Spurred By Loss Of Wife, Bristol Cafe Owner Creates Tropical Destination

Opened as a tribute to a long-held dream, Cindy’s Café in Bristol has sought to attract customers with a Key West theme in both décor and cuisine that the eatery’s owner said gives it a unique appeal that diverges from what he describes as “the typical-type menus” of other restaurants in the area.

Cindy’s Cafe, located at 307 Mill Street, officially opened in late January after a brief pre-opening period. The café has separate breakfast and lunch menus, with the former sticking primarily to more traditional options – eggs Benedict, Belgian waffles and omelets.

But the café’s Key West theme is most fully expressed in its nine-item lunch menu.

“Our biggest sellers are the sloppy joes, which really tastes different than anything you could make at home,” explained Steve Demshick, the restaurant’s owner.

“There are ingredients you can only get from Key West, they get shipped in. We also have fish tacos served with a mango sauce. Then we have the crab mac and cheese, which is made by order, you can get it plain, with crab meat or a sloppy joe mix. Alongside that, the salsa also gets rave reviews,” he said.

Also available at Cindy’s are a homemade crab cake, served only on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and a soup of the day.

These items are served in a setting chock-full of palm tree motifs, fishing nets and fish decorations. The Key West theme was chosen by Demshick as a result of his own personal history.

“What inspired me to do it was actually the death of my wife. Her and I had plans to spend half our time in Key West and half our time here. When she passed away last year, that went downhill. That’s what inspired me to open a restaurant in her memory,” he said.

The café’s intriguing theme has been its main draw for customers, with traffic heavily concentrated on weekend days.

“We’re always working on how to increase readiness on the weekend,” said Demshick. “I think the biggest challenge has been the slow days. I’d love every day to be a full-house day, but that does not happen. The challenge is trying to make the money we need to make in a five-day period in three days instead of five.”

So far, feedback posted to the café’s Facebook and Yelp pages has been mostly favorable. “Yummy family owned business, very attentive and friendly,” noted Linda G., a Bensalem resident.

Gerald S., from Newtown, repeated a comment often found on Cindy’s pages: “Turns out that you don’t have to go all the way to Key West to enjoy the benefits of its easy living ways.”

Demshick said that with the café’s beachy orientation, he “anticipates things picking up in the summer, overall it hasn’t been bad.”

“People like the theme, the way the restaurant has been decorated and they like the menu.”