Cafe Express

Closed May 29, 2014.

Closed

You simply cannot go wrong with the chicken pesto pasta salad, it’s downright delicious and my staple here for the last 12 – 15 years. Restaurant is clean, prices are a little higher every time I go, but the quality seems pretty consistent. Good salads, and sandwiches, and they have a self serve condiments bar with some nice additions, olives, pepperonicini’s etc. Which does add value to your meal.
Now the bad stuff, I was sick to my stomach all evening after eating here. Oddly my grilled chicken tasted like fish (tuna?) in a couple places. No doubt they use the same grill for the fish too, but cross contamination is a serious nono and chicken that tastes like fish isn’t cool at all. I did not feel well at all after that, and wondered if something I ate was off, or possibly contaminated as my stomach was totally fine before hand.
This place is usually very good, but this experience has me questioning whether I’ll be back to this location, as I don’t care how good the food tastes if you’re ill afterwards it just isn’t worth it. Also the service wasn’t great the girl taking our order was a serious mumbler, wouldn’t speak up at all and was difficult if not impossible to understand. Smile, speak up, it won’t kill you and your customers would appreciate it! Ah well, one bad experience in 15 years isn’t that bad though my stomach might disagree.

Went to grab lunch on busy Friday afternoon. I ordered a veggie tart with Greek salad.
Absolutely loved the tart! The crust was so crispy and fresh. Next time you come here, try this one!:)

We like Café Express. Typically good and fast.
Last night was the exception. My wife’s standard salad was fine. I opted for their NEW «lobster roll with side» for $ 13.99. What a mistake — not good and way overpriced.
The experience — a large, overly bread roll — slightly toasted. A decent but not large portion of lobster. No dressing. Opted for a side of chips assuming «homemade» — got something out of a bag. Very disappointing and way overpriced. The lobster place way N on I45 was 2X better.
We will be back but not for the featured lobster roll.

Y’know, every time I go to Café Express, I am thoroughly disappointed. I can never get the food I want to eat (because they run out) or the food I’m eating in an attempt to be healthy is loaded with butter or some other unhealthy option.
I’ve been here twice. The first time was so long ago that I was willing to give it another chance. So we went again, and the same thing happened. The thing I wanted was out, and so I settled on some other dish. Grilled chicken with spinach. Sounds boring, is boring, was still hungry afterwards.
I’m not sure if I would be back or not. I think this is a small reminder that every time I go, I’m just going to leave disappointed.
On the plus side, their limeade was pretty good.

I met my friend here for dinner one Saturday night. I’m surprised this place wasn’t packed. It was actually quite empty. The two guys working behind the counter were nice and patient as my friend and I were trying to decide what we wanted to eat.
I had a chicken pesto pasta salad with a side of chicken soup. It was very filling. I also helped myself to more «sides» and condiments at the bar, like sundried tomatoes and croutons. I also had their yummy limeade. Sadly, there’s no refills on that, so order it with less ice.
I ordered a side of sweet potato fries to share, and it was a very large serving. Neither of us wanted to take it home because reheated fries just isn’t tasty.
My friend ordered a salmon dish and she enjoyed it very much.
Overall, we enjoyed this place and would come back. Plenty of parking. There was a nice parking attendant on one side of the building too.

I use Café Express for catering all the time; for small and large groups. Their delivery fee is reasonable and they are always on time.
My favorite salad is the tukery cobb! YUMMM and theyir pastas and sandwiches are delish!!!
It’s a great place to grab a quick lunch, too. The wait is never long.
GREAT STAFF AND MANAGEMENT!!!

I like this Café Express! I’ve been going here for decades (yes, really) and it’s always felt a little hidden. There is plenty of parking on both sides of the restaurant. The staff are super friendly and there is free WiFi (like all Café Express). When I arrived early on a Sunday morning, I ordered a breakfast taco and it was delicious. I was disappointed that the Diet Coke machine was not working properly. I got water instead, but when the manager got the machine working, he very kindly brought me a free to-​go cup of the lovely caffeinated liquid. He was very nice with good customer service.
I like this this location is pretty quiet on the weekends. There were people there, but they were a subdued bunch. We spent 2.5 hours there working and using the free WiFi and snacking on the yummy food. I had never had a breakfast taco at Café Express, but I was well impressed and will definitely get it again.

Great for a healthy, or pseudo healthy meal. I say pseudo healthy because you can really go either way here.
I think I’ve tried every salad on the menu, and I really like the «seasonal salads» they often feature. The toppings bar is a great way to dress up your salad. Want to add some non meat protein to your salad? Add all the chickpeas you want! (and I DO.)
The hubby likes the pasta, and they do a good burger. The coffee is also quite good.

Great for a quick lunch or dinner with plenty of options. To be honest, I could make an entire meal out of the salad bar. Holy delicious croutons!

