Café At Sam’s Bakery

It seems like a great café. The coffee is strong, the snack is delicious. There are have plenty seats

Best Baklava in the world? Not so much. Pretty good Baklava? That’s more like it.
Cute place, better than decent coffee, and pretty good sweet treats make this place worth coming back to. Also, the great hours, for a bakery no less, make this stop super convenient as well.

During the summer I was lured in by claims of «the BEST baklava in the world». I mean, I was naturally skeptical, but it’s like a dare– I had to try it.
Well it’s certainly the best *I’ve* had, though I’ll admit to not being a baklava connoisseur. What I do know is I would gladly come back and recommend this to anyone I know. And the staff was extremely sweet. In addition to spending time talking with me about their business and the awesomeness of Bay Ridge, they gave me a lemonade on the house.
I’ve noticed some comments that the management has changed since my last visit– I hope the recipe for the baklava has stayed the same! Unless they’re now offering «better than the best baklava», which would be kind of amusing.

«Home of the Best Baklava in the World»
How does one even begin to understand, let alone explain, the audacity of such a claim? Except, perhaps, by etymology, for it is instructive that Arabs used the word «Ajam» to refer to non-​Arabs a word which basically means mute /​unable to speak /​non-​fluent. Clearly, strains of the gene are still thriving unmatched, but as humility is a core principle of my life, one that Jesuit priests have ingrained in me and overcome any genealogy, I feel offended by claims that reflect reality only as much as Reality TV does.
But, I couldn’t resist testing the claim, and for all the prejudices I brought to my first visit — I was stunned by the actual experience. The café is roomy, quiet, relaxing, with lots of outlets allowing plenty of laptop hobos to stay plugged in for hours. My Cappuccino was actually pretty good, and I quite enjoyed the Baklava. Not the best in the world (duh!), but having plenty of layers of crispy, flaky phyllo dough sandwiching walnuts and topped with Pistachio. Judicious use of sugar syrup could have bumped them into a different league altogether, but the Baklava was still surprisingly good.
Sadly, on my next visit, I faced the typical «Slip sliding away» syndrome which happens to Baklava’s top phyllo layers, and that detracted from the enjoyment. I would expect freshness would improve the experience as it would for the Robicelli cupcakes in the refrigerated display case.
Then again, you might be bowled over by Sam’s Famous Hommous, Sam’s Famous Lamb and Spinach Pies, or Sam’s Famous Babaghannouj… You get my drift. The world will make perfect sense to you then. (3.5 stars)

I really want to love this place as their coffee is excellent and their pastries etc are too. However, the woman who owns/​runs the place sits in the corner and bad vibes the entire place. She’s shitty to her staff in front of customers and it makes me avoid the place. A shame.

They sell Robicelli’s cupcakes (
) here, which is a great reason to stop… and then you try the baklava (wow) and then the coffee (good and strong) and then the cookies (delicious) and then the atmosphere, quiet, mellow. It is a nice addition to our Bay Ridge neighborhood.

Good coffee, delicious spinach and lamb pies served with babaganoush. Plenty of sunshine and friendly atmosphere. Web connection works good too – I’m using it to write this.
Now for baklava!

By the way the freckly nosed girl working the Friday night before hurricane Irene is soooooo cute, and what a sweetheart!

I love this place. It’s adorable. The coffee is organic wood roasted American grown coffee. They make delicious little zaatar mana’esh. The cupcakes are great, and just the right size. They have different flavors all the time, so sampling could take time.

I immediately thought this place had a great vibe. It’s relaxing, artsy looking with extremely friendly staff. The barista gave me a free slice of baklava the first time I ate here. There’s a personal, warm feel to the café.

Very hipster for Bayridge. Very cool that they have Robicelli’s cupcakes. The spinach pies and lamb pies were good, but the prior were a little too sour for me. The caramel macchiatto was mediocre. It was expensive for what it was. Got some baklava, a little dry, I like mine syruppy. Ambience was a little too dark for me as well, but it’s nice that they have free wifi though.

