A Natural Way Cafe – Guilderland, NY

As we were in the process of moving into our new house, I started seeing the space formerly occupied by a beauty salon being converted. About a month before our move, a sign went up, indicating that a business called “A Natural Way Cafe” would be opening soon in the same plaza as Subway, sushi, and Chinese restaurants. From the information I read on Table Hopping, I learned that one of the proprietors was someone I knew as a trainer and social media liaison for Vent Fitness. I think I may have given her a guilt trip that led to her uncancelling and teaching a FocusMaster session once (it’s cool though because her music selection rocked way more than what they usually play!).

A Natural Way Cafe opened at 2568 Western Avenue the week after we officially moved. It has been a priority of mine to stop in to check it out.

The space is huge. The periphery is set up with small tables, and there’s a small area with some lounge chairs and a coffee table. They offer standard cafe menu items such as coffee, breakfast sandwiches, snacks, salads, and sandwiches.

I stopped in for lunch and ordered a roast beef sandwich. It sounded good since the other owner indicated that she had just finished slicing the roast beef. Based on this, my assumption was that it was roasted in-house, but further conversations led me to discover that the deli meats come from Metro Deli and were selected because there are no added nitrates.

I had my sandwich with American cheese, lettuce, tomato and mustard. I had the option of having the sandwich toasted, where it would be crisped up in an oven for a short period of time.

It came with a bag of “Food should taste good” chips. They tasted pretty good.

The sandwich was alright. I’m nonplussed by most packaged roast beef, and this one is no more outstanding than any other. The multigrain bread was very tasty, but I probably should have chosen more assertive cheese to help enhance the roast beef. The price, $8.50, is on the high side for this style and size sandwich.

I also tried a chocolate chip French toast cup ($3) from the case filled with baked goods. They toasted it up a little to warm it through. It was like bread pudding that had a super crisp exterior but moist interior. The chocolate chips melted just enough to mingle into the bread slightly. It was truly outstanding. All of the baked goods (especially the cookies) looked amazing.

Lauren and Tiffany are definitely onto something. In that neck of the woods, aside from a couple of pizzerias and Chinese restaurants, there are no cafes. In the past, when I wanted coffee or baked goods, I’d have to drive down to Bountiful Bread or Starbucks in Stuyvesant Plaza. Also, for breakfast sandwiches around there, there is Subway and Mike’s Diner nearby, so it’s definitely a place that I think could enhance the neighborhood.