Jay B.
Yelp
You hear people talk about the valet here. But I don't get it. I mean, the place is surrounded by endless construction and fences. Which is why I parked in the parking garage up the street. Seriously, it's only five bucks, people. I honestly can't see how valet even works here with all the closed roads and whatnot. But I'm just rambling now. Onto the review.
I gotta say....the elegant, upscale decorum of this place really smacks ya in the face upon entry. And I'm not saying that in a bad way. It was seriously impressive. We arrived with a 6:45 reservation and, much to our surprise, escorted to this backroom which was secluded from the main part of the restaurant. That was unexpected. It was nice though because not only was it way quieter, there's a private restroom back there, too. Noice!
But many of you are probably wondering what we thought about the food. Well, here's where things get interesting. Now, keep in mind this place is a legit fine dining restaurant. That said, allow me to start with..
Attire: Even though you'll see a majority of patrons dressed in business casual or similar, this dress code isn't really enforced much. I mean, there was a guy at the table across from ours wearing jeans and a t-shirt. I was like, "Really, dude? Really??" To each their own, I guess...but...don't be that guy. Please.
Appetizers: We tried the Caesar salad, Vine Ripined Tomatoes and Dungeness Crab Cakes.
Firstly, the Caesar salad was pretty excellent. Your typical fine dining style salad, as shown in the picture. The croutons, while freshly made, were a bit on the big side. Overall, 9 out of 10.
Now, the crab cakes...kinda sucked. I really wanted to like them. But the outsides looked and tasted of deep fried breadcrumbs with the insides resembling cat food. Plus, they were overwhelmingly spicy. Between the peppers and the super spicy remoulade sauce, it was just too much. 4 out of 10.
12oz rib eye with truffle lobster mac: this one isn't a part of their main menu. It was a special they were offering at the time and I decided to try it, since I was immediately sold on the truffle lobster mac.
Now, the truffle lobster mac was bloody brilliant! Between the stellar cheese sauce blend and uniquely shaped macaroni noodles, I was very pleased with all the flavors. Unfortunately, these were fine dining portions; AKA extra small. This type of portioning barely counts as a side. Besides, there was exactly one piece of lobster in the entire thing. The rest was just...lobster flavored, I guess. 8 out of 10.
That rib eye though...yeah. L-let's talk about this..
The rib eye, while not terrible, was a pretty big let down. Considering what we were paying for that night, I find it mind boggling that I could easily get a much more superior rib eye from Ruth's Chris or even Cattleman's. Again, Cafe Central is a fine dining restaurant. So, I have to hold them to a higher standard.
Anyway, the rib eye had the consistency of a cheap NY strip. And while, requested medium, came out mid-rare. Not that I'm opposed to mid-rare meat when done properly. But it's not normally my first choice.
Probably the most annoying thing about this steak was how difficult it was to cut. I'm not sure if it was the mid-rare temp or the quality of the steak itself. But sawing through this sucker was like trying to cut into a well cooked tire. The seasoning was fine, yeah. But it also didn't help that this particular rib eye was, like....40% fat. So, a little less than half of the steak was inedible. I get that rib eye is supposed to have fat running throughout. But this was just...really bad for fine dining standards. 5 out of 10.
I also sampled the wife's rack of lamb. But these were bizarre. They tasted more like barbecue ribs, due to whatever sauce they were glazed with. Nowhere near as disappointing as the steak, but these things confused me. 7 out of 10.
And you're probably wondering why I rated this place 3 under-cooked, rubbery steaks out of 5 when the only things I thoroughly enjoyed were the salad and mac n' cheese. Well, I'll tell ya.
The service was possibly the BEST we've received in the history of dining out. Between the live entertainment, the attention to detail with things like silverware placement, consistent drink refill, menu item recommendations and being checked on every 10 minutes...you can tell everyone here deeply cares about their customers. We seriously appreciated that. Because it really is hard to find good help these days. I wish we could get such attentive and cordial service everywhere else.
So, to sum up: the best part about Cafe Central is the service, hands down. The decorum is fancy and upscale, the dress code apparently optional, and the food is honestly hit or miss. I'll probably return for the lunch menu at some point.
