Stayed at the nearby and excellent Southbridge Hotel, but didn't want to eat at the hotel restaurant. Saw the Yelp reviews and decided to try it. A little hard to find, but well worth the trouble. Food is traditional diner fare, but it was hot, fresh, and delicious. Portions were generous but not ridiculous. I got the 3 egg scrambler and my wife got an egg sandwich with the delicious homemade hash. Make sure to try their homemade hot sauces, but watch out for the habanero pineapple - it is delicious but liquid fire. Service was fast, attentive, and friendly. We are already looking for excuses to return to the area. read more

This place isn't easy to find, but worth the search. Seems to be family run, and all the food is home-made. They have a great selection of sandwiches and fantastic service. I'm glad we ran into this little cafe. read more

Been wanting to check this place out and so glad we did this morning. Great service followed by fresh, hot and very yummy breakfast. The portions were huge and we left very full. Great family run business. read more

Oh my god, this place. I can't decide if I'm happy or sad that I don't live closer (happy because I would weigh 500 pounds if I lived closer) We had breakfast here when we were in the area for a wedding. The other reviews are correct that it's a bit hidden, but what a quaint place in a quaint town! There were several obvious locals at the counter, and all the servers were SO nice, even with our toddler having a grand old time chucking things around the restaurant..! You'd better come here on an empty stomach- the portions are huge! I was intrigued by both the brown sugar and oatmeal 'fatcakes', and I asked if I could combine the two. They happily obliged and man, what a combination of textures and flavors! The dough was a bit tangy, reminiscent of a sourdough, the brown sugar sweetened it up, and the oatmeal made it delightfully crunchy. I also ordered a side of their homemade hash, and it was AMAZING. Tons of shredded corned beef brisket. I wish I could have finished it all! My toddler finished her entire order of sausage (yep, that's all she wanted for breakfast) and that is quite a feat! We will be back any time we take a road trip to Boston for sure! read more

This place is such a hidden gem. I loved the atmosphere when I walked in. Lots of space. Booths to sit in. You can actually watch the cooks make your food. I ordered the eggs benedict with hash browns. It was delicious. I will be back very soon! read more

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First time visiting. Food was great, portions very big. The breakfast chili bowl was great. Also, homemade hash!!! Put this place on our short list! read more

This is my new favorite breakfast spot!!! The food was so good and such a huge amount! I love when a restaurant wants to fill you up. I got the Irish Benedict, my usual go to at a breakfast place, and this was THE BEST! I gave the chef a thumbs up when I was able to catch his eye. Sooooo good.... I forgot to take a picture until half way done. I ended up taking the rest home. Doggie bags at breakfast? Yes please! My husband and friend, two big guys, got the lumberjack special and neither one could finish it. I've NEVER seen that happen before. Can't wait to come back! read more

Elm Centre Cafe - Irish Benedict. AMAZING!!! - Diners Near Me - Southbridge, Massachusetts

Came on a Monday morning for breakfast. Food was good (cooks do a great job!) but what really was impressive to me was that our server Riley, did an amazing job multitasking! The restaurant was packed and the phones were ringing off the hook yet she kept her cool and took care of it all with patience and grace! Great job Riley!!! read more

Very good breakfast spot close to home. The portions are huge and you never leave hungry. The place is small but all the employees know the routine and no one is running into each other.... and everyone there is extremely friendly. One thing I will say... be prepared for a wait on the weekends read more

Consistently creative and delicious meals, friendly, speedy service and great prices.

I love this place. Great owner and great food. The service is bar none. We go at least twice a week.

Had the bbq bacon cole slaw dog special, that was great!! The fries were a bit too overcooked for my taste. Friendly service even though they were busy during lunch rush. read more

Small cute breakfast place. Amazing pancakes. Homemade home fries were delicious! Staff was attentive and friendly. Definitely will be back

Excellent little place we found by chance (Thanks, Yelp). Both my husband and I loved our breakfast choices. The hash is sooo good!

