A colleague from work took us here last night. He had been here a few times already and he wanted to show it to us because he knew we would like it. The place was crowded on a Tuesday night and we had to wait about 15 minutes to get a table for 4. We did not get a very good table cause it was on the way to the kitchen but it was fine. The menu is not too extensive and according to him they have a few fixed items but they rotate the others. I had the salmon, and they made it perfect. It was a nice sized cut and it came with rice and beans. I had the chance to try a beer I never had before, oyster city brown ale and I enjoyed it very much!! The parking can get tricky as they don't have much space... read more

Fantastic meal,one of the best in Tally. Very understated decor, but cool. Food was delicious, duck breast with risotto on point. Flank steak, almong flour trout, and linguine with shrimp were all fantastic. Highly recommended. read more

Amazing! Moved to Tallahassee from Tampa and this is one of the bright spots! Great food, unique menu, and great service! Now they just need a full bar!! read more

New to Kool Beanz from Jacksonville; fabulous brunch. I had their fabulous shrimp and grits, added their wonderful mimosa. This entree is extremely flavorful. I thought I could have been in New Orleans. They could sell that sauce alone and I would buy it. I have been there twice. It is artsy, eclectic in restaurant style. Fun atmosphere, qua Call ahead for a good seat. Notice their open/closed times. Service is excellent. Be brave, eat at their counter and view all of their very savory dishes. I have to add their bunch is my fav ‍ read more

Have loved Kool Beans for many years. Fun atmosphere, good selection of alcohol and very fun and interesting menu options. I've never gotten a dish I didn't thoroughly enjoy in over 15 years. Great for casual dates and good company! I love the wedge salad. Have gotten it several times! Grateful for the duck and lamb dishes as well! read more

Great food and awesome staff! Nice to see a restaurant thriving in these difficult times.

Kool Beanz has a nice laid-back vibe, cute decor and healthy, tasty food. My scallop entree was delicious, healthy and a generous portion, but it was so salty I was drinking water the rest of the evening. Also, service was very slow for our table. We arrived before the 5:30 p.m. opening, but it still took an hour for our entrees to arrive. read more

10/10 service, 10/10 food. will be returning in the future, overall amazing experience read more

Kool Beanz Cafe - Peppered Flank Steak - New American Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

I love this restaurant. I'm never disappointed. It's hard to recommend specific dishes since the menu changes, but you won't be disappointed! read more

Honestly, not at all what I expected. I've heard about this place a couple of times and thought it was just the regular ol diner style place. But it's actually the opposite. The menu changes regularly, but I went this past Thursday and a lot of the dishes were seafood based. We started with the okra fries which were served with a smoky sauce (a very yummy intense smoky flavor). We also ordered the fried calamari, which was easily some of the best fried calamari I've ever had. The main dish I ordered was a fish filet (tbh can't remember the name) which came with potatoes and spinach. Everything about the dish was amazing!!! You can truly taste the freshness of everything and the passion that went into making everything taste so good. I will say this place is a little on the pricer end (entrees $20-$30 range) but a very cute date night place with cool artwork all around. The food is worth the money! read more

Kool Beanz Cafe - New American Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

This place has excellent food, don't let the weird 90s wall art exterior fool you. There's a gorgeous open kitchen as well, which I love to watch. A great place for nice, upscale but not too pricey food read more

Good seafood for Tallahassee. Came here on a work dinner and was pleasantly surprised by the trout and the crab cakes !

I was headed out of town but the gal at birds cafés and said I need to check this place out so I stopped here to get it to go of gumbo it's called bayou gumbo with unduly sausage frog legs gator crawfish for 12 bucks read more

Kool Beanz Cafe - Great menu - New American Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

Kool Beanz just doesn't miss! I've been here multiple times and the food is always on point. Staff is always great and knowledgeable. It is comfortable during Covid, covered outside seating available and well spaced inside seating. A must visit, I come here every time I'm in town for work. read more

Way too much money for what it was, the food was ok but not very flavorful. Very little vegetarian or gluten free options. For a place that has $20-25 entrees, they should do more than put paper napkins on the table. Service was good and it was a fun, funky atmosphere. read more

Coolest restaurant I've been to hands down. Fine dining with a casual atmosphere... it was different but it worked! Visiting from our of town and this place kept coming up in other restaurants yelp review so we figured we needed so try it and I'm so glad we did! They have a new menu everyday which stinks bc you see yummy picks on yelp and the don't have it but it's still amazing! We ordered the fried oysters and grits... Amazing! The also go the duck and the trout! Both were amazing!!!! The duck was hand down the best duck dish I've ever had... ever!!!! Must get!!! So yummy! Dessert was very different for my taste buds but still delicious!!! If you're in Tallahassee you MUST go to this restaurant!!!! read more

