Everywhere you turn these days there’s another corporate soft serve yogurt or ice cream bar popping up, be it Tutti Frutti or Pinkberry overflow. The problem? Many. As someone whose likely claim to fame when I die will be the amount of soft serve I can – and do! – consume, I’ve tried every establishment, all with the same drawbacks: tiny spaces, artificial flavors, deceptively expensive, no place to park and no inside space for gathering or studying. So I’m thrilled to see the opening of UR Way Yogurt and Coffee, a sun-drenched, spacious new soft serve and coffee bar in my very own neighborhood: Mid-City.
The spacious interior makes UR Way relaxing and inviting. Photo courtesy of UR Way Yogurt & Coffee Bar.
UR Way has everything you could want from a cafe of its kind: caffeinated beverages and calorie-comfortable yet addictive desserts. Start your morning off right with affordable, craft coffee. With an entire parking lot in the back, you can whip in and out, grabbing your drink and any selection of fresh fruit, pastries, yogurt or granola. Professional baristas serve any combination of coffee or tea the heart desires, at prices better than you’ll find virtually anywhere in town.
Not rushing off to work? Sit and stay for a minute – or ten hours. Coffee shop connoisseurs will delight in the enormous space and the generous hours, which run from early morning until 11 p.m on week nights, and midnight on weekends (surprisingly hard to find in this town where no one ever sleeps, except, evidently, the people who work at coffee shops!).
At least eight flavors greet all customers at UR Way, where the build-your-own concept lets you mix and match to your heart's content. Photo courtesy of UR Way Yogurt & Coffee Bar.
Are you a comfy chair seeker? Settle down in prime seating next to front windows that look out onto Tulane Ave. UR Way not only has low tables, high stools and super-fast wireless Internet, its rows upon rows of outlets across the restaurant will discourage any passive-aggressive space claiming behavior.
And let’s not forget my favorite part – the soft serve! Once again, I’ll go to the stand as an expert witness: these are by far the best tasting soft serve flavors you’ll find. Owners Cleveland Spears III and Kelisha Garrett tried some forty kinds of soft serve, searching for that perfect blend of flavor, texture, and natural goodness. Then after finding the very best base, they went with flavors to warm the cockles of any soft serve lover’s heart. In addition to tart, vanilla, chocolate and cookies n’ cream, you’ll see flavors like New Orleans Praline, cheesecake, and a pink lemonade sorbet that will knock the humidity out of the air and the socks off your feet with its crisp, cool flavor.
A customer enjoying all the possibilities for toppings at UR Way. Photo courtesy of UR Way Yogurt & Coffee Bar
Like many new soft serve places, UR Way lets you mix and match whatever flavors you like yourself, so you can have as much or as little as you like. Another way it stands out? The toppings bar. Forget your childhood rainbow sprinkles or chocolate-only options. UR Way has over forty toppings, which range from sprinkles to Twix to Oreos to pralines to cheesecake bits to an entire separate bar of fresh fruits of every variety – strawberry, blueberry, kiwi, pineapple – you name it, they have it.
Indeed, Cleveland and Kelisha are not just locals, they are locals who live, breathe, and love promoting both New Orleans generally and Mid-City specifically. Despite running local magazine Mid-City Neighborhood Catalog, organizing events like A Taste of Mid-City, and running Spears Consulting Group, you’ll find one or both at UR Way every day, checking in, greeting customers, and bringing New Orleans warmth and Mid-City friendliness to every visit. Finally, a soft serve you can have in a truly New Orleans fashion.
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