Caffe Espresso

We have been going to Café Expresso since the get go. Always have had fabulous meals. My friend and I had dinner there two weeks ago. They used to be open for lunch but now they open @ 4:00. Closed on Sunday. OMG! We had truffle fries which were amazing. Coconut shrimp that were the best I’ve ever had and a margarita pizza with fresh basil. I went back there a week ago with my husband and we ordered the same thing I had with my friend. He loved, loved, loved everything. Great owner. Great servers. Very accommodating.

Food was great and I loved the rustic interior. We stopped by for a quick bite but was pleasantly surprised by the quality of food.
The service was good, but we were the only ones at the restaurant at the time. It seems like that have a decent selection of wine/​beer and the tiramisu was pretty good.
I would recommend this place.

Cold winter night in Clarence NY — pasta sounded good for a special birthday dinner night for someone in our family.
We arrived for early dinner so we’re not surprised that we were the only table, but by the time we left around 8pm and only one other table was there it was no mystery why.
Upon arrival, we were seated then literally waited almost ten minutes before our server poured water and asked if we wanted a drink.
The restaurant was freezing. The service only got slightly better over the course of the evening.
The menu is extensive and sounds amazing. Each of us got something different though and we all said the same thing —
meh. And ugh.
Like meh, not so good. And ugh, so ridiculously heavy it was a gut bomb.
I ordered Ciopinno which should have been a light broth — like base, and it was even thick and heavy.
Heads up too, if you’re concerned about where your seafood is sourced. The server told is the shrimp is farmed so the fish probably is too.
Considering Italian food is plentiful in this part of the country, there are too many better places to spend your money.

I took my wife out for a after New Years Dinner since we hate fighting the crowds on New Years Eve, so I had heard this place was really nice and so I figured we would try it out. We were not disappointed. We made reservations for 6:00 pm Saturday night and arrived early and they sat us right away. We both got a special cocktail from the bar and they were amazing. We got the truffle fries and a shrimp cocktail. The truffle fries were so damn good I hardly ate the shrimp! For dinner my wife got Lobster Ravioli and I got a lemon seafood risotto, both were cooked perfectly, tasted amazing and we saved some to take home for a snack. Lastly we grabbed a couple crème brûlée and they were great too. this is a great dinner location for couples or a small group. We loved the décor of the restaurant and we have been to NYC several times and this place reminded us of similar restaurants there. Well done and Truffle Fries for the win!!!

Another great dinner last night at Caffe Espresso! Earlier in the day I left a voicemail requesting a reservation for four as well as a request for a specific table if available. My call was quickly returned confirming both the reservation & table request. We arrived at 6:45 and the restaurant had a great energy. We were greeted warmly & seated quickly. Our server was wonderful. We were offered the special list promptly. We had truffle fries as an appetizer that were fantastic. Grilled bread is served to every table with a choice of two dipping oils… one spicy, one a pesto. I had the penne a la vodka and it’s the best I have ever had. I cannot say enough about this Williamsville gem. You feel like you are in an authentic bistro in Italy. It’s dining perfection!

This is my absolute favorite Italian restaurant in western NY! I am now living in LA so when I come home to visit I have to get my caffe fix!
It’s a cute, quaint spot to have a girls night out, a romantic date, or even business meeting. In the summer I love to sit on the patio and enjoy some wine. Everyone I bring to this place falls in love with her food.
I love to support local family owned places. It’s hard enough in the restaurant industry.
I ordered the mussels, house salad (the dressing is amazing), shrimp linguini with a touch of cream. Delicious!
I’ll be dreaming about it from the west coast!
Thank you Rose ! I can’t wait to come back!

My family goes here at least twice a month– the service and food are both fabulous! It’s also a lovely café that is well decorated and has a cute patio. Recommend the bruschetta– it’s our favorite in the area!

Umm… Let me put it this way… This place doesn’t quite have that which they are striving to be… They are a nice place, and I feel bad to write negatively, but they are bit cheap-​looking. The food is nice. We go there and we have full-​proofed dishes that we order every time. The place is not too far from our spa, so we frequently end up going here for lunch. We have their mussels in red sauce, which come out spicy and delicious. But their bruschetta is definitely the item worth going for. The desserts are a bit old, and sometimes a bit older… They play great music, however. Cha cha, salsa, Mediterranean, Turkish, etc. The service is quite friendly, and during the lunch hour we are usually the only patrons there and we like that.

A great little bistro with very good food. Their lobster ravioli is great! Was surprised we did not get bread. Service was good. They have a full bar but specialize in wines. Stick with the wine as my manhattan was less than wonderful. I don’t think whoever was mixing the drinks had any experience in a bar. Seemed a bit pricey.