Look, it’s a Café Express. It’s not a cloth napkins, fancy service place. It’s an order your sammy or pasta at the counter, get your own iced tea and wait for your zapper to vibrate across the table to pick up your order at the counter.
It’s not overpriced really. We had 2 drinks, a decent cheeseburger (with a choice of cheese and custom fixin’s), serviceable sausage pasta with some fast food chips and queso for a starter for less than $ 30. The menu is pretty straight forward… some sandwiches, some pastas and breakfast «platters» that I have not tried but looked like pretty good starts for the day. I hear their soups are good but I wanted pasta.
The burger came with choice of fries or chips. It was served on a beautiful roll and was tasty and juicy. The pasta came in a big bowl and had plenty of tangy sauce. Not runny sauce wither which made me happy. The sausage was not really spicy but there didn’t skimp on the little balls they made with it. There was a bit of spinach in it too that gave it a nice color and flavor.
They have a condiment bar with pickles and peppers and hot sauces and fixin’s. Serve yourself! That was a nice surprise!
They do have a bar in this location but I didn’t have cocktails. A couple in our party had wine. The ice teas are made with the fancy black teas. I like regular iced tea but if you like the darker teas then you’d be happy.
The food came out within about 15 minutes. We were in and out in less than an hour. It’s just a couple blocks from 59 and we were on our way to Minute Maid Park for a concert so the location was perfect. The bathrooms were clean too.

Ordered Grilled Chicken plate and a pasta dish with chicken to go for dinner. Got home, and both dishes had chicken and it smelled and tasted just like fish. My girlfriend hates fish and didn’t eat hers and I took a few bites and barely found it edible from the strong taste of fish. $ 30 later and I certainly won’t be going back to Café Express for a while.

Café Express is a great spot for a quick lunch. I love the chicken noodle soup – it’s actually made with large cous-​cous instead of noodles and contains fresh pulled chicken. But sometimes I order the amazing bread pudding as my entrée – simply fabulous! The condiment bar is extensive and free with every meal.

I love Café Express. This location is busy at lunch — every day. For the most part, they manage it well. Keeping lines short by opening multiple registers, fast & friendly service, constantly busing tables so people have place to sit (or making sure the birds don’t attack when people leave their dirty dishes with food still left on it) and most importanly keeping the condiments bar (for a lack of a better term) stocked and clean.
I deduct one star because I feel like sometimes they are a little slow to ring your buzzer and keep your food sitting there a little long. When you get a salad, it’s find, but if you get anything with fries prepare for soggyness. My coworker called this to their attention and they quickly gave her another order of fresh fries.

I adore Café Express. One of my personal favs!
I often come here for lunch with a friend and each and everytime Ive had a great eperience. Its like when you walk in, the staff is overly happy to help! they greet you as you open the door! Fan Effin Tastic! :)
I cant really tell you much about the menu cause ive only tried the roasted chicken with is splendid, and the chicken salad sandwich! which is also very yum. Their chicken and rice soup is supahhhhhh yuuuummm.
Parking here is hectic since theyre doing construction all around this area. but for me, ive always found a spot.
I order small so that i can take FULL advantage of their little condiment bar! Free breadsticks? YES SIRRREEEEE! ill take that anyday. LOVE!
Prices are cheap for a place in this area.
Will always come back!

I pretty much make a meal out of their sweet potato fries, buffet of teas (sweet, black and a 5-​herb blend) and of course, their condiment bar.
Other than that, I haven’t really had anything memorable on the menu.
This location is better than others only because they have a big patio (that faces construction and god-​awful Kirby traffic for now). And they have a bar.

I always enjoy coming to any Café Express. This one seems bigger than the one on West Gray. I ordered from a new employee and she was incredibly sweet. She repeated our order to make sure she got everything we asked for. Her manager was right by her to coach her through the transaction. As a trainer, I got thrilled to see that happening at another company! Anyway, the food was delicious as always and filled us up!

After dealing with the crowds at the Galleria on Black Friday — we slipped out and made our way over to Café Express.
Café Express is most certainly upscale fast food. However, it doesn’t really have the fast food prices. It was a tad on the expensive side for me.
The food was not bad. I got some sort of pasta dish with a bunch of olives in it. It came out relatively quick and was pretty decent. They have a cool «bar» that has a bunch of things that you can add onto your dish to help make it more to your liking.
The atmosphere of the restaurant is of a fast food restaurant. It’s sparsely decorated and very clean. Not a bad option if you’re in a pinch, but considering that there are a gazillion restaurants in Houston, I’d take a look at something that doesn’t feel so corporate.

Stopped here for a quick bite after braving the Galleria on Black Friday. I like Café Express because it’s relatively quick («fast food») but excellent quality.
Big fan of the pasta here, since they have different dishes and you choose your sauce. Four cheese is great — goat cheese rocks. You can also add chicken or shrimp thus I get a kick out of mixing and matching.
Since I’m anti-​carb lately I tried the southwest burger that included «fresh handmade guacamole, Monterrey jack cheese & sliced jalapenos». Guac was chunky and excellent. The burger was huge and tasty, but I would have preferred it rarer. Next time I’ll ask. Can’t beat sweet potato fires.
One of my favorite things about this place is the «salad bar» thingie they have near the counter. It has goodies like capers, jalapenos, ketchup, oils, etc — all sorts of extras to add to your meal.