We watched this ancient building being renovated for a long time. A very long time. It's at the corner of Lampeter road and Village road (741) in..... you guessed it... Lampeter.
It so happened that particular corner was on our route to work, so every day we marked the progress and wondered what was opening at that location. A law office? A medical building? Some Realtors new palace perhaps?
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| A well appointed wedding/meeting venue. |
Nope... one day the sign went up, and the mystery was solved. It's the Lampeter Cafe.
Cool! We will have to stop in and review them! (We said to each other). That was.... um... a year ago? Longer? Yeah, well.... we be slackers.
Yesterday was the day we finally made it. Out to run errands, we wanted breakfast. All our usual haunts being too peopley, we wandered over to the Lampeter Cafe to finally make good on that threat. Ha! The Cafe was peopley too, but we persevered.
Right off the bat, let me say this. The place sure does dole out the ambiance. They pulled out the stops during the renovation, and really made the premises into a welcoming spot. I agree wholeheartedly. It is a beautiful space. Multiple stories are made handicapped accessible with an elevator.
Right off the bat, let me say something else. It may be the reason we took so long stopping in at the Lampeter Cafe. Here's the thing. It's NOT a restaurant. Not by my definition. You see, there is no table service. No wait staff. It's what I call a glorified cafeteria. *Grumble-grumble, Grouse-grouse*. When I go out to eat in a nice place, I want food brought to my table. Cafeterias are for school kids, and hospitals, and worker drones, you know?
Except.... well... maybe not. It just occurred to me the root word in cafeteria is 'cafe', and that means food done fast, and a place to eat it. I guess that opens up a spectrum, upon which a business can find their own niche.
Lampeter 'Cafe' has carved out a pretty nice niche for themselves. Once I redefined for myself the nature of our breakfast spot yesterday, I stopped grumbling. It's not a restaurant... it really IS a cafe. Like a coffee shop, only way.. WAY... bigger, much fancier, and with decent food, and with stylish venues for parties and meetings.
The Cafe has plenty of parking, with a nice entry-way off the patio. The main building, the patio, and several outbuildings set up as flexible venues, are all tastefully appointed and decorated. It's simply a pleasant place to be, as was clearly designed so.
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| Here we see the worst picture of Herself EVER presented. |
Upon entering, one is immediately faced with the Cafeteria nature of the place, as there is a counter to order from and a counter to pick up at. Yes, there's a menu, and a pretty glass display of delectable looking pastry type offerings.
Upon ordering and paying, the customer is handed a vibrating 'thing' to carry away as you find a table. Coffee is self serve on the way. Their coffee, in my opinion, is right darn good stuff, even if you have to get it for yourself.
We found a table near the fireplace (they had two fireplaces to choose from!), and had about ten minutes to look around and enjoy the atmosphere. Then, that square vibratey thing lit up and danced across the table like it was on it's way to fight in a dwarvish battle against Smaug the dragon.
Bloody well took me by surprise, it did. He jumped. I jumped. It was pretty amusing.
I fetched (GRrrrrrr) our food from the counter, and we tucked into breakfast. For Herself, 'Annies Hash', which she can describe if she ever gets out of bed this morning. I had a bite, enough to say it was passably good. Rich and filling. It was cheesy and savory. Hash browns, eggs, cheese, and meats baked with a crumb topping. Served with a little orange slice and some locally sourced bread that you can pick from. I had the honey whole wheat. My only complaint about the whole thing, was that the toast was barely toasted.
Meself, I had the 'Pioneer Wrap', which is .... when it comes down to it.... a full breakfast wrapped up in a flour tortilla. It was all there too. Eggsses, bacon, cheese, potatoes....
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| Annie's Hash, and a Pioneer breakfast wrap |
My wrap was filling, and a good basic breakfast. The ingredients seemed of good quality, and were properly cooked. Some days, it would be exactly what I want for breakfast. Yesterday though, I wanted more.... flavor. I ate a bite or two of his wrap and it was tasty. Maybe a little more cheese. But I love that the bacon was crumbled! I hate when I bite into a dish with strips of bacon and they pull the whole thing apart. Perhaps some sour cream, and a good dollop of spicy salsa. Next time I'll ask for that on the side and see how they react.
Here at Castle Fat-Man, salsa is *always* an option.
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| Dollerfitty Cookie |
Herself also had a cookie. That being the Dollerfitty cookie, as I will call it. It was a good cookie. I don't know if it's a Dollerfitty cookie, but it was a good cookie. It was a pumpkin spice cookie with cinnamon icing, and it was very good. Maybe they should only charge a dollar though.
The tab came to just over $20 for two coffees, two breakfasts, and that Dollerfitty cookie. Thinking about how the Lampeter Cafe compares to our regular breakfast haunts, I can see we traded off table service for a bill about $10 less than we usually spend. Given the upscale nature of the dining areas, I'd have zero issue paying the extra $10 and even more, if the place had table service.
The thing is.... we have LOT'S of restaurants where we can spend $30 on a decent breakfast, and being waited on. We also have a paucity of light, airy, attractive Cafe's where we can grab a light meal in a hurry, while enjoying a really well thought out venue. Lampeter Cafe has stepped into that niche, and done a really good job of it.
We will be back.
So how does Lampeter Cafe, Lampeter fork up:
3.75 Forks for flavor.
5.0 Forks for atmosphere
5.0 Forks for location. (Easy to find & loads of parking)
4.0 Forks for your value.
XXXX Forks for service. We feel this is not applicable in this situation, counter service was good and friendly.
4.4375 Total Forks Given