This place is cozy. The food is tasty and the service is great! The map is wrong on how to get here. The back door is down the alley across the street from the Fire Department. It took me forever to find this place, but it was worth it in the end! The pancakes and hashbrowns are the best. read more

I really enjoy this place with the homey atmosphere. Really good food and the prices are fair.

every Friday morning i meet friends here for breakfast great food /service Friendly atmosphere. Big portions

Excellent breakfast!! Fresh food, i.e. fresh corn beef hash!! Coffee beans ground here!! Very friendly service. Plain decor but who cares about that. Real old fashion luncheonette. Highly recommend read more

This place can get pretty busy, but the wait is worth it. The veggie omelette is amazing, sautéed veggies with flavors that are out of this world. The shredded potatoes are so flavorful. They make mickey pancakes for the kids too. Staff is friendly and work as a team so you never wait long to get refills or extra napkins, etc. They have a variety of specials on the weekends. It's the families new 'go to'. The food is really different and not expected at a diner. So full of flavor it's hard to explain. I've never been for lunch. They also just added lots of muffins, yummy on the grill! read more

Good portions, friendly and fast service. Do not do a food delivery service here. However I believe you can call in your food and pick it up. Great find. read more

Tucked around the corner of the Southbridge Savings Banks, the Elm Centre Cafe is a totally modest hidden gem. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but the service is incredibly friendly, the egg sandwich is on point (eggs, sausage, and bulky roll all the same diameter for maximum excellence per bite), and the hash is well executed. Head in before 8:30 on weekday mornings for inexpensive early bird specials. read more

Elm Centre Cafe - Front: Homemade hash, scrambled eggs with cheese, homefries, sourdough toast | Back: Sausage, egg, and cheese on a bulky roll and hashbrowns - Diners Near Me - Southbridge, Massachusetts

Oh god yes! This place is amazing. The pancakes are the size of a plate and the home fries are great. The coffee is hit or miss, but it's a small complaint on an otherwise excellent restaurant. I would recommend elm centre over any other restaurant or cafe in Southbridge or Sturbridge. My girlfriend and I go just about every Saturday. Give this place a chance! read more

Stopped there for breakfast based on the recommendation of the front desk clerk at the Southbridge Hotel. Food was excellent, service was great. Highly recommend. read more

I look forward to coming back. This is an old-fashioned diner in a small town with excellent food. Exit the interstate and get over here -- this place is only about five minutes off of the Interstate and was a fantastic breakfast. Hit this joint on a drive from Boston to Greenwich CT. Since this is a classic diner in the truest sense of the term, I went with the two-egg scrambler, mixing in cheese and onions. Also had the biscuits and gravy, and a side of bacon. Yum. The biscuits and gravy are good enough to be served in the South, and the scrambler and bacon were extraordinary. This is not a place that looks deluxe from the outside, but the people inside are very freindly and the cook is superb. It was great to stop and take a native son of Masschusetts to a diner he'd never been to (and who also raved). I loved the atmosphere and the chalk board contest for free breakfast for eating seven of their pancakes -- not for me . . . but charming eccentricity. This place should be on tv. I look forward to stopping here again. Thank you to all Yelpers for telling me how to get here. It is in the BACK right next to the red brick Southbridge Town Hall, and across from the fire department. read more

2nd visit today and will be back next time I visit the area! Great menu and specials with unique and delicious offerings! Kudos to the chef and the waitstaff who are friendly, pleasant & efficient. read more

Ended up here on a whim after reading a few reviews on this place...so glad we did. The food was amazing, the staff were incredible and the prices were better than reasonable. Can't say enough good things about this place. Ordered a few plates to mix and match...the home fries, the pancakes, and the sausage/bacon were all delicious. One of the cooks also makes his own hot sauce, which he bottled for us to take home. The homemade BBQ sauce, pineapple jabeñero sauce, and smoky bacon jalepeño sauce are unreal. Highly recommend this place. read more

The best breakfast around! Although it can be quite busy on the weekends, Elm Centre is worth the wait! Everyone is always so friendly and the place is always clean. The chorizo hash is to die for! Excellent specials every weekend. This is always my go to for breakfast any day of the week. read more

Really good little breakfast spot. A little tricky to find as its not really visible from the road, but really friendly staff, and really good food! A specials board loaded with all kinds of interesting breakfast specials....trust me when I say only order one pancake! They're mammoth, fluffy and outrageously good! The Omelets looked really good too! All in all a win!! read more

Elm Centre Cafe - The special...coconut double chocolate chip pancakes....amazing!!!! - Diners Near Me - Southbridge, Massachusetts

Just had breakfast here, going off of good reviews. The people were nice. The food was plentiful, but not very yummy. Huge pancakes that were undercooked. Scrambled eggs overcooked. burnt hashbrowns. I wouldn't want to return. read more

Very ordinary except for monstrous pancakes (if you're into that). Ordinary diner fare- not like the reviews stated. Ordinary bacon.

