The Manatee Cafe

Another 5 star experience. This little café is cutely themed around manatees and has a lot of fun and unique decor. Upon entering were always greeted with a smile! The coffee is good and hot and food is really good! I got the breakfast burrito and I was skeptical at first but the flavors are great together and I normally do not like avocado. I also got fruit as my side and I had plenty of food leftover as well! FYI the fruit is cut into the perfect bite sized pieces. The prices for the quality of food is great, definitely you can make it a habit to eat breakfast or lunch here daily. I mean, not too many places have low prices and give plenty of food to have leftovers. This place is a gem and wish it was closer to Jacksonville. If your visiting town stopping here for food is a great choice!

A vegan/vegetarian restaurant that serves one or 2 meat dishes. The food was very good especially with the hot sauce but portions could be better. We ordered two chicken pitas but 1 pita had significantly more chicken than the other. Other than that, the ingredients were fresh and tasted healthy. The cafe was quite dark inside and didn't give off a welcoming vibe. From outside, I thought it was closed. I'm glad I didn't see any cockroaches that so many reviewers mentioned in their reviews. Service was friendly especially from the young woman.

I recently visited The Manatee Cafe for lunch, and overall I would recommend the place — especially if you love flavorful hot sauce. The restaurant itself was a little confusing at first because from the outside it looked closed. The interior was very dark, so we honestly hesitated before walking in. The service experience was mixed. The older lady working the cashier was pretty quiet and not particularly welcoming. She handled the register fine, but there wasn’t much warmth or friendliness there. On the other hand, the younger lady on staff was amazing — very friendly, attentive, and provided excellent service that made the visit much more enjoyable. One thing that really stood out was how incredibly fast the food came out. In fact, all three meals arrived surprisingly quickly from the kitchen. Thankfully, the food itself was great. The burrito was absolutely perfect, especially once you added their hot sauce. Their hot sauce honestly made every meal better — it was delicious enough that we ended up buying a small bottle to take home for about $6.39 The only disappointing part at the end was the tipping screen at checkout. The cashier had the audacity to set 22% as the minimum suggested tip for a simple lunch service. Thankfully, you can still edit the amount manually. Overall, I’d definitely recommend this spot. Just make sure you don’t skip the hot sauce — it’s the highlight of the meal.