Orinda, California – When a new café opens, especially in an area that’s had some challenges with occupancy, I’m always excited—but also a little nervous.
There’s no guarantee that a new place will thrive. Locals can come for the initial hype, but then not necessarily come back to patronize a place on a regular basis.
Thankfully, that isn’t the case at all with Orinda’s brand-new Persian café.
I stopped into Shemroon Café in the first week after it opened. At the time, I had a Turkish coffee and a rosewater cream puff.
As I wrote previously, this is a great spot with friendly owners and delicious sweets.
Returning about two months later, I was thrilled to see that the rest of the community seems to agree with me.
Meeting a friend for coffee at Shemroon Café in the morning, I found the place was entirely packed. Every table was taken, and people were even sharing tables with each other.
There were laptop warriors sipping on lattes, tapping away at their keyboards as they silently tuned into Zoom calls. There were parents hanging out with little kids napping in strollers.
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And there were people clearly getting together with clients to have a coffee and a chat. It was a chilly day when I visited, so the crowd hadn’t spilled to the outdoor tables. But in the summer, I can imagine even those will be filled up.
The first time, I got Turkish coffee to go.
On this return visit, I dined in instead of taking my food to go. The combo I got the first time—Turkish coffee and that delicious cream puff—was so good that I decided to run that play again!
This time, because I was dining in, the Turkish coffee came in a beautiful little cup with a glass of water on the side to cleanse the palate. Classy!
I also tried the almond cake, which was crumbly, buttery, and delicious.
Shemroon is already known for their baklava as well as their strong Turkish coffee. I haven’t tried the baklava yet, but that’s certainly on my list when I visit next. It routinely sells out, so you’ll want to come early or stop back multiple times in the day to try to grab a slice.
Overall, Shemroon is a great addition to Theatre Square. I definitely encourage you to try it out.
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