Delicious ice cream and cookies. I had a flight of 4 small scoops of ice cream and a cookie. I…read morehad Maple Pecan, blue Vanilla, Pumpkin Pie & ??? (lol I forgot the 4th one) with a snicker doodle cookie. Every one of the ice creams were so flavorful and delicious. The cookie was great! Nice and chewy. The inside is a bit dirty, the bench cushions look like it has seen some kids with ice cream drippings. It wasn't unsanitary however. Service was great. The girl behind the counter was very nice and pleasant to speak with. I highly recommend giving Rookies a try.

I first reviewed Rookie's (Handcrafted Ice Cream Sandwiches) when it opened at the Patrick Henry…read moreHistoric building in Downtown Roanoke; just across the street from the Social Security building and the Roanoke Public Library - Downtown Branch. I did so after having visited it several times, having had their ice-cream and homemade cookies, and having talked to and interviewed their store employees as well as their truck driver who brings their ice-cream and cookie dough from Lynchburg, Virginia. Now that Rookie's has relocated from their Downtown Roanoke store to Cave Springs, at 3549 Electric Rd, Suite D, I have decided to visit their new location, and write an update review. I urge all the readers to this review to also go back and read my first review and accompanied photographs to learn more about the history of the company. For Rookie's is more than just an Ice Cream Parlor. It's a place where desserts and friends meet to create something memorable. Their employees are encouraged to establish conversations with their customers and answer questions about their company and their products. And their comfortable ambiance and seating area contribute to the enjoyment and extraordinary sweet dining experience while people socialize with family and friends, and share quality time with them. The new location is more family-friendly and has more parking than their previous location. The residents of Cave Springs have welcomed Rookie's with open arms and have become steady customers in a relatively short period of time. I was impressed to find out that it is located in thr same Shopping Center as Cafe Asia 2 Restaurant, one of my favorites Asian Restaurants. Rookie's continues to offer different flavors of cookies, homemade ice cream, and signature ice cream sandwiches, in a clean and simple interior design relaxing environment, and with excellent customer service from their warm, knowledgeable, and friendly staff. Today I visited the new location with a friend and both of us interacted with the servers and had ice-cream sandwiches. Mine was Mint Chocolate Chip cookies with Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. The combination of the two made the perfect sweet snack or dessert. During the time we were there chatting and enjoying our ice-cream sandwich, we saw many other customers come in and do the same. It seems that Rookie's made a great strategic move for a win win situation between the company and its customers. A quote from the owner of the community I feel best describes it best: "We believe that community is built on a foundation of celebrating something good and we believe our handcrafted ice cream sandwiches. Ice cream, cookies & milk will bring you together! We're all about the memories made and the nostalgia we hope you feel whenever you tuck in to a treat with friends and family." All of Rookie's ice cream is handcrafted in Lynchburg, and they offer vegan and gluten-free options. Rookie's hopes to continue expanding to other locations, with some customers even asking for a location in North Carolina. I highly recommend this business and its products, and consider it one of the City of Roanoke's gem.

Great ice cream!!!!! Many flavors and GF and dairy free options. Also take out is availableread more

This ice cream is so rich and creamy, I highly recommend it for locals and visitors. Parking is…read morereally easy and the staff is so patient. They let us try a bunch of flavors before we decided on 4 for the flight. The flight could be priced a little more like a deal since a 2-scoop cone is $7.20 and a 4-scoop flight is actually $16, but it is a fun way to sample everything and easily switch between flavors. We went all fruity: Goat Cheese Blueberry, Banana Pudding, Strawberry Balsamic, and Triple Berry Crisp. The strawberry Balsamic was the simplest and most straight forward and the Goat Cheese Blueberry was the most rich, complex, and unique; it's a must try, even on a sample spoon. Can't wait to return when in a chocolatey mood to try some of their other exciting flavors!

Dropped in for some ice cream on a whim saw the baklava and got very excited. It was a false and…read morepathetic hope. An $8 serving of Bakala was one (meager) piece served cold, hard, and bland; just like the service.

