Cheese and Coffee Cafe

Here comes another restaurant review! I'm back at work and the end of the year is by far our busiest season and as such we are often sacrificing lunch breaks and staying late to tie everything up before year end. 

Today my boss treated us to Cheese and Coffee Cafe. There are two locations in Albuquerque but we carry out from 2679 Louisiana Blvd, Albuquerque NM 87110 due to the proximity to our office. The restaurant itself is small; there are probably only around 10 tables at which to sit at which can get quite crowded during a lunch rush.

This deli serves only Boar's Head brand meats and cheeses and only fresh vegetables are served in salads or on sandwiches. They have everything under the sun as far as sandwiches go, their prices can't be beat, and they have to-go orders ready in about 10 minutes so they're also time-efficient. 

They have daily specials and different soups (their green chile chicken and red chile posole are the best). 

Today I got their salad duo (I didn't want to eat too much) with their Greek salad (feta cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, homemade dressing and Kalamata olives!) and their red chile posole. Readers, for those of you thinking "what in the world is posole?" (pronounced po-sol-ey) it is a delicious soup made with hominy, cubed pork (or in this case chicken) and red chile. Their duo is served with a whole wheat roll (perfect for soaking up all the wonderful dressing and feta cheese that didn't make its way onto lettuce). 

Another favorite of mine is their Chelsea sandwich: sliced turkey, avocado, green chile and provolone cheese on grilled sourdough (can it get any better?!). 

I have also finally developed a rating scale! I will critique a restaurant based on 5 categories and each category being broken into poor, fair and excellent for a grand total of 15 possible points:  

Decor

Cleanliness

Food taste

Food appearance

Service

In the case of Cheese and Coffee Cafe I will rate as follows: 

Decor: poor. The restaurant is sparsely decorated at all and the chairs are banquet-style high backs. 

Cleanliness: excellent. The staff keep the restaurant in great order! Tables are often turned within a minute of patrons leaving them. 

Food taste: good. The ingredients are fresh and everything is freshly prepared, the reason I would not award an excellent in this category is because it is only a deli. 

Food appearance: good. The food is presented in a way so that it looks appetizing but no real attention is given to appearance. 

Service: excellent. Servers are attentive - they refill drinks before you even realize they were empty, food is served promptly, and to-go orders are prepared in a timely manner! 

Cheese and Coffee Cafe, you have earned yourself an 11/15!