Restaurante Cesaria

Great place to eat Cape verdian food, amazing customer service, live music where you can listen to morna and enjoy Your meal.
Cesaria restaurant

This is a solid place. I was Unilocaling to find a decent ethnic food restaurant. Well this is it. Great service clean nice food street prices. Will be coming back. The lunch buffet is really good. For the value it’s spot on.

Food was excellent. We had the quail, Amor (some seafood dish with octopus and steak inside mashed potato (it was perfect), and some rice dish. (So good) Everything was amazing. The waitress apologized for the wait but we didn’t even notice the time, too engaged in conversation. The band was loud so if you want to talk, do what we did and sit away from the band.

Great Cape Verdean restaurant.
The feijoada was very good. The fish dish (I forget the name) was also good too.
Overall great food, but a so-​so service.
I’ll definitely return for the food.

My friends and I came for the brunch buffet that I heard great reviews about. Upon arrival, we were not greeted by a hostess. There were several servers/​waitstaff around and no one acknowledged us. After 5 minutes we were seated. The buffet has very limited food options. Tuna filled pastelitos (deep fried), pancakes, red potato homefries, bacon, pouched eggs, seafood rice, cassava cake (looks like pound cake but not sweet), cow foot soup, and assorted fruit. Although the food was in warmers, it was cold. The pancakes were dry. The pastelitos were flavorful, but the staff would only bring 10 out on a platter. The seafood rice was excellent. Everything else was cold and lackluster. Cesaria was a disappointment.

The food came from the frozen and canned sections of Stop & Shop. I am not even exaggerating. It was terrible. The cocktails were also terrible. They might have waived a bottle of gin over my martini at some point during its creation. The service was terrible, though the waiter did smile at least. I will never go back to this «restaurant.» I can’t believe I spent money there and I don’t understand why people are giving it 4 and 5 stars.

Based on the food alone I would give them 4 stars but the service here really needs to be worked on. I’ve ordered takeout numerous times and it always takes an unreasonable amount of time. I am patient when I know my food is being prepared fresh however other restaurants do a better job with timing. I recently ordered takeout from here and was told 30 minutes which ended up being 40. Then to add insult to injury, I was given the wrong type of chicken (boneless skinless when I ordered the baked chicken with bones). I asked for rice and beans and salad (in place of french fries) for both dishes and was given spinach leafs instead of lettuce because they had run out, and I was given white rice with no explanation other than «we ran out of rice and beans it will take longer.» They also still placed French fries on the plate. I believe 1. When I ordered the food you should’ve made the rice and beans and it would’ve been ready by then and 2. Give me the option of picking white rice or waiting… Or choosing another side. After waiting for 40 minutes for my food and having the order screwed up so severely while I was ravenous didn’t end well. I ended up walking out. Doubt I’ll be ordering takeout from here ever again.

This place was great — and I was there only for Sunday brunch (all you can eat buffet) so far. Live music, great service, and really good Cape Verdean food (the seafood rice dish and Tuna empanadas especially — although probably have a different name on menu!). The service was fantastic and the best part was that while it was busy, there was no effort to rush us out as we stayed for about 2 hours. Oh, and also it has a full bar. One of the owners name Jose (pronounced Joe-​say) was greeting customers, smiling, and doing almost everything else. He helped to create a great vibe. I will be back for dinner and brunch again.

Great food, good prices and nice ambiance. Just slow service at times.

This place was really awesome. Great Food, live music. An obvious neighborhood staple. We were under-​dressed though.

I came for the lunch buffet after hearing recommendation from a friend. I was interested to try Cape Verdien food. The restaurant interior is well accommodated for small or large groups. When we went, it was empty. We had a small baby (7 months) with us). They were gracious and brought a highchair right away and asked if we needed anything. The staff is great. I wasn’t crazy about the food but can’t really be a judge of the quality. I am not a meat eater and most of the dishes have some sort of meat, chicken or fish. My friend said the sausages were delicious. I would recommend but let it be known that the buffet mostly consists of non-​vegetarian options.

Now if I had to rate by food alone, I give it a solid 4. The Polvo Grelhado, Katchupa, and Katchupa Refugada were good and portions were large.
However, I can confidently say that I’ve never had to wait so long for take out when the place wasn’t even full. We placed an order for around 4:20 and was told it would be done in 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, we asked about the food and was told it would be ready in another 20 minutes. After that, we asked AGAIN, and found out that one of our orders was given to another person that ordered after us!!! It took 1 HOUR before we got our food.
I really like their food, but until I know that my food will come within a reasonable period of time, I will most likely not come back.

