TL;DR: Cute little cafe in Saint Paul University. They sell breakfast and lunch items and baked goods. Their brownies and banana bread are so rich and moist. Their Pasta Thursdays are a good deal. A container of pasta for only $8.
Cafe Urban is run by the catering company The Urban Element. The cafe is inside Saint Paul University, but is open to the public. It's in the basement of the Guigues Building. It's been there since 2013 but I only recently learned about it.
It's only open on weekdays and serves breakfast and lunch (not open for dinner). They also have a selection of baked goods. Their lunch specials are reasonably priced at $12 and the menu changes weekly. Pasta Thursdays are only $8.
I've had a few of their baked goods and my overall assessment of them is rich and moist, lol. Almost too decadent for me, haha. The brownie is so dense and chocolatey. The banana bread melts in your mouth. My mom loves this kind of baking and in fact she calls my baking "diet desserts" and asks "where's the sugar? And "where's the fat?" Mom would approve of the baked goods at Cafe Urban. They are much too rich and a bit too sweet for me, but I realize I'm in the minority with my tastes ;)
I've also had the Chicken and Linguine Puttanesca as part of their Thursday Pasta special. It was very flavourful but a bit too rich in oil for me.
Service is lovely. Staff are very pleasant.
There is seating in the university building, cafeteria style.
There's parking on the university campus, but you have to pay for it ($1.25/20 minutes, max $11.25/day). We just parked for free on the street.
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