Caffe Roma Coffee Roasting

I just paid $ 7 for a damn bagel with cream cheese and tomato… If that’s not a rip off I don’t know what is.
I tried to cancel it and just pay for the coffee… But they have a $ 5 limit!
Sure it’s ok but SIGNIFICANTLY OVERPRICED I DONT CARE WHOS A TOURIST OR NOT

Ahhhhh Café Roma the closet thing you’ll get to Italy in the Bay Area. If your trying to find the perfect coffee or cappuccino in North Beach look no further than Café Roma. As my luck had it I was having diner close by and needed a pick me coffee. The aroma of fresh grounded coffee drew me into the doorway. Almost 20 years later I still come here for a cup or a bag of fresh roasted beans to take home for my morning wake up call.
If it’s a cappuccino, café latte or single shot of espresso you’ll know that each cup is made with a perfectly roasted bean right here on site. For your home brew beans my favorite are the Via Veneto, Etruscan and ROMA beans the get me up in the morning when I can’t walk into the store.
You’ll find this roastery located in the heart of San Francisco’s Italian community and I mean in the heart of little Italy. So jump on the trolley car to the front door and enjoy.

One star deductions because they had the wrong hours stated in Unilocal and at their own front door for Saturday.
Another star deduction because the person who attended us was very unprofessional at the cashier as if they were rushing us to give them all our group order at once. Didn’t let us all finish and told us the total that we owed and took the credit card and charged it. We were a group of five that just wanted some coffee and desserts after having dinner. When we were ordering there was no line and just one couple who were sitting down sipping their own coffee.
What was more rude is that right after we sat down at 8pm we were told that we had to finish what we bought and that they were closing. My whole group felt unpleasant and for some of us it was the first time we came to try this café. I felt ashamed that I recommended this spot to my friends since they didn’t have a pleasant time. Another star deduction.
The only reason I’m giving this place two stars it’s because I have been a long time customer for them and their desserts are really good. Especially the tiramisu. I won’t deny that they have good pastries.
But after that treatment to our whole group I won’t come back to this place. Next time I would recommend ppl to try Stella, Mara’s, or grecko café up the street from this place. Their Tiramisu ain’t too bad either.

Like many places in SF there is nothing but street parking close by, and if you find a spot on the street, go buy a lottery ticket because you are one lucky person. The good news is that this place isn’t hard to walk to from coit tower, chinatown, columbus park, the banksy at broadway and columbus, and many other items of interest to the casual visitor. It’s also on several main bus lines.
Having got here the seating both inside and out is pretty decent. the layout and décor are pretty welcoming.
They roast there own coffee on site, and the coffee products are decent enough. They don’t really standout however. There’s much better places in SF for coffee and a sweet. I wouldn’t come just for the food. Assuming I was in the area anyway, I might pop in if I didn’t feel like taking the time to go somewhere better.
The prices are high. A coffee and a sweet can be more then ten dollars. A pastry will run you at least six dollars and possibly more.
Overall, I’m not a fan, but the sweets and coffee taste well enough even if overpriced.

This place is a cute café in Little Italy, and I like the laid-​back vibe. However, we came for one thing – gelato. Café Roma sells 5 flavors of Fiorello gelato here, including cookies & cream, pistachio, and chocolate. One scoop is a little under $ 5. It was just okay – a little frostbitten, which is strange for gelato, and I didn’t love the chocolate flavor.
I’d come back to this café, but probably not for the gelato.

Not very clean. Service is just ok. I paid $ 10 for bread salami and cheese. They didn’t even add side salad just dumped on potato chips…

Ordered a large latte and it was delicious! Will
Need to come back to try other coffees and pastries/​sandwiches!

Beware of the roast beef sandwich. It’s very good yet immense. I could barely finish half, but I enjoyed it very much.
Coffee is relatively good, but nothing special.
The ambience is a bit all over the place — not sure if it is a coffee shop, a sandwich place or a bakery or all at once. I left a bit confused.

I stopped by this café to grab a small bite to eat and a coffee. There was a 15 minute wait as they were pretty busy. I ordered a regular medium sized coffee and 2 fried eggs. My total came up to $ 9.52. The cashier did not give me itemized receipt, only the credit card copy. It’s definitely overpriced for what you get. My eggs were super runny, so I asked for them to be cooked more and they were still very runny when I got them back.
The coffee was good, but the condiment section killed it for me. It was not kept clean. They also keep an open container of sugar out for everyone to dip a sticky spoon into. I know this saves them money, but they should really invest in sugar packets and put away the sugar tin.

I love how modern and relaxed this place is, especially the space upstairs with its comfy chairs and sofas. I tend to go for their yummy oatmeal raisin cookies and one of the good quality teas.

Strong coffee. Fast Internet. And, cannoli to die for! They roast their own coffee beans, make an awesome ‘Good Egg Sandwich’, have a vast wine selection and great outdoor seating to people watch.
True Italian style café with a lovely, full of character, old Italian man working behind the bar. I’ve read some negative reviews about him… all wrong! He’s just Italian! Great customer service and friendly staff!

Loved this coffee shop! My sis brought us here to relax, people watch and drink a nice cup of coffee and it was lovely! The coffee is delicious, and it’s very nice to grab a cup and sit outside and enjoy it in the chilly SF weather. Wish I could have tried a pastry but I was too full from brunch.

Wonderful little café in the heart of North Beach. Great selection of pastries, good wine options, and beer selections. Definitely a great spot for an authentic Italian café experience.

