cafe eclectic

they pride themselves on using fresh & local ingredients.  food is good & my son loves it.  we don't go here more often because of the service.  they are extremely slow.  i have yet to get in & out in a decent amount of time.  if you are going, bring a book or a good friend.  you will need something to pass thetimeaway.

my favorite are the handmade shakes.  they are always delicious.

felt rushed!. i went in to café eclectic today and i felt rushed by my server "adam". i understand serving because i am a serving as well but, when you work at a cafe its a little different. give a persontimeto drink and eat. do not continue to ask them if they are ready.i didn't stay long not even 40minutes. i like this place it has a warm feeling but i do not like feeling like i'm not welcome or am taking to long. i didn't say anything because i am not quick to complain but when i heard the table across from me mention the same thing to her friends i knew that it wasn't just me but it was him. if you want to flip your tables to make more money try somewhere other than a café.

rude server. been here a handful of times. food is always alright. love the atmosphere. the last few times i've been cursed with having the same server. now, i have about 10 years of serving experience and totally understand what it's like and give most servers the benefit of the doubt. but this guy is a different case. i think his name is robert. he is a little older. wears black crocs. he is in one word, rude. he once rushed my family through the ordering process only to return 10 minutes later and have us repeat orders. (why was he just now putting our order in?) he took our drink order onetimeand had a cig break before making our drinks. seriously? my boyfriend asked "may i have a to go plate?" his response "i can get you a to go box." ugh, he just infuriates me and is the main reasons my friends and i don't consider this place as an option anymore.

unique food, atmosphere, & experience!. it was the 4th of july (my husband's birthday), and he's been wanting to try a certain dish called "chicken and waffles" (a southern specialty) for sometimenow. so where do our friends point us? cafe eclectic. we went for breakfast and were happy to find them open (sorry poor servers working on the holiday!). service was fast and very friendly. everything was clean and there wasn't really any waittimewhen we arrived.

the food was delicious, and my husband was blown away by his creme-bru-latte. huge portions of food, great quality, too, definitely get your money's worth here! if you're ever in need of a good breakfast spot in memphis we recommend this one! (side-note, their hash, which has russet and sweet potatoes - amazing!)

what's happened to café eclectic???. i am very disappointed to share that café eclectic is no longer very accommodating to vegetarians/vegans.
café eclectic used to be a favorite treat for both my husband and me, however several changes to their menu have disappointed us to the extent that i doubt we will go back again. my husband and i are both vegan, so i realize that puts us in the minority (and therefore many establishments don't feel it's worth theirtimeto accommodate our dietary lifestyle. we are used to that and understand that's just part of living with the dietary choices we've made.) but we are always so grateful when we find a restaurant where we can dine right along side our non-vegan friends and everyone feel satisfied, and café eclectic used to be that restaurant. but recently they have taken many of their vegan offerings off the menu. my husband's favorite was their vegan pancakes, but they no longer serve them. my favorite dish was the black bean wrap (substituted with vegan mayo) and the "taters". the black bean wrap is still offered and still good, but the "taters" used to be a mixture of white potato/sweet potato cubes which were seasoned with rosemary and broiled--they were soooo yummy. now their "taters" are cut sort of like shoe-strings and taste more like lack-luster frozen hash browns. we have also ordered the hummus on several occasions and it seems to be hit or miss. sometimes it's very good; sometimes it's just blah. their vegan pies have never disappointed--they are all good, but the blueberry is my favorite. the eggless egg salad is absolutely to die for, however they don't offer it every day and they don't rotate it on a regular schedule. my husband loves it so much that if we knew which day they served it, we would make an effort to eat there that day. but when we asked about that, we got the feeling that the "non-schedule" is some kind of a ploy so that you'll go ahead and come in hoping they have something even if they don't. and maybe that's fine for people who don't have dietary restrictions, but it's annoying to have to call a restaurant (that claims to be vegetarian/vegan friendly) before-hand to make sure they have anything vegan on that particular day.
i've noticed lots of people on here complaining about the service. while we always just expect the service here to be slow, we didn't used to mind because the food used to be worth the wait. we usually got the same server, whose name i don't know, but was always super-nice and accommodating.

so i'm not really sure what i just experienced. my friend and i came in for a late lunch and ordered a hummus plate to start. after we give the waiter our complete order he goes, "hold on, let me write this down. i'm not the smartest person." oh, lord... 20 minutes go by and no hummus plate. the waiter comes to the table and badmouths the chef - twice - at which point we say we're leaving. there were about 20 people working standing around doing nothing and maybe 3 who were actually performing a task. for such a small crowd with so many staff standing around doing nothing, this was really unacceptable.

