Spats Cafe

Came here for lunch during culinary week. Ordered jambalaya. Just so so. Too much black pepper.

Best food I ate during my stay in State College. I had the Caesar salad and the Crab Cake entrée. The flavors were so elegant and everything was simply cooked to perfection. I came relatively early (5:30 pm) so the service was quick and very good, I’m not sure how it would be later in the evening. Great little touches– like a lemon sorbet in between courses to cleanse the palette and a sweet/​spicy pecan as an after dinner treat. Really impeccable and rivals any big city high end restaurant.

this restaurant was appealing in so many ways.
service was good– nothing more.
food was amazing– (so fresh!) expected.
interior was cute– added beneficially to the whole experience
the fact that they present an entire, 20 name list of farms that they get their fresh ingredients from, on their menu, is so satisfying. knowing that they change up their menu every so often because of their variation in produce received, makes me want to come here many more times.
since I ordered tapas style, I got to try many dishes. every single one had a clear freshness to it… YOU COULD TASTE THE FRESH! they also were unique compared to typical restaurant dishes which had me on the edge of my seat the entire time.
I got. the pork belly– spicy, juicy
the artichoke, feta, & garlic dip– one of the best
the smoke duck breast with pepper cornbread– with the sauce. delicious!
and the orange cremesicle as dessert, which was tasty.

This was a great surprise. My friend Evangeline invited me to celebrate my birthday. I was really excited because the last time I visite this restaurant was like a year ago. With my new model of diet, I do not find very often restaurants with light kind of food. Instead, fatty and greasy dishes are offered all around where I live. I am not saying it is not yummy, of course yummy dishes are usually very rich. However, Spats is not the kind of fatty/​greasy restaurant. it seems to me that all the dishes are measured carefully. Also, the quantities are huge. I ordered a delicious salad on a Spinach base. The spinach is mixed with a kind of less oily more sweetish vinaigrette. Beets, pistachos and manchego cheese on top.

The end customer service made the whole experience negative. The manager (I assume she was the manager, a woman in her 40’s-50’s working the night of 4−2−16) gave us the boot before we’d finished our drinks so that she could close the restaurant. It was a Saturday night, there were 6 of us, we’d had appetizers, entrees, a few people had cocktails a few people split a bottle wine. The server was good, the food was okay (although entrees arrived at different times). We were having a nice time. Our waitress came to the table around 10:15pm saying it was last call in case we wanted anything else to drink. We ordered 1 more bottle of wine and settled the check. We were quietly chatting and enjoying the bottle when aforementioned woman came up and said pointedly «Okay, you need to wrap it up, I have to close». It was only 10:45pm and she could see that we had full pours of wine. I asked if we could not rush through our wine and she replied that she was supposed to close at 10pm. We all sat stunned for a moment, one of my friends let her know that we were not told about the closing time and would not have gotten the 2^nd bottle if we’d known. We asked again, nicely, if we could have a little more time to finish and she said with all seriousness, «Yea that’s fine — 4 minutes?». So we chugged our wine and left. I would say we were fuming but we were too shocked, the most accurate word would be incredulous. I’ve never been asked to leave a table prematurely and I’ve dined in tons of towns /​cities. I also worked in restaurants throughout /​after college and have always been trained to never force a check /​turn out a table — unless they’re behaving in an out of hand manner or it’s getting into unacceptable a.m. hours. Horrendous hospitality. Enough said. Boooooooo.

Spat’s serves decent plates, but the flavor is nothing to be impressed about.
Service here is outstanding, however, with our waitress striking a perfect balance in attending to our table.
The atmosphere calls for lighthearted conversations with larger groups, as the venue is rather loud.
I would not recommend this restaurant to a friend, as the quality of the food does not warrant the high price tags. However, for a good time with drinks, Spat’s would be worth considering.

My absolute favorite restaurant in State College. The food is delicious, environment welcoming, and staff friendly. The menu is priced a little bit on the higher end but you will never leave there unsatisfied. Also, just a suggestion, but it tends to get very busy on the weekend evenings so I would suggest calling ahead!

A friend and I decided on a Saturday evening to treat ourselves to a night out and Spats was the right choice!
The creamy crab, corn, and mushroom chowder was a perfect way to ease into the Creole and Cajun experience. Very flavorful and we both enjoyed it.
My companion ordered the VooDoo BBQ Shrimp and Scallops. She said that the scallops were quite fresh and perfectly prepared, always a matter of concern in a town so far from the sea! I enjoyed the Blackened Duck Breast. The Bleu cream and balsamic syrup really brought out the flavor of the duck and I enjoyed savoring it, eating much more slowly than I typically do! We shared a bottle of Kaiken Malbec which managed to be what we each needed to accompany our entrées.
For dessert my friend had a vanilla crème brulé which she said was excellent, and she’s a self-​proclaimed authority on the topic! I enjoyed a blueberry Napoleon but wouldn’t necessarily choose it again. A great experience with fantastic service from our waiter.

