After our lunch date at Geno’s (read all about it here), Geno brought us over to Rim Cafe, a chocolate shop with the essence of the French Riviera, but with Italian cafe tradition. I had never known that a place like this existed in Philadelphia- and was immediately brought back to my days studying abroad, with quaint little coffee shops, and incredibly friendly owners. As they say at Rim Cafe, they don’t want customers, they want friends.

Owner Rene Kobeitri is a character. You can tell that he really, truly, absolutely, loves his job. As soon as you walk in, he’s standing behind the counter, right by his big chocolate wheel, ready to make you whatever chocolaty drink you choose. Since we were here on our Instagram date, Rene made us up a bunch of their different concoctions.

After being “fingered” (aka giving Rene our fingers where he let us sample some salted caramel, dark chocolate, and mascarpone cheese.. I was shocked at the term too), the real show began. 

Photos via Yinka Adedeji

First, we sampled some of Rim Cafe’s delicious peanut butter bar- with chunks of peanuts of course. Rene even drizzled some peanut butter sauce on top, to make it extra peanuty. Imaging the softest, sweetest fudge you’ve ever had. Then make it even softer. That’s what this bar tasted like. It was pure heaven for a peanut butter lover like me. I swear, if I lived in the Italian Market, I would stop by every single day for a piece of this delicious treat.

Afterwards, we sampled some of Rim Cafe’s drinks. Rene made us different concoctions based on our preference of coffee or no coffee (none for me please!) and off to work he went. What resulted was hands down the best chocolate drink I’ve ever had. It was almost like a chocolate mousse, with whipped cream on top, drizzled with chocolate and caramel. I didn’t even care that I had a whipped cream moustache going on, I wanted to literally jump in the glass, swim around for a bit, and then slowly lick it off. It was that good.

After Rene made our delicious drinks, he broke out the bongos, and started beating along to Santana. We danced, we listed to the music, we had a great time.

Photos via Yinka Adedeji

We had such a great time, that after we went to dinner that night (which happened to be back in the Italian Market) we went back to Rim for dessert. This time, we picked drinks off the menu board (Ryan’s needed a flame thrower) and some cannolis with that mascarpone cheese we had tasted earlier in the day.

We definitely have found our new favorite dessert spot in Philadelphia. And the best part about this cafe? Since they want friends, not customers, they stay open until the last patron leaves. This means they can be open until 3 am on some evenings. Now that’s customer service.

–Arielle

Photo via Yinka Adedeji

Thanks so much to Geno for showing us this amazing cafe, and thanks a bunch to Rene for your amazing hospitality, showing us around, and letting us sample your amazing creations.