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    The Quill

    5.0 (1 review)

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    9 years ago

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    Halwa Bakery & Cafe - London Fog latte was perfect, but the Lebanese Pastry was not fresh

    Halwa Bakery & Cafe

    4.3(52 reviews)
    2.9 mi

    Spacious cafe! The staff was very nice. I only ordered a tea, so I can't say anything about the…read morefood. But they had lots of good looking desserts and pastries!

    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.

    Photos
    Halwa Bakery & Cafe - Decode

    Decode

    Halwa Bakery & Cafe - Baklava & Lebanese Puff Pastry.

    Baklava & Lebanese Puff Pastry.

    Halwa Bakery & Cafe

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    Our Daily Bread Bakery and Bistro - Scallops

    Our Daily Bread Bakery and Bistro

    3.9(296 reviews)
    2.5 mi
    $$

    Seating can be a challenge if you get here mid morning on a weekend but the food is worth the…read morepotential wait. Some of the specials are crazy, like French toast with pickled jalapeños, but somehow it worked. The baked goods selections are worth checking before you leave as well!!

    It saddens me to leave a negative review about Our Daily Bread, but my most recent experience was…read morevery disappointing. I have lived in Blacksburg my whole life and ODB has been a go-to bakery for most locals for a while. Serving a variety of pastries, cakes, breads, and offering lunch, brunch, and dinners. They have a lovely variety of options for customers to enjoy. The bakery primarily serves French pastries and caters to French cuisine at their meals. Although they offer more than just French inspired food. In the past, my family and I have enjoyed grabbing their cakes for celebrations and individual pastries from their pastries case. But recently, they have not been up to par and have left us very unsatisfied. The cakes have been dry and do not taste fresh at all. On my latest visit I tried a couple of things, all of which were cold, with dry, crumbly textures. It was evident to me that these pastries were not made day-of and had clearly sat in a fridge for at least one night (if not more). I found this to be extremely disappointing as ODB used to have a reputation of serving FRESH baked goods and pastries. I cannot attest for the hot food they serve during meal times, but the pastries and cakes have gone down hill. Over the winter break, I had their NY cheesecake bar (which I've gotten in the past and it was phenomenal) and it fell so short of what I remembered. It was lacking flavor and the crust at the bottom was dry. This past visit, I tried a Napoleon (also have had this before and really enjoyed it), a specialty cake, a scone, and a couple macarons and macaroons. The Napoleon was so cold and the puff pastry was super stale, it practically fell apart the second I tried to eat it. The specialty individual cake slice was also very cold and the cake wasn't moist at all. Again, indicating it was not fresh or made day-of. The scone was also a disappointment as it was dry and lacked any moisture. I thought the macrons and macaroons were fine though. While most of this was disappointing, the price didn't help either. Nothing was inexpensive and the quality was completely missing. So disappointing to leave this review as I used to enjoy coming here for sweet treats. It's sad to see that ODB is unfortunately not what it used to be. I will note that the service is very friendly and they do their best dealing with customers. Could have been more efficient, but I did go during a busier time. I hope they can turn things around, but until then I do not think I will be retuning soon.

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    Our Daily Bread Bakery and Bistro
    Our Daily Bread Bakery and Bistro - I liked the raspberry lemon cheesecake but not the top item. Not enough flavor not enough sweetness

    I liked the raspberry lemon cheesecake but not the top item. Not enough flavor not enough sweetness

    Our Daily Bread Bakery and Bistro

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    Lefty's Main Street Grille - Curd appetizers

    Lefty's Main Street Grille

    3.9(324 reviews)
    2.7 mi
    $$

    A lively local favorite, with reasonable prices and an array of food and drink for most palates and…read morepocketbooks. Reserve well in advance during football weekends or special events, such as graduation week. We enjoyed the Tuscan Tortellini ($23): shrimp and chicken sautéed in garlic with sun-dried tomatoes and spinach, herb sauce, cheese tortellini with basil and parmesan. Two of us split the tasty three-lamb-chop special for $36. Several nearby booths were enjoying the Southern Ribs ($23 ): seven slow-cooked, then crispy-fried pork ribs in a BBQ sauce, served with pimento mac-n-cheese, cornbread, and vegetable du jour. In addition to the dinner entrées ($20-$32) and specials ($40), Lefty's has dinner sandwiches under $14 and dinner burgers under $15. Plus flatbread pizzas, $14. Wines by the glass from $8 to $10.50. 24 beers on tap. Cocktails are $9 to $11. Service is fast, efficient, and mostly friendly (ours got a little snippy when we asked about a cocktail order that was slow to arrive, but it was a busy graduation night). Dependable on all counts; we'll be back.

    Came here for a work dinner, and was pleasantly surprised at the good quality of the food here!…read more I had the emerald kale salad and it was very good. This is a nicer spot rather than a bar (I wasn't expecting that), and has many solid dinner entrees options, it seemed. It was pretty mild volume levels inside, so we didn't have to yell at each other during dinner. A few of the group didn't love their entrees (the fish tacos lacked flavor and the carne asada pasta had some unexpected pairings), but overall a solid choice with something for everyone

    Photos
    Lefty's Main Street Grille - Bar area

    Bar area

    Lefty's Main Street Grille - Jerk Chicken Philly with onion rings- delicious!

    Jerk Chicken Philly with onion rings- delicious!

    Lefty's Main Street Grille - Impressive sized flight of beers.

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    Impressive sized flight of beers.

    The Quill - coffee - Updated May 2026

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