Cassava Cafe

This place is right across the street from my house so, I pretty much come here everyday… it’s sort of become that «cheers» place that you go to where everyone knows your name… for my husband and I. So, let me start off by saying that the owner of this place is like my favorite, she’s warm, inviting, and makes delicious food and drinks– in short everything you’d want in a coffee shop owner and more! We actually genuinely look forward to going across the street and seeing her everyday.
Having said that, let’s get to the food and drinks… ever since my first time tasting the bubble teas here, I have been a Cassava loyalist, I literally can’t get enough of the tea and smoothie based concoctions here. Everything they use is organic and made from the real thing… no nasty powders or high fructose corn syrup. Even their boba tapioca balls are made from only 3 ingredients, not a bazillion ingredients you can’t pronounce like they do at most other bubble tea shops. You can drink and eat something at this place knowing that it is real, legit, and not harmful or unhealthy. It is by far the best place to come grab a cup of coffee or a snack that there is in Chicago-​and trust me when I say that I have scoured the streets of Chicago and it’s surrounding areas to find a quality coffee shop that has a fierce combination of the 4 entrepreneur essentials: strong and tasty coffee, incredible free lightening-​speed wifi, ample comfortable seating with an environment that’s easy to focus and get work done in, and finally… homemade healthy snacks that keep you going for hours and hours… and this place has it ALL.
All in all, I couldn’t have asked for more when wishing for an alternative to Starbucks and Caribou, and all those other big bullshit brands that are all bark and no bite. So, when asking yourself «Where is the beef?» during your next hopeless search for the best place to get some work done or venture out on a first date… just look no further because THE METAPHORICAL BEEF IS HERE MY FRIENDS, IT’S ALL RIGHT HERE. And you will by far be happy you came!

I was so excited to try this place and left disappointed.
Pros:
West coast boba shop feel.
Although I didn’t order a sandwich, I watched a waitress make one and it looked amazing.
Cons:
Boba was hardened and not as fresh as I’d prefer for the prices they were charging :/

Great independent neighborhood hang out café serving coffees, teas, bubble tea, Boba and snacks. Lovely, charming young couple owners Vung and Jason, who have both a sense of community and fun, inviting spirits. The Bubble Teas we had were all authentic and delicious, which is their mission, to be true and respectful to not deviating or compromising the high standards of authentic boba.
In addition to tables and communal tables for hanging out with friends or your best friends, the computer, there is a large wall shelf with both books and classic and New games including, Cards Against Humanity to enjoy while chilling in the oven bright space. There is even as foosball table, Café Du Monde coffee for sale and other fun snacks.
Opened only four months, this a a great independent neighborhood spot and we need to support them and keep them close to us. Please visit them and show your support to these budding entrepreneurs.
Oh and BTW, if you are from Taiwan, it is NOT your perverted meaning of boba their tagline! You can ask for yourself what it means.

It’s such an unassuming spot, and it was found through the Unilocal app. It’s a pretty decent sized coffee and drink spot. My boyfriend and I truly enjoyed the fooz ball table while waiting for my Vietnamese coffee drink to be finished dripping. It was very tasty, and the prices were reasonable. The barista was also very nice. I would love to come back and try the bubble tea.

Solid milk tea, and the price is definitely well placed. Cassava is a great place to bring your laptop and study for hours on end! There’s foosball, tons of board games to play, and a library of books and magazines. The selection of coffee, tea and milk tea is very wide, and I’d love to try their option to turn any tea into a milk tea flavor. The cozy, family ambiance of the café makes it a great visit. The only reason for 4* is the ok job of making the milk tea with little sugar, and somehow they ran out of boba and jelly for the drinks. However, the midnight close is a definite plus and much appreciated for that midnight milk tea craving.

I went on a coffee date with a guy at this café. It was a cute and unique café. The staff was very friendly. I had the iced Vietnamese coffee; it contains four shots of espresso and cream I believe. I absolutely loved it.
The café also has games. Such as cards, boards and even books to enjoy your time of stay.
I will be returning.

