Capitol Cafe

Excellent chaos and wonderfully delicious with lots of care (brings memories of Egypt back) 🤌🏻 I got their Somali chicken shawarma with malawax (crepe) along with a cocktail juice. Wait was a bit long (20 min) but completely worth it. Definitely a good one to go to if you aren’t in a rush and want to sit and relax :)

All around great business, and Black owned, to support. Customer service was lovely from beginning to end. I was given recommendations for pairing with the coffee I ordered. Upon walking in you can smell the wonderful aroma of the medley of foods available. I ordered a Chai Latte and a Caramel Latte, both tasted superb and I highly recommend them. I’m not sure what food option I ordered but it’s a must try.

Best hot spiced black tea in town

I have been here several times for Somali tea, which is amazing! I finally had lunch and it was delicious as well

Ok this is an edit about 3 months after eating here for the first time, and I still think about their chicken shawarma to this day. They use a crepe as the “tortilla” (for lack of a better word) and it is heavenly.

Super good chai latte. Fruit packed Nutella crepes. Nice servers and pretty quiet in the morning. Might want your own silverware as the plastic ones they give you are pretty bendy. Good crepes. Definitely good for drinks and smoothies. I'll for sure be coming again, if anything for takeout and drinks.

Came here for a late dinner with my boyfriend and we were immediately welcomed and made to feel right at home. The manager was very friendly and kind! The customers were lively and outgoing. Food was delicious!! Would recommend to anyone looking for a quick and delicious meal! :)

Best Cafe in Cedar River and Seward area , very delicious food and good service.

The Somali tea (kind of like sweet spiced chai) here is so good and affordable and their smoothies and sambusas are delicious. If they have any of the house made juices when you go in, you definitely don't want to miss out on them (especially the watermelon). Usually pretty quick service but sometimes it takes a while for someone to come to the counter when you first get in. TVs are loud and it's not too comfortable in there so I usually take it to go but overall great place.

A friend and I happened on a tour of the Seward Neighborhood's East African businesses on Facebook. We decided to tour this historic hood to see what it had to offer. The first spot we stopped at was the Capitol Cafe. We were treated to samples of smoothies and Somali tea! Oh.M.Gee! Somali tea is so good! You can get it hot or over ice. It's similar to a sweet chai without the cream. The blend of spices is just amazing! After the tour we stopped back for more tea and a favored malawax from the breakfast menu. A malawax is essentially a crepe filled with bananas and lightly drizzled caramel folded up and covered in strawberry slices, blueberries, and cream. The favored malawax is heavenly! A wonderful choice for dessert! My friend and I can't wait to go back again to try their other sandwiches, tandoori chicken over rice, or savory crepes! The other desserts looked really delicious too. It's a cozy restaurant and very popular so you may have to wait for a the, but you can always get their delicious food to go! Even that amazing tea!

If a young man working there hadn't spoken to me and my friend, this would be a two-star review. I'm adding a star for him because of the cultural importance of this man speaking to me. You may not know that males and females are separate in Somalian society. And from our experience in this restaurant, males are more important than females. I cannot say that this was related to the fact that both me and my friend are also black. We found a place to sit and went back up to the counter. The young lady there seemed affronted by the fact that we were there in the first place. She took her time taking my friend's order. Another young lady came out and started preparing her food. The first girl walked away from the register, completely ignoring me. I spoke loudly about this, and the young lady preparing my friend's food, stopped to take my order. She also went behind a curtain to speak with the first girl. We waited a long time just to get our orders placed. My friend got a barbecue chicken panini, salad, and water. I got samosas and a chai tea. Everything was placed in to-go containers. We were not asked if we were staying or taking out our food. Also, the check-in discount caused a ridiculous exchange where the manager had to be called to walk through the girl on the process of accepting the discount. I decided to not bother because I didn't want to die waiting for things to happen here. My friend said that her panini and salad were ok. The samosas were alright, though I really liked the chai. Will not be back and I don't recommend any black women go here at all.

