Lolita Artisanal Bakery- Cafe — Restaurant in San Mateo

Lolita’s Artisanal Bakery – Café truly surprised my wife and I. We felt it would be just another failed attempt on our search at finding a spot to get a cup of coffee and a pastry / treat of some sort. Other places have been adequate at best, most not coming close to an acceptable quality that we grew up with. As you walk into Lolita’s you are greeted by a friendly and welcoming staff, on this occasion it was Silvia (the Owner) in front of you is the display case filled with empanadas and pastries of all kinds, both sweet and savory all true to Argentina. Silvia took time to explain each one we were interested in, finally deciding on a beef empanada, ricotta cheese tart? a raisin scone and coffee. Empanada: will bring you back to your childhood growing up with home cooking. A light, slightly crisp dough pocket perfectly cooked filled with seasoned beef, green olives and raisins. Excellent! The best we’ve had on the peninsula without having to make them ourselves. Ricotta Cheese pie/tart: Ricotta cheese flavored with orange, but not masking the delicate flavor of the cheese, baked into a pie tart that maintained its crispy crust and was easily cut so that it can be shared. This is rich and I would suggest sharing it with a cup of coffee or possibly a dessert wine as it is slightly dry as most baked ricotta's are. Scone: Finally, somebody knows what a scone should be!! While just a simple raisin scone it was cooked to perfection. A nice crispy outside with a firm, but moist inside which made it easy to break apart and maintain its shape without turning into a pile of crumbs. Coffee: A nice well-balanced coffee that went well with the items above, not acidic at all. Also working today was a very friendly and polite young man who’s name I did not catch, the two worked very well together and contributed to the very positive friendly atmosphere here. I would definitely recommend stopping by and trying , well everything. We will be back having found a true gem serving...

We’ve been meaning to try this place for ages, and finally stopped in yesterday. We needed some stuff for an easy dinner, so decided to try out their savory pastries: We got one each of the chicken, beef, chorizo and mushroom empanadas, and one spinach and cheese pastry and took them home to heat up later, to have with a salad on the side. Oh, and we also picked up a jar of chimichurri sauce as well. OMG, these are delicious!

The mushroom one is the very essence of mushroomy umami goodness, with a buttery feel and some mixture of herbs that works very well together. The chorizo was mildly spicy and not at all greasy. (Not sure how they do that.) The texture of the chorizo reminded me of an Italian sausage grind consistency. Not at all dense, pasty, and greasy as some chorizos I’ve had. The beef was my favorite, very finely chopped and mixed with herbaceous goodness. The chicken one tasted very good, but was very slightly dry— fixed that up with a little dab of the chimichurri sauce.

And the pastry on all of them was perfect. Not too thick, great flavor, no leakage. We forgot to ask for heating directions, but about 10 minutes in our toaster oven at 350 seemed about right.

The staff is helpful and friendly. Highly...

My celiac friend and I checked it out one morning. There was plenty of seating on a weekday morning around 9am. Service was outstanding at Lolita - friendly, courteous and knowledgeable. Given it was our first time there, we had a lot of questions. We both felt like we got excellent recs to help us decide what to order. We both got a coffee drink each (they came in ceramic ware, yay!). My friend got the mushroom quiche and I got a scrumptious guava pastry. We were asked if we wanted our food warmed up. My pastry was perfectly warmed up - it got crispy, but not greasy. I would have preferred it to be a little less sweet, but my fault for not asking for a recommendation for a slightly sweet treat. My friend appreciated that the quiche was full of mushrooms and not super eggy. My friend and I were catching up after a long time and sat there for nearly two hours. We didn't feel rushed, nor did it feel like they'd forgotten about us. Just right hospitality! There are so many other treats I want to try. I will...