Columbian Cafe

amazing. more

We went to the Columian Cafe after hearing that it's good, and seeing all the stickers in their window from travel magazines, etc. I'm not sure if they have changed chefs or ownership recently, but our experience was pretty terrible. The chef, Marco, dished out very bland and strangely put together food. The beer bread with jams was great. We ordered cheese toast that had burned cheese (like a credit card) on bread which wasn't even heated all the way through. The wilted spinach salad had no seasoning on it at all. No dressing, no salt, nothing. It came with tomatoes, bleu cheese, and walnuts. The bleu cheese was even bland! For our entrees we ordered the 'mercy' meals, leaving it up to the chef to give us what he thought is the best fish of the day. My husband ordered his with ""medium"" spice. When the food came, his food was SO spicy we couldn't eat it. It was a combination of salmon, halibut, wilted greens, avocado, and pasta with oil. It was truly terrible. All heat, no flavor. We never complain to our server about the food, but we told him it was so spicy we couldn't eat it (and it cost $24!!). He took the food away and returned with a side of SOUR CREAM and a glass of milk and told my husband to put the sour cream on his food. I couldn't believe it. My pasta was bland bland bland. The salmon on it was fine, but really not remarkable, and certainly worth no where near $24. Aside from this, our server was kind but the chef seemed frighteningly arrogant for dishing up such terrible food. We left feeling really peeved that we wasted $60 on a horrible dinner. I would have rather eaten Taco Bell. We love to support local business but this felt like a real rip off. Pros: nice server, nice town Cons: bad bland over priced over spiced food more

This is the only truly vegetarian-friendly eatery in town. Uriah (owner and chef) is bursting at the seams with personality. He is so much fun to watch and listen to. He is the only chef so the food takes a good 45 minutes when he's busy, but the entertainment of listening to Uriah talk to everyone else around makes the time fly. During the wait we were fed beer bread with olive oil to dip in (YUM!) and then came out the garlic bread with Uriah's famous St. Diablo jellies - garlic, jalapeno and cayenne. Delicious!!! We bought 2 jars to take home. Most of the dishes are made with homemade fetuccini which is cut and cooked to order. The main courses we had were disappointing (and expensive). I had the vegetarian Chef's Mercy - I was at Uriah's mercy for whatever he was in the mood to make. This night it was ratatouille which I found bland and odd. My husband had the pasta with some kind of gorgonzola cream sauce. It was pretty good, but again I found it lacked flavor. By the reputation The Columbian has around town, I expected the main courses to be memorably good. But all in all it was a great time and I will definitely return when in town. Pros: Uriah's personality, appetizer breads & jellies Cons: price, bland entrees more

We've eaten here several times and it's consistently excellent. Although, I must admit that each time we eat there we've always ordered the same items since it's so good we crave it. My husband gets the salmon steak and I order the gorgonzola pasta. They make their own noodles to order and use the freshest ingredients. The spinach and gorgonzola salad they serve as a starter is wonderful too. All their breads are homemade. It's a funky little hole in the wall with an eclectic menu, but it's always top quality and has fresh homemade food. Pros: delicious, reasonable, attentive service Cons: little ambiance, eclectic menu more