Two Great Locally Owned Eateries Worth A Visit

If you like supporting locally owned restaurants, TR has two recommendations.

Sahara, which is a Greek Lebanese Cafe located at 1241 E. Layfayette Street, was a buzz with activity during our lunch visit.

The wait staff was pleasant and you could tell their banter with patrons means that repeat customers frequent the cafe.

The seasoned chicken with rice pilaf and a greek salad was delicious. But more satisfying was the feeling that employees sincerely appreciated our visit.

Sahara uses “the most craved, freshest and ripe vegetables in the business when preparing your food and the meats are the greatest of cuts.”

Their website brags that “our customers come back and new customers continue to walk in everyday because our food is the best in the city.”

Sometimes we take local institutions for granted.

The Uptown Cafe, located at 1325 Miccosukee Rd, has been locally owned and operated and serving Tallahassee residents and visitors for 30 years.

Opened on College Ave downtown in 1983 and now located at the corner of Miccosukee and Magnolia (across from Tallahassee Memorial Hospital), Uptown serves great homemade breakfast and lunch items.

The Turkey Melt we had was tasty and the weather allowed us to dine outside The atmosphere in the “hospital district” gave the feel of a an “uptown” diner in a big city.

Also, it appeared everyone eating there knew each other – a sign of repeat customers.

Uptown also provides catering and Apricot Smoked Salmon. They began offering the special smoked salmon in 2008 at holiday events and the demand for it grew quickly from there. It started with one small smoker, smoking 15 pieces at a time to the present big daddy smoker that smokes 60 at a time.

Two great locally owned restaurants – give them a try!