Never written a review before, but had to for this place. Our server was great and 4/5 dishes were good, but one wrap came out cold. After a simple request to get something else, which was met with sweetness from the waitress, we ended up getting the weirdest attitude from a very curt manager. As if we were obliging here by being here, and as if she was doing us the biggest favor in the world by not having us pay for a cold chicken wrap. Seriously, it's Chicago. Go somewhere else read more

3 words OMG !! i stop in to order some vegan food , they have the best d.... (vegan$ French Toast , I ever tasted in my life , matter of fact I never had vegan French Toast until they made it for me !! the fruit is so fresh ! i also had the 3 breakfast vegan sliders , so delicious and tasteful and the mimosa compliments the meal with elegancy ! I will always go back !!! sucks that they close at 3 but if you are up early in the mourning ! get there before they closed ! i Promised you want regret it !!! thanks Meli for the experience !!!! The food will make you smile !!! read more

4.5 stars just because there is always room for improvement. Ate here Sunday morning, very nice staff, a little bit of a wait but hey, it's a Sunday and there is a still a pandemic so that wasn't an issue. Menu has a lot of choices and they all looked good. I had a egg and cheese on a bagel....so tasty. My wife had the Green omelet and it was the size of her head! We both had tasty mimosas. A great place to eat and I would come back here again and again. read more

The original Meli was my all time favorite, but I now have a new favorite!! Went here for brunch on a Saturday morning. We sat at the bar despite here not being a wait. Food was good and mimosas were amazing. We shard a gluten free French toast. I had the chicken chorizo breakfast bowl, a fuzzy mimosa and two of the mimosas with mango nectar. Both were delicious but the mango was my favorite. Can't wait to return for brunch! Five kisses. read more

Lovely casual well crafted cuisine. Very much like being at my Grandma's table when i was a kid... The mixed grill,and saganaki shrimp apps were simply classic. The spaghetti and meatballs took me back to being a kid. While the chicken breast with artichoke hearts + capers almost rose to the level of the lamb shank. However, the best part of the evening was the service. It was simply Catherine, she was effervescent. I know because my wife told me so! read more

Excellent eggs Benedict. Green smoothie was tasty. Food came out quickly. Nice waitress. read more

Meli Cafe - Eggs Benedict - New American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Some of the best food that I have had in Chicago. I went here twice for breakfast and once for lunch. Food and service was great!

Friendly place and really cute when the sun is blazing through the window. It's expensive though. I had a farmland breakfast bowl and it tasted spectacular. Orange juice was sorta warm tho. Otherwise cool experience. read more

Meli Cafe - Havarti cheese, 2 scrabbled eggs, spinach, zucchini, red potatoes and mushrooms - New American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast at Meli Cafe! Ordered the special today - Lamb of shoulder omelette with tzaziki. And, a smoothie - banana and strawberry. We'll definitely visit this place again! read more

Meli Cafe - Happy Saturday! ;) - New American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

This place doesn't advertise how great it is. It's a full bar, that shows the games. It's a family friendly place. It's a full coffee house with high end coffee. And the food is INCREDIBLE. Even better than the food was the service. The bartender Shaday was the absolute sweetest and most attentive. We were so grateful we walked by this place and gave it a shot. Better than we could have expected. Thank you! read more

Food was decently priced. But it took them 15 minutes to seat us. There was no host or organization at the front. Also took our food 45 minutes. Other tables got their food before us. But for sat after us. read more

I loved their Americano. I requested little cream to be added and it was perfffect! I made to go since I wasn't hungry but will definitely come back and try other menus..food looked great. read more

In town, for weekday visits to museums. Staying at Hotel Blake. This is hotel restaurant. Ate lunch weekday. No specials except deserts. I ate eggs Benedict with thick bacon for meat. Ok bacon hard to cut with fork. Wife had French toast with bananas. Ok. Main advantage convenient. Prices Medium read more

This place is adorable! Service was great from the moment I walked into to the time I paid. The manager came to check on everything twice and was so sweet. I ordered the Chicken and artichokes.l and it was delicious. Glad to have this place next to my hotel. read more

Meli Cafe - Chicken and artichoke hearts - New American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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First, it's my own fault. I'm sure the good folks at Meli would have let me make another selection had I complained. I didn't have much time, it was nutritious food, and thought I could distract myself enough reading the news to get past the unpleasantness of the sandwich. That said, I was not asked for my opinion of the meal, not even when I left most of it uneaten. The offending dish was the breakfast panini. 15.00. Consisted of 1 fried egg, 1 strip of undercooked bacon, one piece of ham, 1 slice of kraft cheese, and a bread or cracker-type thing with grill marks on it meant to define the dish as a panini. I literally got more protein as a garnish in my 12.00 Bloody Mary at Bar Louie yesterday. I like Meli. It's a pleasant neighborhood diner, and has pretty basic diner food that's good but not great. The item I tried to eat today should not be offered at any price. I guess I'm writing this review because I can't understand why it would be on the menu, lying it wait for unsuspecting diners like me. read more

Delicious food, great service, pleasant atmosphere and overall enjoyable dining experience with friends or alone.

