Caffe Central

1380 Burlingame Ave, Burlingame
(650) 315-2511

Recent Reviews

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MgaHalamanLang

Got the avocado hummus toast. Looks nice, but it was impossible to eat it without deconstruction! Updated from previous review on 2025-10-07

Gary Rust

I ordered the turkey BLT minus the turkey. It had one piece of bacon in the entire baguette sandwich. Overall, the sandwich was delicious, but clearly I wanted a BLT and barely got one.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 4

Anchal Sikka

Must try 🍽️
Berry French Toast ( Best ) 🍓
It had a chocolate filling ( tastes like Cadbury dairy milk), perfectly cooked, not too sweet and covered w strawberries.

Tomato mozzarella sandwich
Fresh , the bread was a little hard but the flavor made up for it!!
Comes with a side salad!!

Overall, the place was chill and cute. Perfect spot for a brunch. The food is a win. Totally recommend it to anyone who loves healthy drinks and yum food.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Juliana

Poor customer service!!! 1) Have gone in person about 30 minutes before they close and employees are clearly annoyed that you’re there. Instead of welcoming you and kindly say the time you have to place an order, they don’t even say ‘hi’ and just tell you that they are closing the kitchen.

2) Placed a pick up order online, the restaurant didn’t get it for whatever reason (ok, things like that happen with systems but it’s the way that the situation is handled what matters at that point). Both, the cashier and the manager were VERY RUDE and CARELESS, like if the inconvenience was for them a not the customer (who had a receipt).

Cashier left the person picking up the order standing there with no update on what they were going to do, she kept receiving orders from people in the line ignoring the issue, when he asked what was going on, the cashier -without talking- just pointed out her manager, who also has ZERO customer service etiquette and interest in doing a good job.

After a while she comes back to the front area with the order like nothing happened. I wish we could have canceled the online order (which included a tip that they don’t deserve!).

The quality of the food is just fine, not special. Nothing justifies the bad service that we’re paying for!

Nicole Czakon

Great healthy food.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Jolaiya Aldridge

I used to love this place and the food was always really good. So I decided to come here on a Sunday just to get a drink with my family. I wanted the pistachio match but unfortunately they were out of syrup. So the cashier recommended me to try there spanish matcha. It was absolutely disgusting and tasted nothing like matcha. You could tell also how bad it was from the pale green color. I met a nice lady waiting who encouraged me to ask and switch it out because they recommended me to try it because she does it all the time. At first I was gonna purchase a new drink but trusted that this regular knew how understanding there staff could be. I waited in line and asked to exchange the matcha and the cashier was super kind about it. Then after there manager found out, she stopped the exchange and was extremely rude. Instead of allowing me to exchange the drink she said that it wasn’t there fault you didn’t like it. I offered to pay the difference for the new drink and continued saying that the matcha had not matcha taste, and that I was prompted to try the drink from the cashier. We left a large tip (over 20%) when purchasing the drinks, and I still offered to pay the difference. After going back and forth about exchanging the drink, she finally let me and started doing math on paper to calculate how much I owed. It was 1 dollar for the exchange. During this whole process she was being extremely rude most likely because I was a Black young adult sticking up for myself because I know she would never treat anyone else this way. After saying that I would no longer be coming here she annoying said that’s fine and told me that I no longer had to pay the difference. After receiving my drink we let her know that we were still missing a lemon tart. She tried to make us show our receipt or proof of purchase. Another worker out originally cashier was so annoyed by her actioned he ended up just bringing it. All this to say, if you are a Black person, do not expect to be treated equally when you come here. The manager of this establishment when I visited Sunday morning (an Asian America women) was extremely rude and treated my family with disrespect. It got to the point where another customer heard our situation, and spoke to the manger about how poorly she was treating us. We as people should be treated equally just because we are human. The color of my skin should not determine my value as a customer in an establishment.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Terri Van Dusen

Love this place!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Rosalinda A

Very disappointing went for breakfast the bacon and the sausage the potatoes were cold I ordered the Irish breakfast. 😞we where a party of 3. We also ordered coffee which came out 30 minutes after. I asked for some Half & half and that was a problem too! Waitress gave us a tiny little mini cup of cream and upset I asked for half & half. I also spoke with the manager. She was unapologetic about the breakfast and brought out more bacon that was over cooked and cold with potatoes that again were cold. This place went down hill !! Over priced and food was horrible!!! There are so many other places to consider for Breakfast & definitely drop this one !!

Sarah Wang

Our family have been long time customers of this cafe for many years, and we used to like this place a lot. But our most recent visit this Sunday was very unpleasant. We arrived around noon time, and yes it was peak time and there was a long line to wait for ordering at the counter. We have a small child and my husband was trying to secure a table and chair as our little one was really tired after finishing a hike in the morning while they wait for me to place an order at the counter. That was when the waitress was preventing them from seating and my husband was pretty sure the waitress didn’t do the same to any other customers even when other customer were also trying to secure a table while their order is being placed by one member of their party. After our dishes arrived, we didn’t even spend more than 30min to finish our lunch and our little one was still trying to finish her food, we were interrupted very abruptly by the owner saying she really needs the table to be cleared. Again, they didn’t do the same to any other table. On the contrary, there were two white gentlemen seated in a nearby table and they were only drinking coffee and could sit much longer time without being rushed at all. They were not even ordering any food. We were apparently targeted as an Asian family and the cafe employees were kind of picking on us and they thought we were easier to be bullied as Asian customers just because we look nice and kind and wouldn’t feel offended. And they provided much politer service to white customers. We’re definitely not interested in visiting this place again. What a shame on providing such rude and racist service of Caffe Central to long time loyal customers. Tips were even paid upfront at ordering. This kind of service really only deserves negative tips.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 1

Eric Jao

Great salad.

Matthew Saunders

A cute spot with good breakfast treats and coffee.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 5

Jeanette Kislanka

I was fortunate enough to have a pastrami sandwich on gluten-free bread made for me this past Sunday, and I have to say—it was absolutely delicious. Every bite was packed with flavor, and the combination of tender, savory pastrami with the gluten-free bread delighful.

I truly appreciated the care that went into preparing it, especially considering how hard it can be to find gluten-free options that don’t compromise on taste or texture. This sandwich didn’t just meet expectations—it exceeded them.

A big thank you to James for recommending it! Your suggestion was spot on. I’m already looking forward to coming back and trying more from the menu. Highly recommended!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Chris Holzwarth

Ordered a cesar to go. When I got home I found a worm in the salad. Attempted to call the restaurant and let them know, but they hung up on me. Beware lettuce products!!

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 1

Service: 1

Mike Rogers

My wife and I had dinner here last week. The food was good, we've eaten here a couple of times and though a bit expensive it is still good. However, my mocha was an absolute dumpster fire that unfortunately also killed the trash panda. The espresso was so burnt that it overwhelmed everything else. I could taste any chocolate or enjoy any of the creaminess of the frothed milk. In short, go for the food and avoid the coffee.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 3

Ruma Samdani

The WiFi does not work!! Don't plan to sit here without trying to connect your device first. The staff shows their devices that are connected, and will not restart the router. I should have gone to my regular cafe with better customer service and Wi-Fi connection.

Service: 1

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