Cafe Especial – Mexican in Cologne

Reader Recommendation…

This is the Mexican restaurant we went to in Cologne. It’s fantastic!!!

Cafe Especial
Neuhofferstrasse 32
Cologne
Tel # 49 (0)221-81-4755
www.cafe-especial.com
info@cafe-especial.com
Open: Daily 1200-0100

We found this restaurant while driving to the Cologne Arena. It’s probably less than a 10 minute walk from there. We were pleasantly surprised. Of course there was seating outside, but the inside was just as nice. It reminded me of an American restaurant — large and open, a little noisy, but it was a Saturday night. We did not wait to be seated and this was nice. They waiters and hostesses spoke English and were very friendly.

I thought the menu had great selections and the prices were reasonable. Here’s the kicker…FREE chips and salsa unlimited!!!! I was so shocked. Anything free here is almost unheard of. Salsa was good too!! A real plus. We also ordered a pitcher of cola lite and split it between 3 of us and had a couple refills each. I don’t remember the price of the pitcher but it was a better deal than had we ordered them separately. If I recall you can also order pitchers of margaritas. WOW!

I believe it is close to the train station as well. I am only waiting for a good time to take the train back and have some great Mexican food and pitchers of margaritas. No driving required with the trains being so close.

I highly recommend this place.

Hard Rock Cafes

For the fans out there, there are 23 Hard Rock Cafes in Europe and three of those are in Germany!

For the complete list go to: http://www.hardrock.com/locations/cafes3/locator.aspx

Here are the 3 closest in order of driving time from the GK area:

Hard Rock Cafe Cologne
Gürzenichstr. 8
50667 Köln
0049-(0)221-27 26 88-0

Hours:
Restaurant: Sun – Thu 12:00PM – 1:00AM; Fri – Sat 12:00PM – 2:00AM
Merchandise: Mon – Sun 10:00AM – Midnight

Hard Rock Cafe Amsterdam
Max Euweplein 57-61
1017 MA Amsterdam
The Netherlands
+31 (0)20 523 ROCK

Hours:
Restaurant: Sun – Thurs: 11 – 24.00 (kitchen closes at 23.30); Fri – Sat: 11 – 01.00 (kitchen closes at 00.30)
Merchandise: Sun – Thurs: 10 – 24.00; Fri – Sat: 10 – 01.00

Hard Rock Cafe Paris
14 Boulevard Montmartre
Paris 75009, France
0033 1 53 24 60 00

Hours:
Restaurant: Sun – Thur 8:30AM – 1:00AM; Fri – Sat 8:30AM – 2:00AM
Merchandise: Mon – Thur 10:00AM – 12:30AM; Fri – Sun 9:00AM – 1:00AM

Chocolate Museum – Cologne, Germany

I’ve heard about this from at least a dozen different people, so while I’ve not been there yet, it has a good reputation for fun when seeing the Koln Dom becomes the “been there, done that” and the “t-shirt” you got your first trip has seen better days. Yes, there is more to do in Cologne than walking around the Dom.

Schokoladenmuseum Köln
Rheinauhafen 1a
50678 Köln
Tel: +49 (0)221 931 888-0
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Web: www.schokoladenmuseum.de

Open:
Tu- Fr 10:00-18:00, Sat-Sun and Holidays 11:00-19:00
Closed Mondays

Preise/Price:
Adult/Erwachsene: € 6,50
Child/Kinder: € 4,-

Parking:
24 hour parking in the Rheinauhafen underground car park