Out with the old and in with a new cafe and taphouse serving Morgantown.
In a world that’s doing everything it can to stay apart, the owners of Hillside Cafe and Taphouse in Cheat Lake are building a place where friends can come together—when the time is right.
Stu Godwin, Rusty Isaacs, and Daniel Seavy moved their idea into the space that previously housed The Farmhouse Cafe on Coombs Farm Road. Seavy works near the cafe at MMS Endodontics and was a regular at The Farmhouse. He was sad to see it go but quick to recognize the opportunity to do something he’d always wanted to with the empty space. We caught up with Seavy to learn about the new cafe and taproom and about what it’s like to take a big business leap in a COVID world.
Q: Tell us about your goals for the space.
Daniel Seavy: We really wanted to create a chill place to hang out over coffee and a pastry, a glass of beer, or a bottle of wine. A place where friends can come together again and enjoy each other’s company.
Q: It’s a tough time to open a restaurant. Tell us about your decision to do it anyway.
DS: The unknown did not deter us. We all went into this prepared that there would be things that would come up and confident that we could take on whatever challenges we encounter. Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out and keep going.
Q: Tell us about the name.
DS: We’re located just under Amplify Children’s Academy, and we watched all the kids dropped off and picked up from school. It got me thinking about growing up in New Martinsville and playing in Hillside Park. I thought practically every place in West Virginia is a hillside, so the name seemed fitting. We went with it and loved how it turned out.
Q: What’s in the taproom?
DS: We’re still working on our licensure for the taproom component and hope to have it in place soon. When that’s all done, we’ll have 10 taps of local craft beer and a large selection of wine. There aren’t many nice cafes to get a glass of wine or pint of craft beer in Cheat Lake, so we’re pretty excited about filling that niche and serving up excellence.
Q: What should we eat first?
DS: We just started serving breakfast and I’m loving the pork hash and cinnamon rolls. For lunch, I’d go with the chicken bacon ranch panini. We hope to continue expanding our menu and hours of operation, currently 7 a.m. to 3 p.m on weekdays, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays, and closed on Sundays.
images courtesy of Hillside Cafe and Taproom
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