About Us
Cuban-Spanish-American Cuisine in a Bistro Setting.
We prepare our dishes from scratch with healthy ingredients. Vegetarian options–non-dairy and gluten-free. http://ow.ly/exLg9
Carmen's Cafe was named Best Kept Secret in Metroland Magazine's Best Of Issue. http://ow.ly/ixH0j, and Best Cuban, BEst Breakfast and Best
Carmen's Café was founded with the idea that people need an easy, attractive place to gather; fresh, tasty wholesome food at reasonable prices; and interesting art, ideas and entertainment to feed their bodies and souls.
We enjoy the fine art of conversation and delight in our customers making new friends, trading the latest about their lives, and finding jobs, apartments, or new things to do.
Carmen is Cuban-Puerto Rican. She cooks the food she grew up with, what she tasted while visiting relatives and friends in Spain and on the Islands. It's a mix of Cuban, Spanish, American and more. We cook it all fresh with healthy ingredients. We always have vegetarian options-- call about out nondairy and gluten free foods.
Sign up for our email list at carmenscafe@nycap.rr.com for announcements.
We host private parties and cater. Call for details.
Saturday & Sunday 9-4
In the summer, we are at the outdoor Troy Waterfront Farmer's Market on Saturdays
The products and services we offer
Recommendations Received (9)
"Fantastic Sunday brunch!"
"Great people, great food, always a welcoming and enjoyable experience. Jim is also a fantastic..."
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"Great people, great food, always a welcoming and enjoyable experience. Jim is also a fantastic craftsman."
Products & Services
Cuban-American food in a conversational setting. Available for private parties and events during the week and on weekend evenings.
In addition to takeout and delivery, our outdoor seating is open. We also cater offsite, and host private parties with custom menus on evenings an...
Eating al fresco can be beautiful and comfortable as well as delicious! Wee've redesigned our outdoor seating, making it as pretty as our indoors—...
Recommendations Given (15)
"Francelise is a wonderful artist with a great sense of color, texture and form. Her collage/..."
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"Francelise is a wonderful artist with a great sense of color, texture and form. Her collage/ tapestries are exquisite and a joy to behold."
"A great idea performed very well by
Amy! We are proud to be a part of Taste of Troy Tours."
Recent Activity
It's all about making a relationship with your customers. How you do this depends a lot on the way you present your business. You can do specials, cook to order, meal deals, friendly service— whatever it is, make sure it fits you and the way you work. Insincere never plays well. Then make...
(more)
It's all about making a relationship with your customers. How you do this depends a lot on the way you present your business. You can do specials, cook to order, meal deals, friendly service— whatever it is, make sure it fits you and the way you work. Insincere never plays well. Then make sure your staff are on board and you never back off it. Consistency pays.
That said, front-of-house staff are critical They are how almost everyone knows your restaurant. Put a lot into training them, making sure they are up to speed, and letting them know you care about them. Make sure they treat everyone right.
While overfeeding and overstaffing seem obvious, you aren't telling us the details:
What are the average local prices for the first case? And was that restaurant hitting low or medium on the local scale (it sure isn't batting for the high end)? Do they get a lot of lumberjacks as customers,...
(more)
While overfeeding and overstaffing seem obvious, you aren't telling us the details:
What are the average local prices for the first case? And was that restaurant hitting low or medium on the local scale (it sure isn't batting for the high end)? Do they get a lot of lumberjacks as customers, folks who expect and can eat a six egg breakfast?
In the second case, was there an event nearby? Were some of the staff being trained? Was it just before or after a rush?
I used to use Canvas, but it's no longer supported on a Mac. Now I use InDesign, because we had a graphic designer set it up— really, I just edit, which is a great way to learn the program.
I've heard bad things about Publisher— huge files, not a big user base so it's difficult for many to...
(more)
I used to use Canvas, but it's no longer supported on a Mac. Now I use InDesign, because we had a graphic designer set it up— really, I just edit, which is a great way to learn the program.
I've heard bad things about Publisher— huge files, not a big user base so it's difficult for many to open the native files.
When I think about it that way, not much. We all try hard in a cutthroat business with small margins.
I do a lot better when I think about what I love about the business, and try to make more of that. When I think about how it's a service business, and I get off serving people, and when I...
(more)
When I think about it that way, not much. We all try hard in a cutthroat business with small margins.
I do a lot better when I think about what I love about the business, and try to make more of that. When I think about how it's a service business, and I get off serving people, and when I think about how to make people more happy. When I do that, there's no competition. When I do that, I am a lot happier and so are the folks around me.
That's what we do. In our local Farmer's Market, homemade is encouraged. You can get a lot of experience before you hit the big time. You can get paid (the best money you'll make, per unit) to find out how people like it, who buys, how to approach your market, how to tweak the recipe. Beats...
(more)
That's what we do. In our local Farmer's Market, homemade is encouraged. You can get a lot of experience before you hit the big time. You can get paid (the best money you'll make, per unit) to find out how people like it, who buys, how to approach your market, how to tweak the recipe. Beats paying a focus group!
In our state, that's all possible under our restaurant license and inspection, until we sell more than 50% of our product (vs. total restaurant sales). If we sell in someone else's store, we need an approved label. We don't need other inspections, etc., unless we set up a separate facilityor corporation or sell more than half or use a copacker (and then it's usually the copacker's license).
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