Looking for a place to have some dessert after finishing having an early dinner, I happened to find…read morethis place by the name of Sugar Cube Cafe. And never in my wildest dreams did I imagine what I would find inside. After being awarded the Triad Yelper of the Year 2024 Award at the Yelpies Award Ceremony last year, an event that honored the highest-performing Yelp Elites, I decided that this year, as an All-Star Yelp Elite, I not only wanted to be the first to discover new restaurants and bring them to the attention of the public, but also to uncover those found in hidden paths that for one reason or another have not reached the public in its totality. And Sugar Cube Cafe in Roanoke, Virginia, is the perfect example. This family-owned Bakery, Cafe, and Gift Shop is located in a small outdoor strip mall across from the Valley View Mall in Roanoke, Virginia. The owners are a husband and wife couple with a very enthusiastic family member who works there welcoming the customers, introducimg its products, and taking the customers orders. From the time I parked my car in the extensive parking lot next to their corner shop, a van parked next to me and it so happened to be the owner of the shop who is of Asian origin. When he saw I was headed the way of the shop, he introduced himself and gave me a warm welcome. Later inside I had the opportunity of meeting his wife and co-owner, who made my Boba Coffee that I ordered. When I entered the shop I was just expecting to find gourmet cupcakes, but what I found besides the wonderful cupcakes, were gourmet cheesecakes, macaroons, bubble coffee and tea, milkshakes, ice creams, mini pancakes, large cookies, and even Ramen Noodles and Udon, among other treats. The shop also had many stuffed animals and Asian dolls and posters and toys. I ordered a Midnight Magic Cupcake and a Boba Coffee with French Vanilla Cream. The Cupcake was $5.00 and the Boba Coffee was $10.00. The items here are not cheap, but they are definitely worth the money. I invite you to view my photographs and videos accompanying my review to get a better sense of the place and its products for sale there. It has a cozy atmosphere and friendly staff. And I highly recommend you give them a visit and support their business. You will be happy you did.

Extremely awesome experience! Highly recommend! Staff was amazing, atmosphere was amazing, food…read moreand deserts were great!

Most charming coffee shop we've ever been to. The lattes were jam up too! The friendly staff really…read morecomplimented the whole experience.

Practically, right in my own back yard, in the heart of the Historic Old Southwest, in Roanoke,…read moreVirginia, I discovered one of the Star City's best kept secret. This quaint Bakery & Coffee House, found inside a beautiful Victorian house. After being awarded the Triad Yelper of the Year 2024 Award at the Yelpies Award Ceremony last year, an event that honored the highest-performing Yelp Elites, I decided that this year, as an All-Star Yelp Elite, I not only wanted to be the first to discover new restaurants and bring them to the attention of the public, but also to uncover those found in hidden paths that for one reason or another have not reached the public in its totality. And Albemarle Bakery & Coffee House is the perfect example. Today, I woke up early in the morning to go have breakfast there and try it out. I arrived at the Coffee House not long after it opened. Housed in a beautifully renovated Victorian house in the exclusive neighborhood of the Old Southwest in Roanoke, Virginia, it had a simple, lovely landscape and a sign of the small business up front. I walked up the stairs to the porch and there was a sign hanging that said: "Come in. We are Open." I did as the sign said and found myself in what at first seemed like an empty house, but after going to the back room through the dining rooms, I discovered the ordering counter and kitchen, where the coffees were made. A friendly young lady by the name of Jennifer greeted and welcomed me to this place. Then she took my order. I ordered a Bacon, Egg & Cheese Breakfast Bun, a Morning Glory Muffin, and a large Café Mocha. Everything was baked fresh and my coffee was made at the moment. When everything was ready, the server brought the items to the counter and I brought them to my table. Everything tasted wonderfully. It was nice to have a bakery so close by. I also enjoyed the ambiance inside this renovated Victorian house which was decorated with several paintings, beautiful Tiffany style chandeliers, and besides the dining rooms also had a Little Library room. While I was there, several regulars came by, who had been coming for years. And you could clearly see that they enjoyed having this Bakery & Coffee House here in the middle of their neighborhood. I highly recommend this place to anyone who lives in the neighborhood, and to those who don't, come by and give us a visit, this is the perfect excuse to do so. And besides the baked goods and coffee, you will be able to appreciate why this neighborhood is referred as the Historic Old Southwest and deeply valued as such.

