Alianti Cafe

When I come in for a delicious bacon & egg sandwich, it is absolutely unacceptable for you to *MICROWAVE* the bacon! Bacon should be grilled or fried! Heck they even fried my eggs out the back, but still felt the best option was to microwave the bacon! The store is nice and staff friendly, however excessive use of the microwave really turns me off this place! Avoid anything with Bacon!

Tucked down one of Richmond’s many picturesque alleys, the Alianti enjoys the hustle and bustle of passing trade, but remains off the beaten track enough to be enjoyable.
In terms of food and drink, Alianti is basic enough. I have had a couple of coffees and cakes here on Sunday afternoons over the past few weeks and both times it’s been perfectly adequate.
The coffee is OK and the café is very well priced considering it’s Richmond, but one does sometimes feel that the quality of the food is reflective of the price. Don’t get me wrong; it’s not bad at all — it’s just that a selection of cakes wrapped in cling-​film makes me feel I’m in a church coffee shop rather than sampling a high-​class afternoon tea.
That said, Richmond can be an expensive town to eat, drink (and live), so cafes like this are well worth a visit. If you’re looking for something a bit more classy though, I’d have a bit more of a dig around.

I headed here for a quiet lunch on my first day of work in Richmond, scouting out for something both fresh and Unilocalable. This place is a little bit hidden, so it seemed just right for it.
I didn’t touch the coffee, only the food. They claim it to be fresh, and it does seem that way. You’re presented with a few types of salad/​pasta, and you basically mix ‘n match 3 types together, or use it as sandwich filler, or just get a sandwich from traditional stuff (I don’t remember the last option too well, as it was a couple of months ago now).
Given I was after trying something different, I went for a mix of the salads. Or rather, salad and pasta.
It was nothing amazingly inspiring, and I haven’t been back since, but it most certainly wasn’t bad. It’s also one of the few lunches I’ve ever really had to fill me up so cheaply. They seemed quite busy, so I’m going to assume they do have their little customer base, too. I don’t know whether they vary the salads and pastas to keep them from getting too repetitive, but if they do, it could be a pretty good local, too.
Now that I’ve written this and am thinking about it, I may even go back there this Saturday to see! Damn yooouuuu.

I drink a lot of coffee. It’s definitely the best stimulant you can buy and get a receipt for. Now Alianti calls itself a sandwich and coffee shop and certainly it sells both. I actually haven’t had the food bit of its double edged lunch whammy but I have had the coffee here. It’s ok, they have a proper machine and all but I think if you are going to specialise in only two things you could do a lot better. Good coffee isn’t really that difficult. I mean I know Monmouth uses whole milk only and the best of the best beans but even with semi-​skimmed milk and a decent mid range bean you can do a bit better than this place.
Mine was average — a bit too watery and not hot enough. As I say I haven’t had the sandwiches and maybe they make up for the coffee with the best salami and comte you could ever put on a wooden board and eat with olives and your fingers. Not terrible of course but a slightly boring interior doesn’t really help redeem this average place.