A nice place to stop for a quick dessert. It's not a big store but the ice cream was yummy even on…read morea cold rainy day.

The other day when I happened to be in downtown Roanoke, I decided to dine at the Inka Grill as a…read morefollow-up to my first visit. I love the decor of this restaurant. It's more modern and elegant than that of their first restaurant on Brambleton Ave. Although the service there is superb. When I arrived a young lady greeted me, took me to my table, gave me the menu and asked what I wanted to drink. After consulting with her on what they had, I asked for a mango drink. It was mighty good, like a mango juice served in a tall glass. For appetizer I order an Avocado Salad with Sea Salt. It was just slices of an avocado with salt on the side. It would have been better with some oil and vinegar as well. For ma main entrée I order.one of my favorites on their menu the Bistec a lo Pobre. This is basically a steak with a special rice, a fried egg, and fried ripe plantain. Inside of the special rice I asked for white rice and black beans. My server goes to the kitchen to see if this was possible, but comes back saying it would be a $2.95 extra to include the black beans. I told her to go ahead. When the food comes out she puts it on the table and leaves. I thought she went to get the black beans but they never arrive. The food looks great but when I cut the steak it was well done and I asked for medium rare. When she goes to bring something to another table I called her and tell her about the steak and the black beans that was missing. She offers to make me another steak but the piece of meat tooked so well and I was so hungry that I decided to eat it like that. She repeated that the black beans would be an extra charge. I told her I didn't mind. She finally brings me the black beans. The beans themselves were a bit hard and not as tasty. The ones I had at Panera Bread the other day were 100% better, but I pour them on top of the rice and eat them like this. For dessert I ordered a Passion Fruit Mousse. It was good but a bit dry and lacked sugar. I still enjoyed my meal but can't understand why they always overcook the steak when medium rare taste so much better. When I order it for delivery via Door Dash, most of the time it arrives well done as well. I still love the Peruvian cuisine of this restaurant, they should just train the new servers better so they can better communicate with the customers and chef. And I think the manager should have come out to at least apologize for the confusion. For this reason this time I'm only given them 4 stars.

While in downtown Roanoke, we decided to try this. The seating was immediate and we quickly…read morereceived our drinks and a small dish of cancha (fried corn) and Peruvian green sauce. We ordered the whole chicken with yucca and plantains and a side of black beans. The food was good and price was reasonable. With all of the choices in downtown, not sure I would make a special trip to eat there again. But if downtown and want to try a Peruvian meal, it is worth a visit. As I was reading the other reviews it reminded me that we, also, had to ask for the black beans after the rest of our food was brought to the table. They were good, nothing special.

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.

Betty & Veronica's makes the BEST cheesecakes! We have tried their Blueberries & Cream but our…read morefavorite is their Banana Pudding Cheesecake. It is AMAZING!!! They are working on finding a business location but will meet up with you once you order. Their service is excellent and they schedule a time and local pickup. It is worth it, but looking forward to seeing them with a shop window so the rest of Roanoke can see what they are all about. Their customer service sets the bar for any other bakery in Roanoke and beyond. In short - they are wonderful! Forget any other cake - make your birthday, anniversary or other special event cake a Betty & Veronica's Cheesecake! They have a full menu with plenty of exquisite choices on their Facebook page! The best desserts in Roanoke! You MUST give them a call! Tell them Tom sent you!

Coconut Cake is like Heaven!…read more Wow, first time getting anything from this shop and very impressed. Ordered a 9" round 3 layer coconut cake for my wife's birthday, her favorite! I am not a food critic, so I will describe it as best I can. Beautiful appearance - fluffy white cake. Icing is just the right amount of sweet without being heavy like some icing. Feels almost light but has substance. Texture is smooth and pleasant. The cake itself is a off-white cake that has a combination of lightness with some density to it, but again not heavy. I'm and older guy and this is the best cocunut cake I have ever eaten. Just the right balance of flavor, texture and deliciousness, but not the overpowering sweet like many children's desserts and candies have. Thank you for a great product and timely, pleasant service! Love the appearance of your shop, and I do plan to return and try other products.