I was roaming around the Grandin village area of Roanoke and found Pop's ice cream next to Gianni's…read morerestaurant. Perfect for dessert or late dinner. Spoiler alert: I ended up getting 2 pints of ice cream for dinner. The price was pretty good, as far as ice cream goes. $8 per carton and that wasn't that bad actually. I arrived here around 5:30pm on a Thursday afternoon. I had just finished my late lunch at Gianni's restaurant next door and needed to find dinner before heading to my airbnb for the night. I didn't want to walk 0.25 miles from my Airbnb to Grandin Avenue later that night, so I just decided to have ice cream for dinner. It worked out very favorably for me actually. I probably spent about 20 minutes here. The ambiance was interesting and felt like a 60's diner. There wasn't much going on at the time, but it was good to be here to be shopping for ice cream. There was a large selection of ice cream that was scratched onto the board in the store. Plenty of flavors but I ended up getting Oreo and chocolate, which was quite heavenly. The restaurant itself was small but clean. Like a 60's diner that kept things true to form. The service was quick and simple while being typical and friendly. I definitely enjoyed and would recommend coming here if you enjoy authentic ice cream in the Roanoke area. For the most part though, the experience here was uneventful. It would be cool if my travels permit me to return here in the future. But for now, I was glad to have come here and experienced the ice cream. I enjoyed the chocolate more than the Oreo, but both were delicious and quite enjoyable. It put a smile on my face for sure. The overall experience here at POP's ice cream in Grandin Village, Roanoke Virginia was very good and made my stomach happy. Although I could have eaten my ice cream at the restaurant, it was close to sunset and wanted to be at my Airbnb for the night before I get lost. It was cool to talk to the dude behind the counter for a couple of minutes before trying to decide what flavors I wanted that day. Just felt a little interesting there, the vibe and the ambiance being there on a random Thursday afternoon being a tourist. It wasn't a long experience here, since ice cream typically is a fast transaction. The flavors change regularly, since they write the flavors on a large chalk board and it seems like it's easy to change at any given time. I love the chocolate of course. Oops. I forgotten that they do have other offerings like actual food items, which I could have bought for dinner, but I was focused on the ice cream, which is very authentic and made in house everyday. If my future travels permit me to return to Roanoke, I will be back to sample other offerings here at Pop's and also try out other flavors of the authentic ice cream that the locals have raved for. Kind of feels like this place is popular with kids and people who love their ice cream. I just happened to come during the slower period, as March isn't usually the time of year to have ice cream in Virginia. For the most part though, my tastebuds wanted the chocolate ice cream for dessert and I was happy to have it on my short trip to Roanoke. Definitely recommended if you are passing through or vacationing in Roanoke, like how I was. POP's Ice Cream and Soda shop is located at 1916 Memorial Ave SW in the Grandin Village district of Roanoke, Virginia. They accept major credit cards as well as cash. As far as parking goes, it is very limited. Your best bet is to find street parking where you can find it nearby in the residential areas and walk on over. It's a walkable neighborhood and doesn't seem like they get a lot of vehicular traffic on any given day. If you enjoy public transportation in the city of Roanoke, you can ride routes 65 or 71 and walk on over after getting off the bus. I got here by walking from the 3rd street bus station, which was 2 miles away. Way to build up that appetite, I guess. The prices here are good and competitive. Supporting local businesses is where it's at here. There's always uber and Lyft if you desire comfort and convenience at your fingertips. If you are here in Roanoke and want to enjoy delicious and authentic ice cream, consider coming over here and enjoy. There's also other things they can offer to enjoy too, but make sure you ask for a menu or else you will miss out on the other stuff Pop's has on their menu. You will not regret it I promise. 5.0 stars for the overall experience. Support local! A+

