City Lights Cafe

Always great coffee/food, and the way they have handled COVID-19 with their online ordering system is a great example of balancing service with safety. Glad to see they care about protecting their staff and their customers, and this is the only place in town I’m willing to sit down and eat at because of that attention and care. Support your local businesses, they need us now more than ever!

Food was very good and fresh. Needs another register people waiting on coffee at register after they pay takes along time to order. 3 of us was 50.00 for 2 breakfast burritos 1 eggs Benedict and 3 drinks, side of bacon and sausage. This place is very pricey so expect to pay for waiting on food and cleaning up the plates yourself.

The desserts are great here. I highly recommend the cheesecake with strawberries and chocolate drizzle with whipped cream! Trust me, a great way to end a date ;) I can bring my dogs here which is a plus. Additionally, the coffee is great though!

I added a star for the quick response!
To answer the owner:
I order food a few times over the years and it's always dicey if the chips will be stale and on more than one occasion, the spinach has been wilted.
Never on the salads but in a wrap or where it can't be seen until you taste it.

The food here is fresh, well prepared, and as locally sorced as possible. They have a decent beer selection but their coffee offerings are hit or miss depending on who is working the espresso machine. Sometimes there is live music and sometimes there are single individuals taking up a number of the available tables. I've never not had a place to sit, but I'm sure it happens from time to time. Nice people all around though.

First it’s super pricey, for 2 large chai teas:$21. Second, their chai tea latte tasted like water, nothing like a chai. It was soooo bad , I threw it away. I had teas there several times and each time it was bad. I am turning off the “City lights “. Better places to get your coffee/ tea

Great food, great place to hangout, all around lovely experience. We were visiting and found this place was a lot like a cafe that we frequent at home. When we come stay in SYLVA again we’ll have to come back for breakfast, lunch, or even to just relax downtown. I would recommend City Lights Cafe again and again!

Came here Saturday morning. Lovely spot. Ordered: pumpkin pie latte, cold brew, breakfast panini, sausage waffle. ALL were amazing and came out perfect. The upstairs bookstore is diverse and has used and new books. The two cats that live in the bookstore are so sweet and very friendly. Will return again during our trip.

Let me preface this review by saying that, as this was my first experience at the City Lights Cafe, and my first time in Sylva, I was trying out a lot of different places, and I liked everything I had until I got to City Lights Cafe. I came in with my family, and we ordered a decent amount of food. Two breakfast burritos, and two breakfast sandwiches. The first warning sign that this place wasn’t good was when we walked in, and my mom, who can’t eat egg yolks requested egg whites in her breakfast sandwich, which the owner was strangely adamant that they could not do (strange for an establishment that caters to special diets). My mom ended up ordering her sandwich with no egg on it, and we took our seats. I noticed as we sat that both of the cooks weren’t wearing hairnets or gloves, which is questionable at best(I read a review of the owner defending this by saying it is dangerous to wear gloves around hot kitchen equipment, and I can say that after working in a restaurant for several years that this is not true). When my family got their food, I did not receive mine, and found out that it wasn’t rung in for some reason, which led to another wait for food. My mom, who specifically requested no eggs, received a large amount of egg on her sandwich, which she couldn’t eat, and my sister received on her sandwich three long blonde hairs, strange considering nobody in my family has blonde hair. When I finally got my breakfast burrito, the egg in it was so overcooked that it had the consistency of rubber, and the flavor of it as well. Needless to say, we sprinted from the establishment once we were done, and will not be returning. I don’t normally leave reviews, but this experience was so different from that depicted by other reviews, that I just had to give it. Nice selection of 80’s pop music though.

Great place to have lunch and enjoy a book or catch up on emails via your tablet. The menu has a variety of healthy options and some downright delicious crepes. Friendly service rounds out the scrumptious food and rich coffee selections. I plan to come back here many times in the future.

(Note to self) Must. Visit. Often! City Lights Cafe has so much to offer, one cannot possibly absorb all of its goodness in one visit. Really! I've only been here for lunch and it was a fantastic (some of the BEST fish tacos I've ever had - and the sauce was, well, near Nirvana!). With a great staff and a cozy, hipster ambiance, City Lights would be a wonderful place to hang out...if I only had time to hang out....and sip coffee...and sample craft beers...and nibble on tasty menu offerings. Can't wait to visit again!!