Cates CaféDonabate, since 1999

A village café on Main Street since 1999

Come in. The pan is already on.

All-day breakfast, weekend brunch, honest lunches and proper illy coffee — served on warm plates by people who’ll know your order by the third visit.

See what’s cooking Find us

4.3 from 274 reviews on Google — where “friendly staff” comes up thirty-nine times.

Eggs Benedict at Cates Café: two poached eggs on a toasted muffin with wilted spinach, covered in hollandaise and dusted with paprika and parsley.
A cappuccino at Cates Café with a fern poured into the crema.
the good stuff
The front of Cates Café inside Donabate Town Centre: a pale sign reading Cates Café above a glazed frontage, with a long wooden planter of bamboo marking out the seating and a welcome board by the door.
Look for the pale sign and the planters, inside Donabate Town Centre.
  • Breakfast served all day
  • Open seven days
  • illy coffee
  • Vegan breakfast at weekends
  • Takeaway & delivery
  • Wheelchair accessible
  • Free parking

What’s cooking

Three good reasons to sit down.

Nothing fussy, nothing reinvented. Just the things a village café ought to do well, done well, from eight in the morning.

A Full Irish breakfast at Cates Café: fried egg, rashers, sausages, black and white pudding, beans and a hash brown.

Breakfast & brunch

The Full Irish, eggs however you like them, breakfast burritos and sourdough stacks. The full breakfast menu runs all day, every day — and the brunch board comes out at weekends.

from 8am, all day long
A bowl of creamy chicken and broccoli pasta with garlic bread at Cates Café.

Lunch, properly

Hot specials up on the board — bangers and mash, Irish stew, pasta. Or club sandwiches, toasties and wraps, every one of them under a small mountain of crisps.

specials change daily
A slice of apple tart with whipped cream beside a tall glass latte at Cates Café.

Coffee & cake

illy coffee poured properly, tea by the pot, and a counter of cheesecakes, tarts and scones. Monin syrups if the day calls for it.

till the lights go off

Saturday & Sunday, 10am to 4pm

The weekend brunch menu.

Every brunch below comes with your choice of tea or coffee. The full breakfast menu is served alongside it, all day.

  • Eggs Benedict€16.15

    Poached eggs on a toasted English muffin with crispy bacon, under hollandaise.

    with smoked salmon — €17.15

  • Eggs Florentine€15.15

    Poached eggs on a toasted English muffin with wilted baby spinach and hollandaise.

  • Vegan Breakfast€15.60

    Vegan Clonakilty pudding, sausages, beans, mushrooms, grilled tomato and sourdough toast.

  • Avocado, Crispy Bacon & Poached Eggs€14.50

    On sourdough toast, with a Ballymaloe relish dip.

  • Hummus & Eggs€14.25

    Poached eggs on sourdough with hummus, rocket, chilli pepper, beetroot, chickpeas and a balsamic glaze.

  • Breakfast Burrito€12.50

    Smokey scrambled egg, sausage, spinach, cheese and Ballymaloe relish in a toasted wrap.

Hungry outside brunch hours?

The main menu runs from opening to kitchen close — breakfasts, soup, sandwiches, toasties, wraps and the hot specials board. Pop in, or ring 01 843 5096 for takeaway.

Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon at Cates Café: poached eggs and hollandaise over salmon on a toasted muffin.

Allergens

The in-store menu carries the full allergen table for every dish. Just ask us — we’re happy to talk you through it.

Our story

Twenty-six years of the same warm welcome.

The counter at Cates Café with chalkboard menus above it, pendant lamps, and wooden tables laid out in front. The bright glass-roofed seating area at Cates Café, with tables looking out onto greenery. Wooden tables and chairs by the window at Cates Café.

Cates Café opened in November 1999, in Donabate Town Centre just off Main Street — with its own door onto the street and the big car park right beside it. Donabate has grown a great deal since. The café has not changed much at all, and that was always rather the point.

The lights go on at eight. The pan goes on with them. Breakfast is served all day because people want breakfast all day, and we have never seen why that should be complicated.

We pour illy coffee, we put Ballymaloe relish in the breakfast burrito, and the food comes out on warm plates. Call in on a Sunday morning and half the room has been coming in since the start — which is about the nicest thing anyone could say about a café.

  • Nov 1999The year we opened
  • 7 daysOpen every week
  • 4.3 ★274 Google reviews

Straight off the counter

A look at what comes out of our kitchen.

A club sandwich cut into triangles with a pile of crisps, on a table by the window. A slice of cookie cheesecake beside a cappuccino. Sausages and mashed potato under gravy. A slice of tart with cream, on a plate decorated with a cocoa-dusted fork print. A latte with a pumpkin face poured into the foam, beside a chocolate muffin. A toasted cheese sandwich cut in half with crisps alongside. A filled bap with crisps on an outdoor table surrounded by greenery. An illy takeaway cup beside a Cates Café gift voucher. The espresso machine behind the counter at Cates Café, with an illy coffee canister on top. A brunch plate: poached egg, bacon and mushrooms on sourdough with rocket and a pot of relish. Poached egg on toast with leaves, tomato and a balsamic glaze. A cup of coffee on a saucer on one of the wooden tables.

Gift vouchers at the counter — always a safe bet. More on Instagram

When we’re open

The lights are on seven days a week.

Checking the clock…

Monday8am – 4.30pmkitchen till 4pm
Tuesday8am – 4.30pmkitchen till 4pm
Wednesday8am – 6pmkitchen till 5.30pm
Thursday8am – 6pmkitchen till 5.30pm
Friday8am – 6pmkitchen till 5.30pm
Saturday8am – 6pmkitchen till 5.30pm
Sundayand bank holidays9am – 4.30pmkitchen till 4pm

The kitchen closes half an hour before we do

So if it’s food you’re after rather than a coffee and a slice of something, leave yourself the half hour. After that the counter keeps going right up to closing.

Brunch at the weekend

The brunch menu runs Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 4pm. Breakfast from the main menu is there all day, both days.

Travelling in?

Hours shift a little with the seasons and bank holidays follow the Sunday pattern — a quick ring to 01 843 5096 never goes amiss.

Find us

Donabate Town Centre, just off Main Street.

The café

Unit 20, Donabate Town Centre
Main Street, Donabate
Co. Dublin, K36 TW58

Give us a ring

01 843 5096

For takeaway, bigger tables, or just to ask what’s on the specials board today.

Getting here

We’re inside Donabate Town Centre with our own entrance onto the street, and there’s a large free car park right beside the centre. Donabate railway station is a few minutes’ walk, and the beach and Newbridge Demesne are a short run out the road — we’re the stop on the way home.

  • Dine in
  • Takeaway
  • Delivery
  • Outdoor seating
  • Wheelchair accessible
  • Free Wi-Fi
  • Free parking

Say hello

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The entrance to Cates Café: glazed double doors with the opening hours posted beside them, and bamboo planters along the front.
Our own door, straight off the street. Open in Google Maps →