Composition Cafe

I have been in search of a great burger in Reno all year. Composition is one of my top two places. The Black and Blue and the Western were both 3 napkin burgers. And cooked exactly the way I asked. Love the potatoe and beet chips– nice change from fries. I will be working my way through this menu.
I have been to Composition several times. I have thought every visit was great. Tried the sushi and sake night. Fabulous. The brunch jazz on Sunday was nice. I enjoyed all the food on the buffet. And the burgers with homemade chips my favorite. All the staff has always been great.
So upset it closed

We came here because we had a living social deal. We had 4 different tapas, each one fantastic. We loved the one that had spinach, poached egg and bacon vinaigrette. The owner treated us to a free bottle of Riesling in honor of our recent engagement. All the staff were fantastic and the food was delicious. Definitely plan on returning here. Highly recommend!

This place is quite sharp looking and the food is pretty good. I went for a Sunday brunch and split the strawberry pancakes with bacon and a side of fruit. My pancakes were a little runny in the middle. I wasn’t too worried about it, but with only 4 other patrons, I would expect them to be cooked thoroughly. I would like to go back to give the bar a try some evening.

We picked this place because we had a
certificate, although I would’ve tried it eventually while visiting the museum.
I ordered the Dungeness crab sandwich and gleefully upgraded my fries to the sweet potato variety. THAT was the best decision I’ve made all afternoon. We ordered take out over the phone and picked it up to take back to work. The Crab sandwich was like a crab cake on a bed of heaven. I also had a cup of the soup du jour, which was vegetable. I’ve never had a vegetable soup that was so thick and flavorful.
Although they were packed today, they gave good service (in this case, ringing me up and handing me my food with a smile)
i would eat there again if it was convenient… not sure i would cross town for it. Worth a try, though. :)

This place was great. The husband and I tried the tapas menu and were totally satisfied. The theme changes weekly so I’m looking forward to our next visit! We’d like to have the burger sometime too, it looked amazing.
The vegetables in my cactus salad were super tasty and fresh, no white flesh tomatoes here.
Also a great girls spot, looking forward to the patio!
A bit of a splurge if you’re used to $ 7 entrees etc but totally worth it. Wine list was great and I especially appreciated the pairings put with each tapas item. Though there are a couple others on the wine list so it’s worth checking out.
Definitely try it out!

After seeing numerous people say that Composition Café has the «best burgers» I had to see for myself. We needed to eat downtown and it worked out to get some lunch in between appointments.
The space is small, only a few tables and a small bar, thankfully we came in at a down time and were able to be seated right away. It seems to be a quaint little café’ in a small town Art Museum… but as you know, looks can be deceiving.
This is a quality «small menu» establishment with high quality service (do not confuse this with high end). The service we received was careful, friendly and personalized. Our daughter is a picky eater and the waiter was gracious enough to find options for us. I ordered the Western Burger Dirty Style. My wife ordered the Composition Burger and my daughter had the Chicken Tenders. For a $ 14 Burger… my burger was exemplary. It was loaded and worth the price paid. It came with some veggie chips yellow and red beets chipped like potato. My wife liked her burger as well. My daughter, despite the excellent service still didn’t eat her chicken tenders. So reluctantly I finished them for her… good sturdy tenders.
I have no problem putting this burger in the top 3 for Reno. And I am looking forward to coming back and trying the tapas and brunch in the future.

In the last few years a great many eateries have popped up in and around the downtown core area, fortunately it makes for tough choses sometimes.
The Composition Café is a great find and a perfect place to dine solo.
I had not been here in years, (it must of just fell off my radar) but this will be a regular hit when downtown. I did a check in which scored me a free drink.
Ordered the Blue burger (Medium) and it was actually cooked a perfect medium. What a concept, cook food the way the client orders it. I also like the fact that the menu is simple and yet has great choices. As a bonus it’s far enough away from the cities Fascists high tech parking meters!

Had a chance to enjoy their dinner tapas menu and enjoyed what we ordered. The tapas menu is limited but the choices are unique. The menu is updated often so check their website for the weekly offerings. Prices are above average but it’s a nice trendy setting, with a full bar and attentive service. Can’t wait to try their burgers which I hear are candidates for best in the area. The menu places a premium and fresh ingredients and locally sourced meats which is consistent with the trend of farm to table eating.

BEST BURGER IN RENO! But it’s not just about the 5star burgers, all of their food are pure works of art for not only your eyes but taste buds as well. The service is outstanding and atmosphere is clean, modern and comfortable. One of my top 3 restaurants in Reno hands down!