I had a 5:30pm mtg here, but came by a few hours early to do work. I got the Somali tea and it was even better than last time (I previously got it from Afrodeli last year). It was very intensely spiced. Definitely a lot of sugar though, so consider this a "dessert drink." The cashier asked if I wanted milk and I said no -- which I'm glad bc I saw one of the workers start to pour half a cup of 'half and half' into my drink -- before the cashier corrected her. I'm sure it would've been delicious, but I don't need the extra calories. I also got a yummy beef sambusa. All very affordable. It took a little while to get the internet password setup given the slight language barrier. When I arrived, there was almost no one in the cafe. But more men came in as the time progressed and it got loud in the late afternoon. I did not feel any of the tension that other Yelp posters did. It's very possible that it existed for the other posters, so I don't want to discount that. I only want to say that, in my experience, I did not feel unwelcomed because I was the only female customer in the space. I also thought it was pretty cool that one of the men took out a small carpet square and prayed in the corner of the restaurant. Clearly not everyone was religious because there were plenty of people who weren't praying. I will note though, the bathroom was pretty gross. Like urine all over the toilet seat gross. But I lived in developing countries, so that's not a dealbreaker for me.

Yum yum yum yum yum!! I just moved to Seward last weekend so I'm trying out all the new places and Capital Cafe is the first spot I went to for lunch. On a nice day the door was open and a few folks were already gathered inside eating and talking. I ordered two sambusas, tandoori chicken panini and a Somali coffee which is Somali tea with two shots of espresso. Since I had a meeting I ordered to go and the woman at the counter seemed disappointed I wasn't staying. My order total was 14.81 including tip, pretty good for three items if you ask me! The wait was only about 10 minutes and then I booked it back to the home office. The sambusa is beef and was deliciously flavored and crisp. I then had some of the chicken panini which had a great spicy sauce to go with it. You get three panini portions so I ate and will save the rest with my left over sambusa for lunch tomorrow. I also highly recommend the Somali coffee. It reminded me of a miel with the cinnamon and spices that characterize Somali tea. The espresso added a nice caffeine burst. All in all I had a fantastic lunch and enjoyed trying out a new place. Next time I'll eat in!

Be careful to not order your food by the signs that are body level. They are out dated and they don't bother to tell you that when ordering. Apparently the new menu signs are way above your head. They mistook my order as pasta when I was really trying to order the chicken pesto on sourdough. They made take a chicken tandoori instead.

Capital Cafe Always Your side and disservice what you order to be honest our service is your service anytime also. We always welcome to you open hand happy face so, please let us know if have any questions about about our service. Thank you for your service anytime

This was a rather interesting interaction. My friend and I were looking for a place to have some lunch, and we decided on Capitol Cafe. Not really knowing much about it, we took a chance. It is right on Franklin Avenue, where it's usually busy, but parking wasn't too bad. My friend and I went in the late afternoon. I got there first, and she soon followed. I arrived first and found us a place to sit. Apparently, it is a Somali-owned restaurant, and the men and women do not congregate together. I really didn't think anything of it, until I realized I was the only woman in the establishment who was not behind the counter making food. My friend arrived, and I asked if she wanted to go elsewhere, but both she and I decided to stay, so we did. We went to place our order, but due to slight language barriers, it was not easy. Can't exactly remember what was ordered, but my friend ordered, I believe, pupusas, and I ordered some type of BBQ chicken sandwich. We also had a Yelp check-in promo for either a free soda or water. The person helping us had to call the manager for assistance in processing the check in. We didn't ask for to-go containers, but those are what we received our food in, even though we were going to eat in. I guess that was the assumption--that we were not to stay or supposed to stay. There was another woman who came in to pick up or make a purchase, and she did not stay. At any rate, once we received our food, we went to sit down, and everything seemed OK, but in reality, I think there was plenty of tension felt, to be sure. No one came at us in a rude or uncouth way, but again, we could feel that it wasn't 100%. The owner did come by our table to see how we were doing, which was pleasantly surprising. We both did appreciate that, which helped ease some of the tension. It's not necessarily a bad place. It is clean, and and the food was decent; however, I am uncertain if I will return.

We love this place!! Amazing tea and food. Highly recommend tea with milk! Also loved the chicken tandoori, malawah and malawah wrap. I will definitely be back.

