“Tropical Cafe”?
November 27th, 2009
I was taking a walk one cloudy weekday morning and saw the neon “OPEN” sign at Llyod’s diner. They’ve always seem to have mysterious hours which I thought had been reduced to just weekends, but here they were open on a Monday morning with all-week hours posted on the sign out front.
I went inside and asked the man behind the counter if there had been a change of ownership (although I had heard the former owners left to open O’Connell’s) and he told me yes and handed me a take-out menu.  It’s now a Brazilian restaurant called “Tropical Cafe” which I thought was funny because “tropical” is not a word that comes to mind when I look at Llyod’s.
The menu I was given was completely in Portuguese except for “11 Fountain St. Framingham, MA” and an item called the “Framburger”.
I am guessing they will keep both names for operating the diner to stay recognizable and the guy did say they will continue to serve “American breakfast” (not listed on the take-out menu). I’ll try to check it out some time and see what the food is like.
New hours are 6am-10pm.
I was totally ignored when I walked in there and left after 5 minutes. Highly doubt this place has any success.
Comment by Mike M — November 27, 2009 @ 2:05 pm
You are the best! My wife and I were just commenting on how their hours had changed and we wondered what was up. You always get the inside scoop. Thanks!
Comment by Chris — November 27, 2009 @ 2:10 pm
Good work! I was wondering what was up with Lloyds.. .not that I will go now, but it’s nice knowing.
Comment by Joker — November 27, 2009 @ 3:42 pm
I, too, wondered about that. The last time I ate at Lloyd’s was probably over 10 years ago. It was a HUGE and delicious breakfast.
It looks about as much like a Point Barrow, Alaska igloo as it looks like a “Tropical Cafe”!!
Comment by Rev. Bob Baril — November 27, 2009 @ 6:31 pm
You’re right about that picture. I’m getting cold just looking at it.
I probably wouldn’t eat here, either. Not because I don’t like Brazilian food, but because all the Brazilian restaurants here serve almost exactly the same food. I can’t believe that in a country the size of Brazil, all they have is churrasco buffets.
Comment by Ginger — November 28, 2009 @ 1:12 pm
FYI the Main Street Bridge Reopens on Monday 11/30 @ 3pm. Finally!
Comment by CherG — November 29, 2009 @ 1:56 pm
Service is awful compared to what it was under the old owners. May be good as a Brazilian place but won’t last for breakfast. They are going to lose all the old customers which was a lot.
Comment by Rob — December 3, 2009 @ 1:56 pm
Breakfast was too greasy.
Can’t see them succeeding with breakfast.
Comment by Jim Rizoli — December 9, 2009 @ 6:45 pm
My wife and in stopped in at Lloyd’s for dinner, last night.
We have been by there several tmes over the years but never when they where open, so we were happy to see the extended hours. Until last night that is. We walked in and were seated in the back. We were handed the menu (mostly Brazillian food) and both ordered a Bacon cheese burger. The menu indicated that the burger came with Lettuce, Tomato, corn potato sticks, and French fries. When our plates arrived, we were shocked to find everything except the fries ON THE BURGER! What’s worse, is the burger (if you could call it that) was tiny. I was less that half the diameter of the bun, and made of some sort of processed meat substance. There was only a ha;f slice of semi cooked bacon on it too. We quietly ate, and discovered that even the fries were awful. They not only tasted like fish, but smelled like it too.
I could go on and on, the service was poor, etc. But I’ll just say that we will not ever eat there again.
Comment by Joe short — December 31, 2009 @ 4:50 pm
How disappointing. This is another one of those places that has been around all my life that I never went to. Now I never will.
Comment by Rachel — July 8, 2010 @ 5:20 pm
I am disappointed,too. I did suspect something was going to happen when the applicant came before the Board of Selectmen last year. The applicant promised that it would remain as Lloyd’s Diner. Guess not. The diner is an historic landmark, perhaps dating back 50-60 years. Hope the appearance remains as it always had - it would be disastrous if it is made to look like a wooden Tiki shack to tie in with the theme of “Tropical Cafe.”
Comment by George Lewis — July 18, 2010 @ 6:49 pm