Simona Cafe

An all-day counter in downtown Bethesda

Coffee opens the day at Simona Cafe, breakfast and lunch carry the middle of it, and small bites take the evening. The Bethesda room arrived in 2025 as the brand's first Maryland location, following earlier cafés in Arlington, Virginia and in NoMa, Washington, D.C., and it took over a former Starbucks unit inside the Bethesda Office Center. The owners have described it as a gathering place for nearby residents, downtown workers and students from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, and the format is drawn accordingly: broad, casual and built for daily use rather than for one occasion. Beer and wine belong to the concept as well, positioned alongside the coffee and the freshly baked treats rather than turning the room into a bar.

A 1,300-square-foot room with a patio

The Bethesda site runs to about 1,300 square feet, slightly larger than the Virginia and D.C. cafés, with indoor seating and a generous outdoor patio. That patio is the clearest part of the experience. It was built for coffee, a snack and unhurried outdoor sitting, which suits people crossing downtown or working nearby as much as it suits neighbours. Inside, the layout carries both the quick stop and the long sit, and guests order at the counter and collect drinks and food in the traditional coffee-shop way. The baking sits inside the café menu rather than standing as a separate pastry identity, so the freshly baked items work as companions to the coffee instead of as the reason to make the trip.

What to order across the day

Treat the menu as a clock. Morning belongs to coffee with a baked item alongside it. Midday shifts to breakfast held over and a lunch order, which is where the café earns its place with office workers rather than only with the coffee crowd. Evening narrows to small bites, and the beer and wine service gives that stretch of the day a different shape from the morning rush. Because the Bethesda branch extends a format that already worked in Virginia and the District rather than testing a new idea, the emphasis is predictable in the best sense: coffee first, a short savory menu behind it, baked treats to fill the gaps, and the patio as the deciding factor on a warm afternoon.