This little bistro in the Nevada Museum of Art is a hidden gem. In addition to being a nice place to have a little glass of wine and a snack, they serve lunch and have a dinner tasting menu.
They have recently began a weekend tapas menu for happy hour, which is a nice way to sample some small plates. They change the menu regularly to keep it fresh, and the service is good.

My husband’s favorite spot!
We go here often enough where I don’t want to go there anymore. Well, I’m all about trying or alternating things… Anyway, my husband and I love their sandwiches. Fries are done perfectly, not overcooked, steak fries. And salad is lightly dressed with lots of flavor.
It is a part of Museum but open on Mondays. We love to sit at restaurant side where décor is more rustic. If you seat in museum side, it is plain white linen with metal chairs which is nice and bright. Which ever you choose, you will love the food there!

Did the weekend tapas menu at happy hour. The menu was short but I like that… do a few things well rather than a multitude mediocre. The menu is always changing so keep an open mind. This is not TGIFs.
Short review: Excellent food and service. In and out for $ 40 with three tapas items and two drinks at happy hour. Tapas range from $ 8 — $ 12 per item.
Longer review: The food was tasty and inventive (duck tacos with a tropical salsa worked!) and the staff was very inviting. One small hiccup, one of our tapas went to a different table by accident. So we had to wait awhile for replacement to be made. No big deal as we were enjoying happy hour anyhow and the manager even comped it to make up for the inconvenience (btw we didn’t even ask for the comp they just took care of us). On a side note, what kind of table of jack-​holes doesn’t inform their waiter they didn’t order that item?
Only one minor complaint that will not hold us back from returning is that the café is in the museum and they also cater events within the museum. They were obviously preparing hors-​devours for an event and that slowed down service a bit. Not a big gripe but we ordered three tapas and a few drinks and it was about an hour total time with the drinks taking about 10 min. to arrive and the tapas closer to 30 min. for the first item and 50 min. for the last tapas after the snafu. Like I said not a deal killer but something to keep in mind.
As an aside, it is fairly small. Seats six at the bar, has three small tables that could seat four in a pinch and two larger tables that can seat ten. If you sit at the larger tables they will seat you family style with different parties unless you have a large group.

I’m torn here between 3 and 4 stars.
Atmosphere — I loved the furniture, which was made by someone locally (Fernley maybe?) from reclaimed woods, and we sat at a long, hightop, that could have sat maybe 8 or 10?
We stopped in on Friday night, for their tapas menu. Here’s what we ordered:
Crispy friend monkfish, soy sake broth, wasabi crème — $ 11
Pernod Steamed PEI mussles, grape tomatoes, jalapeño bacon — $ 13
Smoke pork enchiladas, machego and oaxaca — $ 9
Russian ghost cone, espresso ice cream, and chocolate soufflé — $ 11
I really liked the monkfish, and though the presentation was great, with julienne veggies and seaweed for accents, black sesame atop the wasabi crème, etc. Flavors blended well too.
The mussels were fine — no wow factor here, but just solid mussels.
Enchiladas were a bit of a miss — they were closer to lukewarm than warm, and were just kind of there.
The dessert was great — delicous soufflé, and the ghost cone was this thin, gelatinous film, that complimented the espresso ice cream well. The ice cream was maybe a bit too smooth, but overall a good dessert.
The reason I’m torn is mainly since I expected a tapas menu to be a bit more affordable. The price point was definitely higher than expected. Menu was rad and innovative, but considering that 2 of the 4 items we had were a bit of a miss, I don’t think the GF and I had a $ 45 meal. For now, I’m going to stick with 3 stars, as they didn’t wow me, but there’s definitely potential there.

This place was a little bit hard to find. It is kind of tucked into the side of the art museum, but I am glad I found it, and I am looking forward to returning to try the weekend tapas menu. I just stopped in for a quick lunch, and I was pleasantly surprised with what I found. The soup of the day was an artichoke soup of some sort, which I really enjoyed. The composition burger was a great combination of Wagyu beef, slightly salty brie, and some kind of sweet onion marmalade, or something like that. Very tasty. I got to meet the chef, B.J., who was very friendly and attentive to make sure everything was being done right in his kitchen.

