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.