Might have come here on a bad day but the barista and cashier yelled at the customer in front of me to get back in line and pay (who didn’t speak English so well and didn’t understand you pay when you order).
The cashier used bare hands to pick up our quiches and put them on a plate. I didn’t tip when I ordered the food and the cashier confronted me for not tipping. Then complained when I asked for a receipt and said with a snarky smirk, «no charge for receipts».
I felt bullied and harassed for not tipping but I usually tip once I determine how good the food and service are. In this case I left no tip because neither were satisfactory.
I’ve eaten at many Italian establishments in North Beach and in Italy and have never been so rudely treated. I know the small businesses have it rough so I generally give them leeway and preference. Sad to say I was not compelled to do the same today…

The coffee scores, but not the price!
In this North Beach original they roast their own coffee beans and they do a good job of it too. The coffee is good, but a bit on the more expensive side as compared to other local cafes. A medium size cup will cost you $ 2.50. The going average rate around the neighborhood is around $ 2.00. The pastry is good, and the sandwiches are too. Many locals favor this place which should tell you something.
They have a TV that often shows soccer matches. By the way, the owners are, surprise surprise, AS Roma fans!

Okay, but what is with the service here. I guess the food was okay, my party had a Groupon so we went all out with drinks, paninis, and dessert. The tiramisu was tasty and the fruit bars were nice and flaky, but no sweets could help me get over the sour taste in my mouth left by the staff. The man who first helped us was aggressive and exhibited a bizarre power complex over us women, and the girl assisting him was a new level of slow I’ve never experienced before when her only duty was to complete drink orders. I guess we should have heeded the warning of our Über driver on the way there that this place was underwhelming.

2* Caffe Roma
526 Columbus
North Beach tourist spot
Cute atmosphere
Counter service was hyper; seemed disorganized
The food is overpriced and everything cost extra
Serve breakfast
Small Cesar salad is $ 10.95; $ 2 more with chicken; it tasted good, but certainly not worth the amount paid for
The panini cost $ 11.95; it was delicious
The latte was not hot; cost extra for the soy — no problem, except could barely taste/​see the soy; cost extra for decaf — go figure
Bathroom is downstairs
This place would not be my first choice for an Italian caffe in North Beach
BTW, I am a regular at the Caffe Roma in Millbrae (which I love), but the experience here in S. F, was like night and day

This is a nice place to hangout at Little Italy or North Beach. My boyfriend and I accidentally found this place because we had 2 hours of wait to be seated at Tony’s that day. We ordered their hot beverages and it was yummy! He also saw his older cousin’s friend who is Italian. He said this is probably where the locals hangout which seems to be true but you can see tourists stopping by the café.
Today, I was with my friend and she wanted an outdoor seating and I recommended that we go to Caffè Roma. And we went inside and ate thier gelatos. I had their pistachios and my friend ordered vanilla and chocolate. We both loved our Gelato ice cream! It was a sunny day so we sat outside, ate our gelatos, and simply had a great time!
I would definitely recommend this place if you’re around Little Italy.

Great service, they made a special chocolate milk upon request for my 6 year old. They topped it with whipped cream and caramel sauce just for him. Great location beside the park and close to a playground too.
My husband and I had iced coffee.

My goodness, everything is wrong with this place! I got a double espresso. It was probably the most disgusting and bad espresso in my whole life. The guy decided to charge me $ 5 for it.
My husband ordered a mocha off the menu. It not only looked disgusting, my husband nor I could drink it.
Shady and poor quality are the only descriptions I have for this place. It’s sad.

Other than the location, I can’t really say great things about this place. Service was slow and the food was very disappointing. The pastries didn’t look fresh and they lacked variety. I ordered the Parma sandwich and they ran out of tomatoes and basil and forgot to add mixed greens to it. The sandwich tasted so bland and dry that I ended up not finishing it. My green juice was very watery with minimal veggies and fruit. I feel like I could make a better one at home.
I do appreciate the large indoor space with marble tables and they had a decent amount of outdoor seating, overlooking Columbus Ave/​North Beach.

Great eggs Benedict with Poached right to my specs salty prosciutto and crispy Italian bread with lemon caper hollandaise. The rest of our group not so happy. Hash browns were from Costco. Coffee was good service was spot on.

Stopped in for dessert and coffee. Some of my friends even got both, the affagato, which is a scoop of gelato in a cup of espresso. I tried a little of it — very interesting — but I’m not a huge coffee fan. I got a cannoli, which isn’t the best I’ve ever had but decent. Very chocolatey and creamy. They also had a sign advertising mimosas. Guess this place also caters to the weekend brunch crowd. We decided to be cheeky and ask for it and without too much hesitation, they said yes, we still offer it and will sell it to you. We got a carafe of mimosas for $ 25. It was enough for 6 generous glasses. So weird drinking mimosas at 9 at night. But they was very generous with the champagne and it was good. Cool of them to be so accommodating

This was my first time here and I must say I really enjoyed the experience. The owner is extremely nice and straight from Italy. He knew almost everyone that came in by first name which shows that a lot of locals come here again and again.
They have free Wi-​Fi, plenty of indoor seating for watching soccer or just chilling, and outdoor seating as well if you choose to chill in the sun.
Locate a North Beach among many other coffee shops it’s always hard to choose the right place to get a couple coffee. But this one is a great choice.

$ 17.13… for 2 cups of coffee and a scrambled egg sandwich. Me no happy because so pricey.
I got my fav white chocolate mocha. It was smooth coffee. Tastes great but small cup for $ 3.86…
Had the Scrambled Egg Delight with ham. This was a very yummy savory sandwich. Smells delicious but it was… dripping out the other end… oil?
Service was great and a calm atmosphere. Plenty of sun into this place in midday. Not a lot of people on a Saturday afternoon. Great place to sit down and have a chat with someone.