Saladelia Cafe

I eat here frequently because I work at American Tobacco Campus and my food options are limited. Tyler’s is good but expensive for daily lunches. Mellow Mushroom can be cheaper but the service can be so bad there sometimes. With Saladelia, if I get something that doesn’t need to be reheated, I can just pay for my plastic-​wrapped sammich and take it to my break room at work. They’ve got paninis and lasagna and such, which all get microwaved… but many other people have asked for stuff to be microwaved ahead of you. So there’s this sort of mass of hungry office workers standing around and getting in each others’ ways while they are waiting for their precious BEEP followed by a barista calling out their number. Noooo. I sometimes suffer this ritual, but usually if I can see that the hot food vultures are still small in number.
They don’t make any food here. It all comes in from a commissary. And it stays around for days. Check your expiration dates; I’ve seen some really long-​expired stuff sometimes get left out in the display cases. They’re not particularly great on freshness, cleanliness, that sort of thing. They’ve had some maintenance issues with the cooler, too, which has led me and some of my colleagues to «come down with the Saladelias» (food poisoning).
They employees are friendly but massively underworked and overcrowded. There might be enough people working there to keep stuff flowing if the owners had done a more thoughtful job of laying it out with workflow in mind. Most of the staff has a really high turnover rate, so it seems like people are always in training. Not sure what’s going on there but the owners are investing in hiring & training new employees, but maybe not as much in retaining them.
It’s not terrible. Unless it is. And if it is, I’m sorry, but you’re going to be spending a lot of time in the bathroom.
On the coffee: Meh. This is the one thing they should be doing really well here. Should.
If you’re wearing nice shoes and you’re waiting for your hot food to come out, there is a shoe shiner that lays in wait there and will push kinda hard for your patronage.
They have some seating there, but fair warning, during peak hours it can get super crowded… like lots of butts in your face while you’re trying to sit down and eat.
They are pretty much only open for breakfast and lunch. Around 3PM they are tearing stuff down, and they are usually locked up and gone for the day before 4PM.
They don’t have their own wifi. There is free Campus WiFi and it is AWFUL. Plan on it not working.

Breakfast food is so so as it is over heated and you have to ask for it to be done on less time. Manager is good but several staff members have put upon attitude sometimes if just asked to do their job. I’m going to Parker and Otis for breakfast stuff from now on.

This is a convenient little sandwich shop for the complex. Food is good but they aren’t staffed for quick service and aren’t staffed to support the growth of the complex. So if you think you’re getting in and out quick… forget about it. The cashiers work hard and are very friendly but can’t get your order complete and out to you quick. I ordered a smoothy once and it took about 15 minutes for the cashier to even get to my order. A panini takes about the same too.

The staff who work here are great. They are slammed and crammed into a tiny space, but they make it work with a smile on their face. I’ve never had the coffee as my work has free coffee, I can attest to the tasty food and sides.
Their chickpea salad with feta is the best chickpea salad. I don’t know what Saladelia does to that chickpea salad, but it’s soooo tasty. There’s been a couple of times I’ve drank spoonfuls of the dressing.
I really like their tomato basil soup, too. All the foods are the same (high) standard as every other Saladelia.

If I could give this place zero stars I would but unfortunately you have to rate at least rate 1 star. I will start out with the food which is mediocre at best. The idea of what they are trying to accomplish is unique– however the execution is a different story. The prices are not in line with the quality or lack therefore of quality in this instance.
Service — the staff are friendly and helpful but they seem very timid and almost fearful when answering questions. Recently I discovered why — a lady I am guessing an owner who appeared to be in her fifties appeared one day while I was in line debating my order. She starting «correcting» the employee who was attending to me and did so in a very rude and condescending way. The poor girl looked like she might cry at any minute. I would imagine this was very embarrassing for this girl as it was embarrassing for me to watch. She then turned to what appeared to be the manager on duty and called him an idiot and began to talk to him in the same rude condescending way. I am a small business owner I feel as though my staff is just as important as my customers. You should never correct an employee in front of your clientele — it’s just unprofessional and made me very uncomfortable. This was not the first time I have witnessed this type of behavior from Saladelia. They catered a graduation lunch at Durham Academy and I was there helping as a volunteer to set up. That same lady was there and was screaming at all the staff members. She told one of the delivery drivers that he was stupid and useless and to get out of her face. I honestly have no idea how that place stays in business treating staff this way. Very sad.