The waitress was awesome. The food was awesome. My wife had the Jambalaya and I had the filet with veg of the day. My old fashions needed a little bit more flavor.

Couldn’t ask for anything more! Got crispy asparagus w/​truffle and poached egg to start along with the baked Brie and rice crackers. For dinner jambalaya, pecan crusted salmon and lamb chops. Everyone loved the apps and their entrees. Server was at pleasant and attentive too. Smiles all around and bellies full for the Michigan game tomorrow!

I went here for lunch for some friends once. The menu is UNIQUE to say the least. I didn’t realize this was more of a specialty café when I came.
I ordered a simple chicken sandwich, which was good. One of my friends ordered duck! I wish I had ordered the duck as I still have yet to try duck.
The ambiance is intimate and darker, which I liked. service was fine.
If you’re looking for something different and don’t mind spending a little more money, come here.

Seated at 5pm in and empty restaurant — first time anyone paid attention to me was at 5:20 PM as I was walking out the door — this has got to be in worst service in The city !
If you like service go somewhere else !

So I don’t have much frame of reference for dining in State College, I must admit, but my meal at Spats Café was pretty atrocious. Dined with a group toward the end of service, with plenty of staff around, and few other diners. Service was slow, slow, slow. Our server never came back after bringing our food to ask how things were. Water glasses not refilled once in a whole dinner. Really poor.
The food was little better. The blackend catfish was served on decent cheese grits and some pretty well cooked collards. But they drowned the fish in some red sauce that isn’t listed on the menu as part of the dish, and it wasn’t good. Disappointed.

We enjoyed our meal after a football game. The place was full and it did take a while to get our meal, which is not unexpected right after a football game, and our server was somewhat inattentive but someone was always filling our water glasses. Had the Chopped Crisp vegetables salad that was OK, some of the veggies were so small and dried out, so just OK. My meal was the Hot Pepper Pasta with Crab & Crawfish was very good. Nice taste and the hot pepper pasta was so good with a nice amount of crab & crawfish.

Service and food are just great. I used to come here once a week when I was in college. I absolutely love love love spats café. Definitely try the crispy asparagus

We went for a nice anniversary lunch, and for the most part, it did not disappoint.
My husband got the calamari and crawfish tacos, and they were piled high with seafood goodness! Crawfish pieces were a bit small and not as many as the calamari pieces, but the tacos themselves were amazing with a great slaw. Would order again.
I got the oyster poboy. This again, was piled high with an arugula salad, which went very well with the sandwich. The olive tapanade in the sandwich gave it great flavor. The only thing was that the oysters were very small.
The bread they offer is great, service was attentive but not suffocating. Portions are massive! Both lunch dishes were $ 12– a great deal. Would come back again!

Steak was a little over cooked. So if you want medium rare, ask for rare i guess.
The sides where amazing. Truly delicious.

One of the best date spots in State College.
Decent Cajun/​Creole. It’s great to have a place where you can eat a kick-​ass cheese plate right before some spicy jambalaya.
I’ll be back.

I never came here as a student because it was too expensive, but Spats is now my favorite restaurant in State College! I came here as part of a Bachelorette Party on Blue and White Weekend. We had a reservation on Saturday evening for 10 around 7:30. After a full day of tailgating the thought of eating more was a bit overwhelming, but the food was too good to pass up. We all shared bites of appetizers such as the crispy calamari and the Three Dips and Crisp Vegetables (for 10 people we ordered two of each dish). As an entrée, I had the Chicken with Shrimp, Andouille and Creamy Corn. It was so flavorful, I can’t wait to eat it again. The atmosphere is dark and cozy and they do New Orleans justice at Spats. I highly recommend it for a nice grown up meal or if Mom and Dad are coming to town and are paying the bill.

This is the good stuff! From the nice décor… to the spot on service… to the very clever and eclectic menu… to the most important thing, the food. Spats gets it ALL right. The fried oysters were a highlight. The cheesy grits are to die for! There were nothing but raves about the food at our table for 6! They know how to cook salmon right and warn you ahead of time that it is going to be medium rare unless you want it overcooked! Did I mention the service. Sadly good service is starting to really stand out because it is rare… well it does stand out here… not one miscue!
Did I say they get it ALL right? I lied. I have one complaint and that is the bar. While they nailed my Martini… it was all down hill from there. The pour on their win is anemic! My dessert Sambuca came up way short as well. Then let’s talk Sangria… ugh! Sickly sweet grape juice!
So stick to the nice bottled beer selection and everything will be PERFECT!