Walked in on a rainy afternoon right at opening, I have been wanting to try Pop's for a while and…read morethe opportunity presented itself for my visit. Pop's has been a part of the neighborhood for almost two decades now. The proprietor greeted us walking in and was setting up for his day. The interior is a time warp back to when things were simplier, more relaxed and just a better way of life, like when sodas were fountain drinks made by hand. Grilled cheese is the thing here, along with hand drawn fountain drinks, crafted ice cream sundaes, a variety of cones, with a tomato bisque and a daily soup. There are hard menus (old school) and a daily broad overhead behind the register. We both opted for the board special grilled cheese, it was a great choice and then a cup of each, the tomato bisque and the potato soup as the daily special. I had a cream soda with my meal and it was like a step back in time, made fresh with the good ice and a fresh head of cream. Its an ice cream shop, how can you not have ice cream after a good lunch? So, after my healthy meal what better than a hot fudge sundae to balance it all out! This is a really rich dessert and so tasty, vanilla ice cream on top of a big fudge brownie, fresh whipped cream, fudge sauce and topped with a cherry, classic. A cool retro vibe, excellent grilled cheese sandwich options, tomato soup always and a huge selection of fountain drinks, sundaes and ice cream combinations. Well worth a stop. 4.5 Stars - rounded up for our gracious host, recommended and I will be back 01051

This was a disappointment and given the almost universally positive reviews, I'm not sure if my…read moreexperience was an anomaly or if Halwa is benefitting from a college town, grading on a curve situation. I came by last Wednesday morning for a bit of caffeine and a bite to eat before my top-tier chum who literally went to the school of hospitality (down the street at VA Tech) and I embarked on our road trip into Kentucky. I'm a hardcore morning person and it's often difficult to find coffee places that are open before 8am. The primary reason I came here was because they opened at 7am, well before most of the businesses in the area did. That's a point in their favor at least. And it's cute in there. Per my accompanying picture, there's a lot to take in, with tons of items on the walls and on display, and I needed a solid minute or two just to look over the large menu, which featured a lot of different types of coffees/lattes, as well as a significant number of Middle Eastern influenced snacks and pastries. I literally got over there just as the doors opened (promptly right before 7), so I had the run of the place for my short time in there; I have no doubt this place is hopping when students are actually on campus and don't feel like frequenting the obligatory Starbucks for whatever reason. Maybe it's just a personal palate issue but I didn't like anything I had. Since this was a very specific type of coffee establishment, I tried the Turkish Coffee. That one for sure just wasn't my speed - it's a super tiny portion, pretty much akin to a shot or two of espresso, and aside from the first two or three sips, was literally just grounds. My gut says that's just how Turkish Coffee is, and I won't be sampling that again anywhere. I did see some intriguing lattes including one of my all-time chums Rose, so that was probably the call in hindsight. I also selected two food items, both of which were also unfortunately misses for me. One was the baklava, a pastry I'm very familiar with and tend to really like. This was, I'm sad to say, the worst I've had. The biggest issue is that you can barely taste the main ingredients, namely the pistachio and honey. You know what you can taste, see and feel on your tongue though? Sugar. Lots of sugar. For some bizarre reason, they make their baklava here with a layer of this crystallized sugar. I don't know why, but it honestly ruins the item and drowns out the actual flavors you should be tasting. Arguably an easy fix, but I only took a few bites of it. I also got a Lebanese puff pastry, which looked intriguing but just didn't have much of a flavor. This was my first time trying it, so maybe it's supposed to be on the blander side for whatever reason, but it mostly just tasted like dough to me, especially the areas closer to the edge (not all that dissimilar in my experience from a croissant). The service was fine; there was just the one young woman behind the counter opening up for the day, and everything I ordered was provided within a few minutes. I got two coffees (a "normal" one for my chum as well), and the two pastries, which came to close to $30. I think that's a little pricy, especially for a place right off of a college campus, but your mileage may vary. Normally I'd recommend avoiding an establishment where I literally didn't like anything, but my gut says it's still worth stopping by. Just don't get what I got.

