dgreen Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 I visited The Sweet Life Cafe with two of my kids Saturday night. Located on the first floor of an historic home in Old Town Fairfax, The Sweet Life Cafe serves sandwiches, breakfast, ice cream, other desserts, and various coffees, tees, and other beverages. There are a few tables inside, but much of the seating is along the wrap around porch overlooking Rt 123 and in the small back yard. While looking over the sandwiches, trying to decide what to order, I noticed a crab cake sandwich on the specials menu. Priced at $12, I wondered what I was going to get. There are those places that have "crab cakes" for like $8 and you just know it's going to be 98% filler and 2% crab meat. (You just can't use enough crab meat and charge only $8.) So, at $12, what was I getting? Will it be full of lump crab (as the menu suggested) but kind of small or a larger crab cake leaving you asking, "Where's the crab?" Much to my delight, it was neither. It was a nice sized crab cake with a good amount of lump crab meat throughout. It wasn't the best I'd ever had, but for $12 I was pleased with the quality and portions. You just never know with crab cakes. After dinner, we hit the ice cream. My son wanted the strawberry ice cream. This wasn't your typical strawberry ice cream, at least I didn't think so. You know how strawberry ice cream tends to be called strawberry ice cream because it's pink, tastes somewhat like strawberries, and even has some tiny pieces of strawberry in it? Well, this had huge chunks of strawberries in it. Like chunks the size of half strawberries. You don't take a bite and just get the strawberry taste; you take a bite and get a strawberry. My daughter and I each had mint chocolate chip, although I was tempted by the banana pudding ice cream. As with the strawberry, the chocolate chips were whole chocolate chips. They weren't just tiny pieces of chocolate mixed in with mint ice cream. Again, probably not the best ice cream I'd ever had, but the quality and the portions exceeded the price. I'm not sure how long they've been open, but I think it's fairly new because I don't remember seeing it before a few months ago. With the redevelopment of Old Town Fairfax bringing in Potbelly and Panera across the street, The Sweet Life Cafe is a nice, quaint addition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelGold Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 It's been there for at least a year. I've been wanting to go, but never think about it unless I'm driving by...thanks for the write up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundae in the Park Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 It's been there for at least a year. I've been wanting to go, but never think about it unless I'm driving by...thanks for the write up! Same here. I've driven by it a zillion times, thinking that it would be great for weekend afternoon treat, or a cute place to take out-of-town guests for a look at the rapidly (re?)emerging Old Town Fairfax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgreen Posted May 7, 2008 Author Share Posted May 7, 2008 Looks like it opened in 2006 and is owned by Fairfax City Mayor Rob Lederer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonRocks Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Looks like it opened in 2006 and is owned by Fairfax City Mayor Rob Lederer. Sweet Life Cafe closed in August, and has been replaced by "Choices by Shawn," owned and operated by Shawn Warner (click here for the new website). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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