I met friends for lunch on Saturday, and it was pretty busy, but we were seated right away at the big table in the back. So happy to discover this lovely cafe that isn't on the other side of town from me. The food is amazing. Seriously. I want to go back for more. The only reason I knocked off a star is due to the service. I don't know if our server was having a bad day, or is just inexperienced. It could be lack of training. We had to ask for water refills, more silverware, and the pancakes were served without syrup, or the side of fruit. I know from experience that serving is a tough job, and multi-tasking is is required. I have confidence it will get better and this doesn't deter me from returning. My Roasted Beet Salad was really, really good and I would get it again. The beets were chopped in small pieces, and the pecans & cranberries made it so flavorful. The blueberry pancakes (Kids Dance Therapy) my grandson had were fantastic. I got a slice of the Russian Honey Cake to go, and it was amazing. It was very moist, and at home I kept closing the clam shell, but then returning for more bites. I realized I had it years ago, from her bakery. I recommend it. There was a guy singing and playing guitar in the front window. Unexpected for a lunch, but much appreciated. Well done, Elena! read more

Fuck yeah! Great service. Great selection and even better variety. Highly recommend. read more

Absolutely wonderful breakfast brunch or lunch place! Cafe Elena's is outstanding I am obsessed this restaurant! This is the third time I have been and every time the food is perfect! The smoothies are delicious too! read more

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Located in a shopping plaza near Kroger, I found this place with a quick Google search for coffee and lunch items. Unfortunately, I arrived at around 1:15p and they had already taken down the Espresso machine for the day. I wasn't in the mood for traditional drip coffee so opted for water instead. The restaurant itself is really cute. It's colorful and welcoming. The menu was varied and I wanted something on the healthier side so went with the Power Mediterranean Bowl. The portion was hearty, filled with a base of quinoa, Cucumber, tomatoes, Feta, and garbanzo beans. I asked for the dressing on the side. It was really a good solid meal. I felt it needed a little salt and pepper, but everything tasted fresh. I would come back to try other items! read more

Cafe Elena - Chicken Mediterranean Power Bowl - Cafes Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

I have been twice. Their bakery is great. I love the atmosphere of this place. I think the first time I ordered I had some pancakes with some sides and I really liked it. This time I ordered an egg skillet and I did not like it. It had an odd taste. I asked for onions, garlic and paprika (from another egg skillet) and none of it was added. The service could have been a little quicker, but they did have 3 people rotating out helping with service. The feta cheese was a little strong for my taste, but there was maybe fennel in it which was too strong as well. The guy next to us send his "Dutch baby" back because he didn't like it. The hash browns were just ok. My girlfriend got a chicken sandwich and said it was good. The menu doesn't have a lot on it, and it was hard to make a decision because not a lot appealed to me. One of the meals for breakfast had baked beans with it which was odd. It was a tad on the pricey side which is fine, but with tip it was a tad over $50 for a coffee, OJ, side of potato's, and sandwich and egg skillet. The lunch menu was limited too. read more

Excellent - great menu and service! Pleasant nicely designed atmosphere, calming playlist, excellent coffee! Will return often. read more

A charming spot for breakfast or lunch, go there, you won't be disappointed! Beautiful food, whole foods prepared uniquely and deliciously. This is a hidden gem that I'm glad I discovered. Great service too! read more

Cafe Elena - Amazing baked goods too! - Cafes Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

An excellent international place for breakfast, brunch or lunch. A varied menu with dishes you don't typically see in a usual restaurant, all super tasty. Will come back for sure! read more

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Very nice service and good food! It is very diner vibes with cute decor. The international food was good as well.

Love the buckwheat pancakes. Fantastic pastries too. Nice variety of entrees for breakfast & lunch.

Absolutely 5/5, 100% recommend grabbing brunch at Cafe Elena. First of all, when you walk in, you notice the open kitchen, colorful walls and upbeat ambiance that makes this a perfect weekend spot. Then there's THE FOOD. We ordered the Russian Grandma and Almond Buckwheat Pancakes, and let me tell you that you can never have too many crepes. The eggs were not dry, the crepes were thin and not too sweet, and the pancakes were delectable (even though they were gluten free and vegan). Our server was working hard and providing us with updates on our food, which we appreciated since we can directly see the kitchen. Overall, a wonderful spot! read more