Great little italian ristorante! Went there for lunch today expecting a bustling café & instead found an intimate little ristorante. The food took a little longer than I expected considering I ordered a panini with a side salad and my friend, a salad. The food was worth the wait though! The flavors perfectly complemented each other, and my panini was so delicious I would have eaten 3 happily if my stomach could have fit them all! I will definitely have to go back to try some of the other tasty sounding selections on the menu!

Awesome food and even better, the service is great and the food arrives very very fast.

Visited Caffe Espresso for the first time last night, Restaurant week was the main reason, and most restaurants are highlighting their best dishes, if the best dishes is what we got last night, it is my last time, for starters I think our server was also the bartender, she forgot about us several times and her service was awful, the appetizers were good but their main courses was another story, 2 people in our party order what the server called their signature dish which was a pasta dish with a bolognese sauce, on of our companions called it chef boyarde and the other asked where is the flavor, I make better bolognese and I am not a trained chef, after waiting longer than 15 minutes for the waitress to remove the plates, I had to go to the bar and ask that the plates be removed, once she came to remove the plates she brought the check, we asked what about desert, she responded oh, I forgot. For desert two of us had a chocolate cake that was dry and garnished with some kind of store bought artificial whipped cream, the gelatos specially the apple and cinnamon were very good. If you ask me will I return, I doubt it,

I am so glad that my city date night turned suburb, as I got to enjoy a dinner during restaurant week at Caffe Espresso!
Ambiance:
I noted in my initial review that I loved the atmosphere here. It offers an intimate dining experience.
Service:
Like my previous experience, there seemed to be only 3 people working on the Wednesday night we dined. The gentleman that greeted us upon arrival and seated us at our table, also turned out to be our waiter and server. He started us off with a wine list and promptly took our order moments after. He explained the restaurant week special menu to us and asked if we had any questions. There were four entrée options and we were a little torn. I asked him which he recommended and they ended up being our two first choices anyways, so we went with his suggestion (Pappardelle Bolognese and the Blackened spicy mango tilapia over field greens). He was very friendly and attentive. Every course came out very promptly, almost rapidly. I didn’t mind though because I was just with my boyfriend. Had I been out with one of my girlfriends I was catching up with and hadn’t seen in a while, I may have felt rushed.
Food:
The Restaurant week special ($ 20.13 per person) included an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert. My boyfriend and I picked two appetizers and two entrees we both wanted to share. For our appetizers, we chose the coconut butterflied shrimp and the bruschetta. (The only other option was a garden salad — how blah!) The coconut butterflied shrimp was accompanied with a spicy sriracha remoulade. The remoulade was so tasty that when the shrimp was gone, I started dipping the bread we received before the apps in it! The bruschetta wasn’t as good as the last time I had it here. It was a little dry, and lacking flavor, so I then dipped that too in the remoulade.
For our entrees we had the pappardelle Bolognese and the blackened spicy mango tilapia over field greens. The tilapia ended up in front of me so I had that first. My oh my, was it delicious!!! It had the PERFECT combination of sweet and spicy. Unfortunately, I had to share with my boyfriend :(I was a little perplexed with the word «mango» in the description of this dish, as it was served with mandarin oranges around the tilapia. The Bolognese was a let down… we both agreed that the sauce tasted out of a can. Almost reminded me of a chef Boyardee! Yeah, that bad… I passed that back to my boyfriend and he got stuck with eating that as I finished the tilapia.
By the time dessert came, I was too stuffed. The two choices were gelato or dolce del giorno — which was a chocolate cake. Since my boyfriend picked the gelato, I asked for the chocolate cake, which we just had boxed up. He found himself eating an hour or so after we got home, and said it was delicious. I am not a big chocolate or dessert fan so I didn’t have any.
Overall — great experience and food (minus the Bolognese). I am giving it 5 stars, regardless of the bolognese just because everything else was great, including the service.

Food as Great, Service, not so good…
We took a large group of people for a business dinner and felt that our waiter was not excited about our business. He didn’t introduce himself, didn’f tell us about the menu, didn’t check on our table and we had to ask for dessert menus and walk to the bar to return our check,
The food was great, but the disconnected service made it difficult to enjoy our evening.

Café Espresso used to be a favorite lunch spot for me but they are now open for dinner only. They always have great soups — favorite is the Italian egg drop soup. I have never been disappointed with the food. The sorbet served in the fruit shells are the best around. I think a lot of people pass by assuming it is a coffee house (which it used to be) — but it is full entrees.

