The Lofty Cafe
 Akron, Ohio        Date of Visit  10/23/13        http://theloftycafe.com/

Steph heard of a new place selling cupcakes in the Falls. Shortly afterward I found a Groupon for a deal on said cupcakes and we got a chance to give the place a try. It’s a small corner storefront close to the Riverfront Square. We got there after the typical lunch hour and found the place pretty relaxed. One other patron sat at a table and a dude (non-patron) was at the counter. Our server was seriously nice and sweet at our table but she also seemed to be more interested in the aforementioned dude during most of our stay.
 

Grainy Underinspired Hummus
 

We ordered hummus, a grilled cheese, a bowl and a side of mac and cheese. The cupcakes were to follow. The hummus was mediocre and a little too grainy. The grilled cheese was the spinach and artichoke with muenster cheese. This really didn’t do much for me at all. I expected some bite from the marinated chokes but there wasn’t any. The cheese never really made an appearance. It was essentially functional toast. It was served with cheese popcorn, which I assume comes from Metropolitan across the street. It has much more going for it than the sandwich.

The bowl was the kielbasa option with mash, cheese and gravy. The first bowl had mac and cheese instead of the mash which they rectified relatively quickly. The menu says it comes with garlic Texas toast but neither of these did. The kielbasa was fine, the mash was woefully under seasoned and the gravy did nothing to aid the dish at all. Not bad, not really good. Grandma’s mac and cheese suffered from the same ordinariness and lack of punch.
 

The cupcakes were better than lunch by far. The Groupon was for a dozen. We took little slices out of several of them and then sent the rest back to school. There isn’t anything unique or outrageous about their combinations but the cupcakes are all well flavored in classic combinations that make sense. I cant remember the 12th but we tried 9 of the bunch. My favorites were the Banana Pudding, banana cake, banana cream filling and cream cheese frosting which had a solid nanner taste; the Apple Cider, spice cake, apple cinnamon filling and cider frosting with a great fall palate; the Pucker Up, lemon cake, lemon filling, cream cheese frosting, who doesn’t like sharp citrusy sweets; and The Devil Wears Raspberry, chocolate cake and frosting with raspberry filling for a classic combo.
 

We also tried the Pumpkin Spice Latte, spiced pumpkin cake, espresso filling and frosting; the Pumpkin Roll, pumpkin spice cake, cream cheese filling and frosting; I Love You a Latte, vanilla cake, cream cheese filling, espresso frosting; The Italian Stallion, chocolate cake, chocolate filling and espresso frosting; and finally the Coconut Haze, chocolate cake, caramel filling, chocolate frosting with coconut. They were all passable. We didn’t try the Blonde Oreo, vanilla cake and frosting with cream cheese filling or the Strawberry Thumbprint, vanilla cake, strawberry filling, cream cheese frosting having had enough with the first nine. The treats are solid but overall our experience wouldn’t be described as lofty.