Just ate here again. For was wonderful. Service was a 10. Waiter was Tyler. Glad this place is here. Jason

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Congratulations guys. It's a cut above the old Eccell. You've got a winner here.

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Agree.

Well..I like the new place. We've gone twice now. I got seafood enchiladss the first time. They came out hard as a rock. Notified the waiter. Replacement plate came out quickly and they were awesome. The explanation was something about too much time under the warmer. Went again for my bday. Got the same thing. Couldn't believe that again parts of it were hard. Waiter said they were having consistency issues with that dish. Again, the refired dish was great. Takeaway lesson. Allow extra time for seafood enchiladas.

ate here last weekend, was packed, but we got a table reserved on Open Table. We were seated right away. Wife had the Bryan Breeze (I think it was) - about as refreshing a mixed drink as I've ever tasted! I had a TX micro on tap - I think it was Adelbert's Hefe. It was a good wheat beer, may have been a hefe, don't remember.

My wife out ordered me as usual. She got the prosciutto/fig pizza...it was AMAZING! I got the chicken bbq tacos - the chicken was on the dry side, but they were still ok. The pizza was more than she could eat though and man was it good. Looking forward to trying some other stuff on the menu.

I'd love it if they had some Karbach on tap or a Saint Arnold's seasonal. Specifically thinking Oktoberfest, then later in the fall / winter a dark TX micro. Maybe already in the plans who knows?

Service was great! The whole place looked fantastic, they have a huge bar as you walk in and we were seated on the south side of the restaurant near some of the largest windows I've ever seen. Very nice.

The best experience we've had inside a building formerly known as "Luby's"! (by far of course) and we will be back.

We have taken this Seafood Enchilada thing very seriously. Particularly because it's such a popular item.

i believe Andreas got it fixed this am. We are going to steam them going forward vs dry heat. Andreas just steamed an order and left it under the heat lamp for a full 15 minutes. They were still soft and quite tasty actually.

So, going forward, this issue should be gone unless a cook still in the habit of dry heat slips one past us, but I doubt it because we're retraining starting now.

thank you for your valuable feedback

It is really refreshing to see that kind of response from a business owner.

I'm really interested in trying the new Cafe Eccell but I have questions that the website couldn't answer. For one, the PDF of the brunch menu was unavailable. I clicked and clicked, but no PDF ever tried to download. The PDF for the dinner menu took 6 minutes (and I have the highest speed I can get from SuddenLink). I've never seen a PDF for a menu take that long.

The hours of the restaurant aren't listed anywhere. Do you guys still serve lunch, or is it just brunch on weekends? I'm also trying to find out if there are any kid-friendly options.

I took my girlfriend there for her first time last night for her girlfriends birthday and I can honestly say that was the first time I went to Eccell and wasn't pleased... In fact I was severely disappointed in our visit. There were definitely good things about the visit, however the bad things left a very bad taste in my mouth. Which sucks because it was my favorite restaurant in town.

The following reasons are for my disappointment.

1) For trying to have a romantic-ish birthday dinner, we were placed in the middle of the back room surrounded by other tables. I much preferred the nook atmosphere of the previous location. However, I can understand with a larger location and the need to open things up.

2) I ordered a dirty vodka martini (which in the past were fantastic) and it came out short on the pour.. which typically is fine because I think the glasses were bigger, however it tasted like it was gin, or there was way too much vermouth and no olive brine in it at all. I made mention to the waiter that I was unsatisfied with my drink and he said he would try to fix it on the next one. I ordered another one, hoping that this time the bar would get it correct and it was even worse. It was a weird combination of sweet/gin and I once again voiced my displeasure in the drink and the waiter did nothing. Not wanting to cause a scene, I just forced it down.

3) We ordered the Caesar salad and when it came out it looked great, however the salad contained the head/stem of the lettuce and we had to cut it off so we could get more greens. Not the end of the world, but would rather not have to do that.

4) We ordered a split of the seafood enchiladas as they are typically fantastic, however as previous posters had mentioned they were hard and not very good. I typically will wolf down the entire platter but I wasn't interested.

So as you can see any one of these things are pretty minor, however when you couple it with trying to show my gf a great restaurant in town and they all happen... my visit was not so bueno.

However! I will say, outside of those things the staff was friendly, the place is very nicely decorated. I liked the TV placement. Enough to keep track of a football game, but not too much to overwhelm the guests. The Mediterranean appetizer was fantastic as always and the water with lemon was good.

Hopefully I came across constructively and this feedback will help yall out! Have a good one.

