I can only speak for the desserts, but they are delicious. Decent, friendly service and nice deco.

I was taken as a guest to Central recently, and was grateful to have been "taken", as there is no way I would personally pay such prices for such an experience. I had clearly misunderstood the concept of a "tasting" menu, as to have completely finished a "course" in under 3 minutes was alien to me. The food is okay, some texture and taste problems....but a plate with almost nothing on it ? no thanks.

Overbearing service ( always "at us" ) ridiculous mark-ups on the wine, and all in all, we felt as if we were supposed to feel "priviledged" to be "allowed" to eat at Centrál Kávéház. Even my host felt the same. The new chef doesn't working very well. I heard the business went down 60%. Too bad, the owner spent lots of HUF to it.

Not everything here was great, but the grilled goose liver was really, really memorable and easily the best dish anyone in my party had in five days of pretty dedicated eating in BP, mostly at hipper places. Better-than-decent, not-so-expensive wine, too.

I ate at the afternoon tea time rush and had good service and a fine capuccino and excellent Flodin.

Will be back to try the goose liver and real Hungo cuisine.

Excellent decor and building in an interesting people watching environ

We are visiting Budapest for the New year and are struggling to choose a restaurant for our New Years Eve dinner. We love eating, quality being far more important than quantity, and we prefer the 'classier' type of restaurant. Our hotel is 'Parliament', so we would prefer somewhere near by so that we can eat, see in the New Year and then visit some bars to party the rest of the night away. Can you help please.
Lesley and Andrew

Maybe I grasped the magic dish? The gooseliver filled filet of deer served with pumpkin puré, potato croquettes and figs where fabulous. The energetic young lady serving us made every effort to do our dinner great, and she succeeded. All demands fullfilled. But, when asking for sparkling water you should not have to be served the most expensive. For the atmosphere: the light is too bright. The main lights should be dimmed at dinnertime, leaving the walls brighter. Ads some exstra magic.

After a half-century of decline and willful degradation on the part of the Communist authorities, the Central re-opened for business in 2000. While not faultless - it is on our list of Top 33 Restaurants but with a "warning arrow" - it is better than decent, and very central. And this is actually saying something, given that most Hungarian restaurants in Budapest are either lousy, or far from the center. Meanwhile, the menu always seems to contain at least one piece of pure magic, and the hall itself is a wonder to behold.