Sweets… I’ve always had a thing for them. I’ve had my very first try of Baklava at my university during my food and photography class. And since then I found myself to like Baklava. So when I heard this place has really good Baklava, I know I had to get my hands on these. So I dragged Hungry Boy with me because it was a trek to get to this part of town for me.
I stepped into this cute café. It was pretty spacious with tables at the front and the bakery section in the back. The guy who was there at the time was really friendly and was chatting with a retired police officer. This place is ran by a family and they seem to be really close to the locals. They are relatively new, but from what I saw it seems like they’ve been there for years.
The guy was glad to answer any of my questions and explained to me what each thing was. So I ordered 6 pieces of Baklava, but he told me he can’t sell the corner pieces and gave me 2 extra ones. What a sweet dude! He was telling me these Baklava’s were not made at the bakery, but made at the home of the owner’s mother. The mother uses a special syrup and secret recipe for the Baklava. She fears someone will steal her recipe, which is why she has them homemade. From the scoop I’ve gotten, even the owner of this café does not know the recipe. I mean that’s her own son, so these Baklava got to be something.
Aside from that, I also ordered the lamb pies, just to try it since I’m already there. And I saw these really cute cupcakes, which I learned from the guy that they are Robicelli’s cupcakes. I don’t know who Robicelli is, but dang whoever Robicelli is I already like him or her. For the cupcakes, I wanted to get one of each, but to be on the safe side I do not want to be on a sugar high. Or in other words I do not want to take over Hungry Boy’s car and endanger the lives of other people.
The Baklava was indeed really good. Crispy, flaky, sticky and falling apart with each bite — just the way how a Baklava should be like. It might have been a tad bit sweet, but I liked it. It wasn’t like some Baklava I had in the past, which were drenched in syrup and too messy to eat. The lamb pies were pretty good too. And holy Robicelli, he or she is really good at what they do. Their cupcakes were amazing! It wasn’t overly sweet and the frosting was different and very unique. Too bad Robicelli doesn’t have their own bakery, but they do have their cupcakes sold at different cafes and markets.
Can’t wait to get my hands on more Baklava and those cupcakes!

On a lazy Sunday morning (and the last day to use my groupon lol) I took a ride out to Sam’s Bakery. Great café with big windows to bring in the morning sunlight. The website said «home of the best baklava», but as soon as I saw the sign for cupcakes in the window, you know which way I went! The barista was very helpful and patient while I perused the baked goods. The cupcakes, although small in size, were pretty decent. Not the best cupcakes, but hey, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. I had the banana walnut, PB&J, and chocolate cinnamon cupcakes. I also ordered a chai latte which was excellent, by the way, not too sweet and just right for my ride back home.

This review is based solely off the hummus, and perhaps it was just a bad batch. I do intend to return based off all of the other positive feedback. The place itself looks cool, so perhaps it’s a great spot to grab some coffee with friend (s). Back to the hummus: salt city. It reminded me of something else I wouldnt pay to eat.

This is my favorite coffee and baklava in bay ridge!

So, finally got to redeem my Groupon… and I have to say that it was not worth the wait. The meat and spinach pies were just ok and I don’t think they were worth almost $ 2 each. I tried the baklava to round out the rest of my Groupon (because they were out of hummus and babaganoush) and thought it just ok also. It was kind of on the dry side for my liking — I like my baklava a little moister with the extra honey syrup. Don’t think I’ll be making another visit.

Baklava is the best I’ve ever tasted!
The coffee is great too. Prefer it over Starbucks and it has a pretty chilled atmosphere with a very friendly staff
And the artwork… oooh the art work is pretty awesome ;)

On a gray Saturday afternoon, this place is a nice respite with kick butt strongly brewed coffee, and a free piece of very delicate baklava. A deal at $ 2. Bonus for sending the updates out on Twitter, and free wireless inside. I like my café’s to be 21^st century café’s. Thanks.

I always thought Bay Ridge is lacking in nice coffee shops and I was curious to check out Sam’s.
The café turned out to be super cozy. I forgot my book when I left the house and, conveniently, Sam’s had books [and games] available for customers.
I was hungry and looking for something savory to eat, therefore, I didn’t try the baklava or the cupcakes which looked AMAZING [next time!]. I had hummus and a couple spinach pies. The hummus was very tasty; the spinach pies were alright, a little sour for my taste and overpriced. $ 7 for 4 little pies? I can walk to ***** and get a delicious lunch-​sized serving of spinach pie for $ 3.
I wish there was more variety to the the food menu. It would be nice to be able to enjoy lunch in this space and I hope Sam’s will be expanding their menu in the future. As it is now, It’s a perfect place to sit back with a laptop or a book, a cup of coffee, and a sweet something.
Oh, and the coffee was delicious.

Wonderful café. Really sweet staff who take time to help you with your choices, and toss in a free piece of baklava! :)
Spinach pie, lamb pie, pear cupcake, baklava, AND a caramel macchiato= perfection. My only qualm is that all the food was cold– I would have preferred my pies warm and cupcake at room temperature. HOWEVER, everything was so amazing, you won’t give it much thought.
Definitely recommend this place wholeheartedly– wish it was closer to where I live, but will definitely be back!