A review of City Cafe-Elgin, Texas

City Cafe is a quaint cafe in an old building with high ceilings and brick walls inside. The cafe provides a pleasant dining atmosphere with it paintings of flowers, birds and horny toads on the walls. It is a well known downtown Elgin cafe and probably is most well known for its pie selection including the tallest coconut and meringue pies I have ever seen. It is a restaurant that you would want to take your grandma or out of town relative to just for the relaxed atmosphere.

Pro's:
Relaxing atmosphere

Very good homecooked buffet on certain days-including macaroni and cheese/Turkey/Ham

Delicious Pies

Kid's eat free on


Con's:
Limited seating and wait times during busy times due to popularity of cafe. Try to get there by 11 a.m. on weekends for quick seating.

Buffet prices are high for food and location. Adults are about $9.25 and children are not far behind at about $7, which is extremely high considering most kids meals average $3-4 each. Child buffet prices are not posted anywhere which can leave parents with a surprisingly high bill if you do not inquire about prices prior to ordering. There is also no age limits given, such as kids under a particular age being able to eat the buffet free. It would be nice to have the buffet prices for everyone lowered and the prices posted on the menu with kids 3 and under able to eat the buffet free. City Cafe's closet competitor 3H Cattle Company has lower adult buffet prices at only$7.25 for adults which also includes a salad bar.

Waiters could be friendlier and often seem like you are annoying them.

Service times for getting your food after you order takes longer than it should, unless you eat the buffet of course.

A review of 3H Cattle Company Steakhouse- Elgin,Texas

This restuarant offers a good, homecooked buffet of various vegetables, 2-3 main entrees like like fried chicken, meatloaf, enchiladas, king ranch chicken or pork ribs, plus rolls and salad bar with choices varying each weekend. You can also order from the menu items such as steaks, chicken, enchiladas, salad, pie etc.

Pro's:

Large amount of seating.

Food is pretty good.

Wait time is low-none.

Waitstaff is on average friendly.

Con's:

Service time after ordering is quite slow-expect a 1-1.5 hour stay, without buffet.

Above average expensive for food and location.

Side dishes like macaroni or fries are ridiculously expensive at $2.95 each for a small portion.

Some waitresses will automatically add 18% tip for parties of 6 on a buffet, even if 4 of the 6 are children, and they only service they provide is a tea refill.

The buffet prices are impossible to determine and everchanging depending on your waitress. Adults have a set fee around $7.95, but goes up a dollar if you make more than one trip. There is no posted child buffet charge anywhere. One week we were charged $4.95 per child, the next week it was $8.95/child because they were deemed to have gone up to the buffet more than once. Most visits for our family of 7 for the buffet run $40 without tip, but have ran as high as $80 a couple of times because of the buffet fee variances plus our waitress including an 18% tip for refilling our tea once. One week One waitress lets the little ones 2-3 years or less eat free while other waitresses charge for every child. A set, posted, reasonable fee would be great. In my opinion, no child buffet should ever be above $4.95 as most kids meals are around $3-4 everywhere. I recommend verifying prices with your wiatress before ordering due to the restuarants' huge lack price posting.