Cafe Beautiful - Lawrence

We had a lovely dinner for two on a Thursday. We were the only ones in the small cafe for the first hour and we enjoyed personal service from chef Mel. She was gracious in sharing her story but also left us with plenty of time alone to enjoy the tasty dishes. She served us a leisurely nine-course meal with an Asian influence: orange-infused wasabi peas, steamed edamame, coconut curry butternut squash soup, fruit salad with ginger dressing (see the photo), savory custard with homegrown mushrooms, shrimp and lobster, crab cake, seared scallop on arugula, tuna tartare on avocado and crispy rice cake, a killer dish of steak tartare with mushrooms (the soy, mirin, sugar butter sauce is out-of-this-world) and tiny but oh-so satisfying scoops of blueberry, Meyer lemon red bean coconut sorbet. Descriptions cannot do justice. We'll be back for more!

A gorgeous dining experience. Chef Mel had us reschedule due to technical problems with the building and (in her words) made it up to us in a fantastic manner. We had a seven-course meal comprised of small plates with explosive flavors over a leisurely couple of hours. Mel was personable, understanding and accommodating and provided us with dinner experience that was truly special. Definitely will be back!

Chef Mel is an amazing cook so everything we had the pleasure of sampling during our visit was exquisite! The atmosphere and ambience are perfect as well for a cozy evening. Thoroughly looking forward to next time! Wish I could rate 6/5!

Chef Mel provided my wife and I with an anniversary dinner that left us wondering if we had ever tasted food before. Truly, the experience and quality of the food was far above and beyond any dining of my lifetime. Just learned that Cafe Beautiful has been closed due to a massive rent increase. Good luck to Chef Mel, I hope you recover and rebuild. If you reopen somewhere, I would be honored to be among your first guests.

I took my girlfriend here for her last birthday and it was by far the most romantic dinner we've ever had. It has a very intimate ambiance and DELICIOUS food. Mel was a great chef and a great server!