Elm Centre Cafe

Really good little breakfast spot. A little tricky to find as its not really visible from the road, but really friendly staff, and really good food! A specials board loaded with all kinds of interesting breakfast specials… trust me when I say only order one pancake! They’re mammoth, fluffy and outrageously good! The Omelets looked really good too! All in all a win!

I look forward to coming back. This is an old-​fashioned diner in a small town with excellent food. Exit the interstate and get over here — this place is only about five minutes off of the Interstate and was a fantastic breakfast. Hit this joint on a drive from Boston to Greenwich CT.
Since this is a classic diner in the truest sense of the term, I went with the two-​egg scrambler, mixing in cheese and onions. Also had the biscuits and gravy, and a side of bacon. Yum. The biscuits and gravy are good enough to be served in the South, and the scrambler and bacon were extraordinary.
This is not a place that looks deluxe from the outside, but the people inside are very freindly and the cook is superb. It was great to stop and take a native son of Masschusetts to a diner he’d never been to (and who also raved). I loved the atmosphere and the chalk board contest for free breakfast for eating seven of their pancakes — not for me. .. but charming eccentricity. This place should be on tv.
I look forward to stopping here again. Thank you to all Unilocalers for telling me how to get here. It is in the BACK right next to the red brick Southbridge Town Hall, and across from the fire department.

Tucked around the corner of the Southbridge Savings Banks, the Elm Centre Café is a totally modest hidden gem. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but the service is incredibly friendly, the egg sandwich is on point (eggs, sausage, and bulky roll all the same diameter for maximum excellence per bite), and the hash is well executed. Head in before 8:30 on weekday mornings for inexpensive early bird specials.

Great food, friendly staff, good portions, and you can see your food being cooked in the open kitchen! Will definitely come back here again!
Location is a little hidden, but my GPS took me right there. It’s next to the Town Hall, in the back of an office building. Plenty of parking!

The Elm Centre Café is an amazing local diner in Southbridge Mass. As mentioned in other reviews, it IS very hard to find, but SO SO worth it. The best tip I can give, is that you have to turn into the parking lot for a municipal building to find it, it is not visible from the road.
Stopped here after a weary night of driving through an ice storm on our way to NYC for the holidays. It was an icy/​slushy gray morning, but once we walked through the doors of the Elm Centre Café, all of that was forgotten. They have counter service, tables and super comfy booths. They have a ton of breakfast choices. In our group we ordered a western omelet (awesome), the house made corned beef hash (super good, made in the style of the canned classic but much much better), poached eggs on pumpernickel (perfectly cooked), a blueberry fatcake (so good, and HUGE) and a side of homefries (expertly prepared). The coffee was hot and bottomless and the staff was SUPER friendly. While I would say that the menus is extremely varied, What set this diner apart from others in my opinion, is the skill of the chef working the grill. Basic breakfast staples were cooked with a fine touch, it was clear the cooks here really know what they are doing. All four people in my party absolutely loved this diner, we all wished we lived closer and could become regulars.

Best pancakes ever. They’re big, like real big, but moist and dense and just amazing. The egg scrambler is awesome you get to choose 4 add ins plus cheese and it comes with home fries/​hash browns and toast. The ham is real ham, not ham steak or slices of deli ham. The portions are more than I can handle but it leaves me with food for second breakfast, which is perfect. The specials are on point, especially the breakfast burrito which is my personal favorite. The staff is great! The place is jam packed on the weekends, which lets you know how much everyone enjoys the food.

This our go-​to breakfast spot, never a long wait even when they are busy. Food is consistently good & specials are always amazing. Price is average, maybe a tad high for breakfast. Would definitely recommend this place to anyone in the area.

Very ordinary except for monstrous pancakes (if you’re into that). Ordinary diner fare– not like the reviews stated. Ordinary bacon.

Just had breakfast here, going off of good reviews. The people were nice. The food was plentiful, but not very yummy. Huge pancakes that were undercooked. Scrambled eggs overcooked. burnt hashbrowns. I wouldn’t want to return.

Stayed at the nearby and excellent Southbridge Hotel, but didn’t want to eat at the hotel restaurant. Saw the Unilocal reviews and decided to try it. A little hard to find, but well worth the trouble.
Food is traditional diner fare, but it was hot, fresh, and delicious. Portions were generous but not ridiculous. I got the 3 egg scrambler and my wife got an egg sandwich with the delicious homemade hash. Make sure to try their homemade hot sauces, but watch out for the habanero pineapple — it is delicious but liquid fire.
Service was fast, attentive, and friendly.
We are already looking for excuses to return to the area.

I’d just like to start by grabbing you attention by saying this is the BEST diner I have ever been to. The Elm center café has the most AMAZING bacon. It’s as if a tap dancer was doing a jig on your taste buds. Jeremy Buteau the head chef and owner is so friendly to all of the customers and the staff do an excellent job. Like I said the service is amazing and the food is spot on. All I have to say is if your looking for a big meal just buy one, yes only ONE pancake and you will be set for the rest of the day. Just hear me out this place is a million times better than any other cafes or diners in southbridge. This place is wonderful!

This was our first tone going to this place. I heard good things about it so I decided to check it out and see what I think. The first thing I noticed its a very busy place. The service was decent. The food was definitely good no complaints. We got 2 omelets with 1 pancake 2 glasses of orange juice for 28 $ I thought it was a bit overpriced compared to fidels restaurant. Overall not to bad.

Stopped there for breakfast based on the recommendation of the front desk clerk at the Southbridge Hotel. Food was excellent, service was great. Highly recommend.

This place is great for lunch. I always get the BLT and it’s always great!

This place isn’t easy to find, but worth the search. Seems to be family run, and all the food is home-​made. They have a great selection of sandwiches and fantastic service. I’m glad we ran into this little café.

We’ve all heard of hidden gems. This place is simply hidden. Located in the rear of a building across the street from the firehouse there are no signs from the street directing you in. You simply pull into the parking lot for Town Hall and look to your left. they must be doing something right as there were quite a few people here when we walked in around 9:30.
We walked into a surprisingly large and very clean dining room. We sat down at a booth and the menus were right there in front of us under the glass table top.
The staff was quite friendly, even had a cup full of crayons and a coloring book for Baby B.
I kept it simple, opting for scrambled eggs with bacon, home fries and rye toast. The food was plentiful, cooked to perfection and reasonably priced.