Union Cafe

The Crawfish Mac and Cheese is absolutely delicious! The service is great and so are the prices!

One of my favorites when I used to travel to, and through, the Nac area. I love their salads and other dishes. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Union Café, but it deserves a positive review all the way from Houston, Tx!

Slim pickings in Nacogdoches on Monday night. Wanted quiet atmosphere, mixed drink, and good food. They had it all. Egg roll appetizer was tasty as was the rib eye steak. Very reasonable prices.

I took a friend of mine here a few days ago. It had been some time since either of us had dined here. We came for an early dinner, so there was no crowd and we were quickly seated. We both choose soup instead of an appetizer. My friend said her soup was okay, which is what I thought about it. The main course was also just okay for each of us.
The prices were reasonable and there was prompt service with no long delays on our food. However, the soup and the entrée should never be served at the same time.
We did not go to the bar on this trip, but from my other friends comments, I believe it is still a good quiet place to relax.

Love this place! The food is great, reasonable prices, good service. The atmosphere is so nice compared to most restaurants we have in town. It’s not just for «special occasions» but every time we go we certainly feel special! Happy Hour until 7:00. Great prices with half price appetizers!
Need I say more? :)

Good food. Wasn’t too pricey. They seemed a little disorganized, but were very nice and the food was really good. I had their hamburger and it was huge.

Our party of 5 enjoyed an excellent evening meal. We ordered a variety of entrees, from a tenderloin to seafood alfredo to a turkey sandwich, and all were delicious. The service was attentive, the atmosphere pleasant. I’ll be back soon!

We enjoy Union Café and are so glad to have this unique choice in the area. My family eats the grilled salmon (always cooked perfectly and with so much flavor), the salmon over angel hair with artichokes (wonderful smoky favor) and spaghetti (flavorful and spicy sauce).
My only complaint is that, last time we went, there was a loud jerk who had drunk too much wine at the next table, and the waiter and manager did nothing to discourage his rude behavior.

Way over priced. Don’t buy the crab cake appetizer for $ 9.00 you get 3 meatball size balls of stuffing with maybe 1 tiny piece of crab in each one. And 2 huge dollops of sone kind of sauce that is is spicy. Make sure you get there at lunch time as all regular items are extremely over prices. About the only thing that is good is the service and im guessing that is because we where the only ones in the place at 230 in the afternoon on a sunday.

Over the years, the service and food has gone from great to mediocre. I haven’t eaten here in probably three years.

I knew it was a bad sign when I got there and a Big banner was hanging outside that said «Now Hiring». But against my better judgment I went in.
I was visiting from out of town and this dive happened to be on my route to a nearby job assignment .
The tables were dirty… at least the two I tried to sit down at. There was about maybe 2 people in the whole place — and a couple of SFA hotties in the bar, and I do mean only a couple — place was dead.
I ordered the chicken parmigiana pasta and 25 min later it’s not out.
I literally walked into the kitchen area to check on it and my server was nowhere in sight.
I saw my chicken parmigiana sitting there under the heat lamp and I took it to my table because, well I knew it was mine and by this time I was the only customer. It sucked. The waiter caught me mid walk to my table with the pasta dish in hand. I explained to him I was not bullshittn’ around anymore and I needed to eat and go. I had a job to do later that afternoon and it wasn’t my plan to spend 2 hrs at lunch. It tasted like an overcooked microwave TV dinner. I ate two bites and got the fk out of there. I’m sorry but if there is a way possible for a restaurant to be an a-​hole, that place was it. Never again will I ever be there.

I went here today 7÷18÷12 w/​my friend. We kind of expected a burger and fries kind of café, but it totally wasn’t, although you can get a burger and fries. I got the Italian Egg Rolls, a cup of French Onion soup, and at the end of the meal got Fried Cheesecake. The Italian Egg Rolls were good but I expected BETTER once I looked at the menu, they were $ 8. The presentation was great though, I absolutely LOVED my French Onion Soup. It was pretty standard as far as taste goes, of ALL of the French Onions soup I’ve had this wasn’t the best, but it was up there w/​good ones, it wasn’t too heavy on the sauteed onion, the flavors were all well balanced, lots of cheese on top, the beef broth was good, it came out nice and hot but not so hot I had to wait to eat it, it just came out at the perfect temperature which I thought was great. It warmed my entire mouth by being hot enough but it didn’t BURN my mouth. The Fried Cheesecake was great, two large halves w/​lots of cinnamon, we asked for caramel and chocolate on the side and got that at no extra charge.
My friend ordered the appetizer sampler, it came w/​about 4 halves of Italian egg rolls, 2 crab cake stuffed shrimp (jumbo, and I mean JUMBO shrimp– they were absolutely huge) and then a crab cake. Now mind you everything on this platter is fried, so that may be a turn off for some people. My friend didn’t like the crab cake b/​c of the «peppery» taste, I can’t remember what exactly she was mistaking as peppery, but I will say I passed on the crab cakes b/​c the description said it contained ginger, and I felt like that was strange and might not be very good, but since it came w/​her appetizer I asked to try it, I also ended up eating the whole thing b/​c she didn’t like it but I did, I wish it wasn’t so heavily fried, but I enjoyed it. As far as what it tastes like, it’s NOTHING like the crab cake at Auntie Pasta’s, there’s are more veggie/​filler, but if you’ve ever had a crab cake from Long John Silver’s it’s basically a better more freshly made version of a LJS’s crab cakes, I know it’s strange but on a side note LJS’s actually has really good crab cakes, but they’re frozen. Union Café probably makes there’s fresh, or at least makes them in small patches and freezes them, they’re not made ½ way around the world and shipped cold and frozen to the store. The appetizer sampler was $ 12. Then she ordered the Caesar Salad w/​Grilled Chicken (large) which was $ 8 for just the caesar salad + $ 2 for the grilled chicken so $ 10 total. Cat is super picky about her caesar salad’s and she’s been trying to find the perfect one in Nacogdoches/​Lufkin, so far Napoli’s is #1, and Union Café is #2 for her. She also had the $ 5 Fried Cheesecake.
Oh and if you show your SFA student ID you get 10% off your bill. Our total was $ 41.41 after the 10% off, I paid $ 16 for my meal and cat paid the rest, between us we left $ 6.25 cash as a tip which was 4 cents over 15% and then cat left Zach another $ 2.59 on her card as a tip so we tipped him a total of $ 8.84 for a 21.3% tip, but he did a great job, we got 3 to-​go boxes and 2 to-​go sweet teas (oh their sweet tea was actually pretty good. I gave up sweet tea about 6 months ago, I was drinking chicken e sweet tea, this was a good mild sweet tea, if you’re a chicken E tea person this tea won’t be sweet enough, but it’s better than a lot of places give you in town. And the water they used was good, didn’t taste funny of anything)
Zach was the only server there, this was at like 2:30 on a Wednesday so after the lunch rush and before the early dinner people. There were a total of 4 tables at it’s «peak». Nice and quiet, Zach was pretty attentive considering he was the only one there, the manager stopped by our table to make sure