Went here for brunch on a Tuesday. I ordered the jalapeño bowl and my husband ordered the crepes. Both dishes were delicious, the bowl slightly better. read more

Meli Cafe - Jalapeño Bowl and Fresh Berry Crepe - New American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I was home sick and was starving, so I ordered brunch delivery from the cafe. I had heard good things, so I was looking forward to it. My food was delivered late, cold, and had a piece of bacon in it, which I can't eat. Overall, it was a very disappointing experience. read more

This place is a terrible brunch spot with poor service. Their demeanor is awful and the manager is rude, and incredibly disrespectful. She sat us in the kitchen area with a broken table and offered no resolution when this was brought up. This place is 0/5 stars and I would not recommend this, especially given the number of brunch options in the city. Their service and attitude towards customers is alarmingly ignorant with long wait times, and no attention to customer needs. I acknowledge limited seating options, particularly during a pandemic, but there is no excuse to be impolite and not try to solve a complaint with respect and proper etiquette. I advise choosing another spot to enjoy your Sunday brunch. read more

Meli is a super solid location for brunch. This is one of three locations (that I know of). The other two are on Wells in River North and Halsted in Greek Town. Meli offers all the brunch classics - omelets, crepes, scrambles, waffles, pancakes. They also have some pretty good fresh squeezed juices. Unlike the other locations of Meli, this one also does dinner and has a full bar, most likely because it's connected to a hotel. For dinner, they mostly serve Mediterranean food. Everything I've eaten here has been tasty and fresh! I think their breakfast food is slightly overpriced, but you won't be disappointed with the quality. Worth checking out if you're in the area. read more

I started writing this review while waiting for my food here because it was taking so long. Important note: bring your fly swatter because this place is infested with flies, especially fruit flies!!! I had to defend my food from at least 10 of them throughout my deal. Service: so slowwwwww, but the servers are really nice Food: decent, nothing special compared to other brunch chains like Yolk and Bongo. do not get the corn beef hash benedict. they had a pork belly special that was good Drinks: juices are decent, bloody mary is definitely not worth it read more

Food was Decent, I asked for whipped cream on my waffles and the waiter came over with my plate of food and a small bowl of whipped cream . She gave me my food and took the whipped cream. Then she comes back over and I ask for my whipped cream and she said it's going to be 3-5 minutes till it's ready . We wait 25 minutes and still no whipped cream and she comes back and says there is no more . read more

There are lots of people at weekend, and it's really delicious, I like the breakfast tacos so much! But the french toast is just so so! Happy weekend read more

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We are visiting Chicago for a short vacation & this was one place we really wanted to go to. We were not disappointed with our food. I ordered the breakfast tacos which were phenomenal & filled with flavor, and my husband ordered the corned beef benedict. Service was good, not excellent, but they were pretty busy at the time we went. I would definitely go back here! If you love breakfast, you need to give Meli Cafe a try. read more

I told myself i will stop drinking so much on the weekend but i guess that i still have to learn to stick to that. My girlfriends and i had a beautiful night out. The next morning i felt like death. I do not know if i had alcohol poisoning, hungover, hungry, stomach virus or just simply tired. One of my girlfriends suggested this place and we decided to go. This breakfast place was BUSY and our wait time was decent (10 min). When we got seated our waitress came right away. Now my first problem was, she barely spoke any english and it was sort of tough to communicate what we wanted to eat and she could not really answer any questions that we had about the menu. I ended up ordering a mimosa (i never had one), fresh berry crepes, eggs and potatoes. If i wasn't so hung over, the food would have been great but due to my stupidity and not knowing when to stop drinking, i was not able to fully enjoy my meal. The reason this place only gets 3 stars from me is because our waitress was GONE 80% of the time. We would literally have to ask another waitress to go get ours. On top of that, my girlfriend ordered a omelette and it had a dirty paper towel on it. When we asked to get a new omelette, one of the managers simply just took the paper towel off and brought the omelette back....THATS A BIG NO NO!!!! I would recommend this place to go to for good breakfast but they need to make sure to hire individuals that their customers can communicate with. Also when a paying customer complains about a dirty paper towel on their food; PLEASE THROW FOOD AWAY AND PREPARE again. read more