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Elena is back! If you're from Columbus, you may remember Elena's Speciality Cakes from the Short North. After a storefront hiatus where she decided to only do custom cakes from home, Elena is back serving her amazing desserts, along with breakfast and lunch options. The timing of her new store opening is unfortunate based on the COVID crisis, but you can still support this local business. Order online, or call in. You can pick up your order, or get delivery within 5 miles of the shop. My favorite has always been the Russian Honey Cake. If you're going to order anything, I recommend this in addition to anything else you order. It's so delicious. If you're looking for a custom cake, they also take orders! She does beautiful (and tasty) cakes, or maybe something on the simple side that may not be readily available to order day-to-day. read more

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Cafe Elena's is if I have to choose one word... Scrumptious! I have frequented several times now and I have not been disappointed. Do you know how you get tired of the same old breakfast food and want something new? This is the place to try! They have everything from lemon blueberry ricotta pancakes, to skillet meals, to crepes! Real crepes! They have savory smoked salmon or sweet! And another thing!! They are a local independent business! On some Saturdays they have live music. How fun is that ? I was eating this fabulous smoked salmon eggs benedict and there was an artist singing acoustic Beatles music. How can you go wrong with a brunch like that ? read more

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A must! Whether you live in Columbus or just passing through make sure you stop at Cafe' Elena you will not be disappointed. read more

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Elena offers good food, cozy vibe and good service. I grabbed lunch with my friend there and I ordered pancakes. It was huge, 3 big pancakes. For some reasons I think their pancakes taste better than some places I have had pancakes. It's not soggy and good texture. It's hard to describe but it's different than home made pancakes. This place is pretty small and it was packed while I was there. They also had live music on that day, not sure if it's regular or special event. Customer service was great. People are very friendly. read more

Mediterranean Breakfast!! So good!! Only recommendation is for more hummus. That lil container didn't quench anything lol. Not enough hummus for the veggies or pita. Honestly could have done without the olive oil but that's just me. Shiitake frittata was delectable. Would definitely order again... maybe try one of the other breakfasts.... They have so many options read more

Cafe Elena - Mediterranean Breakfast - Cafes Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

The service workers are so friendly. There's hardly ever a wait. Everything on the menu is super delicious. The place has such a friendly happy atmosphere. read more

Any other cool brunch places to go on the weekend. They have variety of international fusion breakfast: American, British, Russian, etc... And of course they have other breakfast items, such as pancake and crepe. I love the Napoleon. Multiple layer of flaky and fluffy layer, along with the powered sugar and angel cream. Perfect pair to a cup of morning coffee. read more

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OMG!!! My new favorite place! My friend and I shared the Mediterranean plate, California omelette, Nutella crepes, and some cream/strawberry crepe. EVERYTHING was fantastic, and we both have leftovers! I can't wait to return!!! read more

Friendly service and a surprisingly nice interior. Don't judge this place from the outside or it's random location in a shopping center. They have some unique dishes on the breakfast menu and it's very clean and nice inside. read more

Cafe Elena - Cafes Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

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Does not get any better than this!! They are short staffed in a very big way so PLEASE be patient. They have fresh pastries and good home cooked food. They have a decent size menu, and everything is made from scratch. The young lady is learning how to cook and sweeter than pie. We had the angus dumplings with sour cream to go so I devoured it when I got back home. I had the Huevos Rancheros, and my friend had the Chicken Quinoa power bowl. Yummy and definitely GF friendly and Vegan friendly. Love it and will tell everyone about it so get in there! read more

The food is amazing & the atmosphere is quaint. I want to frequent this place but after 3 visits, I can only describe the service as deplorable. Staff are generally rude and curt - from mere arrival to departure and everything in between. read more

Breakfast at Cafe Elena-- really good service. Food was a little disappointing ordered the British Breakfast sorry guys it's not very British they are not Bangers will stick to the All American--. read more

The food is very good. We had the butternut squash soup and the pumpkin pancakes. Atmosphere is nice and staff is super friendly. We enjoyed our lunch. read more

Came during business hours, 30 min before close, was told by the waitress yelling at us across the parking lot that the kitchen was shut down, early, and by the way we decided to clean up the coffee and won't make an expresso drink for you. We would have taken items to go or just an expresso and left to accommodate early close. Did not feel welcome. Won't return. We had planned to bring several parties here but found a lovely place nearby. read more

I want to badly to give 5 stars!!!! The food has exceeded my expectations for any small cafe with breakfast and lunch service. The bakery items are also one of a kind, I can never just pick one. The cuisine is what is really carrying my rating to 3. The service is extremely disappointing and lackluster. We have given Cafe Elenas many tries to enjoy the food, but every time my family and I have been saddened by the staff. We are never greeted, have been forgotten about and haven't gotten a chance to connect and feel comfortable when dining in. If you do plan on trying the delicious food I recommend getting it to go. read more

