Jamie’s Cafe & Market

I went here because there seemed to be no other place in the nearby area (Edsall & Van Dorn) that would serve a low-​carb breakfast, i.e. no bread, waffles, pancakes, etc. Basically, I was looking for an omelette and coffee. So, you do have to go through a security gate to get there. I walked there on a Sunday morning and the security guard actually told me I couldn’t go in because the café wasn’t open — it was 15 minutes before 10 AM. He eventually let me in after taking my name down and I waited until it opened.
The place is basically a convenience store for the apartment complex next to the pool, plus a small restaurant. The breakfast stuff wasn’t listed on the overhead display like the lunch stuff was, I had to find the menu hanging around up front.
I ordered an espresso and a western omelette, which came with four slices of bread. It was indeed an omelette, overdone for my tastes but I didn’t make any specific requests for it, and that’s about it. The espresso was your typical non-​espresso — idk if restaurant owners know this or if it’s some ploy by restaurant machine marketers, but this experience confirms further that unless it’s a café with baristas, or Starbucks or Panera, the espresso is not actually an espresso, it’s just some unusual dense coffee. Service was slow but the place move slow that morning anyway.
Hate to say this in a review, but it’s really silly to list this place in Unilocal.There is little sense in putting an apartment complex-​specific micro-​restaurant here. My diet aside, I’d say the Dunkin Donuts on Van Dorn is solid, seeing as the IHOP has bad reviews.

So, many of you are wondering what has happened to Jamie’s General Bean in Centreville, VA. Yes, that coffee shop is closed and gone. The landlord decided to raise the rent by several orders of magnitude based on a plan to develop a street level retail Town Center complex in that section of Centreville. Jamie could not afford the massive increase in rent — so she had to move on.
She is now located with a new business name — Jamie’s Café & Market — in a rather peculiar location — but one that makes sense for her. After all, this is a business and she has to make a profit in order to survive. So she has taken over a space at the Watergate at Landmark — a rather massive gated condominium community in Alexandria.
To get into to visit the new location, you must drive up to the guard booth (as I did today) tell the security guard that you are here to visit Jamie’s Café & Market — he will then fill out a temporary parking form, write down your license plate number, ask you your name, and then send you on your merry way!
Once inside, it’s much larger than the old Centreville location, lots more seating (see the photos), a lot more food options (sandwiches, salads, breakfast foods, etc.) but it is also a convenience store. She still offers free Wifi.
Jamie basically has a rather large automatic built in audience for her coffee now — everyone that lives at this condo development! Makes me wish I could afford to live there!
Yes, it’s a bit of a hassle to go through the Security gate, but hey — who knows what the future will bring for this location?
Her manager, Jim showed me around, and chatted with me a bit about the place. I ordered a medium House blend and a breakfast sandwich: Sausage, egg, and cheese on an English muffin. Better than any breakfast sandwich at ANY of the fast food locations! Delicious! And not as greasy!
Jamie came over and chatted with me for a bit before she had to scoot. I think this is going to be a good deal better for her — both from a business perspective — and a health perspective — she needs to have a life and not be at the coffee shop 24 hours a day!
Her web site has not yet been updated to reflect the new address — not sure when that will occur — but she still has that URL on her new business cards — so it’s only a matter of time before the web site is updated.