The downtown, brick-walled space has charm, and the baked goods appeared to have quality. My…read moreexperience left something to be desired. Arriving several hours before closing, I found only a couple of loaves on sale, and a long line to get with them. I managed to snag the last one that wasn't plain white bread, and thought I'd add a slice of pizza as it looked appealing. While the ingredients were there, the little toaster oven they used barely warmed it up at all. I ate it there, but I'd suspect it would have been much better if I'd gotten it to go and cooked it properly myself. They don't open all that early on weekdays and I've struggled to make it in, and on the weekend, they struggled to meet expectations. Perhaps on a different day, they could do a better job of getting the right baked goods into my hands.

Brewery #443 Came in…read morehere after doing little hiking for lunch and some beer. My buddy and I started off with a flight of Brussel sprouts. What a great idea! We had 3 of their 4 versions with the hot honey and bacon version being my favorite. I then decided I needed to eat light, so I got a Southwest Sante Fe salad which came with avocado, tomatoes, corn, cheese and a delicious cilantro lime vinaigrette. The bartender convinced me to add pulled pork. So much for eating light! There was enough pulled pork on the salad to fill up 3 sandwiches. Three Notch'd does flights of 4 for 10.00 and you can add another small pour for 2.5 so I ended up with 5 beers. Their IPAs were solid, but my favorites were the Jazzfest ( I am from New Orleans and all) which was a Pecan Amber ale and the Stoked Goat which was a Doppelbock. Solid place with good food and good beer.

Slow service Sub par food that was lacking flavor. I don't…read morethink I'll be back. Nice waitstaff who did the best with what they could.

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.

One of the most beautifully creative gift shop in Roanoke, Sugar Magnolia seems to amaze me every…read moretime I visit it. Today, Black Friday, I was fortunate enough to meet the owners of the place, a husband and wife team who came up with the idea of this store and very successfully have made it come true. The husband deals with the numbers, while the wife is the creative mind and buyer of all the one of a kind interesting gifts displayed in the store. This store has so many categories of gifts that it would be impossible to mention them all in this review, but take a look of the photographs accompanying the review and you will be able to get an idea of them all. After all, it is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Two of the main categories are Chocolates and Ice Cream. I went there today to purchase a box of hand picked chocolates which I myself selected and one of the friendly employees arranged very neatly inside the box. Some other categories of gifts include very lovely, quality Greeting Cards, very nice Souvenirs of the Star City of Roanoke, Stuffed Animals, Magnets with Quotes that touch the heart, Pottery such as mugs, plates, pitchers, cookies jars, and during this special time of the year, Nutcracker, Christmas decorations and ornaments, and other festive items that celebrate the Holiday Season time of the year. There is also an area with Purses, Jewelry, scarfs, soaps, incense, and a diverse variety of other beautiful items, that the wife and co-owner of the store has hand selected on her trips as Buyer. But if all this seems amazing and spectacular, what is even greater are the hand picked and well trained employees of the store. Immediately after you enter the store they make eye contact and greet you with a smile, making you feel comfortable and at home. They help you with any questions you might have and in locating that perfect gift for a family member or a best friend. They serve you that special ice cream behind the counter, for you to enjoy while sitting at one of the small tables or while browsing around the store. The customer service they provide is absolutely amazing, and they are key in providing the ambiance that make this store so special. I highly recommend this store to all. Go in and browse around. Enjoy the beauty of the store and the diverse gift items in stock. I am certain that it won't take long for you to find a gift for that special person in your life, for your best friend, or maybe even a gift to get for yourself.

Great staff, amazing ice cream and adorable shop. My brother and I shared a banana split and my…read moredaughter got some of the chocolate truffles out of the case.