I recently spent an afternoon with a girlfriend of mine and we went to Cafe Sunflower, a vegetarian cafe in the Atlanta area, for lunch.

Cafe Sunflower, Sandy Springs

I am not personally a vegetarian, though I am not at all adverse to an occasional meatless meal; I only require that food be tasty.  I’d heard good things about the restaurant via Scoutmob and had always wanted to try it.  This friend was definitely the type to take a vegetarian food adventure with me.

Slackers: Subsequently, if you live in one of the active Scoutmob areas, I highly recommend that you get the app on your phone.  It gives spectacular discounts and is a great way to find new local places to dine or hang out, if you’re into that kind of thing.  You can be hip and trendy and cheap.  Hoo-rah.

The restaurant's innards...actually not quite what I was expecting.

The insides of Cafe Sunflower were different from what I expected.  I think I was expecting something a little more down-home or hippy-like, but instead it struck me as having more of a chic indian restaurant vibe.  I hadn’t even realized I’d had expectations until we walked in.  Even so, the atmosphere was relaxing, comfortable, and warm, which was nice since it’s been so cold here recently.  I estimate we got to the restaurant 12:30 or 1 and they were moderately busy.  Business picked up while we were there, then dropped off as we were leaving.  The picture above is from later in the afternoon after most of the crowds had died down.  Don’t be deceived by its empty appearance and think that it always looks like this!

The menu is completely vegetarian, there’s no meaty options to speak of.  Some of the items are gluten-free as well if that’s your thing.  My friend and I decided to split two different entrees so we could get a taste of more than one type of food they had to offer: she ordered the Tuscan Sandwich and I ordered one of their lunch specials, a mushroom quesadilla with a homemade salsa.

Can you say delicious, boys and girls?  Zomg.

For having no meat, both of our meals were wonderful.  The Tuscan Sandwich came with sweet potato fries and cole slaw, and the quesadilla came with, naturally, tortilla chips and some of the best salsa I have ever had (and that’s saying something!).  The two of us unanimously decided the quesadilla was the winner between our two meals, but the Sandwich was definitely a solid second.  The sides were also very tasty; the fries were the perfect consistency and the cole slaw had a wonderful flavor and was not sopping in sauce (and I tend to be picky when it comes to slaw).  The salsa was fantastic and if they’d been selling jars of it I would have bought one on the spot.  It was sweeter rather than spicy and not very chunky; it’s strong tomato and cilantro flavors were excellent.  Man, I wish they sold that stuff on its own.

The prices were pretty mid-range, most anywhere from $10 to $15, though to be fair that was for the lunch menu.  I feel like the quality of the food was worth it, though.

Raspberry Chocolate Mousse Cake

I think we had both planned on passing on dessert until the waiter whisked by with a platter of cake slices.  Among them was what you see above, a Raspberry Chocolate Mousse cake.  There were other selections such as a carrot cake, red velvet, and double chocolate.  I believe all or some of them were egg-free and others were also gluten-free.  You might think that would affect the taste, but most certainly it didn’t – I was definitely smitten.  It was probably one of the best slices of restaurant cake I’ve ever had.  Mmmm….

Final analysis?  If you can deal with a meatless meal, this is definitely a restaurant to check out.  And get a piece of cake.  Srsly.

Mary Gezo

Formerly of both n00bcakes and !Blog, the two magically become one on Spatialdrift; expect some lazy baking and serious nerditude. Also, I love semicolons.