now, had this been eclectic's first offense with me i could have let this slide. unfortunately it is not. lasttimei called in a takeout order was bizarre to say the least. we arrive at thetimespecified and our food wasn't ready for about 20 more minutes. the girl who was ringing us up, the manager, had some sort of emotional break and just walked off into the kitchen. we ordered a couple coffees while we waited for our late-by-nearly-a-half-hour meal. the food was pretty good, but the service there is probably the worst i've encountered anywhere.

food is great but whyyyyyyyy oh why does your internet never work? seriously, this is the 4thtimei have had to leave for lack of internet connectivity. not sure if i will be back again.

went for breakfast once and it was wonderful the secondtimewas horrible, hasn't been a third time...

poor service, improperly prepared food, out of 3 items tequested (out of 3!).
brinch...crisp bacon, poached eggs & toadt (a real challenge!). 2 strips of bacon...black & greasy. ordered an extra side of crisp bacon that finally arrived after everything else had already been eaten...also black & greasy. medium poached eggs were hard boiled. toast forgotten, finally arrived after eggs cooled or eaten. need i say more?
this was the second tome i went there. first try eas lunch, and i wad underwhelmed with the avacado blt, but thought i'd give them a second chance.
firsttimetheir failt, secondtimemy fault...there won't be a third time!
steer clear of this place!

wow! can't believe it took us so long to try this place! the menu is very eclectic, and we had a hardtimedeciding what to order. i don't think we could have gone wrong with anything. the ingredients were very fresh and the entrees were perfectly cooked. we will be back to try other dishes, but my meal will always end with the blueberry and lemon scone!

good burgers. since they are in the neighborhood, my husband and i have been there many times. the lasttimemy burger was undercooked and the sweet potato fries had been under the heat lamp too long. the food selection isn't very large, so i usually go with the burger. our waitress with multiple piercings was great. attentive and listened to you. we will definitely go again and request freshly cooked fries.

what's up with the chef?. took my daughter for her birthday lunch, also invited my sister and niece. this was their firsttimeeating there and were excited since we have raved about the chicken pot pie. of course my daughter and i ordered the pot pie and we were told it was not good enough to be served, which i was thankful for since i do not like paying for something that the staff would not eat. we then ordered mac and cheese, and were later told it was not suitable either....fine, things happen and i understand. we were told we would not have to pay for our meal which was nice, but unexpected. we left a 20% tip for the waitress and were fixing to leave when she brought us a bill of 4.50 for the iced teas and my sister and niece their bill. fine, i understand, but tell someone nexttimethat their lunch if free but, you have to pay for drinks. i would have really been embarrassed if i was chased out the door to pay for my tea!


-----12 oct, 2011-----

sramsey. chicken pot pie was delicious. coffee fresh and hot. will be back, everyone enjoyed lunch.

just had the black bean wrap for the firsttime- absolutely incredible! would recommend it to even a staunch meat-lover!


-----30 may, 2011-----

just visited again this morning. had the rachel's wrap for the first time. just awesome like everything else on the menu, especially the fresh avocado.

not sure. when i got to the restaurant, i stood at the front for about 5 minutes while employees kept walking past me and chit chatting with each other. the place was not busy, only about 6 tables were full and there were about 7 to 10 employees that i saw milling around. the food was mediocre. maybe i ordered the wrong thing, but my food was not very good. i ordered the diablo wrap with roasted potatoes. the potatoes had way too much rosemary, or something, on them and the wrap, while it tasted good, was dripping in oil. literally, my plate was swimming in oil by thetimei was half way through the wrap. my coffee was delicious though. the waiter was very friendly but he never once refilled our water glasses.

i have officially decided that cafe eclectic is my all-time favorite coffee shop in memphis . yes, that is a big title. it's true. all of the other coffee shops i have been to have their pros and cons, but i have not come across one con for cafe eclectic. they are all good. first let's start with the location . the one i usually frequent is at mclean and north parkway, in the beautiful evergreen district. there is beautiful trees and architecture from the rhodes campus. the one i visited recently with my friend rachel is in harbor town, aka possibly the cutest neighborhood of all time. now, let's talk about the atmosphere . this is a place where you can do everything at your own pace. they have an actual menu, so you can pop in and out for a quick lunch. you can order a muffin to-go for breakfast. however, my favorite is to camp-out for hours at atimewith coffee and a snack to work at my computer. whatever you want to do is fine with them. the service is wonderful also . everyone is