the south location. North one is fine. No complaints there read more

Ho-Hum. The food is okay. The space is pretty nice, but it hasn't blown my socks off. I certainly enjoyed the Swiss Mushroom burger that I got - a bit too greasy, but do-able. I love the sweet potato fries when they are crispy, but I've had a batch or two that were soggy and that's disappointing. The other day, I got a Thai Shrimp plate that was pretty good - great portion and tasty, but there are carts that do better on the price-to-value ratio. Up until the other night, I was stuck between 3 and 4 stars for this place. However, I did order the salmon crab-cakes for my boyfriend as a "to go" order after I did some grocery shopping and was disappointed. The food tasted fine, but we only got two cakes over a large salad and it was a $13 plate. If I'm paying $13 for a meal, I'd like more than two lumps of meat and a ton of veggies. I didn't order a salad with salmon crab cake on the side. Don't get me wrong, I can pay for a fancy meal here and there, but that's not what I got. I would have been perfectly content to see 3 or 4 cakes and some greens, but it was inversely proportional to the title of the dish. I feel like the cafe tries to be super fancy and cool. The menu is massive and on the wall, but out of the line of direct sight. It has a really snazzy feel to it, and it's nice that it's convenient with your grocery shopping. I just don't think the price is worth what I get there. read more

I found a bug in my salad and I was close to eating it. I do not recommend this central market because they are very well kept but, need to watch how and what goes into their food. read more

Has anyone who has ever ordered an entree gotten hot food? I see frequently see diners using the two microwaves to finish the job. Much- like the lightly battered shrimp in my tacos today- tastes and feels cooked ahead and then sort of reheated. read more

I come here when I'm in town. This visit I saw major changes for the WORSE. Supposed to be a "new menu" but it's the same stuff repackaged in smaller quantities, higher prices and absolutely poor presentation. I ordered a breakfast omelet........I got a small omelet on a plate with nothing else....no toast, fruit.....nothing The manager said it's a corporate decision and took no responsibility. Also the restaurant staff isn't very friendly any more. They seem pissed off and not responsive to requests. Something is going on here and it's not making the place any better. There are plenty of choices in the area......go elsewhere. read more

Besides groceries we decided to have dinner here, TWICE. I had Cuban sandwich which was hard to swallow and my bf had jalapenos burger and struggled to chowdown...which would have never happened!... And today we ordered buffalo wrap-- serious crap.... and he had market burger which was not attempted for the second bite..plus fries were nasty, drenched in smelly oil that my face is oozing out with potato eye.. ugh! read more

I love Central Market Cafe. I wish I could give them 4.5 stars, but alas, Yelp doesn't offer half star ratings. So I went with 4 (you will find out why later in the review). They have so many options to choose from, and that's really handy when you aren't quite sure what you feel like eating. Really great when you are with a friend or group of friends and y'all can't all decide on 1 type of cuisine. I really like the fact that they display actual food plates next to the specials menu. You can physically see what the meal will look like before you decide to order it. I'm a huge fan of that. That menu changes every week I believe. I've had their burgers, pizza, sandwiches, and various items from the specials menu. Every dish has been overall very tasty. There's always some little ingredient in the dishes that I don't care for, but not enough to make it a bad dish. It's always something small like, the bread on the sandwich was toasted too long and was hard to bite into. Usually they put a ton of dressing on the sandwiches and salads and it gets kinda messy. But that's all. I've never had their breakfast, but, judging from the other Yelp reviews, it sounds delicious. Today I had the battered shrimp sandwich thingy from the specials menu. I forgot the actual name of the dish, but they battered shrimp and put it in a sub roll with some veggies and a vinaigrette type dressing and fries on the side. The sandwich was really good and the shrimp were delicious. I could've eaten just the shrimp they were so good! Anyhoo, my only minor complaint was the bread was hard and there was too much dressing in the sandwich. The flavor of the bread was good though as was the dressing. But I get slightly annoyed when I bite into my sandwich and there's a swimming pool of liquid underneath. I used so many napkins to wipe my mouth and hands! But overall, I was very pleased with my meal. read more

