The Coffee Shop Cafe

Location: 1005 Highway 84, McGregor, TX 76657
840-2027
http://www.thecoffeeshop.us/

Hours: M-Sat, 6:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.; Sun., 6:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.

Ability to Loiter During Lunch: 6/10
Quality Rating (scale of 1-10): 7/10
Value Rating (scale of 1-10): 7/10
Staff Rating (scale of 1-10): 7/10

Recommended Items: chicken fried steak, various daily buffets

“Off the Menu” Items:

Health Conscious Selection(s): salad bar

Review:

The Coffee Shop Café, located on Highway 84 in McGregor, is one of the more famous restaurants in the area. A favorite of celebrity area residents like President Bush and Jessica Simpson, this restaurant has been serving up great food for years. Previously owned by Sammy Citrano, it is currently operated by his brother, Donald Citrano, who is carrying on with the successful formula that made this restaurant a hit.

The menu offers a number of excellent selections and appetizers, including the chicken-fried steak, which is one of the tastier versions in the area. The thing that drives the success of this restaurant, however, is its buffet. Whether it is the weekend breakfast buffet, the daily lunch or evening buffet, the Thursday night fajita and enchilada buffet, or the Friday night catfish buffet, The Coffee Shop knows how a buffet should be done. Offering several meat selections, homemade vegetables and sides, chips with queso and salsa, and other savory treats, the lunch buffet is a great bargain, even if it does leave you stuffed and unable to get much work done in the afternoon! For the health conscious, they also offer a very good salad bar with a wide selection of items on it. To top things off, the buffet comes with the desert of the day, which is always a tasty way to finish the meal.

The wait staff are friendly and welcoming, and the restaurant is clean and inviting. The photographs of celebrity visitors and various knick-knacks on the wall add to the experience and give The Coffee Shop the feel of a true, family-owned country restaurant.

It’s a bit of a drive for those in Waco to make it for lunch, but if you have the time, you won’t come away disappointed. The Coffee Shop is worth the investment, both in time and in calories.