Part 2 of 2 for W in alphabet series for W is for Westlake Coffee & Cafe. This breaks my current…read morealphabet series of places gone to with my girlfriend from the beginning of our relationship up to Easter 2025, but I had just reviewed Smith Mountain Lake Coffee recently from last 4th of July week visit in 2024 and wanted to compare the two from visiting on the 4th of July itself in 2025 here.
Westlake Coffee & Cafe was a bit of a mixed bag for me and perhaps more of a 3.5 stars, but I'm rounding up in this case as I'm giving some benefit of the doubt and some things exceeded expectations. Also, a prior Yelp reviewer essentially said great sandwiches, nice staff, etc., what more could you ask for, and only gave 3-stars; never stated any reason why it was a mediocre 3-stars, so another reason I'm rounding to 4-stars. Also, I gave SML Coffee 3-stars, and I wanted to distinguish that Westlake Coffee & Cafe was superior to me.
My girlfriend & I were staying at her parents' home around 4th of July 2025 and wanted to eat out for lunch. Lunch options are a bit limited, but we saw this online, menu, reviews, & seemed like a decent choice. My g/f's mom warned us that they are very slow, so have your patience. I said I know I read that online could take 30 minutes. Also, the portions are big and might consider splitting sandwich.
When we arrived, I ordered a chicken salad sandwich & g/f got a turkey caprese both on sourdough bread. We figured we'd eat half of ours & switch to try each others. Also, I said we could split a large Caramel Latte, but it seems like I was charged 70 cents more than the posted price. My g/f believes that it was a 4th tier not on the menu. $5.25 small, $5.75 medium, $6.45 large, & not printed on the menu was a 4th tier Extra Large as it does say Extra Large on the receipt. This extra 70 cent discrepancy bugged me, but I'm going to give them the benefit of doubt per what my g/f thinks.
The woman cashier was cordial, but wasn't quite as nice as Smith Mountain Coffee. I asked for water while we were waiting to another person, which I interacted with 2 staff members, the one I asked & one who handed me the water, who were friendlier.
As for the wait time, this exceeded our expectations of the long 20-30 minute wait, it was more like 10-15 minutes, and while that's not great, I was pleasantly surprised when the food & drink was ready.
The quality of the iced latte was far superior to the drink I got at SML Coffee. Huge win to Westlake on that! The sandwiches were better than the wrap I got at SML too. The sandwiches use Boar's Head Meats & cheeses. The chicken salad sandwich was great, and my g/f Turkey Caprese was solid too. As it turns out, we both liked what our original choice better than the other, but both of us like both.
This is a small place with very limited seating, so better to take to go if it makes sense, but it's nicely decorated with comfortable seating.
Also, the original cashier was friendlier at the end. She might've been slightly stressed with orders & our couple of questions.
Overall, in spite of a couple of negatives, we'd return when down here.