To answer....
1) We open daily at 11am. That is listed on the bottom of the web page.
2). There is no bona fide brunch menu yet, hence the tab not working. We are working with web guys to update that.
3). We do however have "brunch features" on the weekend to compliment our Bloody Mary Bar. Last week's feature was a Basilico Scrambler, which was scrambled with roasted garlic, asparagus tips, sausage, premium mozzarella, roasted red bells, DMC goat cheese and pesto on a bed of poblano mashers.
4). We do have kids items, although they aren't on the menu. Pizza, pasta, chicken nuggets and a corn dog.
5). We are working to compress the native file for the menu so that it won't be so large to download.

regarding dirty martini
*I apologize we didn't get you a drink that made you happy. I suggest if something like that ever happens not only at our restaurant, but any, to ask for the manager. I say that because the manager is much more equipped to make things perfect for you than the server. In fact, that server should have told the manager him/herself as that's an obvious red flag, which exposes your server's inexperience.

Bottom line. ...if you ever have an issue that needs resolution, feel free to ask for management. We will do our best to make you happy. We work for the customers, that's who makes our paychecks. For us, this a marathon, not a sprint. We believe if we satisfy our clientele that it will pay us back dividends for a long time!

thank you meezermom and Montana!

A restaurant owner that responds without getting confrontational.
How refreshing!
Congrats on the new digs.

Thank you gopitt. We are very, very, very happy and feel blessed to be here. We were very limited to make the improvements and updates we wanted in the old space. One door closes and another one opens I suppose!

SMH

Cafe Eccell and Paolo's are getting hammered over on Yelp. I went to both after they opened and my experiences were positive. I think (wonder?) that people seem harsher on new/re opening restaurants than they did a few years ago.

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A restaurant owner that responds without getting confrontational.
How refreshing!
Congrats on the new digs.

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This can't be stressed enough. Our community has a great new addition to the local restaurant scene. Now, along with Christopher's, Madden's, The Republic, and Veritas, we have the new Cafe Eccell. It's a welcome addition to the local restaurant scene.

hey coasta..

can you email me? I have a question bout something
darrin@avalonweddingsbcs.com

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over on Yelp

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There's your problem. I think Yelp is worse than useless.

Yes and no...or maybe. Over there you have the opinions of people from all over, not just locals. Over here, you have places with strong local followings...or whatever the opposite of that is. I wouldn't argue that either Yelp or this board gives a wholly accurate picture of a restaurant's qualities.

Cafe Ecell got a black eye over their departure from North gate. I am glad to see they were able to find a home at the old Lubys. Many restaurants don't survive that type of change. I am also glad to see they have moved past that controversy and regaining their good reputation.

Not sure how I got the scared face emoticon

So Costa, do I look at the dinner menu to find the items I want to eat when I come in for lunch? Now that I know you do have kids items, I'll definitely be bringing the family! And thanks for answering my questions - I am impressed that you guys take the time to show how much you care. It is truly appreciated - I waited tables for years and love the restaurant business, but around here, bad management and service do seem to abound. You guys are a touch of class around here!

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So Costa, do I look at the dinner menu to find the items I want to eat when I come in for lunch? Now that I know you do have kids items, I'll definitely be bringing the family!

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We brought our 8mo baby and she ate lamb, however, it's also in her blood to eat lamb

I really liked the coziness of the old Caf Eccell, I remember going there on cold winter nights back in the 90's, but, the new place is way better on so many levels.

We finally went for lunch today. I miss the quaint cozy feel of the old place but can't say anything bad about the new one. Our food was great, waitress was good and everyone around us (aside from one table of impossible to please people) had wonderful things to say.

We will definitely be back and will likely be in more often than we were in at the old place. And kudos for your choice in high chairs.

Meezermom,

We have one menu, which is to say lunch and dinner are the same. We recently began our brunch features on the weekend as well. I have five kids so I fully understand the importance of having kids' offerings!

So they say,

Thanks on the high chairs. I like them too. In fact, we used one for our 1 yr old last night! I actually got to sit and eat with my wife and 3 of my kids last night. Everything was great except our pastry chef on duty forgot to put bourbon sauce on our Kentucky Creme Brulee. I guess human error occurs no matter who is dining lol!

thanks!

Wife and I enjoyed a good dinner last night at the bar. Chicken penne and bbq chicken pizza were excellent. Many thanks to Cody's recommendations. We'll definitely be back.

It still boggles my mind that where we were sitting is where is used to get my fresh fish and okra at Luby's. Very impressed with the work done to convert it from a cafeteria style restaurant.