Central Cafe and Bakery

Got the taste of Lebanon platter. Everything was so delicious. So much flavor, loved it. Even the rice was bursting with flavor. The hummus and baba ganouj were excellent as well. Prices were good for the quality and flavor of the food. I definitely want to come back and try more things, it was really hard deciding on what to get, all the sandwiches looked amazing.

not only do they have a hearty kibbeh but also Kibbeh Sandwich. it can’t get more perfect than that. I judge any Lebanese by their kibbehs and this one got my vote.
fill up on that Arabic coffee and get the Namura coconut cake. just because you wont find those often.

I have yet to find a better falafel in STL! Central Café’s version reminds me a lot of what I was used to in Israel in terms of toppings; they serve it with pickles and turnips as well as the usual tomato and tahini. If you like spicy food, ask for it with hot sauce – really more of a paste than a sauce – but be warned: it’s strong stuff. Great lunch deal where you can get a sandwich, drink, and fries/​salad/​soup for $ 10.

This is one of our favorite restaurants in Saint Louis. I’m so glad I finally made it to back to STL. The owner took great care to greet everyone personally, be sure the service was almost immediate, and that we were satisfied with out meal. Love the appetizer platters. My wife like taste of Lebanon. The Owner offered us to try his Hookah grape-​mint flavor. First time trying it. My wife ordered one. Please open a location in chesterfield SOON. I recommend the baklavah!

Was not happy after going to that place

10 of us dined here. First of all in the middle of my meal the owner took my chair because he wanted a higher chair to help HIM (not another customer) so he can smoke hookah. Now at this very moment the owner is not letting us leave because he thinks we did not pay for a meal when in fact one of our members had to leave (he’s a doctor and was paged) now he is leaving his patient and driving all the way back with his receipt to prove that he paid his five dollar meal! HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!
Update the owner just threatened one of our diners when he said he is going to post on Unilocal about his customer service. He said he is going to track us down. Really? Really? Come on now.

UDo not Go here at all ! Service was horrible waitress took 20 mins to bring a menu (keep in mind it was a slow night). I ordered a hummus hookah and chicken shwarma wrap and soda. The drink tasted water down. Food was serve with no napkins or utensils Hummus was really good. Hookah was OK waitress forgot to bring the charcoals, after waiting 35 mins for the wrap I decided to see what was taking so long, I went inside and found the waitress eating food and smoking hookah, my food was siting on a plate in front of her cold. I decided to take the check and she made a fuss, the chief (female) came out and gave me a hard time to cancel the order. Very rude and unprofessional. Do not go here place is a mess !

I grew up on Mediterranean food and this place is the best they have the best pizza I’ve ever had. The atmosphere is great we sit outside and watch the people walk and there’s a lot of dog walkers and everybody so friendly

The overall experience is good, the food is great, the price is somewhat ok but the wait is what they really need to improve.

Pretty good lunch. I wouldn’t mind going back, but it wouldn’t kill me if I didn’t. I got the combo shawarma sandwich (chicken and beef), and the wife ordered the falafel sandwich. Both had the same lettuce, tomato, turnips, pickles, and sauce innards. Chicken and beef in the shawarma were prepared very well, and the falafel was similarly so. I’ve had some falafel sandwiches where it was mainly three patties on a bun, but this was crumbled pretty well so that it made a good sandwich. Plus the pitas were «panini’d» just right. Slight crispiness on the outside, but still soft enough to have some chewiness. I give them props for the sandwiches.
Desserts were not quite as exciting as I had hoped. We got a baklava and a maemoul. I always hate how one little fillo pastry/​baklava costs $ 3, but that’s pretty typical anywhere. It was kind of dry actually, which was disappointing. The maemoul was also pricy, $ 3 for one cookie. But I suppose desserts are the restaurant profit centers. Anyway, maemoul is best described as an upscale fig newton. Similar cake-​cookie outside (but fully enclosed), with a mix of dates/​nuts inside. It was pretty tasty.

Awesome experience. Great food and outstanding personalized service from our server Fatimah.

Great hookah, and our waitress (ask for Fatima) was very helpful! Fun hang out for a chill night with friends.

Poorly managed restaurant with good food…
Since this place is only a few blocks from my place I have been meaning to try it for some time. The first time I tried to go, I sat around for 10 minutes in the empty restaurant at lunch time and finally gave up when no one came out of the kitchen to wait on me. Then a Living Social deal came up and figured I’d give it a second chance.
I was there just before 1pm on a Thursday and there was one other table of guests. I was seated pretty quickly but then it took some time to get a menu. I ordered the lunch special and the food came out in an average amount of time. I asked about the fries since the lunch special said it was your choice of sandwich, fries, soup or salad. He said the wording is confusing, you get sandwich + fries or soup or salad? Seems people always get this confused but they fail to let anyone know. I ordered a soft drink but apparently they were out of the $ 2 root beer on the menu and instead bought me a $ 3 version. Not a big deal but it really makes me wonder if you can trust anything on their menu.
The sandwich and salad were both very good. The bill came and I presented my living social voucher which was «$ 12 for lunch and/​or drinks» and was told you can’t use that on lunch specials? WTF? The waiter again apologized making it clear this happens all the time and said «I wish they would put that on the voucher». Well, who’s fault is that?
There are so many other restaurants in the CWE that have both good food and good service. I’ll probably try it once for dinner one day since I walk by it every day but I definitely wouldn’t make a special trip for this place.