We heard that they store was vandalized so we decided to take our team there for lunch. There was a bit of a language barrier but that made it more of an adventure. Chicken schwarma and spicy tuna wrap were outstanding and really loved the sauce. The Somali tea was very tasty. Not a fancy place but great place for something very different and authentic.

This place has the best of a healthy homecooked meal, a diner, and a late night coffee shop--all with a hint of Somali culture. It is def a place you can go and work for a few hours with a hot cup of tea or coffee or get a deal on a delicious meal. It is also one of the few coffee-shop-type places that stay open late on weekends. There are the typical salad and sandwich options you'd find in a cafe all prepared with fresh ingredients. The owner is incredibly hospitable and gave me samples of the tea and a smoothie. I am sometimes reluctant that I might stand out in Somali-owned restaurants but the staff made me feel so welcome that I have no reservations at all! So glad to have found this place!

Great food and great prices. I especially love the Somali tea ... It has just the right amount of spice and sweetness. Really fun to try out new American-Somali fusion foods. Such friendly staff, and a great atmosphere for hanging out and getting work done.

A lovely new local place for yummy Somali snacks and drinks! We tried the samboosa, tandoori chicken chapaati, and Somali tea. All delicious! The masala and meat mix in the samboosa and the tenderness and flavor of the tandoori chicken were refreshingly tasty; and the nicely balanced ginger-cardamom flavor of the hot Somali tea, with a bit of froth and cinnamon on the top, hit just the right spot. We will definitely visit this local spot again, and are excited to try the other authentic Somali flavors!

Delicious meal and out standing workers and l like chicken shawarma and Somali tea wesome l hope to come back

Amazing smoothies and malawah, plus the friendliest staff in the neighborhood. Get the mango avocado smoothie and disappear into a heaven of creamy, fruity deliciousness! They have all sorts of coffee drinks too and a soda cooler. Comfortable place to work or relax. Try the garden (I think it's called that) stuffed malawah.

Great food. The savory Somali crepes are wonderful! Also love the Somali tea and the Sombosas (Partner said th carrot cake was very good. Order was ready when I got there and it was hot. Order at www.Capitol-Cafe.com

I found this to be best "cafeteria" on the National Mall. It wasn't cheap, but there was a wide selection of food and what I had was great. Thumbs up.

Cozy little Somali cafe. Food is delicious here...I had the sambusa, sweet crepe, and Somali tea and it was all amazing! They have plenty of TVs with a variety of channels playing, and several seating spots. Prices are reasonable and I definitely felt like I was supporting a local immigrant operation. I will definitely be coming back many more times in the future!

This place is awesome! The Somali tea is delicious--especially on a cold winter day--and the people who run it are the nicest. They've offered me free samples numerous times. I'd love to try more of their menu items!

I just had my first experience at Capitol Cafe today and cannot recommend this spot enough. The two employees working were extremely courteous and - seeing that it was my first time there - were earnestly excited to introduce me to their flavors. I only came in for some tea (which was excellent and reasonably priced), but also enjoyed free samples of a mango-banana smoothie, malawa (crepe-like bread), and beef suqaar (a signature Somali dish). Their strategy worked: I will definitely be back to try more of the menu. On top of all this, one of the employees was letting me know about relevant community events that are happening. I cannot speak highly enough of the hospitality (and delicious flavors) I experienced at Capitol Cafe.

If you are looking for Somali Healthy food; this is the best place to go to. They even have Somali Qaxwa!

Great food and great atmosphere is how I would describe this wonderful Somali owned café I found while strolling along Franklin Avenue in south Minneapolis. I have enjoyed crepes, chicken wraps, tandoori chicken, along with lovely fruit smoothies made on the spot by friendly and informative Somali staff. I strongly recommend this café to all who are looking for something new and truly unique to add to their list of venues to eat and just relax.

Love this little neighborhood café! The Somali tea and coffee are delicious! Can't go wrong with Sambusa. They also have a variety of flavored sweet and savory crepes. The inside of the cafe is simple/sparse but there's plenty of room to spread out and work (wifi available). The staff that I've met there are lovely.

This is the best Cafe in Mpls, it is a very chill laid back Cafe/restaurant, if u r in the Mpls area please check this place out u won't regret it