Cotton Exchange Cafe is clean, friendly, and courteous. It is responsible with great atmosphere, reasonable prices, generous portions of delicious food.
Farm to table, grass fed beef and gluten free options. This place is the whole package!
The atmosphere and quality of food make the prices well worth it. Actually I feel the food may be under priced. You pay 6 bucks for a processed meat hamburger and frozen fries at the average fast food place. For a few dollars more you can have a real quality hamburger with hand cut fries. I can't imagine what you would pay for this in the city.
I can not say enough about the atmosphere. There are old pictures of the Hillsboro Court House Square with shots of the Cotton Exchange in its Glory days. The tables are nicely set up and covered with butcher paper. Oh, did I mention the Mason Jar glasses?
Not knowing what time they closed, I came a full 15 minutes after they closed. They still had customers so they urged me to stay and eat, so I did. Most places if I come 15 minutes before they close I get the stink eye and begrudging service.
I will definitely be back and bring friends. I may even bring some of my city friends and show them how it's done.
04052019 update
The chicken fried steak is something that legends are made of. The sausage gravy just blew my mind! The baked potato was cooked to perfection and ginormous. When you get quality, non processed food you can't eat as much of it and it stays with you all day.
The cotton exchange cafe is THE best restaurant we’ve tried in Hillsboro. We enjoyed a variety of their menu. We loved the jalapeño burger and Shannon’s chicken salad. Breakfast is served all day and their pancakes are enormous! Everything served is farm to table FRESH. The staff truly cares about the quality of the food served! The interior is very cute and clean. If you are in the area be sure to stop by!!!
The owners, Jason and Shannon Smith are there daily. They run a small farm in China Spring, Texas where they raise their produce in a human, free range, grass fed environment. The proof is in the flavor of their meat and eggs!
Awesome food, friendly staff and down to earth owners! A place worth driving an hour to try out. Had fried pickles, bacon cheeseburger, Greek salad, and buttermilk pie....oh so good!!! We'll be back!
Serious about serving their own organically raised, ranch grown beef, chicken, egg products prepared in serious downhome central Texas fashion with light crispy crust hand made fried pies and homemade ice cream. If I'm lying tell grandma to get the switch!
Stopped for a quick rest from the road and a small bite to eat. The staff was ridiculously friendly! The owner came out and talked with us for a while about the history of the building and gave us information about the town! Will be back.
We stopped here on the way back from Waco to Dallas and were so impressed. Clean restaurant, great food, with a friendly small Texas town feel. This place is both historic and modern and has something on the menu for everyone. This is our new stopping place whenever we go down. Some Roswell, NM friends and I met for a get together at this restaurant today for lunch. The service staff are very friendly and attentive. Restaurant was very clean and attractive. The food was very fresh and very well cooked. Everything is straight from the farm and well cooked. They serve home cooked pies with home made ice cream. You can’t go wrong with this restaurant
We drove down from Dallas today to meet family in Hillsboro, and we chose the Cotton Exchange. It was a good choice. They have renovated the space to perfectly reflect the history of its location on the town square. The staff was excellent, accommodating, and just nice folks. And the food was perfect for a Sunday lunch. I had a (huge) serving of homemade meat loaf with tomato sauce. Excellent! The mashed potatoes and green beans were perfect sides. The kids ordered hamburgers (they loved them) and the hamburger steak smothered with onions. A hit! For dessert I (hesitantly) ordered the buttermilk fried pie. And it was the perfect ending to a great meal. Will definitely go back again!
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