Kentucky Native Café

Fast, friendly service. Affordable food. Vegetarian options. Interesting eating environment

After failing to achieve brunch at 6 different places with long waits or lines out the door Kentucky Native Cafe was like a magic secret garden with delicious dishes clearly conjured by the fae. Also, great beer on tap was the perfect way to start the day.

A fallen tree did some damage to the greenhouse during Hurricane Helene, but they stayed open. It's one of the most delightful places in Lexington. Get there now.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Pretzels and Beer Cheese, Peanut Noodle Salad, Peanut Noodles, Meals, Gelato, Burrata Plate Goat Cheese and Lox

Cute cafe in a beautiful greenhouse

It's a cool vibe but the food was terrible. Pretzel was tough and lentil salad was undercooked. I ate it anyway and that's how I found out undercooked lentils cause food poisoning.

The plants are beautiful though and the coffee was decent. Maybe it's worth going back if I just want a drink

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 1

Service: 3

As someone who has been interested in visiting this place for a while I was very unimpressed when I actually came. The staff was extremely rude and did not acknowledge us at all, to the point where the manager had to ask them to get off their phones and wait for us to order. Once we got our food, we were unimpressed by the small platings for the price we actually paid.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 1

Service: 1

Recommended dishes: Bavarian Pretzels 2 with Chive Obatzda, Goat Cheese

A magical hidden gem

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Bavarian Pretzels 2 with Chive Obatzda

One of the most beautiful cafes iv ever seen full of plants and nature. Food is simple but very good and the drinks are only 3 but taste amazing.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Absolutely worth a visit, if not for the succinct but rather effective menu, then for an hour's worth of meeting some gorgeous new plant friends who need a forever home.

Tons of varied seating, reasonable prices for tasty healthier food and select drinks. Cheery, friendly service, in an open, airy, comfy setting.

Will certainly be back when next in Lexington; highly recommended.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

This place is undeniably beautiful—a serene nature haven in the heart of the city. However, my experience was marred by an unfortunate incident today. A customer voiced a concern, and what seemed to be a manager responded in such an aggressive manner that it completely disrupted the atmosphere. People come here to unwind and enjoy the peaceful surroundings, not to witness a loud confrontation. It really took away from the overall vibe, which was disappointing.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 2

Love the healthy selection of food. And what a beautiful environment to have a meal in.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 5

this is a cool space with okay vegetarian food, but the vibes are not great and the staff adds a 20% tip to your order, despite not actually doing much that’s tip worthy.

the space is like an old greenhouse and enchanted little garden that is a beer garden on steroids. kids run around and play, but they sort of blend into the vibe so if you’re a no kids kind of person, you’re probably not going to notice. overall, a win.

the vibes, however, verge on rancid. you order from a window, which is fine, but the staff is incredibly slow and they have the kitchen and bar staff - like 10 people - shoved in a teeny tiny space. when your food is ready, it gets put on a table outside the little hut and your name is called and asking for plates/napkins/flatware is treated as a huge inconvenience.

this would be fine, really, if i didn’t watch the cashier tap the 20% tip button without asking me before tapping my card.

you read that right - they tipped themself 20% and told me my total was my total plus the tip.

don’t get me wrong, if i’d been given the option, i probably would have tipped 20% if i’d been asked. the issue is i wasn’t asked.

ultimately, we had one single drink because the service is bad, the line is super long at all times, and the tip is just automatic, apparently.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 3

Service: 1

This is like no other establishment in this region of the country. The factors that came together to allow this place to flourish are one in a billion. We must protect this gem of a restaurant with our lives. Its the Only place I eat when I drive through Lexington.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Heaven on earth.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

my favorite place.. ever. take a scenic walk through a greenhouse, order from the menu that changes every day, sit out in nature, look at all the cute dogs that always happen to be there. take it all in. nature loves you. and you love it too. doesn’t help the food is also impeccable

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Peanut Noodle Salad, Couscous Salad

I hate to be putting such a low review on the internet and I am not normally one to leave reviews, but I feel strongly compelled to leave my personal opinion and I hope that this business will take it to heart and work hard to improve the experience for customers.

The ambiance is beautiful. This is a true hidden gem of Lexington and it is a great place to gather with friends and spend time outside in nature.

However, the service is some of the worst service I have had in Lexington, and I am from here and have lived here most of my life. The people that worked there were so rude. I didn’t see a single person smiling, from the cafe to the greenhouse. Everyone looked like they hated their job and that they wanted to be anywhere but at their job. I waited thirty minutes for two black coffees, two lattes, and a pretzel that was already made, they just had to put it on the plate. The line was so long and it never got any shorter (yay for good business!!), but there was literally no sense of urgency from anyone. Also, my friend went to ask if they had called our name to one of the people working the counter and apparently the worker snapped at her and told her they had not called her name yet. I am not sure why there was any reason to snap at a paying customer who was asking a simple question? In my opinion, there is rarely a time or place to treat people in such a disrespectful manner.

Secondly, I came with my wedding photographer and my fiancé to take a few engagement photos around the greenhouse. I called earlier in the week to ask if we were allowed to bring a photographer and how much it would cost. The lady on the phone said 15 dollars and she told me that I did not have to book anything in advance. When I got to the florist shop to let them know we have arrived with the photographer, the lady working the front desk asked if we already bought the permit and charged us 50 dollars. Her explanation was that they have new workers who don’t know all the policies yet. At the expense of paying customers who were prepared to pay 15 and had to pay 50? Not the greatest excuse in my opinion. To be clear, I even specified on the phone, “did you say fif-TEEN or fif-TY,” and she repeated “15.”
Then, when she was explaining the rules to me about taking photographs on the property, she said we couldn’t use the bathroom to change into our outfits because the restrooms were for paying customers. So our only other option was to change in the car in their parking lot. At the last minute, she changed her mind and told us we can change in the bathroom as long as we “don’t take forever.” Which by the way, we were paying customers because all four of us got coffees and a plate of pretzels to share after we took pictures.

Needless to say, I was put off by literally every interaction I had with the staff at this establishment. I don’t know if it was just a bad day or if there was something I did or said to annoy them, but honestly I am not enticed to come back. And I would tell people who are trying to get a drink with friends to be prepared to wait in line for at least thirty minutes. Like I said, I have only ever put one other review (positive) on Google Reviews, and I really hope that KY Native Café can use this client’s experience to improve their customer service for all future customers!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 1