Boy was this a surprise. Gorgeous french fries… the best omelet I’ve ever had… real lemonade (not that crap powder most give)… cool staff… caring chef… clean and zen and authentic. my new favorite
and a cool girl having a shot of whiskey on a sunday afternoon in her dress as she ate lunch didn’t hurt the vibe
******************
UPDATE…moved to 3 stars from 4 as my wife took friends there and burger and salad dressing was so fatty they couldn’t get thru it… now some will like that ‘spose

My husband has been raving about this place so we went today for lunch. The menu is small but has a nice variety. I picked the pulled pork sandwich my husband got the western burger. We cut the burger and sandwich in half and shared. The pulled pork needed more seasoning, salt and or sauce. The burger was really juicy and full of flavor! The fries were also really good. The service was fast and friendly. We would go back again! This is a nice hidden gem.

I’d heard so many good things about this place that I really wanted to love it. It’s good for sure, but my meal was only average. I asked for my buffalo burger to be medium and it came out well done. It was very big, and the homemade veggie chips were good. Service was very friendly and attentive, but food delivery took a long time. Won’t be back anytime soon.

Reviewing strictly the tapas menu they offer Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, this rates four stars and potentially five stars. I say that despite liking only one of the three tapas items I tried. One I didn’t like was a near miss.
The three items I tried were steamed Manilla clams in a white wine broth with heirloom tomatoes, a roasted pork tenderloin with a grilled white peach and port wine demi-​glaze and a lamb lollipop with dried fruit stuffing, a rosemary demi-​glaze, roasted fingerling potatoes and shallots.
I didn’t like the pork tenderloin at all. The pork was flavorless and a little tough, plus the demi-​glaze overwhelmed the dish. Maybe they leave the pork flavorless to serve as a vehicle to deliver the demi-​glaze, but the dish didn’t work for me.
The lamb lollipop also seemed overwhelmed by its demi-​glaze and that’s why I didn’t like it, either. But the lamb itself had good flavor. I“d like to try it with something else.
The clams were a home run. I loved the flavor of the clams. They were fresh, which is not an easy thing to do in Reno. Plus the heirloom tomatoes tasted fabulous. I was thinking about ordering the dish again.
I’d like to explore the tapas menu and try other items. For Reno, they have a good selection of wines (meaning not just cabernet sauvignon and oaky whites).
One complaint is that they didn’t put the prices of the tapas plates on the menu. The lamb and pork were $ 7 each while the clams were $ 9. All fairly priced, but in budgeting your meal it’s nice to know the costs up front.
Of course, they have regular menus at other times. I’d like to check out that food, too.
There’s an entrance through the museum when the museum is open. Otherwise, the best place to enter is from the door on the Hill Street side of the building.

Was wondering why this place only had one review so we went to try it this weekend. As there are three more reviews in the last couple days looks like others did too and we like two of the other reviews quite enjoyed it but it could even be better.
We tried their weekend tapas style menu. Our group ended up trying every one of the items on the menu which wasn’t too difficult as they only had 2 dessert items and 6 savory options. All were good with the stand outs being the cannoli with squash filling, the beef tartare was excellent but only an amuse bouche portion, and the papaya dessert was a nice change. The sweetbreads and clams were also good.
The only things holding this place back from a 4.5 to 5 start review were that the prices were not stated on the menu for food which Steve T also mentioned. It would also be good to see an expanded menu on tapas night — maybe 10 – 12 savory and 3 – 4 desserts? Much more appealing to a group or even a couple to try a number of unique things each.
Will certainly come back on a tapas night as it looks to change often. Also want to try their non-​tapas menu offered on the other nights of the week and daytime. Nice and intimate setting during the night when the museum is closed and more seating offered inside the museum during its open hours.

Had a long lunch here the other day with a friend.
— Super hot day and had to sit outside because there was no other seating.
+ Our server was super nice and polite.
+ I felt the prices were good considering the ingredients and the gourmet-​ish-​ness of the food they serve.
— But I missed the old food, too. They used to have really pretty sandwiches, and it seemed like their new menu favorite more of a sit-​down type atmosphere. I liked the lunchtime vibe of the old place more, for the art museum, I think.
+ My burger was good. Onion marmalade, brie, prosciutto.. .
— but the prosciutto was chewy and not chopped or seared or anything, so it was really hard to eat. As it was I cut the burger into multiple pieces and tried to eat it like that, but I still ended up with a huge amount of prosciutto that I couldn’t eat.
+ We sat for a long time and our server kept the drink refills coming.
+ $ 25 for two people. I think that you would have spent the same at the old museum café, but without drink refills or table service — so I call that an improvement.