Cafe Elena - Cafes Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

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When I saw scores of Yelpers reviewing, checking-in, and bookmarking this joint my first thought was that Elena's Specialty Cakes was opening back up as a fusion breakfast spot. That Short North home closed in 2018 so I thought the new place would be there, in the uber-hip neighborhood and I wouldn't get to it in some time being the virus running amuck and parking in the SN just for breakfast is a colossal pain on the booty. Turns out it's just a few blocks from my place. Hooray! Take that Short North! What a happy surprise. Nice backstory about the operators, who describe themselves as a mother-and-daughter duo, Elena and Lana. Elena, the mother, originally started cooking in her native Russia where she was a professional chef and baker at diverse restaurants. She draws on 30 years of diverse culinary experience to forge a unique style, a fusion of several European traditions, now on display now at their Bethel Road spot. It's between Planet Fitness and Dolla Store (yes Dolla Store for the 'r' has been missing its green filling since 1995.) Word of the day for this tasty and tasteful diner: fresh, fresher, uber-fresh! (that's three words, sue me! ) Everything here is very, very fresh. The salmon taste as if it was just fly-fished leaping out of a rapid swirled river. Their fruit has a gorgeous smell as if just plucked from a garden, in the brightest Monetish colors. Nothing here has sat on the shelf for long. It seems to be Elena' signature: the best ingredients for her culinary works of art. I have been lucky to have tried two of her breakfast dishes: the hardy Russian Grandma, and the super fruity Brioche French Toast. These two dished probably represent the poles of the protein to carb spectrum. The Russian was a delicious, tactilely interesting combo that challenges an American's idea of breakfast. For $14 this dish features a hardy buckwheat porridge cooked with milk, two eggs which I had made scrambled, two perfectly cook crepes with super fresh and flavorful smoked salmon topped with cream cheese, and two more of these mouth-watering crepes served with a side of fruit compote. So good, so very good. The Brioche French Toast presents with a lovely, concocted version of the Veinnoiserie pastry dipped in fabulous egg custard. Powered with cinnamon, sugar, fresh (F'n fresh, super duper fresh, fresher than Will Smith fresh) blackberries, beautiful fresh banana slices, juicy Kiwi, and covered with nice warm maple syrup it brings a healthy feel to the otherwise over sweet conventional French toast. Also seen on the menu are pancakes, skillets, soups, sandwiches and crepes--many of interesting combinations. The coffee is serviceable, good to down these scrumptious fusion iterations. Of course, Café Elena has revied its pastries. I brought home a lovely cake piece adorned with a Hershey kiss. It was fabulous. The pace is decked in shiny, pastels colors perfect for brunch and breakfast. The staff is superb. My first trip there they had a folk guitarist serenading the breakfast goers. A great place I am stoked to have in the 'hood. read more

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Great place, great food, and great service. Today was our first time there, and I will be back again. The BlueBerry Lemon Ricotta pancakes were delicious! Can't wait to try more items! read more

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So very good! Great service,fantastic food . Wow you have to try the crepes,my friend had the lemon pancakes sooo good !

In a few short weeks I have been in 3 times! I love the Buckwheat Pancakes and can't explain how amazing they are! The coconut cream has is slightly sweet and complements it so well! Service can be a bit slow because they are always packed BUT the service has never been less than attentive and thorough. This restaurant reminds me of sitting at my grandmas kitchen talking while she cooked up something to feed our souls. Thank you!! True Hidden Gem! read more

Short story - FANTASTIC on every count! Don't be fooled by a drive-by look, the food and bakery at this small cafe rivals any casual breakfast I have had around the world. Our service, buy a trainee no less, was impeccable. Our breakfast was made up of farm fresh ingredients, served piping hot. Check the menu online to see the wide variety of breakfast and brunch food. For children don't pass up the rainbow pancakes in Disco fever. ( They even set off a disco ball when this is ordered. ) Ambiance is quiet, bit I would guess that picks up on busy weekends. You can reserve tables, highly recommended on weekends. Say hello to 2020 founders and chefs Miss Elena and her daughter. They are delightful. Great food and service, reasonable prices, in a clean comfortable space. What more could you ask for? How about Russian honey cake or tiramisu fr the bakery case. I can't wait to get back for those great looking cinnamon rolls. read more