Kool Beanz Cafe - Dessert. Unique and delicious! - New American Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

Sooooo....when you happen to stumble across a place while visiting Tally for the weekend and when you try it the 1st time you are so blown away that you make an "executive decision" to come back EVERY DAY to try something different, then you may have found Da Bomb.com place to eat! Well done Chef's at Kool Beanz Cafe, well done! Some quick tips: the Salmon, the Pork Tenderloin are like "Say Whaaaa" good!! And if you can get in for a brunch, you better do yourself a favor and get the Sweet Potato Waffles!! Omgeee read more

Visiting from Jacksonville Fl and this is my second time enjoying such fantastic food. read more

Kool Beanz Cafe - New American Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

The place to go if you want a nice meal on Tallahassee Only warning I give is make sure to save room for dessert. read more

We have been here at least 5 times and it used to be great. This may be a fluke, but be warned. EVERYBODY around us at the restaurant tonight experienced the same poor service. The food was decent, but the servers were beyond incompetent. For starters, we waited for an hour to be seated after they claimed it would only be 30 minutes. To make matters worse, for the whole time that they kept us waiting, a table sat empty right beside us. I went and asked if they took reservations and they said no. So why did the table sit empty for an hour? Finally, a guy says to follow him. He tosses down the menus on the table and walks away. After they seated us, we waited another 10 minutes for someone to take our drink orders. Then I pulled out YELP on my iPhone and started to draft this review. At that point, they started to act differently. Comp this, promise that. So we stayed. DId it get better? NO. The waitress was nowhere to be found most of the night. Our interactions with the same guy from before involved plates being tossed on our table. The bread arrived after the starter. My steak was luke warm when served while my wife's fish was nice and hot. Getting someone to come over and present the check involved standing up and threatening to leave. We arrived at 6:45PM and we left at 9:15 PM. We will never return and I hope that you understand that this place has changed. read more

Fantastic! It was love at first bite when I first ate here over three years ago! Sometimes the wait for a table is inconvenient, but when you know the food is worth it - it tends to take the edge off the time spent waiting. Also the hosts are more than happy to get you an adult beverage or two whilst in line for the next table. The proteins are cooked to perfection and everything on the plate is executed perfectly. They take great care in their craft and the painstaking effort shows. ALWAYS save room for dessert. They have a knack for integrating high end fresh ingredients with their menu classic staples. I've never been disappointed Also this place has been putting out tasty delectable dishes for 20 years. That speaks for itself. read more

This owner or manager or who ever he is, likes to tell disabled veterans that nothing is wrong with them. Spend your money elsewhere..........disgusting! And when he's called out on his ignorance, he backs himself with "my wife's job is with disabled Veterans". Well let's just hope opposites attract, because if she shares his intolerance toward ill and injured service members we have an even bigger issue. read more

I ended up dining here for a friend's birthday dinner. I'd heard so much about the place, so maybe it's unfair that my expectations were a built up, but I can say with good conscience that the cuisine quality did not come close to what is expected when paying the price I paid for my entree, ($24,) and that is unacceptable. I ordered the fish of the day, a Snapper entree. The snapper had one texture; mushy. Worse than hardly-morphous soggy mashed potato flakes. It was supposed to be breaded with jerk seasoning, but it tasted mostly like nothing, which I suppose is impressive in its own way since it's fish. It came with some mango salsa and cilantro rice, neither of which complemented the fish, in any way. It just seemed like the kitchen was pushing out random leftovers on some Frankenstein's Monster plate. The decour was more hipster than charming, and seemed old, out of date, and in need of remodelling. Maybe I hit this place on an off night, but none of my friend's entrees seemed any more exciting, and the restaurant had relatively full attendance. The service staff was on point, as far as Tallahassee is concerned (which, on its own, lowers my service expectations significantly.) That was the lone bright spot of the evening. read more

Generally speaking I thought this place was good but over-hyped. Worst was the service, which was very inattentive. I had to flag down the waitress twice and she never checked back after the meal was served. Wait time was too long for the initial greeting at the table and to get our salads. We sat at the bar in front of the kitchen and it was a little loud. While perfectly cooked, my trout was over salted, detracting from the delicate flavor. Good sides but not spectacular. Fried chicken was extra crunchy and good. I would return and try some other dishes, with hopes of better service. read more