I've always loved Meli for their breakfast and lunch, though I immediately became curious when I found out this location also serves dinner. Rarely can you find a place that can knock it out of the park for all three meals of the day. Well let me tell you, this place does it all! To summarize, the restaurant serves 5 star meals for reasonable prices, all while providing a trendy and comfortable ambiance. The combination of the quality, portions, and value of the food make it a top-tier restaurant. My wife and I decided to go to Meli for New Years Eve. It was a fixed menu consisting of your choice of appetizer, soup or salad, entree and desert. There was plenty to choose from and everything sounded delicious. Not to mention the waiter was extremely helpful and knowledgeable of each dish (I believe his name was Cory --- he looks like Brody from the TV show Homeland). I settled on the shrimp appetizer, crab bisque soup, filet mignon, and buttermilk squash cheesecake for desert. I could not believe my eyes when the appetizers came. The portion was huge and the dish looked like a piece of artwork. The shrimp melted in our mouth. The soup was incredible and better than most bisque soups that I have tried at high end steakhouses like Morton's, Gibsons, Mastros (not too thick and saucy like, like many places do it). The steak was cooked to perfection and the potatoes and asparagus that complemented it were out of this world. The desert is still sitting in my fridge, so I cannot comment at this point, but it looks great. I can honestly say this was by far the best new years dinner I've ever had, and I may even go as far as saying it was a top ten meal of my life. I am certain that this place is going to blow up pretty soon. I cannot wait to return. read more

I really like tacos breakfast.It was really good.If you choose place to have breakfast,I would recommend this one for sure read more

Meli Cafe - New American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

It was my last day in Chicago and before heading to the airport my girlfriend, her cousin and I wanted to grab some good brunch. Meli's was conveniently located near the entrance to the highway from the central loop and did not disappoint us! Compared to most brunch places we saw that required 45 min of wait time, at Melis we were seated immediately. Once we saw the menu and realized they had a whole selection of benedicts, I was sold. I ordered the"brunch benedict" which was your regular Benedict over Canadian bacon and tomato served on a croissant with a side of potatoes. My girlfriend ordered banana bread french toast to share... And there was very little sharing and plenty of me eating it ;) Her cousin ordered the farmers Benedict with veggies that was unbelievable. Overall Meli's is a great brunch option, serves fast and was well priced. Will recommend or go again in a future Chicago visit. read more

Delicious food. TERRIBLE service. Their juices and smoothies are terrific and their crepes and french toast were great! But the waitress was horrible! She left before taking our whole parties drink orders and rolled her eyes and corrected me when I misspoke and said "berry crepe" instead of "mixed berry crepe." She was rude in all interactions and overall made the dining experience unpleasant. Would recommend the food if you didn't have to deal with the people. read more

We had dinner outside on a beautiful Sunday evening; hadn't particularly planned on dining here but we were passing by. Our server was nice and attentive, with a lovely accent to make life better :-) The menu had a decent selection for dinner. I had the heirloom caprese salad, which came beautifully presented. I wasn't expecting baby tomatoes, but they were lovely. Perfect amount of balsamic & basil. The mozzarella wasn't anything special. The waiter added some fresh ground pepper, but some sea salt would've been good too. It's a nice starter/salad portion (and was perfect for a really light dinner, which is what I wanted.) For dessert I had the "fat Elvis" gelato. Yes, that's the name. It's chocolate with a hint of banana flavor, but the peanut butter wasn't as detectable. It was a bit too frozen at first. There were plenty of options in the pastry case that I'd love to try another time. Sitting outside in this area of downtown can be a bit loud, even with light traffic, as we experienced. I would recommend being inside on a busy day if you don't want to listen to cars, motorcycles, and yelling cabbies while you dine. read more

This place is SO GOOD. I came here for brunch on a Saturday and my party was told the wait would be 20 mins. In actuality, we only waited for about 5-7 mins before being seated. I ordered the Down the Farm breakfast bowl because who doesn't love breakfast bowls? I also ordered the Fuzzy Mimosa (standard mimosa w/ peach schnapps) - what's a brunch without mimosas?! I HAVE NO REGRETS! My food was so good! Seriously, I wanted to eat here the next day but there were other breakfast places I wanted to try. If you come here, I'd definitely recommend the Down the Farm breakfast bowl. As far as the mimosa goes, I think I'll just order a normal one next time. read more