This contemporary and relaxing bakery and coffeehouse located in Blacksburg, Virginia, specializes…read morein Egyptian and Lebanese inspired desserts and baked goods. But above and beyond their Middle Eastern pastries and unique drinks like Turkish Coffee and Mango Madness, it is an inviting environment with comfortable tables, chairs, and couches, to spend quality time socializing with good friends or with a laptop connected to the internet with their Wi-Fi, doing research for that special project. After being awarded the Triad Yelper of the Year 2024 Award at the Yelpies Award Ceremony last year, an event that honored the highest-performing Yelp Elites, I decided that this year, as an All-Star Yelp Elite, I not only wanted to be the first to discover new restaurants and bring them to the attention of the public, but also to uncover those found in hidden paths that for one reason or another have not reached the public in its totality. And Halwa Bakery & Cafe is the perfect example. After having dinner with a friend at another restaurant, we decided to come here for dessert. When we arrived, it was easy to find a parking space right around the corner of the Cafe. The place had outdoor furniture to be able to enjoy your food and drink outdoors in nice weather. Inside, the beautiful hardwood floors and exposed ceilings, together with the unique lighting treatment, gave special character to the place, and providing an extraordinary environment in which to better enjoy the moment. On the left of the ordering counter there is a couple of large blackboards with the menu written on them in color chalk. On the right, there are several display cases with Sandwiches and Pastries for one to observe and make better choices. My friend ordered a Baklava Cheesecake and I ordered a Peanut Butter Special Cake. As we sat down enjoying our desserts, that were amazingly delicious, the place was full of people. Some working on their laptops, others socializing, and others simply enjoying their food and drinks. As we were leaving, I saw on one of the walls two framed newspaper articles from The Roanoke Times, with color photographs, on this Blacksburg bakery with Mediterranean pastries. I highly recommend this place as a perfect environment to enjoy some cultural food and drinks, either alone, with your laptop, or with good friends.

First time going, Absolutely incredible food. Everything was fresh, everything is clean. The…read morebagels, the falafel, the gyro meat, the backlavas! 14/10 I will be back 100 times.

The interior is a little busy because there are a lot of items but staff are nice and patient. He…read moreoffered free chai samples to everyone. The chai was not too sweet and had a nice light cinnamon/clove flavor but the tea wasn't strong enough for me. They have 16 flavors of homemade baklava and Dubai chocolate and Dubai chocolate strawberries. I ordered a four berry banana smoothie, sample 1, gyro burrito and an iced Turkish coffee to go. There were two sizes of coffee on the menu but he immediately charged me the larger size without asking if I wanted that. I figured I needed the caffeine since I barely had any sleep so it was fine but just be mindful to anyone else. I've had Turkish coffee in Turkiye so I know it's strong and knew what I was looking for. Unfortunately the coffee neither strong nor good tasting. It had a nutty flavor profile and felt watered down. I finished half the cup during the day and was still very tired. The berry smoothie was good and tasted like berries. If you don't like bananas in your smoothie, you can still get this one because it doesn't taste like bananas at all. The sampler 1 included hummus, baba ganoush, salad, falafel and tzatziki. The hummus is fine. The baba ganoush was lacking in terms of flavor and I was disappointed because I really like baba ganoush. The falafel were crispy and moist. The gyro burrito was full of rice. There was only eat in one quarter of the burrito which seems a little ridiculous considering it was around $11-12. There were barely any vegetables in the burrito. Maybe that was my fault for getting a "fusion" item instead of a shawarma or a platter. The lamb gyro meat didn't really have a lot of flavor.

