Adore Coffee House

Marina runs this spot the way cafés work in the old country: everything made from scratch, regulars greeted by name, service that stays warm even when the line's out the door. The banana latte has a cult following, but the real tell is the croissants—laminated in-house, none of that frozen parbake nonsense most American coffee shops pass off as French.

The matcha program is legit enough to win over Bay Area skeptics, which in Little Italy—where espresso is king—takes guts. But Marina's not trying to overthrow the neighborhood's coffee religion; she's just offering an alternative for the mornings you want something gentler than a triple shot pulled tight.

Catering is a quiet side hustle here. She'll do canapés for your celebration, the kind of thing you'd normally have to leave the neighborhood to arrange. It's that owner-run flexibility: if you need it and she can make it, she will.

Cedar Street doesn't get the foot traffic of India Street, so this stays pleasantly under-tourist-radar. Morning regulars camp at the outdoor tables with actual European-style coffee—not the charred Starbucks roast Americans got trained to think is normal. The pastry case turns over daily because everything's made on-site, which means if you show up at 3 PM, your options narrow.

Service moves fast even during rushes, but never feels assembly-line. That's the difference between a café and a coffee factory: one has an owner who knows your drink, the other has a algorithm that spells your name wrong on the cup.