Union offers good Italian and American food. They serve bread with vinegar and oil before you order. I always choose their tomato basil soup which is to die for. They have pretty good crab cakes and a decent selection of wine. One can see the kitchen, that’s just cool. They have a spacious bar and a separate private room for parties. The decoration is acceptable except for these glass bottles they have GLUED to the wooden structure that lines the restaurant. That’s not the bad thing, the bad thing is that you can see the ugly glue just ooing out of them. Tacky… When you go and notice it you’ll know what I’m talking about.

I won’t come here anymore. My wife got a dead moth on the saucer for her soup and the waitress left it there when we flagged her down to tell her about it. It is not the classiest place Nac has to offer. That honor belongs to Shelly’s. This place sucks.

This place is a rip off! Pay attention to your bank statements if you pay with a debit or credit card. My bank account was charged an extra $ 15! After taking my signed reciept and bank statement to management, I was told that they charge extra «just in case» one should want a drink or dessert after your card has been run! This is no way to run a business!

This is as classy as it gets in Nacogdoches TX, and is up to par.
We have just moved to Nac and Union is one of our favorite places to eat! The food is always spectacular, the atmosphere is great, and the mood is wonderful.
We have gone multiple times for lunch, and love the lunch specials that they have. My favorite is half a sandwich and soup. Dinner is even better, one of the few places in Nac you can get a semi decent steak choice. The salads are fantastic, and many of the main dishes are superb.
I defiantly would recommend Union Café as one of the classiest and best places to eat in Nacogdoches Texas.

I wouldn’t bring anyone here to impress them, but this place is OK. I think there are many other better restaurants in Nacogdoches, though.
My last visit was a lighter lunch with a calamari appetizer and a chicken salad salad. The calamari was great, I was pleasantly surprised. The salad was OK, nothing too exciting. I also tried the cobb salad — it had way too much blue cheese, but was otherwise good.
I was going to order a burger, but the waiter freaked out when I requested it be done medium. He said nothing in Nacogdoches county can be that rare according to some laws, but didn’t offer any further explanation. I think he didn’t know what he was talking about. It was a really obnoxious thing for him to make such a big deal out of, but instead of telling him that, I just ordered something else.
My last visit (over a year ago) was also for lunch and I had a mediocre pasta dish. I wouldn’t mind going back, but with so many other good restaurants still around Nac that I grew up with, I’d prefer something else.

What the hell happened to this place, use to love it but now its crap. My favorite dish, cajun chicken, has morphed into a disgusting fishy mess. Once was the classiest joint in town is now some of the worst in all of east Texas.
You will fair better at the fast food joint up the street.

When we moved to Nacogdoches, TX three years ago Union Café was one of the better places to dine. Today, however, you might be able to pay us to eat there. Maybe… the food is reliably inconsistent. Cold steaks NOT cooked to the way you ordered it, poor bartending skills, lipstick marks on glasses, and then there’s the overall cleanliness… If you love that old movie theater experience where your shoes stick to the floor when you walk due to food residue and spills, this is the place for you. Table tops have a gooky film on them too. Gross. And Union Café is also owned by the same folks who bring you Szechuan on North Street.

By far the «classiest» bar and Italian restaurant in town. Like others have said, anytime I have family that come from Dallas or Houston (Nacogdoches is just a University town in the country) I take them to Union for the great food. For two people, expect to pay anywhere from $ 40 – 80, depending on drinks.
If you’re looking for a great upscale bar, Union is also the place to go. All of the professors at SFA drink there, so you know it’s good. The prices are so-​so, but when you’re getting Top-​Shelf drinks, you don’t care about the price. On Friday’s or Saturday’s, the bar gets PACKED! The atmosphere rocks here.
Fully recommended for the students that are used to the conveniences of Austin, Dallas, or Houston.