This is the most consistently inconsistent restaurant in all of Western New York. I have been coming to Caffe Espresso since I was in high school, when it first opened as a coffee house (before Starbucks took over the world and independent coffee shops thrived… my what happy times). Over the years Caffe Espresso has really grew, eventually opening a restaurant, and expended further into having a nice bar to compliment that restaurant.
I love the atmosphere of this place, it is fun, modern, Italian and a well-​decorated cavernous space. Even their bathroom is cool with a nice Roman feel and pictures to match. As I set forth above, the bar is a welcome addition to the restaurant, with all sorts of Italian liquors and drinks. They have a great cocktail menu and have recently been offering two for one martinis on Wednesdays and Thursdays. When I went last night with my girlfriend we both enjoyed the blood orange martini (on the rocks because I believe Martini glasses are freakin’ ridiculous). It was not too sweet and perfectly blended. I’ve also had a wonderful negroni there, which was also deftly made.
The food is where my review for this place see-​saws. They always start off strong with a pressed pizza bread, well seasoned with herbs and olive oil. They also presently have a choice of pesto oil or hot chili oil to dip the bread it. There are more potent than your average infused oils and I really enjoy them.
Their Bruschetta is my girlfriends’ favorite in the area. It consists of the same bread, their delicious olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, basil and a balsamic reduction. My girlfriend loves this and tortures me with it because garlic makes me violently ill. But I do sneak a bite occasionally and it is quite nice.
There are two things though that you must order if you go there:
1) The Lasagna. This has been recently removed from the menu, but trust me, they still make it. Mercurial chef/​owner Rose Parlato makes some of the best lasagnas you will ever eat… and I mean ever. My family makes wonderful lasagnas and they do not even compare to how good the lasagna is. I’ve had proscuitto and hard boiled egg lasagna, pesto lasagna, lasagna bolognese, and the list goes on. They are ALL AMAZING, cheesy and ridiculously decadent. The problem is they are almost always out of the lasagna. I have probably been denied the lasagna (after craving it) 10 – 15 times in the past several years. It is such a let down every time. However, if they are out of the lasagna…
2) The Pesto Chicken Salad. This salad is top of the line, with herb-​grilled, crispy seared chicken breast, gorgonzola, walnuts, homemade croutons and their balsamic vinegary (which is quite nice). This is one of those dishes that sound pretty good, but tastes so much better (when the chef is having a good night). However, when the chef is having a bad night (about a ¼ of the times that I have been there) its a completely different story. I have had this dish ruined in the past by poorly cooked chicken… it takes on a rubbery and offense taste.
As for the rest of the menu, I have not had much luck with the place, nor has anyone I have ever brought there. I find the pasta dishes to be lacking, and not too flavorful. I’ve brought friends several times who have been severely disappointed in the place. Makes hulk angry when I brag about a great meal and the restaurant lets me down.
However, the desserts are top-​notch (try the cannoli), and the after-​dinner drink selection (including their espressos (duh)) are top of the line.
The only other complaint, which has not seemed to be a problem recently was that the kitchen can be RIDICULOUSLY slow. I mean I’ve waited like 45 mins to an hour to have a meal come out. Of course, this problem seems to have been corrected so I won’t let that effect my rating.
Going to Caffe Espresso is like rolling the dice… will the chicken be cooked correctly, will I have to wait forever to eat? When lady luck smiles on you… you will be graced with one of the best meals you can eat in Buffalo. However, when you roll snake eyes you will curse this place and vow never to come back. Yet somehow the masochist in me always returns… hoping with all my might that the kitchen will have one piece of that marvelous lasagna left and restore my faith in all that is good in this world.

Just signed up to review bec this was soooo good. Great, modern atmosphere. Antipasto was tremendous. Three pasta entrees all very good: seafood over linguine, fettuccine Alfredo w chicken, and pasta w shrimp and veggies in cream sauce. Good desserts and strong coffee. Good, quick service but not rushed. Oh yeah; great bread: grilled like for bruschetta served with dipping oil. Very enjoyable dinner.

Never would have expected this gem tucked in a strip mall.
Went here while visiting from SoCal in December and had a great meal, along with great service and some great wine!
Our service was excellent and all 6 of us really enjoyed our meals.
Too bad I will only get to enjoy once a year on business trips!

The espresso is really good here, and the desserts are all homemade. I’ve had very good luck with all of them.
The soups are homemade too, and all good. I like the paninis as well, and although they are a bit pricey, they are worth it for the quality.
It’s a pretty hip place, and unexpected for a suburban strip mall. It never seems to be busy, which is unfortunate. If they had a bit more activity, it would really rock.

Unexpected warm atmosphere for a strip mall restaurant. Friendly bartender that was our waiter too. While it’s Italian, some menu items were a Mexican/​island flavor. We shared a stuffed poblano that was fair. My entre was the special, mahi mahi with a pineapple mango salsa & porcini risotto. All exceptionally tasty! Hubby enjoyed the lobster ravioli. We’ll definitely stop by this restaurant again.