MFA Cafè

Unless you know the area really well, THIS is the ONLY restaurant within walking distance from the museum, so grin and enjoy this high-​priced mess as the ultimate tourist trap. For reasons only the MFAH can explain, they replaced the beloved, moderately-​priced and family-​friendly menu of Café Express with this overpriced adventure. If my bland Caesar salad and chocolate ice cream ranks as «Northern Italian,» something got lost in translation. Actually, most of the menu is nothing like what you’d find in a real Italian restaurant.
Hint: Italians don’t view salads as an entrée – that’s more an American thing. «Sliders» doesn’t translate; neither do hamburgers in the American sense. Ice cream is distinctly American; where’s the gelato? Huge fail.
Along with borderline long wait times, there’s little to love about the MFAH Café. Please, please don’t try to call the food here «Northern Italian.»

This café was a dump when it was café express, and now remains a dump with but a new name. My experience at MFA Café was unpleasant to say the least. I had been excited to give this place a try when I heard that the museum was finally ditching that gross café express and opening a new «elegant» and higher-​end café. Fruit we ordered tasted as if it was sitting in the fridge for two weeks, mac n cheese looked exactly like boxed kraft mac n cheese, tables all around us were covered with dirty dishes and trash. My salad was ok. When I asked the food runner about the iced coffee I never received she said «You need to pick it up at the counter where you ordered.» Gee, thanks. I went back and waited at the counter and ALL of the workers ignored me and continued making drinks for other customers, I felt like a ghost. Finally she poured the coffee with a couple of ice cubes and when I asked if she could add milk, she said «The milk is on that counter right behind you.»

OK. clean and quiet. Most of the customers are going to the museum. I would expect the pizza would be much better. Design in line with the museum.

I guess it’s been awhile since I’ve been to the MFAH! They used to have a Café Express here in this spot and I kind of miss it. This place is more minimalistic. Kind of sparse but tasteful. I guess ideal for an art museum! I didn’t know what to order so I ordered a small pizza which was about $ 8. More than enough to feed two people but nothing really spectacular! They also have paninis and a pretty good selection of pasta dishes and salads. So the fare is generally Italian but nothing to write home about.
The staff was generally friendly and attentive and I suspect a lot of them were part time college students.
I do miss Café Express though. I guess the rent was too high or something.
But if you’re visiting the art museum and looking for a quick bite this place is ok.

Beautiful atmosphere, amazing coffee and truffles. Great coffee stop for museum visitors and anyone who is passing by

Best authentic italian coffee place! Art, elegance and best atmosphere! A place I will come back and recommend it to all my friends!

I go to this café multiple times a week and I love it! The owners are delightful and always spark up a conversation. I usually get a panini, the Pesto is incredibly fresh and it is a very reasonable price. Also, THE COFFEE. Their coffee and tea is delicious, they are also quite talented at latte art – must be the close proximity to the MFAH. It’s the perfect place for a casual meal in the Museum District, I recommend exploring the art afterwards.

I recently discovered that the mfah has remodeled the restaurant and they don’t have a café express anymore. I’ve been to this place a couple times and I already love it. I tried the pizza with prosciutto and arugula and it was honestly one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had in the US. It reminded me of home (Italy).
I tried their special which was a grilled salmon and it was good as well. The service was friendly and fast, especially considering that they get very busy during lunch time.
I will come back.
Even though the main entrance of the restaurant is on the street, it’s not very visible and I don’t understand why they don’t even have a sign.

Nasty oily unhealthy salami pizza. If you like to drink oil with your pizza, this is the place to go.

MFA Café has replaced Café Express inside the Museum of Fine Arts. While not the most creative name, I see it as a nice improvement. We had a quick bite to eat before seeing the Oscar Nominated Short Documentaries. The restaurant has been remodeled to include Venetian glassware and jewelry.
The cuisine consists of typical café fare with an Italian twist: paninis, lasagna, pasta, soup, coffee/​tea, and various sweets. I had the pesto panini which comes with pesto (duh), mozzarella, and tomatoes. The sandwich was a good size and grilled well but I would’ve liked some meat added to it like some grilled chicken. Drinkwise, went with the wild berry iced tea. Not a bad spot to have lunch if you’re checking out the museum!

What I surprise (positive) when I realized that Café Express was gone! Let’s start by saying that the space has been completely remodeled and it looks beautiful, even though it still lacks some intimacy due to the size of the space. The theme seems to be Venice: murano chandelier hanging on the ceiling and murano glasses on exhibit. The bar is slick and contemporary with a beautiful espresso machine.
My guests and I had: grilled chicken salad, prosciutto and arugula pizza and a vegetarian lasagne followed by cappuccinos and assortment of cookies. Everything was excellent, but some of the cookies were to die for.

Pizza margherita, specifically.
It’s bigger than I expected for $ 6. Big enough to share if you ate it with salad. Otherwise, it’s mediocre. The crust didn’t taste like much and was covered in oily cheese and one big, logistically-​hard-​to-​eat basil leaf. I can’t complain too much because of the price but if you make a big deal out of «chef-​driven» I would much rather pay a little more for a smaller pizza that tasted a lot better. (Also, you can’t really carry leftover pizza around the art museum, so this is the one place where I wish a small pizza really was a single serving.)
I’ll try a sandwich next time.

The MFA Café was just what we needed when we needed it. What we needed was a small meal, a refreshing beverage, and a place to sit a spell, and when we needed it was in the middle of our leisurely tour of the MFAH. I had the tomato soup, which was warm and filling. Hubbie ordered a cup of soup and a sandwich on a croissant. The lady taking our order entered it so that it read a sandwich with a side of soup, which meant Hubbie got exactly what he wanted and saved 50 cents. Yay! The space is open and bright, the food was better than expected for a museum café, and all the employees were friendly. Wouldn’t hesitate to go back again.

I LOVED the MFA Café! The coffee and food were delicious and the staff was extremely friendly.

The MFA remodeled this place and gave it a very fancy atmosphere with Murano glasses and chandeliers, and a new sleek and clean look. I tried the Crudo focaccia with Mozzarella, croissants, crème brulè and small cookies, all very good quality. The coffee brewed with italian machinery is one of the best you can find in Houston. The people are friendly and overall the service is quite fast. They could have some soft music playing in the background to fill the very ample space, but overall very nice place to stop by while at the MFA, or while wandering around the Museum District.

Very chic, it used to be a café express before, totally revamped, the coffee (chai latte) is good the croissant (ham and egg) was ok

A convenient and elegant place for a bite to eat at the MFAH.
All four of our party enjoyed their food, even though the panini special of Prosciutto and Brie was salty, and needed something like a tangy mustard vinaigrette to highlight the greens in the sandwich.
Mushroom lasagna was rich but not cloying. The person who got the dish did not care for the mustard greens-​roasted carrot– and caramelised topping on the pasta, but the person who ate it after it had been scraped off thought it was delicious!
Pesto panino exploded with the bright flavours of fresh basil pesto, and oozed with melty cheese.
We did not opt for dessert, but the desserts looked beautiful and very VERY rich.
Service was quick and polite.
We will definitely eat here again.

The menu is promising and the service reasonably quick. The bresaola panini was diminutive for its $ 9 price tag. Chips or a side salad would have cost more. Next time I’ll try a salad.

The food was so bland. My husband, who will eat anything, and is usually not critical, didn’t like his food. We ordered the daily special — a panini sandwich (beef with au jus). It was utterly void of flavor. The grilled onions didn’t even have a distinct flavor. The bread had a nice texture. The folks were nice. That’s about all that was positive about our experience.