Central Market Cafe - Shrimp sandwich - New American Near Me - Austin, Texas

I often eat here after meetings with a group of friends and usually have their awesome salads. I did do the salmon once but was not really impressed with it, so I won't be ordering that again. BUT, every other dish I have had there so far has been really well cooked and delicious! I will be eating there more in the future and my boyfriend and I always stop by there on holidays if we are in town to gather our holiday meal! YUM read more

Eating at the Cafe for us is really one of convenience. We have been a couple of times, but it wasn't a destination planned ahead of time. Generally, we pop by for a quick bite before we go grocery shopping. Best to not shop on an empty stomach at CM, your wallet will hate you for that. They do have a nice selection of salads, which are pretty filling at $10 a piece. Their pizza's look tasty, but I cannot really report on the quality of the dough since we haven't indulged yet. It's counter service, so you don't have a waiter, but they do seem to come by and remove your dishes as your munch through your entree's. I did like the fact you could add on a side of salmon or chicken with the wellness choices. I opted for the tandoori wrap last time by. It certainly wasn't the best I have every had and lord knows I have had much worse. These guys do solid job and even provide a cheap single beer at times. read more

Sometimes Central Market Cafe is great & other times it is terrible. Just got the veggie burger to go but it was dry as dust. Turns out they ran out of pesto & didn't tell me when I ordered just gave me burger with out. Not the 1st time order is messed up. Disappointing. read more

Yummmmm! Although I'm usually a Central Market Salad bar regular, that kinda counts as the cafe right? Veggies are always fresh, ranch dressing is right on the mark, and they have blue cheese and pepperoncinis and a fancy pasta bar for you fancy kids. Not cheap, but really really good. This is my go to blind date spot ( hint hint) and I usually end up for hours at this cafe. In days past I was really into the tortilla soup and Cobb salad, now I'm cheaper :) read more

I can only speak to one lunchtime favorite item (because it's the only thing I get here): the apricot chicken salad on a crossiant. Delicious! It's definately the bits of apricot that make me adore this sandwich. Plus it comes with a side of really lovely fresh fruit, including strawberries, mango, pineapple, honeydew melon and grapes. Oh, and they have excellent fresh brewed peach iced tea (unsweetened). read more

For Coffee Counter only: Wow. I'm not a coffee connoisseur, I just like to pretend I'm into coffee when really all I want is caffeeine & sweet (but soda doesn't do it for me) -- Wow. Their mocha was perfect for me. Seriously. Sweet but not too sweet (which isn't a problem for me, but the balance was great). Perfect temp. Great price. Shoot, I wish they had a drive through or was at least on my way to work... read more

Great spot to catch some lives music, people watch and eat deliciously healthy food. Wifi was "ok" but it worked enough to get some things done. I would definitely return as the weather was nice and sitting on the patio was divine. read more

Well I had to give this place one star to write this review. So we ordered numerous items and mine was a Hamburger and recieved a dried out hockey puck. There was no mayonaise anywhere to be found. I ended up eating the bacon, onion and bread for lunch. Thank goodness I had a package of mayo in my desk. We placed a goodsize order and several of them were messed up. No condiments for any of the burgers or dressing for the salads. The manager was of no help. It very SAD because we love Central Market and will definantly have to think twice before ordering again. read more

Gelato counter only - I had the Donatella gelato (chocolate, hazelnut, and bits of waffle cone), and it was like dying and going to heaven, if such a place existed. Seriously darn near orgasmic. But don't buy anythying larger than a small - it's pretty rich, so I could only manage to eat half of my small cup. I thought it was well worth its $3 price tag! read more

Overrated. If I want to see and be seen, I'll go back to CA. Food is okay and not worth the wait, especially during lunch. For the prices, I expect table service and real silverware! read more

I really liked my experience here today. I met an acquaintance for lunch, and the atmosphere was perfect for this. I agree with others that the prices are a little high for fast food style service, but I was impressed with the pasta dish I got. it was a very large serving (took some home for later) and tasted good and fresh. i would definitely go back here or recommend it to a friend. I also enjoyed getting to browse the market after lunch! read more