I went to Cafe Melissa last night with 3 friends. It was a Saturday night and the place was packed. Fortunately, we got the last available table and was seated immediately. Our friendly waitress stopped by and took our drink orders and another server stopped by with a bottle of water and water-filled glasses.
Our waitress went over the specials (which sounded very good) and then gave us time to chit-chat while we made our decisions. I ordered the pretzel-encrusted Red Snapper special. It was served over redskin potates and spinach in a nice, light, lemon-butter sauce and was delicious. It had three nice-sized shrimp on top of the snapper as well which was a nice surprise. The sauce was light - which is the way I like it. Otherwise it can be overbearing and take away from the natural flavors of the food.The food was nice and hot and I definitely plan on coming back to try some more menu items.
My friends were all very happy with their meals - Portuguese stew - Steak - Gnocci. The salads were fresh, if a bit pricey, but that's pretty much par for the course these days.
One interesting note: their use of technology in ordering and paying for the bill (with credit cards) is innovative and probably shows the way of things to come.
All-in-all an excellent meal and a relaxed Saturday night out with friends.