The food and drinks are great but service takes a long time. If it wasn’t for that I’d give it 5 stars.
As a Cape Verdean I take pride in what Cesaria’s has become and in knowing that we have a place to gather that supports our community. I usually go there on Thursday nights to catch up with friends. The staff and management are outstanding.

Food is good. First time trying cape verde cuisine. Taste is like a home cooked meal and ambiance is nice inside. I also had their pudin leite which is like a flan with a caramel/​lime finish (very tasty and light) They have karaōke on Thursdays and often invite comedians, musicians and other cape verde artists

This is a nice restaurant with an amazing live band playing while you eat. The staff is very polite and professional. I feel like I waited a little too long for my food, but it still tasted great in the end. I’d recommend this place to anyone that likes to eat out, especially with a live band. I’m not sure if I’d recommend it if you’re on a first or second date. You’ll barely hear the other person over the music. I’m sure that they don’t play all the time though. I went on a Wednesday night. There’s a lot of choices on the menu too. I don’t really have any complaints, except I just wish that this place was in a nicer part of town.

The polvo grelhado is delicious. The music is great. Get ready to wait a little if you head there on a Sunday. The place does get packed.

Ok– it’s true– it is freaking LOUD IN THERE WHEN THE BAND IS PLAYING.
I texted with my date to communicate across the table– no lie.
However– get over it. You are not there to talk. You are there to eat and listen. You will like your food.
Every Fri/​Sat/​Sun you will be grateful for the FREE live, beautifully executed music and song that the restaurant’s namesake, Cesaria Evora, would have approved of.
(If you do not recognize that name do not read the rest of this review; go directly to ITunes or Windows media or soundcloud and download any of her work. Do it now.)
Ok. Back at the ranch you will eat something delicious. I do not like mussels so cannot attest to the Mozambique but it looked great. I can say I brought home the rest of my, Ka– hmm. not Kapusta (Polish). Very Jambalaya-​ish hominy and pork w/​greens and linguica yumminess. Delish.
Also the Chicken. Yum.
And as I mentioned in my Tip– they serve Hot Rolls/​Cold Beer. Love it.
Service– charming, friendly, efficient.
Vibe wise– we came straight from work and wished we’d had time to get our date clothes on– most ladies were Done Up. (Of course, this is a cape verdean joint w/​heavy portuguese influence and most of those ladies probably look that good all day everyday so I’m not really a contender.)
ok– restrooms? Meh. Servicios. Clean enough. Utilitarian probably covers it.

Came here for my graduation dinner. The school, while I didn’t expect them to have much of a spread laid out anyway, provided no food for the grads and their families so by the time we finally got where we were going which was 4 hours after the ceremony had ended, we both were hangry. Luckily Cesaria took care of that. Each of us had the BBQ chicken with the rice and french fries. I barely remember how it tasted due to inhaling it practically but the bit of memory that is there says it was awesome sauce.
They have live music on the weekends and I think there was a band there that night. Next time, I think I’ll go with something more authentic such as the national dish, catchupinha.

Went here on a Saturday afternoon for a late brunch with my husband. It was quite busy and loud because the band was preparing for their performance at night. As we arrived, we were greeted and was seated near the entrance at the booth. The waitress came and filled our glasses with iced cold water and then brought out some bread and butter. Then later she took our order. We wasn’t sure what to order so we asked the waitress what she recommended. I guess seafood was definitely a hit there but It’s not for me.
So I went with the Katchupa– very traditional dish in their country. My husband ordered the steak with shrimps, mussels and potatoes with rice (I don’t know what it was called on their menu, sorry). Our appetizer (I don’t know the name again bc she recommended it!) was just basically grilled shrimps with chopped onions, green peppers, olives, garlic and vinegar. The sauce itself was pretty tasty. The Katchupa however. Was not really tasty. It was pretty salty. I mean. I did liked it for the first few bites, but then I felt like it was a bit too thick and «boring» it kinda remind me of the chicken pot pie stuffing but with a variety of stuff in there such as sausages, pork fat, collard greens, beans, carrots, potatoes all mix (see photo below). It got me really thirsty. My husband dish was pretty good, we really liked their rice and the tangy sauce that was in the dish. For some reason, after our food came out, we didn’t even see our waitress after nor did she asked us how was our food. On top of that, they stopped refilling our waters. I could’ve sworn they were really on top of going table to table and filling them but everyone just stop carrying the pitcher around.
Overall, the service was bleh, and the food was ok. I will consider going back and trying a different dish in the near future.

Delish food– my first time experiencing this place. I was hoping to find a hole in the wall place with good food– I found much more.
The drinks are real here–
Try the Caju Mojitos — very tasty and stiff.
The food came out timely– hot and full of flavor. the waitress was patient and nice with me as I was a first timer looking through the menu.
Beside the fruit flies (if u noticed) this place I will most definitely revisit.