Located at
750 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the Midtown Market plaza in Chapel Hill
(with a second location in Pittsboro), The Root Cellar offers coffee, baked
goods, breakfast and lunch. It is open from 8-3 daily. Catering, prepared
meals, and online ordering are available.
The Root
Cellar is one of those places that I wanted to like more than I actually did.
On paper, it has a lot to offer, but it also leaves room for improvement in a
few areas.
Though the
name may suggest a cozy café, The Root Cellar is decidedly not that. This place
is huge with plenty of seating and space. The restaurant/bakery occupies the
front half while wine, beer, and a few grocery items for sale can be found
toward the back. While you’re unlikely to be left waiting to find a table, it
can get a bit loud in here.
For a
breakfast/lunch place, The Root Cellar’s menu offers a good amount of variety.
Go for a pastry, egg plate, or smoothie in the morning or a salad, sandwich, or
wrap later in the day. The sandwiches show a variety of global influences, the
pastries are made in-house, and the coffee uses Joe Van Gogh beans.
Ordering is
a bit chaotic as lines approached the register from two different sides with no
indication of which was the correct queue. The cashier, while not rude, very
much seemed like she would rather be anywhere else.
Wanting
something light to tide me over until lunch, I opted for a green smoothie and an
herb cheddar biscuit. I didn’t have long to wait for either. The smoothie was a
bit sweet, and, at $8.50, no bargain. On the other and, the biscuit – warm and
savory – was delicious and a much more reasonable $3.
I wouldn’t
rule out returning to The Root Cellar, but it’s not a place I would go out of
my way to visit during future Chapel Hill trips, either.
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