Post 5 visits…read more Service- lacking. Both the young white woman and the Latino give you the impression they are annoyed you have stopped in the establishment. And don't you dare take some time to think about your order Açaí bowl- they win. Better than fruits and roots and better than tropical smoothie. Smoothies- have that "real" taste. Some of them hit the Jamba Juice spot Food - adequate Parking- lots of easy parking but It is on a main road so you'll have trouble getting out. Walkable, near Salem library. They have little things like Cards and candles to buy inside Not my fave place but I would come back

Discovering this Elderberry's has been like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow…read more After having been selected as number 4 of Yelp's Top 50 most prolific Elites of 2025, a year when I also was awarded the Yelp Triad Squad Photographer of the Year Award at their Yelpies 2025 Award Ceremony, an event that honored the highest-performing Yelp Elites, and where last year I was awarded the Yelp Triad Squad Yelper of the Year Award, I decided that this year, as an All-Star Yelp Elite, I not only wanted to be the first to discover new restaurants and businesses, and bring them to the attention of the public, but also to uncover those found in hidden paths that for one reason or another have not reached the public in its totality. And Elderberry's in Salem, Virginia, is a perfect example. This casual café located on West Main Street in the historic Downtown Salem, near Roanoke College and the Salem Farmers Market is not your ordinary café. Housed in an attractive contemporary building painted purple with lots of windows and their logo, which is their name written with a special font (also named Elderberry, characterized by its rounded, playful, and slightly stretched appearance) in bluish-green color, this casual, cozy, women-owned, local restaurant business, specializes in smoothies, wraps, salads, fruit bowls, grain and mac & cheese bowls, freshly baked goods, special coffees, signature lattes, as well as in catering box lunches. Besides this, they also sell various unique merchandise, such as, bee butter, a variety of scented candles, tumblers, stickers, the CHEMEX Six Cup Classic coffeemaker, and Elderberry's Hoddies, just to name a few. I arrived for the first time in my pearl white Lexus on a late Wednesday morning to have a late breakfast-early lunch, and was able to park in one of their parking spaces directly in front of the restaurant. As I walked in the restaurant, I was fascinated by the many homemade, colorful menu signs all around the place. A young, friendly, gentleman, wearing a Mohammed Ali black t-shirt and a Little Green Hive black knit cap, greeted and welcomed me behind the ordering counter and took my order. I ordered a medium Mocha Coffee (made hot with whole milk and dark chocolate), and a Turkey Bacon Wrap. My order was rang up in their modern credit card terminal and I paid with my Harvard Alumni World Mastercard. As I waited for my order to be made, I looked around the place and suddenly watched as the employee was making my Mocha Coffee. It was like an artist creating a work of art. And I was lucky to be able to record it with my cellphone camera. I invite you to view my photographs accompanying this review to get a better sense of the place and the quality of their food and drinks. The Mocha coffee was served in a simple yet elegant white cup and had the nicest design on top. But even though it looked fabulous, when I took a sip of it, it tasted extraordinary! Like none I've ever had before. And I have had many Mochas in many places. One time in a high-end fine dining restaurant, the manager sent one of their employees to purchase a bar of high-quality chocolate to be able to make me a Café Mocha because they didn't have one listed in the menu. The Turkey Bacon Wrap was also very good. Made with fresh ingredients from the tortilla of the wrap to the fresh items it contained. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would find such a quaint and one-of-a-kind place here, and experience such a unique and extraordinary dining experience. I'm looking forward to returning and I heard they will be opening one in downtown Roanoke soon.

Good ice cream and service. The lady accomodated our special requests with a smile. A fun place.read more

Staying at SML and wanted to come into town to do some laundry and head to Beale's. We swung by…read moreMagic Ice Cream based on local recommendation. Psychedelic ice cream stand with a friendly staff. I got their take on the blizzard. It was good, but basic with both Oreos and Reese's PB cups. There was plenty of outdoor seating on picnic tables. Nice refreshing spot if in town and needing something cold and sweet.

