Some times is it hard to come up with a creative option for lunch that isn’t too far from downtown. Fortunately, that has become less of a challenge with new places cropping up in the Midtown area in Tallahassee on a fairly constant basis.

One that has been around for a little bit, but has been flying under the radar by Lake Ella is Mickey’s Lakeside Cafe. After reading TastyTallahassee’s review, I moved it to the top of my to-do list.

When we arrived, the outside area seemed to be more populated with students/hipsters and the inside with more of the retiree/professor crowd. The music was a very soothing selection of 1940s classics such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.

View of Lake Ella from inside

The hubs and I easily got a great table by the window and perused the menu. The polite server let us know that they had fresh corn chowder and black bean soup as their specials and recommended the Roast Beef and California sandwiches.

We got both soups (I got the last corn chowder, FTW!). They were both very light and tasted very fresh. Mine was more of a corn soup than chowder, with almost no cream – but I liked the pronounced taste of the corn. The black bean was good with nice chunks of onion and carrot. They both could have used a little more seasoning, but a dash of salt seemed to help.

Mickey’s Roast Beef had sliced beef with mozzarella, onions and peppers on ciabatta bread, which was nice and soft inside, crispy on the outside. The sandwich also came with homemade au jus, which was yummy. I had the cole slaw on Tasty’s recommendation and it was very nice. I liked the use of sour cream for the base, although a little mayo would help ratchet up the richness of the texture.

My husband’s California was a hit with Boar’s Head Sausalito Turkey, avocado, swiss cheese, onion and peppers on Ciabatta. Both sandwiches were pressed and hot.

Mickey’s Lakeside Cafe was a nice, low-key option for lunch. I especially look forward to visiting when the weather is better and I can sit outside with the hipsters (people watching!)

Make sure to find Mickey’s Lakeside Cafe on Facebook to learn more about them.