Restaurant Review: Café Harmony

I had the opportunity recently to visit the brand new Café Harmony; Raleigh's "first totally organic & natural café". Most of you are probably aware of the excellent grocery store called Harmony Farms which offers a ton of Gluten Free products. The grocery store is located at the corner of Creedmoor Road and Millbrook Road in North Raleigh (Creedmoor Crossings). The owners recently took over an empty space two doors down from the grocery store and opened a new café. Luckily for us, Café Harmony offers many Gluten Free options. 

I stopped in for lunch and ordered an Albacore Tuna Melt off of their lunch menu. It was very tasty! The lunch menu also includes items like Smokey Black Bean Burger, Organic Egg Salad and Organic Chef Salad. For an extra $1, (what they call GFO), I changed my order to Gluten Free by easily substituting the bun (which I believe was a Jillian's French roll). In fact, 6 of their 9 lunch menu options are already GF or can be made GF for that extra $1. The café also offers a pretty extensive breakfast menu as well with items like Belgian Waffles, Organic Quiche or Green Eggs & Ham. You can also pick up some "A La Carte" options like GF yogurt Granola Parfait, Oatmeal or Donuts! Café Harmony also offers a small kids menu of 3 items (1/2 Tuna Melt, Grilled Banana & Peanut Butter or Grilled Cheese); all of which can be made Gluten Free. I spoke briefly with the manager about their GF food preparation practices and how they avoid/limit cross contact with other items that contain Gluten (this is not a dedicated GF restaurant). She let me know they take GF options very seriously and have the proper procedures and training in place to avoid cross-contact as much as possible. Gluten Free items are prepared in a separate location with separate utensils and are the only items being prepped at that time by the kitchen staff. Workers switch out their gloves and use red handled utensils for each GF order. Seems to me that Harmony Café has the proper procedures in place to make GF items as safe or safer than any other restaurant with a shared kitchen could provide. If you have any questions or concerns, you should stop in and talk them over (or call) to make you feel comfortable.


Café Harmony's mission statement states that they "are dedicated to bringing Raleigh the best of organic and locally supported food. We promote healthy alternatives by providing Gluten Free options & meeting diverse dietary needs." Sounds like a great mission that really offers Gluten Free consumers a great breakfast/lunch spot. 

Information

Café Harmony

Address: 5645 Creedmoor Road, Raleigh

Web Site: http://www.cafeharmony.net

Phone: 919-510-6910

Hours: Mon-Fri: 7am – 3p, Sat & Sun: 8am – 3pm

Menu: http://www.cafeharmony.net/CafeHarmonyMenu.pdf