The Elm Centre Café is a great find in Southbridge, MA. It's a well run place with friendly staff and exceptional food. We come for breakfast and never leave hungry. If you are looking for something not on the menu, run it by the wait staff and they will see if it can be done for you. The specials are always interesting and tempting! The place is clean, comfy and the food is to die for. What more could you want? read more

They were friendly through the whole meal and the food came out super quickly, despite it being pretty busy! The bacon was cooked perfectly, the pancakes were average (but huge) and the eggs (both scrambled and omelet) were DELICIOUS! read more

the best Eggs Benedict i have had in a very long time. we stumbled upon Elm Centre Cafe by accident and we were really glad we did! service was great, too! read more

This our go-to breakfast spot, never a long wait even when they are busy. Food is consistently good & specials are always amazing. Price is average, maybe a tad high for breakfast. Would definitely recommend this place to anyone in the area. read more

This was our first tone going to this place. I heard good things about it so I decided to check it out and see what I think. The first thing I noticed its a very busy place. The service was decent. The food was definitely good no complaints. We got 2 omelets with 1 pancake 2 glasses of orange juice for 28$ I thought it was a bit overpriced compared to fidels restaurant. Overall not to bad. read more

YOU NEED TO GO HERE!! My family & I were only passing through on a trip to Maine, and got lucky to find this precious gem! Not only are the ladies here complete sweethearts, the food was AMAZING. Pancakes as big as the plate! I am hoping we are able to stop again on our way back home. read more

Used to be one of my favorite restaurants ever, so just consider that as this review continues. The food is great however the service is horrendous. On multiple occasions when there's a wait we've been told to wait, no problem, but the staff forced us to wait outside in the cold. This wouldn't be nearly as offensive if this "fire regulation" applied to everyone. On multiple occasions, miraculously, people who seemed to be friends of the staff got to wait inside while we waited outside. Again on various occaisions while we tolerated a long wait, friends of the staff somehow magically got seats right away. It was so blatant and obvious and wildly disrespectful. At one point I attempted to bring this to the attention of a staff or manager and I waited at the counter for ten minutes, attempting to make eye contact while employees actively avoided me. We left and are not planning to ever come back. It's really not that hard to treat your guests with respect rather than second class citizens who don't deserve the time of day. It's not like this was a rare occurrence it probably happened half a dozen tines. Completely done with this place. read more

This is our go to breakfast place, they have good coffee and the service is top notch. Three waitresses and one young man going around cleaning up and making sure everything is good. The have two men on grill and one helping with sides, toast,muffins etc. If I order eggs easy over ,I get easy over. The portions are generous and their home fries are perfectly cooked, crisp on outside ,soft inside with nice seasoning of onions. They fix any thing immediately, I received hash browns instead of home fries and they put a bowl in front of me immediately. They have a white board with many creative specials that I try occasionally. Prices are average and there is hardly ever a wait since they have quite a bit of seating. It's a great place to eat! read more

Excellent food always something new on the board wait staff and owner treats everyone like family. What a great place

If you're from out of town, it's easy to miss if you follow your GPS. It's in the back of an office building. And, we pulled in through a poorly marked one way driveway. The sign is on the side of the building and you can't see it until you've already pulled in. That's not the restaurants fault. Just thought I'd mention it. Anyhoo, you wanna know about the FOOD. It was excellent. The service was good and virtually everyone seemed to know each other. Normally, if you're the one person that doesn't seem to know everyone, it's awkward. Not here. Everybody here was super nice. Including today's breakfast buddy. If I overheard correctly, I think his name was Roland. Anyway, get there. We had omelettes but, our new friend spoke about the place as if it were a local legend. Meat loaf and fish and chips were suggested. We're not too far away so, I'm sure we'll be back. read more