Sama Coffee Shop — Restaurant in San Mateo

Sama Coffee Shop offers a unique experience in San Mateo. The decor is beautifully done, transporting you to a traditional Arabic cafe with intricate designs and comfortable seating (though a bit limited). They have a delightful selection of sweets, both traditional ones like baklava, lahmajun, Turkish delights, and more familiar options, like tres leches and milk cake.

Highlights- Unique Flavors: Sama's menu is a real adventure. I tried the Black Forest latte, and the combination of chocolate, cherry, and espresso was delicious. The latte art was very well done, so I was hesitant to mix my drink, but please don't make the same mistake as me. Mix your latte so you really enjoy the rich cherry flavor. The Chai Kark was also flavorful and warming, and you could actually taste the spices.

Authentic Atmosphere: The decor is well done, creating a relaxed and inviting space.

A Few Downsides: Parking: Finding parking can be a challenge, especially during peak hours.

Foot Traffic: There's a constant stream of customers coming in for takeout orders, which can make it feel a bit crowded at times, especially considering the limited seating.

Overall, Sama Coffee Shop is a great place to grab a unique coffee drink and experience a taste of the Middle East. Just be prepared to navigate the parking situation and a bit of a bustling atmosphere. For the unique flavors and ambiance, I'd give it 4...

Newest coffee shop in San Mateo. Found this while looking for a new coffee shop. It is a Turkish coffee shop and serves turkish coffee and sweet. It has the hot sand for making the turkish coffee next to the cashier. The interior is very nice. There are plenty of options on the menu. This is the first coffee shop without a menu on the wall. I prefer to have at least some menu to be displayed on the wall instead of having to look at the menu on paper. The owner pointed out there is a tv with a menu which I might have missed because when we arrived, the worker right away diredt us to the paper menu. Every customer touches the same paper menu, which I can say is not a good idea because COVID is rising again. After I look at one of the photo I took, I can see the hand sanitizer. We ordered Lamacun, Arabic bagel, Sunrise mocktail, and Turkish Coffee. Lamacun and Arabic bagels are yummy. Sunrise mocktail is pretty much a soda drink. Turkis coffee is not strong. It is at the light side and tastes like regular black coffee with some twist. Service is quick for us. One thing which I heard they will do is to have the pastries on a plate instead of to go boxes. We were surprised when we got it even...

Fun little cafe in San Mateo. Plenty of interesting options here in this Turkish Cafe. Huge selection of coffees, lattes, teas and desserts. Loved trying a few food options too which were new to us. The decor is simple yet very modern Turkish so we enjoyed that.

We took menus and sat through the lavish latte and speciality coffee options. I decided to go with the Rose one and that didn’t disappoint. We got a whipped cream milk shake for my son (which was custom made because he wanted to drink with us) and my husband got a blueberry latte if I recall correctly. We liked my Rose latte the best. It was a tad bit sweeter than I expected but my body was happy having this sweet latte. We got a cake and a traditional bread type thing (don’t recall the name) but it had herbs and cheese on it and it was interesting.

The place was busy and the service was quick which made our experience great overall. There isn’t a restroom inside the space so we had to use one outside the building inside a garage just FYI for others. Parking is street parking and varies during the day. We were lucky enough to get a good spot near the cafe. Happy to come back...