It was a Monday night and there were no parking spaces available. We had trouble checking in and the host got flustered and confused about who got there first, so we had to wait extra. We finally took a table in the outside dining area. For $141 for 4 people, It was chilly. The food was incredible and unique and delicious, but I would wait for a table inside. read more

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NO LONGER DOG FRIENDLY!! WE took the shuttle from our hotel with great recommendations only to be told we could not sit in their empty patio because "they got in trouble. " We had to have the shuttle return and went to midtown caboose. No problems. So much for Tallahassee's finest. When traveling you need choices. Thanks Caboose. Not cool Beanz. read more

I should write a long review for Kool Beanz Café, I really should. But somehow, I just can't seem to drum up enough enthusiasm to go into too much detail. And that, my dear readers, should tell you all you need to know. But since we all know I can't stop at that, let's go through it in more detail. To be fair, there isn't anything wrong with KBC and it is likely one of the better places we ate while in Tallahassee (although since our diet consisted primarily of 5 guys and Whataburger, that isn't a hard title to get). I think I was a bit put off from the start as we were offered a table outside or asked to wait. That's fine normally, but when your waiting area is a drafty half sealed plastic tent with only a couple of space heaters, it damn well sucks. I wish we could have waited in the car, but then we would have lost our place in line. I'll give them credit for being quite friendly and offering to bring us a drink from the bar if we wished to order something while we waited. We were seated after about 30-40 minutes and our waitress was lovely, engaging in some friendly banter and happy to offer recommendations for both food and beer. We proceeded to order a selection of starters and mains to share (sharing is caring after all) and dug in. For the starters, we opted for crab cakes, frog legs, and one other dish which has since fled from the working parts of my memory but may have been pardon peppers (or some equivalent). The crab cakes were tasty and quite a sizeable portion with a bold full flavoured dip. The frog legs, however, were definitely not to my taste. Now, not having had said legs before, I can't comment if it was the way they were seasoned and cooked or an inherent flaw in frog, but they tasted like overripe chicken. I know that's not quite an accurate phrase, but think of a chicken leg that has turned and leaves you with a cloying taste after each bite. Yeah, it's not good is it? Mains were memorable only in their mediocrity. I found the food underseasoned and (in the case of the quail) overcooked. The pork chops were probably the best bit but even those were left unfinished. We passed on desserts, being full on beer and ready for a night out, so I can't comment on those either. Perhaps one day I'll be back this way and will give KBC another go. You never know, right? read more

Meh. Food looked great! I took a picture and posted it on facebook before I tried it. I had steak and scallops with mashed potatoes and asparagus. The steak was overcooked and clearly cooked/finished off in the oven (I asked for medium rare) and the scallops were not very well cleaned, had some sand crunching under my teeth. Mashed potatoes had a consistency of a food processor mashed potatoes, not very pleasant. Everything was a little salty too. Not coming back. read more

Kool Beanz has always had a thoughtful menu - and with frequent turnover of "specials", it's a Tallahassee restaurant that generally has an innovative option that most guests will likely enjoy. Our favorite seating is at the bar, effectively witnessing the three line chefs tackle their own areas. They're a well greased operation and are facile, deliberate and economical in their motions. The wine list is solid. The din is just right, and the wait is worth it - at double the standard length of time. A real "guide Michelin one-star" - and a yelp Five-star! read more

Kool Beanz Cafe - It's hard not to be "all-smiles" when dining at Kool Beanz! - New American Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

This place has a lot of hype, and I really wanted to like it. I have been twice and on both occasions I was not a fan of the food. The service was pretty good, but I tend to rate places more on the food than the service/decor. I think if I was a vegetarian I would really enjoy this place. As it was, the ingredients they wanted to throw together just didn't make any sense. I was adventurous with my selections but came out wanting each time. I have avoided returning since my second visit. read more

I recently visited Kool Beanz and absolutely loved it! They have very unique dishes, which i LOVE. For my appetizer, I started off with octopus with potato salad. I absolutely loved it. For the main dish, I ordered mani with a pineapple salsa on top. The dish also included black beans, rice, and plantains. GREAT DISH. If it's on the daily menu, I would suggest ordering it. The one thing I would say is the fish was SLIGHTLY dry, but I'll let it slide because that's how much I enjoyed this restaurant. I read great reviews about the chocolate cake but they already ran out by the time I had ordered it. I'll definitely go back again, and hopefully try some chocolate cake! read more

Kool Beanz Cafe - Mahi with pineapple salsa - New American Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

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Had lunch on a random Friday, it was good not great. I felt like everything needed salt but that may just be me.