Meli Cafe - Down the Farm breakfast bowl - New American Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Honestly, everything about this place is terrible. I was so excited a new breakfast place moved in and have given this place two chances - both times it failed miserably. The eggs were tasteless which means they were either old or cheap. Im not a snooty diner - I am actually easy to please, that's what makes this so disappointing. Don't get the omelette, scrambler, or pancakes - all were a let down. There are such better places around - go to Eleven City Diner, the Bongo Room, or even White Palace. All are better. Meli was not fresh, tasteless, and such a let down. This place wont last long. read more

This is my first stop in Chicago. The service is really good, and most of the food in the manual are taste. I would love to give it five star, however, we were sitting close to the entrance, and our food got cold so fast. I want to blame the cold weather in Chicago, but if they could do something to help prevent the cold air comes in with new guest, it will be even better. read more

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The two times I've had breakfast at Meli Café were joyful. The first time, I sat at the bar with a friend, next to the growing wheatgrass. No need to cut the lawn that day, or any other day for that matter, because my tongue would be happy to have the wheatgrass grow as tall as it would like. Meli has a large array of juices; so you can sip on whatever you need to cure what ails you. Today, four of us sat in a booth. Mimosas cured what ailed us, and they had the perfect proportion of orange juice in the glass. Just a thimble full. I love the airiness of the place, with big windows that let a lot of light in. There is also a window to look into the kitchen that we sat next to. It was fun to see the woman at the pass squeezing chocolate onto the crêpes and pancakes; she seemed so excited with her work. In fact, all of the people that work here have been more than friendly each time I've come. In honor of St. Patty's day, they had St. Patrick's Day's hash. I found it a little odd that it was made with pastrami instead of corn beef: shouldn't that be Lower East Side hash? It was tasty, although the pastrami had been on the grill just a little too long, and was slightly burnt. But the flavor was still good. I had an English muffin with it, and perhaps it was southern Irish food, because there was no fighting on the plate. The whipped butter is a wonderful touch as well. We were here a little early on a Sunday, at 9:15 in the morning, and there was no line to get in. That was one reason it was joyful. Add the sunlight and good coffee, and I'll be coming back again for more. read more

Visited Chicago last weekend. Stayed at Hotel Blake, so Meli's Cafe was an exciting find. The food was perfect every meal. The Cherry Pepper Omelet with potatoes was one of the best breakfast I have had. Butternut Squash cheesecake with cream cheese gelato was amazingly delicious. Oatmeal serving size was a little small but very good. The only negative I will mention is the wait staff needs a bit more customer service training - pleasant but in no hurry. I would recommend Meli's and will return. read more

Nice atmosphere and a lot of good breakfast choices. They also do handcrafted juice blends and in-house smoothies. Lastly the staff was very friendly. read more

Visiting Chicago for a few days and tried this place out for breakfast and it's fantastic! I had the lean and mean with a side of potatoes. My boyfriend had the breakfast quesadilla. Soo good!! read more

This is a great casual spot for brunch, lunch, or even dinner. The menu is extensive, the ambiance is cute (think "upscale trendy diner", LOL), and the food is fabulous. I am a sucker for breakfast food and am a huge fan of the cinnamon apple crepes. The lunch items look great, too, especially the fries. Service is efficient and friendly, though maybe a tad disorganized (multiple servers were assigned to our table, causing some confusion for everyone). Prices are higher than the average diner but you get what you pay for in terms of quality and generous portion size. I highly recommend. read more

I believe this is the third Meli location that I have been to, and it's been very consistent. This location is a bit trendier and more contemporary since it is downtown. The food is delish. I got the Meli salad and it was better than I thought it would be. It was slightly deceptive because the presentation gave me the impression that I might not be full, but that was not the case at all. Service was a little slow, but eventually we got the check. read more

Finally a Meli's closer to us!!! Meli's always has a solid brunch and lunch selection. To be honest I don't think I've ever had anything here that wasn't great. I know some people complain it is a bit pricier than the other locations, but it isn't by too much. What I like the most about this Meli's is that you are not waiting an hour or two unlike the other locations. It is also doesn't feel as cramped and seems more open. The service each time we've visited has always been pretty damn good. However, I do wish they give you more honey butter...seriously their jams and honey butter is to die for!!!! A cool thing about this location is that they've dinner...yes I said dinner! read more