Nana’s Japanese Cafe

Definitely recommend their weekly special bento boxes, yaki soba or any of their soup ramen! Absolutely delicious and affordable prices for uni students!

Yes, the place is quirky (some would say haphazard) in décor and can be a bit dingy. And seasoned (erm, maybe jaded?) foodies who have eaten a lot of japanese food in other places may not be particularly impressed.
But I LOVE IT, and I’m probably biased, as I graduated in the same high school class with Nana’s oldest son. Nana is the sweetest, and she serves up some really tasty, reasonable japanese comfort food in a cozy little place. There is nothing like this around, unless you want to travel another hour or two. It’s sweet little mecca of wholesome delicious food, and vegetarians/​vegans will rejoice.
The fly in the ointment is her hours. She is only open while the local colleges are in session, though that is extended a couple weeks after the spring semester. And she isn’t open on the weekends. We Nana-​philes wish for more, but do relish when her opening day arrives. I suppose the limited hours makes us savor the food even more when we get it.

Best and healthiest food in Alfred, hands down. Vegetarian and vegan friendly, a lot of stuff is organic — and there’s plenty of delicious chicken dishes for meat lovers like myself. It’s more of a «homestyle» Japanese restaurant than those über-​chic places in the city, so think hearty, delicious, beautifully crafted plates. Nana makes most of the sauces herself, too – it’s a truly unique experience.
It gets REALLY busy around lunchtime, so be warned.

Here is another so-​called Japanese place… I had okonomiyaki and it was so soggy and tasteless. It was just not the way real okonomiyaki is supposed to be. But everything on the menu seems reasonable. I guess it’s good news for college students.

The food at Nana’s is excellent. The selection is entirely Japanese – if you don’t like Japanese food you’re not going to have a good time here. If you do, though, you’ll find a good variety, from stir fries to sushi to sandwiches. There’s also a Bento box, which usually has something like a couple of pieces of chicken or tofu, a piece of sushi, fruit, and some salad. It seems like it’s on the smaller side for an entrée, but don’t forget that this is exclusively a lunch place – the larger meals are actually closer to dinner-​sized, which makes them a good value. I’m a fan of the avocado sandwich with tofu and the stir fry with tofu or chicken.
It is a little annoying that Nana’s is only open for lunch, and only on weekdays. I believe the hours are 8:30 — 4:30, so the restaurant closes much later than necessary for lunch but much too early for dinner (especially in a college town, where a lot of people are eating dinner at 8 or 9).
That’s one of the downsides; the other is that Nana’s is a bit of a hole in the wall. I want to stress that I’ve never had (or heard about) a problem with the food itself, but if you want water here you’re going to be pouring it out of a pitcher yourself, into a dining-​hall-​style stack of plastic cups that may smell a little bit like feet. Same deal with the silverware. It’s not a super elegant experience – you might see that as endearing or you might see it as undesirable.
Rough edges aside, though, Nana’s really does have great food. Some people forego the dining hall and just get the «Nana’s meal plan» instead. I stupidly overlooked this place until my junior year – that was a mistake! I always try to stop in when I’m in Alfred… if it’s lunchtime.

Try the tofu soba noodle salad! It’s incredible. You can’t beat the food here at Nana’s. Just make sure you call in your order ahead of time because this place is always packed.

I love you, Nana’s! Never managed to make it on a wednesday for tofu sandwich bento since graduation, but still never got that food out of my mind.

I can’t add anything that hasn’t already been said.
Nana’s is amazing!

Six stars. Seven stars. Unilocal doesn’t make enough stars for Nana’s. Eight stars maybe.
Food just doesn’t get better than Nana’s. Every recipe is created by Nana herself, a genuine Japanese import dropped into Nowheresville, NY so her husband could teach japanese at the schools. And THANK GOD for that because Alfred would be a barren wasteland without Nana and her genius in the kitchen. (Especially now that the Jet burned down and rebuilding hasn’t finished yet!)
I spent three days last week visiting my alma mater (and all the glorious art school drunks I knew from it) and made a point of eating a bento every single day.
Monday: spring roll & dumplings (not my favorite)
Tuesday: sesame chicken or tofu (yes yes yes!)
Wednesday: tofu spinach sandwich (the meal I woke up dreaming about twice in the week before I left for Alfred…)
Thursday: teriyaki chicken or tofu (delightful)
Friday: miso chicken or tofu (not my favorite but still yummy)
Going to Alfred? DO NOT miss Nana’s (it’s worth staying a day past the weekend). Trust me.
And get an extra side of miso ginger dressing… you’ll eat it with a spoon, if nothing else! Just trust me!

Nana’s is a jewel in Alfred. Their Japanese (or Japanese-​influenced) food is excellent, with generous portions, extremely reasonable prices, and a casual, laid-​back atmopshere that provides a perfect off-​campus dining option for students from the colleges. They even have a great variety of teas available, and I highly recommend their Soba Salad as an excellent lunch item.
The only downside to Nana’s (and the reason only gave it four stars) is that they have what I see as limited operating hours (closed evenings and weekends), so this is purely a lunch establishment, but an extremely worthwhile one at that — I just wished that on weekends when I actually had more time to spend enjoying the cozy and ecclectic atmosphere at Nana’s, that they were open for me to do that.
Highly recommended.

Oh how I second the hearty praise for Nana’s expressed below. Amazing lunch bento boxes that change daily, excellent smoothies, assortment of teas, and a slew of delicious entrees. Oh, and miso dressing to die for!

Good Japanese food in Alfred, NY? How did that happen? Great bento boxes here at college prices.