Cafe Chillo

There’s a time and place for kebabs (and a pear and arugula salad). And if that time is 3am on a Thursday night, then Café Chillo is your place. It seems the hours have changed since I last visited, but the late night chefs were welcoming and service was on point. Maybe it was because I was the only customer, but they could have just as easily ignored me and watched tv. They explained their cold brew process, how they fired the kebabs to order, and all of this was in a wonderful mix of Spanglish. Couldn’t have asked for anything better while waiting for a friend

Dear God I never knew that there could be a restaurant that failed in so many aspects until I ordered from Café Chillo using GrubHub. I tried two times to give them a chance but they did horribly and continued letting me down. I can’t be kind about this especially since they did something that I’ve never experienced before: give away someones order to me. The first time I ordered from here (June 18, 2014), I was somewhat actually impressed by their menu and the fact that they had a wide variety of Milkshakes (my favorite beverage in the whole world), so, I ordered two kind Vanilla and Peanut Butter which were $ 6.00 each for a 16 oz. and I also ordered a chicken quesadilla believing that no one could mess up such a simple item. The order placement verification was emailed to me at 11:56 p.m., a couple minutes after I made it and said that «your food should be arriving between 12:30 and 12:45» which was no problem to me since I was staying up late anyway. After it passed the expected time, I still believed in giving them a grace period since theres always traffic and other causes making them arrive a little later. It then reaches 1 a.m. and still no food; then 2 a.m. so I call the restaurant and they tell me that they’re closing up. Having not eaten any food and under the assumption that the food wasn’t coming, I stayed up until 4:30 a.m. before going to sleep disappointed and upset. It wasn’t until 5:55 while I’m sleeping that my phone rings twice and someone was ringing the bell in my yard. I don’t go answer it because I was pissed already having awakened the couple minutes later a voicemail is left on the phone saying it was Café Chillo outside with my food. I deleted the message and went back to bed. The second time they screwed me over was basically the exact same thing except when I decided to answer the door and get the food at 5:30 in the morning, the delivery man couldn’t speak any English and smelt terrible. I felt like being nice so I paid him for the food and he then proceeded to go back to his delivery bike and come back up with three more bags of food, which was more than likely other people’s deliveries before smiling and riding off. I took one bite of what I ordered and spit it out before then grabbing all the bags of «food» and dumping them in the garbage bin outside. Would I recommend this restaurant to anyone… HELL NO! In my opinion this restaurant should be closed down and have a Vitamin Shoppe or GNC built in its place.

This place really needs to get its shit together. It’s been open for a bit now and I haven’t tried it based on all the negative reviews online (mainly the 2 stars on Seamless). Since this week was Grand St Restaurant Week I thought it would be my opportunity. I was wrong on that account.
The Grand St BID website lists all the participating restaurants along with the lunch and dinner special menus. Café Chillo was included in the lunch menus so I thought for $ 10 I’d give it a try and see what all the fuss was about. After going inside I had to ask for the Restaurant Week menu only to be given the $ 25 dinner menu. When I asked where the $ 10 lunch menu was the guy seemed confused and walked away to find out more information. Upon his return he told me that there wasn’t a lunch menu so I got up and left.
This is the first time Grand St had tried their hand at Restaurant Week and it’s been a good opportunity for me to try some places I haven’t yet. If you’re going to take part in this then you should know what’s going on and offer that up without having to ask for it and then be told it doesn’t exist.
With the emptiness of the place and the bad reviews I don’t think Café Chillo will be around much longer. I yearn for the days when JV Pizza & Taco inhabited the place because their food was the best in the neighborhood.
As a side note: I did go in there from time to time when they were offering $ 1 pizza slices but then that stopped. Too bad because it was probably some of the only business the place ever got.

