The Curbside Creamery coffee truck no longer parks in downtown Moneta. The woman who used to run it now pours espresso inside a clothing boutique on Moneta Road. The cinnamon rolls on her counter come from a new Westlake bakery that started out at farmers markets.
Together with the established coffee house at Bridgewater Plaza, these shops are open on different days. Their days off barely overlap, so most mornings have more than one choice. One morning has only one.
From a Curb in Downtown Moneta to a Boutique on Moneta Road
According to the Smith Mountain Eagle, Margaret Bryant ran the Curbside Creamery truck until its owner moved out of the area. She then decided to open a shop of her own. The opening came from JBohn Bishop, who owns JBohnBishop Mercantile, a boutique selling Southern styles from well-known fashion brands. Bishop told the Eagle she had wanted a coffee counter in the store for a long time. "I knew we had enough space," she said. "For me, it's a dream fit."
The Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting for Margie's Coffee Spot on Aug. 19. The menu goes well beyond drip coffee. It includes espresso drinks, brewed coffee and teas, specialty drinks, plant-based Lotus energy drinks, dirty sodas and mini-moos, all made in-house. Bryant says the espresso is organic and the syrups are homemade. She also makes affogato, a hot shot of espresso poured over a scoop of ice cream.
One feature sets it apart from a typical counter. Bryant runs a canning setup on site, so some drinks come in soda-style cans. A canned drink holds up better than an open cup on the way to a dock or a car. Iced drinks come in 16- and 24-ounce sizes and hot drinks in 12 and 20 ounces. At opening, prices ran from $4.50 to just under $8.
The shop is at 16483 Moneta Road. It opens at 7 a.m. Tuesday through Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday, and closes at 3 p.m. Sundays and Mondays are dark. You can order ahead through a link on the shop's Facebook page or call 833-431-4378.
The Westlake Bakery Behind Margie's Pastry Case
For baked goods, Bryant partnered with Stefano's Bakery, which supplies her cinnamon rolls, scones and cookies. The Eagle's Margie's story says Stefano's had opened in Westlake the month before.
Danny Castro and his wife, Amber Patti, own Stefano's. They started a couple of years ago by selling baked goods at local farmers markets, and the response led them to open a storefront. Castro comes from the restaurant industry. He told the Eagle he had quit his job four months before that interview to get the storefront running. Patti grew up in New Jersey baking with her family and eating at Italian and European bakeries there.
Sfogliatelle is the pastry to look for. It is a shell-shaped Italian pastry of thin, flaky layers, and Castro compares it to a croissant. He said it was one of the first items to sell out in the morning and that the bakery planned to double its batch. The rest of the case holds cannoli, danishes, cupcakes, cheesecakes, lemon and strawberry bars, brownies, fudge, cookies and scones. Single servings cost about $3.25 to $6. Coffee and espresso drinks start at $2.50, roughly half the low end of Margie's menu. When the bakery opened, Castro said breads and 6-, 8- and 10-inch cakes would follow in a couple of months. He also planned to bring back online and call-ahead ordering later. At opening, everything was single servings sold to walk-ins on a first-come, first-served basis.
Stefano's is at 13359 Booker T. Washington Highway, which has a Hardy address but sits in Westlake. It opens at 7 a.m. Wednesday through Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, closing at 3 p.m. It is closed Monday and Tuesday. The phone number is 540-818-0711.
The two shops' schedules fit together. The bakery opens on Sunday, the day Margie's is closed. Margie's opens on Tuesday, the day the bakery is closed, and its case carries Stefano's baking.
Seven Mornings, Three Counters
Smith Mountain Lake Coffee House at Bridgewater Plaza fills in the rest of the week. Its Chamber listing and its own website both show it open every day from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Here is how a week looks across all three, using the hours each shop listed when it opened or on its current site:
| Day | Smith Mountain Lake Coffee House | Margie's Coffee Spot | Stefano's Bakery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. | Closed | Closed |
| Tuesday | 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. | 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Closed |
| Wednesday to Friday | 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. | 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. | 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
| Saturday | 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. | 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. | 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
| Sunday | 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. | Closed | 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
A few patterns come out of the table.
- Monday belongs to Bridgewater Plaza. Of the three, only Smith Mountain Lake Coffee House opens on Mondays.
- On weekday mornings, the new shops open first. Margie's and Stefano's both open at 7 a.m. on their weekdays, half an hour before the plaza.
- On weekends, the order flips. The plaza opens at 7:30, while Margie's on Saturday and Stefano's on Saturday and Sunday open at 8.
- Afternoons end early everywhere. Nobody in this group stays open past 3 p.m., and the plaza closes at 2:30.
Westlake Coffee and Café at 213 Scruggs Road in Moneta is also part of the local mix. An earlier Eagle feature described it as serving breakfast all day, with breakfast sandwiches and wraps, baked goods, specialty coffee, a patio and a drive-through. That story is older, and we could not confirm the café's hours for this fall, so it is not in the table. A phone call will settle it.
The same caution applies to the table. Every hour in it is either what a shop reported when it opened or what its listing shows now. Small shops change hours after the summer crowds leave, so calling ahead on a slow weekday is a good idea.
Bridgewater Plaza Holds the Edges of the Week
The plaza coffee house is the steady one, open every day of the week. Its menu is built around coffee and tea, locally sourced pastries and sandwiches. The pastry list includes filled glazed croissants, cinnamon rolls, muffins, scones, quiche, pies, cakes and cookies. Quiche and sandwiches make it the most lunch-friendly of the three. Its website also takes online orders.
The three shops sit on two different roads. Margie's is on Moneta Road. Stefano's and the coffee house are both on Booker T. Washington Highway, at 13359 and 16430. So the shop you pick depends partly on which road you are already driving.
November 7, When the Plaza Fills
Smith Mountain Lake Coffee House shares Bridgewater Plaza with the SML Fall Chili & Craft Festival on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. Here are the details from the Chamber's event page:
- Hours: gates open at 11 a.m., and the festival runs until 4 p.m.
- Tastings: noon to 2 p.m., with awards at 3 p.m.
- Tickets: $10, sold only at the gate, cash or card.
- Parking: spaces at Bridgewater are limited, so overflow parking and a free shuttle run from Ecumenical Trinity Church.
The Eagle's weekly calendar lists the festival at 16430 Booker T. Washington Highway. That is the same street number as the coffee house, which has Suite 4. The coffee house opens at 7:30 and the festival gates at 11, so a morning coffee at the plaza comes well before the crowds. Nov. 7 is a Saturday, and all three shops in the table open that day. That leaves plenty of room for a cannoli from Westlake or a canned drink from Moneta Road before the chili tasting starts at noon.
Small details like which counter is open on a Tuesday say a lot about how a place really works, and that local knowledge carries through a home sale too. If you are wondering what your Moneta home might be worth this fall, Debbie Shelton is glad to talk it over, and coffee from one of these counters makes it an easy conversation. Get a Free Home Valuation.