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We have been to Cafe Elena several times in the past and have been very pleased. Unfortunately today was a different experience. We had a reservation and even though we could see that there were tables available to accommodate our party, we were made to wait at least 10 minutes before being seated. The tabletop was dirty,which I ended up cleaning myself. The server came and took drink orders and eventually took our order. She brought no utensils even after bringing the food out. We had to ask for them. The orders came out sporadically. So much so that the person who got the last order had to eat by herself after the rest of us were finished. One order had the wrong bread and the fried potatoes were pretty much raw. They re-did the potatoes. Another order had three fried eggs in a sauce. One of the eggs was basically raw. Another in our party got their order on a plate that was dirty. It looked like some kind of icing on it and the person had ordered eggs and potatoes. The only thing that seemed to go right was paying at the end. Cafe Elena has spent years building a good reputation, but if today's visit was any indication of how things run there,they maybe need to work on some things. read more

We had breakfast there this morning and it was awful!!! Eggs were undercooked (asked for over hard), potatoes were barely warm and pancakes had no taste (buttermilk). Not to mention the service! We understand that many places do not have enough help these days and can be patient, but we at least expect to have what is needed on the table and for someone to show up at the table occasionally. I could have sent my eggs back but at that point I had given up on the food here. I have never reviewed a restaurant before however when you select a eating establishment based on reviews you can expect it to reflect the quality. Made us wonder who is doing these reviews.... read more

My new favorite breakfast place. Plenty of seating. Large menu gives plenty of options for even the picky one in our group. Favorites are the smoked salmon ciabatta and skillets. read more

My daughter and I came for breakfast. The food was good and the atmosphere very nice as well. My daughter ordered the rainbow pancakes. Which were nice and fluffy. We had enough take how which she enjoyed the next day. I had the buckwheat pancakes which were so crispy on the outside and warm on the inside. The coconut and banana gave it a nice fresh taste. The one thing I enjoy about this place is that nothing on the menu is too sweet. I really can't handle recusants that make their food too sweet. read more

Cafe Elena - Rainbow pancakes - Cafes Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

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I'm so glad this restaurant survived the pandemic and brought a new cafe to the Bethel Rd. area. The only reason I didn't give 5 stars is because the front of the house needs someone to make their operations more efficient. I suspect they are under-staffed and that's kind of par for the course right now. Ok, onto the good stuff, the food! I ordered the open face smoked salmon sandwich. It wasn't technically open faced, but who cares!? It was delicious. Just the right mixture of smoked salmon , onion, and some yummy spread. It is served with either a side salad or potatoes, I had both. The potatoes are cubed and fried - crispy! I love fried potatoes and these may be the best I'd ever have had. The salad was a little mix of greens with slices of apple and green pepper. My husband had the California Skillet. His review is it was very good and he also enjoyed my potatoes! Despite the service/operations issues, I'll go back for more - so good! read more

My boyfriend came on a busy Saturday around 11:30 and were told that the wait was around 30min which we were fine with, I didn't have to work until 1. When we were seated, we got our drinks quickly and we took a minute to decide what we were getting. I got the French toast with a side of potatoes, and he got the traditional pancake meal. It felt like we were waiting forever, as there were only two people working in the kitchen during lunch rush, but we didn't think much of it. We finally got our food around 12:40 and quickly ate so I could make it on time. The food was pretty good but it was really discouraging to have waited for the food that long. Other than that, it was an extremely cute little shop with amazing staff. read more

We found this place when I was carb restricted due to gestational diabetes. I had their buckwheat pancakes. And oh my.... they tasted like heaven for someone who was severely missing carbs and not just because of what they were. They were truly delicious. We had take out again a few weeks ago and it lived up to all the hype still. I LOVE this place. The buckeye crepes fabulous. Do yourself a favor and try this place. Only down side is my husband waited awhile to pick up our order (outside how long they said it would take). Don't get turned off by that because honestly it's great. read more

I've been here twice now, and the best thing I have to report is something I don't even eat! Got the beet salad for my mom, and she loved it. I got the lemon ricotta blueberry pancakes, which I would also rate pretty high. Strangely, since I think elena started with a bakery, the desserts have not been the high point for me. The Russian honey cake was different, and I enjoyed it. The tiramisu didn't have quite enough flavor. And the blueberry lavender cake was subpar for me. read more

Been here twice and has established itself as a place we will visit each time we are in Columbus! read more

Cafe Elena - Pancakes are legit! - Cafes Near Me - Columbus, Ohio

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