A well-regarded cafe serving sub sandwiches has risen in east Fort Worth: Called The Lunch Break Cafe, it’s a family-owned restaurant that opened in early December at 7251 Stoneway Dr. N. 400, in the former Riverbend Bistro space at River Bend Plaza, featuring made-from-scratch subs, burgers, and pizza.

Lunch Break Cafe represents a second coming: It's owned by William Dorsett, who previously owned a similar concept called The Lunch Stop, which he opened with his family in Haltom City in 2010.

That restaurant specialized in sandwiches but he closed it in 2022 because he had expansion in mind. The prior location did not have the kitchen space for cooked items, including pizzas and burgers, that Dorsett wanted to serve.

He calls this second coming "new-and-improved."

“The Lunch Stop was a smaller location, and it was strictly deli,” Dorsett says. “They wouldn’t allow us to do burgers with the vented hood. So we sold the Lunch Stop and moved here, and now we’re The Lunch Break.”

Several of the deli sandwiches that were a previously a mainstay have been carried over from The Lunch Spot, including BLTs, Italian subs, and roast beef subs.

But now there's an expanded menu with many hot items as well as cold, including pizza in three varieties — pepperoni, cheese, and sausage & black olive, on a choice of hand-tossed or thin crust dough. There are also hot dogs, chili dogs, soup, and chili.

Everything’s made in house from scratch.

The restaurant currently doesn’t have a menu posted online, but according to Dorsett, cheeseburger combos and sandwiches go for $8-$9 and 12-inch pizzas with up to three toppings are $8.

Though The Lunch Break is only a few minutes away from where his first deli opened, Dorsett says this area is a better fit because it's more accessible rather than in an industrial location he was in before, with a name that speaks to his mission.

"It's a more professional area and a great location for workers in search of a good, affordable lunch," Dorsett says.