Worst service I’ve ever had. When we walked in, the servers just stared at us and said nothing until I asked «can we sit anywhere?» They then said «yes» and proceeded to ignore us for 15 minutes.
Food took OVER an hour to get to us after ordering. Nobody even came by to apologize or check up on us… water was empty and nobody refilled it.
I had to walk to the bar to ask for a manager to report that we still didn’t have our food after an hour and would at least like a discount, and was informed that there was no manager. Wtf? They brought the chef out and she said they’d give us a discount.
My 17 year old waitress finally came back to our table, only to scold me for asking to speak with a manager.
We got our food and it was delicious, but by then we were an hour late to an engagement party and our waitress never came by to get the check. I had to chase down a different waitress to get us cashed out.
By the way, they gave us a $ 2 discount on a $ 30 check… wow.
Never coming back — My husband and I have both worked in the food industry for years and were appalled by the attitude of the servers and the inability of the chef to get food out. Very nasty.

Terrible service! We waited 45 minutes for our food and had to have then box it so that we weren’t late. The food was very tasty! Just dint plan on being in and out in an hour at lunch.

Come here often both for food and hookah. Really love their schwarma and spicy beef (can’t remember the name…) sandwiches! And the garlic sauce that comes with fries is amaaaaazing…

I accidentally visited this place thinking it was Mediterranean food, but realized it was middle eastern food which I’d never had. Since then, I come back every month or so when my craving for middle eastern food props back up again. I’ve had the chicken Shawarma platter which was so-​so, haven’t had many so not an expert on how authentic it was. What I love??? The chicken Shawarma sandwich/​wrap, it comes with the tahini sauce and pickled turnip that add such an interesting taste.
The price and typically the long wait is the reason why I gave it four stars instead of five. The sandwich ends up costing me ~$ 8 – 9, which wouldn’t be bad if the fries were included but that’s an additional $ 3. The sandwich is delicious but will not fill you up for dinner.

HORRIBLE.
I love middle eastern and Mediterranean food and hookah, this «café» was right down the street from the hotel I was staying at. (Chase Plaza). Let me start by saying the location of this place is not justified by the horrible service and dirty hookahs served. I was in a group of three and I opted for the Chicken Shawarma Entrée, Hazelnut Baklava, and Arabic Tea.
Our food was served in about 20 minutes. It was warm and the Shawarma tasted well but the rice was bland and not fresh. The Baklava tasted like dish-​washing liquid. Terrible. When I asked for it to be switched, the server told us that we would be charged for the one we didn’t eat. EXCUSE ME? We easily could tell the manager was not willing to even compromise, pitiful.
The hookah menu was the most ridiculous I’ve seen. Horribly structured and confusing and too expensive. They charge you way too much and when we asked for ice in our base they said it would be three dollars extra. For Ice? hmm…
And the hose was filthy. Pieces of charcoal and nasty black bits were coming into my mouth from it, I had to ask for it to be switched and they came back after 15 MINUTES. I didn’t want to bother the servers and I never got a response from them.
Will never come back here again and they are expensive. That one dollar sign rating is a lie.

High quality ingredients make for great tasting fresh hummus here! Look forward to returning and having the excellent lentil soup as well. This nice café on the Central West End also has super friendly staff!

My wife and I were in St. Louis for a weekend, staying in the Central West End area. Our first night, we perused the Euclid Ave. area and saw quite a few fancy, shiny places. I happened to notice a Lebanese joint that looked relatively rough around the edges, and I had a hunch that it might be a good place to try. Our second night we wound up there, and let me tell you: this is by far the best Mediterranean food I’ve ever had. My wife had a kebob sandwich, and I opted for the Lebanese sampler. The meats, the rice, the tabouleh, the hummus: everything was flavorful perfection. Also, I’ve never had such rich and tasty falafel. Finally, the desserts were not as sweet as I thought they’d be, which was a pleasant surprise.
Also, I have to give an ovation to the service. Laid-​back, yes, but definitely prompt, attentive, and professional. The gentlemen on shift that night were superb.
If you’re ever in St. Louis and hungry for outstanding Mediterranean fare, head over to Central West End and try this place.