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Michael Paulson : 29-95
Empire Café is a hipster-magnet coffeehouse whose main draw is dessert. The cake selection here is extensive, so if you're planning on starting a diet, do it tomorrow. Mondays are very popular at Empire Café because it's Half-Price Cake Day. They serve actual meals and stuff, but frankly who gives a damn? If you want dinner there are plenty of other spots nearby that have better food. The patio is an excellent spot for people-watching, thanks to its garden-like setting and prime location in Westheimer's antiques zone. Despite the Old World décor inside, it's not so formal that you have to remember to keep your elbows off the table. But don't talk with your mouth full. That's just nasty.
Want to fit in? Wear secondhand clothes, listen to bands no one has ever heard of and get offended when people brand you a hipster.
tracys
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Layla Amber
Robert Boyd
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Don't go here for breakfast/brunch. I have not tried it at other times, but the breakfast was hugely disappointing. The eggs were overcooked and not seasoned. The fruit is boring, not ripe and uninspired. The hashbrown cake was, again, bland and lacked any sort of appealing texture. The coffee was ok.
I have been going here for years. I always LOVE the tollhouse crunch cake and a good cup of coffee! But DON'T go here for breakfast!!! Huge line and it honestly is not good breakfast, you would be better off making something at home. (unless you like sub-par fruit and greasy bacon)
Beware the high Outer-Loop D/B count on weekends. Generally speaking, this group does not know how to drive or park, so be very very careful!!
Best things here include mochas, dessert, and almost any daily special offered (soup, salad, pizza, etc.). I rarely order off of the actual menu and just go with the daily special.
Also - during happy hour, any drink gets a free app thing, although not of your choice, just whatever is available. Most times I go, it's something with mushrooms and cheese. Actually, every time that I've been for happy hour. Hmm.
This place has the best minestrone soup in Houston. No joke. All fresh delicious vegetables. None of that out of the can action. And if it is out of the can, they did an absolutely excellent job of fooling me, and it gets me every time. If I am not mistaken, a cup of it(with some delicious bread that I personally dip into the soup) is about $3. Maybe a quarter of two more. They also have good pizza. AND GREAT CAKE!
Actually, I think the food is some of the best in the area. Brunch is great too, if you don't mind standing in line. Which I don't, because then you can admire the cakes while you're waiting.