I was in Tallahassee on business for a week, and I heard a lot of hype about Kool Beanz. I decided to pop in one night, had the beer battered cod (fish & chips), the fish was EXTREMELY salty, I think I literally drank 6+ glasses of water to finish this thing. I usually like my food on the salty side, so that says a lot if I think it was too salty. Later on in the week, a Tallahassee local wanted to come here, so I ventured here once more. This time I had the chilled asparagus soup and calamari for the meal and a tres leches for dessert. These dishes weren't bad, but they were also very standard. I really don't understand all the hype surrounding this place. The bright colors, the wacky decor and the funky spelling of the name, really makes me feel like I'm dining in some kind of preschool by day, sub-par restaurant by night place. read more

In a college town full of dive bars and food that's fast and cheap, it's nice to know this place even exists. It is living proof that Tally is not a culinary wasteland. There are people here who care about food, and want to deliver dishes that are creative and delicious. I had the Fish and Chips and I was pleasantly surprised that the fried fish came with a "masala aioli", a creamy greenish sauce that had a slightly jumpy Indian flavor. That was completely unexpected. Also unexpected, the fries were not a bunch of mindless fries in a basket, but instead they were six large potato wedges deliciously seasoned. This all was served on top of creamed spinach. The three substantial pieces of fish were nicely seasoned and perfectly cooked. My wife and son also enjoyed their dishes. I poached some fried plantains from my wife's dish. They were sweet and soft, like my wife. I also like the unpretentious interiors, the slightly hippie vibe of the waitresses and the foodies eating at the bar facing the kitchen, chatting with the cooks. It's a cool place! read more

If you had asked me only about food, I would have given it 5 stars. One of the best meals of my life was eaten here. If you had asked me only about the service, I would have given it 2-3 stars. Because, in my mind, the quality of food is more important than the quality of service, my overall rating is 4 stars. read more

We arrived at Kool Beanz at 5:55 (they open at 5:30) to find that all 14 tables inside were filled up. The hostess said it would be 35 min for a table inside, but we could order drinks. We asked for a seat at the bar to enjoy our drinks and was told the bar is for food orders only, but we were welcome to sit out in the Tallahassee heat to enjoy our beverages. An hour later we were finally seated. Once seated we immediately ordered. We watched as other patrons were seated around us. We waited about 55 minutes watching the people seated after us get their meals. That was the final straw and we embarrassingly had to leave due to the poor service, but don't worry the manager still charged me for my beverages and small side salad I had before dinner. Pathetic. We will never go back. read more

Kool Beanz Cafe - Picture of you waiting for your meal at Kool Beanz..... - New American Near Me - Tallahassee, Florida

This place is unusual. It looks like an eclectic coffeehouse from the outside but inside is a quite a surprise... Nice small menu very reasonably priced! It's a bit noisy and seems chaotic at times! We sat in front of the open kitchen... The food came very nicely presented,the portions were generous and the food was delicious Definitely a great spot for lunch !!! I will have to try it again for dinner !!!! A FSU dad here for his daughter's move in day! read more

I called them about booking a private event and the owner (manager?) I spoke with was a total ass. Like he was trying to come up with reasons not to book our event. Why so self-important??? No thanks. read more

When the chef's eagerly await to see the expression on your face when you dive into one of their many masterpieces, sitting at the kitchenside bar, while they multi-task, i know i have arrived at the right place. Your eyes close, u open your nose and the first taste on your tongue is as good as one of your last breaths alive, it becomes a special moment in your life u will never forget. This was my experience tonight! I would fly back here from Dallas, Tx to eat dinner here again.. I cant believe i forgot to take a pic of the lamb & crab cakes and crawfish linguini, probably because i eat it to fast. But i was smart enough to order the Scallops. Perfectly fresh and prepared. Last but not least i forget the Toasted Coconut creme cake read more

My sister lives in Tallahassee, and a trip to Kool Beanz is a requirement of my visits. I absolutely LOVE to sit at the bar and watch the chefs cook, they are incredibly talented. I've tasted the cobia, shrimp, scallops, grouper, flank steak, and a few of the salads. Each dish has been cooked just right, and the accompaniments are perfect (the beans, dirty rice, and fried okra are my favorite sides!) They also have a decent selection of wines for under $30 a bottle. Come for lunch and the prices are nearly cut in half! read more