I have no idea what changed but this placed used to be great. Now… Coffee has an awful flavor. I’ve ordered three different sandwiches and every one if then just tasted old like it had been there for days. The sides ditto.
I won’t be returning.

I was in downtown Durham for business and had only about 30 minutes for lunch. A bit overwhelmed by the myriad of choices showing up on my Unilocal app at the «restaurant» end of the American Tobacco campus, I asked a young couple sitting outdoors enjoying the beautiful weather where they’d recommend I go for a quick bite. «Which Wich» said the gentleman, in what appeared to be an Irish accent. «Saladelia Café for sure» said his lady, in the unmistakable lilt of the western Irish counties, «and it’s closer!»
So I found myself — a couple of minutes later — standing nervously in a longish queue at the Café. But the line moved so fast that before I knew it, I was up at the counter, still not having made up my mind about what to get. The friendly girl behind the counter smiled understandingly at my indecision, and suggested the three-​item-​with-​pita special. I settled on chicken salad (it looked incredibly fresh), southwest beans and rice (my risky bet), and hummus (because it’s really hard to mess that up!) for my three items, and eschewing the various seating options inside and outside the café, headed back towards the «waterfall» end of the campus. Seated comfortably on a wrought iron chair, I enjoyed my meal not far from where the Irish couple had been sitting less than ten minutes earlier.
The meal was delicious! The salad tasted as fresh as it looked, the hummus and pita paired beautifully (who knew?!) and the rice and beans did not disappoint. And I still had a few minutes to enjoy the beautiful outdoors and people watch, wondering how many of the folks walking by were native vs. from far away exotic lands.
Thank you Saladelia Café, for a quick, healthy and delicious meal. I will definitely be back, but next time I am going to enjoy my lunch on one of those ridiculous looking green lounge chairs just outside your front door!

A good place for a quick bite to eat for breakfast or lunch. The area can be a little noisy but the sandwiches and burritos are worth it. I work in the American Tobacco Campus, so it’s in a very convenient location. I haven’t had the coffee, but coworkers have strongly suggested it.

Stopped by for a quick coffee while grabbing lunch in the same area. I had a regular brewed coffee which was just average, but the fudge nut brownie was incredible. Moist and delicious.

GOOD IN A PINCH.
I’ll make this a quick review since everything about this café is ho-​hum. The server behind the counter was nice and I was pleased to see some organic and vegetarian selections, but thought the food that arrived on a picnic paper plate was way too little for the price. It all tasted okay, but nothing to write home to Mom about. I also got a coffee… again, ho-​hum. It’s probably a good spot to sit with and conduct a quick meeting with someone while overlooking the average food and coffee because you’re too busy talking.

Got the Panini special (Turkey+chipotle) with a side of bowtie+feta, half/​half tea, and a black and white cookie. Panini wasn’t great, turkey was dry, barely tasted the chipotle, bread was okay but was a bit undertoasted. Nothing special about the bowtie and feta salad, only issue with that I have is that I wanted a fruit cup and I was willing to pay extra but the cashier did not want to work with me at all, I didn’t want to hold up the line so i didn’t make a big deal out if it but wow thanks for the customer service there. Black and white cookie was pretty good though but all in all, not in a rush to head on over there again for lunch. Rather just head to Parker and Otis.

I work near Saladelia and have been itching to try one of their smoothies. Got one today and I wasn’t really impressed. I ordered the Strawberry Fields smoothie which has strawberries, bananas, orange juice and strawberry sorbet. Had great big frozen pieces of foods in my smoothie, which I didn’t appreciate. And it wasn’t really sweet, like I expected it to be. Needless to say, I won’t order a smoothie from there again.

Very helpful & nice barista! The americano was good also. I wouldn’t go out of my way to get coffee here, but it was still decent quality.

Saladelia is acceptable if you are craving coffee in or near the American Tobacco Campus, but i’ve certainly experienced better coffee and food at places such as Starbucks and Parker & Otis. The coffee has a horrible flavor, so get an Americano.
On another note, their sodas are extremely overpriced – $ 2 for a can of Diet Coke.

The food is OK at best and the prices are a bit high. The deal breaker for me was the less than attentive counter staff.

A great place to grab a ready made wrap. The heated wraps are the best. Unique flavorful drinks, deserts, and chips complete the best «meal on the run» in Durham.