Downtown Café - Luxembourg

I’ve seen a number of negative reviews about Downtown Cafe but I have to say my visit was a very pleasant experience. My only comment is they put enough toppings on my bagel that it was messy to eat, but considering the extra toppings it was worth it. We visited on a Sunday and it was very busy but I have no complaints about the visit.

Just good and efficient service is missing....otherwise 5/5 star atmosphere

We had two cakes. To be honest we had better cakes in our lives. They were pretty dry and overall unimpressive. However the service was really good. The waitresses were lovely and helpful.

I had the downtown brunch with the avocado toast that was literally just a halved avocado on top of tough oil-soaked bread. No salt. Very difficult to eat. The “poached” egg was completely hard. I added one star because my companions enjoyed their food the service was good.

We arrived on a Sunday morning, sometime around 10 or 11. The place was deserted. My partner ordered the scrambled eggs with bacon and I ordered the regular fried eggs with bacon and the American pancakes with maple syrup. All these arrived rather quickly, to my surprise as getting sunny side up eggs, scrambled eggs, two orders of bacon AND pancakes usually takes a wee while. We quickly found out why. The scrambled eggs were chewy curds of something indescribable served with two leathery slices of stripy bacon and lukewarm toasted bits of brown bread, and for some curious reason, they were served in a bowl. No salt and pepper on the tables, no condiments and not even butter. Kinda weird for a Sunday brunch, right? Pictured above was my order: the fried eggs with bacon and the American pancakes with maple syrup . The egg yolks looked and tasted like they 'd been microwaved instead of fried, we had to ask for salt and pepper and butter, which was unsalted. The pancakes were even worse: hard on the outside, half frozen on the inside. When I questioned one of the staff, she brought the plate back to the kitchen where I saw the chef literally stick those hard little flaps back in the microwave. I said no thanks and asked for a refund on the pancakes, which, to be fair, I got. Maybe they 're understaffed. Maybe their chef quit. When we went inside, the place was empty and the only reason we were there in the first place was because Gruppetto was full and all the tables reserved. It 's a shame. They have a decent looking menu. The location is great. There is potential. Just the way that the ingredients were cooked was horrible. I should have read the reviews first. Oh yes and their WiFi is WEIRD. It 's supposedly free but a lot of perfectly innocent websites/search engines were blocked or inaccessible for no clear reason. And note to the restauranteur/owner: never, EVER, EVER call something American pancakes and serve it with Grade A dark Canadian Maple Joe maple syrup. It 's an insult. Like serving a boiled Mettwurst in Luxembourg or putting blue cheese on a poutine in Montréal. If you 're going to serve pancakes, they have to be made fresh and pick a better brand of maple syrup. You can get very decent maple syrup at Lidl, especially the Bio stuff. That liquid ink that was served in a tiny bowl next to the frozen powdered panflaps could best be described as pig treacle. I 've had better breakfasts served at my college canteen. This was a car crash of a restaurant experience.