Comforting cuisine: Central Grill and Coffee House offers a cozy experience with patron pleasing menu

Central Grill and Coffee House offers a welcoming space with a menu filled with belly pleasing comfort foods and inviting customer service.

The restaurant, owned by George and Alicia Griego, goes above and beyond to ensure patrons return and tourists leave with an exceptional experience and a new appreciation for New Mexico staples.

The restaurant is 10 years strong and barely survived the Albuquerque Rapid Transit project construction, which tore up Central Avenue and made it difficult for patrons to access restaurants and retailers along the ART route. It then suffered a large profit loss with the pandemic shutdowns.

Adding catering services to its roster saved the restaurant and kept it afloat. The restaurant continues to book caterings for special occasions such as weddings, celebrations of life and office related events, in addition to being open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day.

Central Grill offers a large list of breakfast and lunch items served all day, including its Award Winning Pancakes.

“We brought on a recipe that we’ve had for years, and it’s pretty simple, but people really like it, and we offer different kinds of pancakes,” George Griego said. “We offer blueberry, buttermilk, pecan, chocolate chip, banana, strawberry, just about whatever somebody wants. We just started doing a blue corn pancake and what we put in the blue corn batter is, we put piñon in it. People really like that.”

You name it and Central Grill probably offers it.

“We offer everything,” George Griego said. “We do a really good huevos rancheros and then on the other side of the card, we do a really good eggs Benedict. We probably have too many items on our menu.”

The Inside-Out Burger is a regularly ordered item by patrons who do not mind getting their hands and chins dirty.

“We deconstruct it and put cheddar cheese inside the patty,” George Griego said. “Then we cook it off, and when they bite into it, a bunch of cheese comes out of the top of your patty. That’s a very popular item. We have a lot of things that are really good.”

Many specials offered at the restaurant have turned into regular items on the menu.

“It’s funny, we’ll run something on special, and then everybody loves it, so we just leave it, we don’t take it off,” George Griego said. “We just keep running it. So consequently, over the years, our menu’s gotten pretty big. We just started doing a corned beef sandwich, a Reuben, it’s so good.”

Colder temperatures bring more orders of the Hot Beef Sundae, which is made up of slow roasted pot roast with brown gravy on a pile of red skinned mashed potatoes and topped with a cherry tomato. It is served with a fresh baked buttermilk biscuit.

“We have it on the menu year-round,” George Griego said. “People are really surprised with what they think it is and what they really get. I always get it with a side of red chile, because it brings more of that going to mom’s on a Sunday afternoon kind of thing.”

Making guests feel like family is key to the Griegos.

“Our philosophy is this, once you come to our restaurant, you feel like you’re family (and are) treated with respect,” George Griego said. “We want you to enjoy good food at a reasonable price. We want you to (feel), when you leave, you feel like (Central Grill) really enjoyed (you) being there.”

Comforting cuisine: Central Grill and Coffee House offers a cozy experience with patron pleasing menu