Mar7aba Iraqi Cafe

Since 2021, Middle Eastern coffee shops have spread across Orange County at an impressive rate, with Fullerton’s Qamaria and Habibi’s, Anaheim’s Qahwah & Chapati, Lake Forest’s Sana’a, and Laguna Hills’ Karak House as just some of the recent good-to-great local options. While most focus on Yemeni coffee and tea, Mar7aba Iraqi Cafe – aka Marhaba Cafe and Mar7aba Cafe & Sweets – brings a different and locally rare collection of flavors to a nondescript Anaheim plaza. Mar7aba opened in summer 2025 with the same general formula as Qamaria, combining coffee, tea, and soda water drinks with cases full of tempting pastries that vary from decidedly Arabic to less obviously so.

A super-basic menu on the wall lists only a handful of drinks – espresso variations ($4 to $7), matcha ($8), hot Iraqi tea ($3.75), Karak tea ($6), and Turkish coffee ($5) – but there are multiple alternatives, including three we tried: a pistachio latte ($7.25), iced Iraqi tea ($5.50), and syrup-flavored “fizzy refreshment” ($6.50). The pistachio latte was impressive, with strong pistachio syrup, nice coffee flavor, and just the right level of milk, and even served with similar milk and sweetener, the iced Iraqi tea was as powerful as typical Turkish coffee, akin to sucking tea directly from the steeping bag. Unfortunately, the soda water and cherry syrup drink we ordered was more red than sweet, and didn’t compare favorably with a can of soda sold at 1/3 or less the price.

Several savory pastries are available for $4 each, and made from phyllo dough with your choice of ingredients: beef (lham ajeen), spinach, cheese, or zaatar and cheese. We didn’t get to sample them on our first visit, but noted they were pre-made in a countertop display.