Checked out Café Chillo as a friend had thought it might be a good spot to check out. The café isn’t much for looks on the outside. It’s been open for 6 months as of now. There is a solid seating area (which we didn’t need because we were the only people there for brunch at 3PM). We ventured up to the large counter, which has some stools and a nice big eating space, and took a peek at the menu in chalk along the wall. In the corner, there are glasses and a faucet to get water as you please. The waitress was quick to greet us, as well as the chef. The waitress had a tough time speaking english but was an absolute doll while chatting up my friend. He speaks spanish pretty fluently. I could understand based on my Spanish 3 class from high school. The chef came out and took our order for us to prevent confusion.
The menu had a good amount of options, slightly different options on classic breakfast dishes and brunch dishes. I went for the Eggs Benedict, which came with juice and coffee. I was pleased to know the café also had espresso and other coffee items. All the food was good. You should never hear someone gushing about breakfast items. Let’s be honest. They don’t differ too much.
I decided to give them a little review because #1 Based on my experience, and #2 Based on my observation that this is a family owned and run operation that is working hard to put out a good product and make a living. I appreciate that and Café Chillo.
Check it out! Be Patient!

It’s a cute place and the wait staff is friendly, but the food took way too long to the point that other tables got up and left after complaining. Maybe they were short on staff but when the food came it wasn’t worth the wait. I enjoyed the ice coffee and the meal was ok, but I don’t think I will go back.

DISCLAIMER: This is a review of my experience with their late-​night delivery:
Very briefly…
The food was terrible! I didn’t eat any of the savory despite the fact I was stoned. Says a lot.
I ordered the beef empanada (which was $ 4.50 for ONE, such a rip off). It was salty and the meat was a questionable texture. I also ordered Elote which was just sad. They simply tossed some boiled corn into a container with a side of cheese. Um, okay? I also had an order of fries that were not only cold but stale as well. All three of these items received one bite each then were tossed straight into the trash. Very disappointing seeing as though my entire order, including tip, came up to around 30 bucks.
The only reason Café Chillo gets a second star from me is because I also ordered their Chocolate Bread Pudding and Apple Crisp a la mode and both blew my socks off. Shocker. Also, the estimated delivery time was rather accurate.
In closing, I’d rather starve than order from them again. And by starve I mean get my lazy stoner behind the couch and walk to the corner to the 24-​Hr bodega. Thats what I get for being lazy –_–

Bang for your buck — $ 10 buys you a coffee, juice, and brunch item of your choice!
Ambience wise, Café Chillo looks like a tavern outside, with bare stripped walls for a minimalist feel. This is a place you go to for a no-​frills brunch. I ordered a huevos rancheros which came with a separate plate of sausages and home fries. Definitely worth a trek! Friendly service to boot.

friendly service, great food, nice atmosphere. really great pita chips with the guac. better prices than other restaurants that would serve similar dishes. would definitely suggest to anyone!

If I could do 3.5 I would. Mind you, I don’t consider a 3 star review bad, just average. Very typical diner quality food. Actually used fresh fruit with their pancakes instead of some weird slop served at many places. Brunch came with a LARGE glass of both oj and iced coffee — another bonus.
The menu isn’t very inspiring, but I don’t think they are trying to fill a creative niche.
In all, standard, edible food, but if you are looking for excitement, grand Ave has a million other places with more excitement!

Waited 1.5 hours for my food (est delivery time 30 mins). Food showed up as you may expect 1.5 hour old food to be. Cold, soggy, just not good. Could have made myself a grilled cheese in 2 minutes for 25 cents and been happier. Order from somewhere else!

So after many desperate hopes for a decent place to eat in the neighborhood, my boyfriend and I stumbled upon Café Chillo. With our hopes set low, we decided to try brunch at Café Chillo. We were very surprised at the very attentive service we immediately received. The menu has an array of choices. Everything was fresh and very tasty. From the pancakes with berries to my Chillo eggs Benedict everything was made to order and complete with coffee and orange juice. We were so impressed with the place that we decided to come back for dinner. Dinner was a bit more expensive but the food was still great. Homemade Apple Crisp tied the knot for us (a must try, my description of it will do it no justice) This place is so refreshing, after experiencing awful customer service and food quality from Willburg Café it is so exciting that the food gods have finally answered our prayers. I will definitely return!