Truly amazing food, everything seems made from scratch. Staff gets to know you and is very…read morefriendly. My two personal favorites are the chocolate croissant and the garlic rosemary sourdough. I could eat here every day and not get tired! Manager Brett also manages that place insanely well. Clean, organized, and efficient. Kudos to the team!

I have been to many bakeries in my lifetime, many wonderful ones located in cities like San Juan,…read moreMadrid, Rome, Paris, Brussels, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Miami, and Washington, DC, among others. I have truly enjoyed dining in each and every one of them. But Bread Craft, located in the Star City of Roanoke, is in a class of its own. After being ranked 4th among Yelp's Top 50 Most Prolific Elites of 2025, a distinction recognizing my consistent community engagement and high-quality contributions, I decided that this year, as an All-Star Yelp Elite, I not only wanted to be the first to discover new restaurants, businesses, and establishments, and bring them to the attention of the public, but also to go back and write follow-up reviews on those places that impressed me the most during 2025, and Bread Craft Bakery, located in Downtown Roanoke, is the perfect example of one of them. Bread Craft is a premier, artisan European-style bakery established in 2006 by owner Alex Eliades, who besides having a passion for baking, has over 25 years of baking experience, and leads the bakery focusing on traditional slow-fermentation techniques. The bakery is known for its high-quality, scratch-made sourdough, pastries, and Croissants. It evolved from a wholesale operation into a popular 6,000 square foot café on Church Avenue, also supplying local restaurants. The bakery specializes in Franch and German-style baking, utilizing sourdough as a natural leavener. It servers breakfast and lunch items, including sandwiches, salads, and some creative breakfast egg entrées. They are open Wednesdays through Sundays from 8:00AM - 2:00PM and are well known for running out of items before the end of the day. For this review I visited the Bakery / Café for breakfast on two consecutive Wednesdays. The first Wednesday I arrived too late to be able to have their Chorizo & Eggs Cocotte from their Breakfast menu. Breakfast is only served until noon, and I found out about this on that day. So instead I had a Cheese Danish and a house-made Mocha Coffee. Both items were delicious. On the second Wednesday I arrived much earlier for breakfast. Luckily, right before a whole rush of customers arriving to place Take-out orders. As soon as I walked inside I immediately felt comfortable with its clean and contemporary architectural design and decor, and an exposed red brick wall that gave it a warm ambiance. One can see that the owner spent a substantial amount in renovating the place when they moved here, and that they took good care of it, because it looked as if it had just opened for the very first time yesterday. While I was looking over all the baked items they had, I received a friendly greeting and warm welcome from a lady behind the counter who seemed to be the manager and took my order. To start I ordered a Chorizo Quiche which happened to be the Quiche of the day, and a house-made Mocha Coffee. Then since I was planning to turn this into a Brunch, for my main entrée I ordered their Chorizo Cocotte from the Breakfast menu. And for dessert I had a Chocolate Hazelnut Croissant that was simply irresistible. Everything tasted amazingly delicious, especially since I love Chorizo. The Quiche had an amazing crust with the eggs inside cooked with the perfect amount of chorizo. The Chorizo Cocotte was served in an elongated bowl with two poached eggs over Spanish sausage, accompanied by three slices of freshly made Baguette. And if all this wasn't enough, the Chocolate Hazelnut Croissant was the perfect ending dessert to this fabulous put together Brunch. Oh and the coffee was the best of the best. I invite you to view my photographs accompanying this review to get a better sense of the place and the quality of their food. What an outstanding dining experience I just had at Bread Craft. Wonderful ambiance, amazing food, and extraordinary customer service. I highly recommend this Bakery/Café whenever you're in the area. I'm absolutely certain it will become one of your favorites bakery.