A Step Back in Time Coffee & Deli

Sooooo glad we did Unilocal before we stopped for lunch in Safford! Cute coffee shop/​deli and such nice people. A tad slow on food but it was just the cutest place to sit and chat with friends and locals. We’ll be back to have a latte next time, smoothie was fab with lunch!

Small town warmth and friendliness exist in this cute little café. My time was limited so I couldn’t fully enjoy the atmosphere and got my sandwich to go however I could see myself hanging out in A Step Back in Time if I lived in this small town.
My Thai iced coffee was flavorful and had just the right amount of sweetness. I originally ordered the jalapeño peach glazed chicken panini but was told they were out of the orange jalapeño marmalade. In fact, the girl said last time someone ordered that, they were out then and she was pretty sure they were still out. Huh? Unless someone ordered it that day, shouldn’t someone have gotten more and restocked? My next choice was the cranberry spinach chicken panini with melted fontina cheese. Pretty decent but really messy with the big chunks of diced chicken. Flat slices of chicken breast might be a better option for this sandwich.
All in all, I thought A Step Back in Time was pretty good and I’d definitely go back. Plus it’s in the cute, little historic section of Safford. Oh yeah, you might need to rely on your GPS to tell you when you’re there because there’s no signage to speak of that is easily seen from your car.

My latte was a bit watery and my panini didn’t taste authentic. Everything tasted generic and frozen but what makes this place a place to come back again is the atmosphere and how unique it is compared to everything else in Safford.

Best sandwiches in town. Period. The coffee is good, but it would be nice if there was a choice of the type of beans. They do have a variety of coffee/​espresso drinks available. Their «toddy» coffee is different, you might want to try that, but it is on the weaker end of the coffee spectrum. All in all, the friendly staff and the food and drinks that are available earn this place a 5 star review, I want to give 4.5, but going down to a 4 just wouldn’t be right.

After driving 300 miles with nary a Starbucks, this place is a breath of fresh air. The décor is elegant, the space large and clean, the staff personable, and the caramel macchiato delicious. I only wish I lived here so I could visit more often!

Great place, warm and authentic, very nicely done with excellent breakfast and lunch, not to mention a decent cup of joe. Definitely worth a visit.

First, the good news: A nice atmosphere and space as well as friendly service. So now for the bad news: the coffee and the food was horrible! I ordered an iced mocha. I watched in horror as the girl working there reached into the refrigerator and poured out a pre-​made mocha. Who knows how long this pre-​made mixture was sitting in the fridge, as I don’t think there are many people in Safford ordering iced mochas! It was a bit weak, so I asked for a couple more shots of espresso and she then reached into the the fridge and pulled out a container of pre-​made espresso! Really? How do you call yourself a coffee shop and serve pre-​made espresso?!? I really don’t understand it. For food, I ordered the «eggs on a bed of tomatoes» and the «bagel with avocado» and I was equally disappointed. She sprayed this nasty non-​stick crap into a container, scrambled the eggs up, put them into the container, and then microwaved the eggs! They had the texture of rubber and tasted horrible! The bagel with avocado was really a bagel with an imitation guacamole spread, which in reality, probably had no avocado in it whatsoever!
I just took one bite of the food (that was plenty!) and a couple sips of the iced mocha I ordered, asked for a to-​go container, and then I left; quickly throwing it all away in the trash outside. I didn’t have the heart to tell the girl how horrible everything was and it didn’t really matter to me since I could expense it to my job. It looked like a cute little café and I usually try to avoid Starbucks (in the Safeway) if I can, so I thought I’d give this place a try. I very much regretted my decision! Do yourself a favor and if you’re considering giving this place a try, don’t! The one good thing about Starbucks is that it’s consistently mediocre, which is just fine in a place like Safford!