I had a great time at Cassava but there’s plenty of room for improvement
PROS:
service is nice
great games to play with
great books to read
location is decent
café is clean and cute
CONS:
food items were not up to par:
— tapioca pearls were undercooked (chewy outside, hard inside)
–honey green milk tea was bland (I’m assuming hot tea with ice melts the ice right away & honey ratio was overwhelming)
— the snow was too icy (I think it’s shaved ice and not fluff)
— for the snow, they ran out of strawberries the day we came :(
I really appreciated the library of books and the load of games that were offered. The location was not hard to find but parking was. The only thing I would say is maybe keep the teas chilled that way the drink is not luke-​warm by the time it’s served?
Hopefully management will take this review into consideration and change some things around because in Chicago there are a lot of competition and there’s no room for mediocre if you want to keep your café alive and running! Good luck Cassava, hope to see you soon…
With love,
a concerned boba drinker

Great place for boba. Awful location with lack of parking.
The girl working the register was really helpful and kind. I ended up ordering a hot red bean milk tea. It was more milliner than usual and contained red bean flavor instead of real red beans.
It’s a great place to study, there’s an assortment of books, magazines, board games and foosball as well. Cool place, but it’s a pricey for boba.

I seriously love tea and love boba tea so I like to try different tea spots when I visit a new place. Since I was in town for a few days, I had to try Chicago milk tea and this was one of the highest rated tea places around the hotel that I was staying at.
Cassava Café is definitely a cute café with such beautiful wall decors. It’s a very clean and nice place. It’s a great place for a group of friends to hang out thanks to all the cards, puzzle and board games that they have there. They even have a Foosball table, which is pretty awesome in my opinion.
The only girl working there that night was really friendly and sweet.
Anyways, they serve, food, tea and dessert here, but I only got to try the tea. It’s pretty cool that they use completely fresh ingredients to make their drinks. Like usually in milk tea, most places would normally use powder or syrup, but this place actually uses real fruits. For example, in a strawberry milk tea, they normally use strawberry powder or syrup, but Cassava Café actually uses fresh strawberries to make their drinks. I wonder if that’s good, but I actually ordered the Jasmine Milk Tea instead since the worker said that it was their best drink and it was also the most popular drink. Unfortunately, I did not like it. It tasted way to plain and just didn’t taste like jasmine milk tea.
I also tried the Taro drink as well. I definitely tasted the fresh Taro in that drink. And the real flavor for Taro isn’t really that good… Even though it is definitely better to use real and fresh ingredients, Taro has a really strong flavor to it. Like when tea places uses Taro powder, it takes away a lot of the actual flavor and leaves a sweet taste to it. I only know a few places that use real taro to make it and this place tastes similar to the other places as well… So it’s definitely a good drink for real Taro lovers, and I guess I am not a real Taro lover.
Overall, I didn’t like the tea I got. The Jasmine Tea was just too plain and didn’t taste like Jasmine. The Taro drink is okay. But overall, I think I would only come back to try their food and dessert. I’ve been to too many tea places and I know what I like. Jasmine milk tea is the easiest milk tea to make and hard to mess up on. So new places that I try, I’ll always try either the regular milk tea or jasmine milk tea first and if I don’t like that, there’s a great chance I won’t like any of the other drinks.

This adorable café is a really great place to read, work, or spend a lazy Sunday afternoon with friends, which is what I did. But I think another great occasion to suggest this café would be for those «I’m not sure if I like you and I want to make a smart decision» dates. Here’s why:
1. The décor is friendly and charming, but the IKEA furniture keeps it from seeming like you’re trying too hard
2. It’s well lit with soft jazz tunes filling the air. You won’t have to worry about not hearing or seeing them properly.
3. It’s possible that this only applies to me, but if your person doesn’t like smoothies and pastries, it’s probably not meant to be.
4. There are games to play and puzzles to do so you don’t have to worry about awkwardness or running out of conversation topics while you slurp on your boba.
Anyway, this spot is super cute and it’s nice to not have to schelp all the way to chinatown for bubble tea, especially bubble tea with fresh ingredients!
PS: the princess puzzle was missing a piece when we did it

Can’t say enough good things about this place. Brand new, clean, friendly people. A coffee shop with food and bubble tea, fast and free wi-​fi, good tables to work or study at.
I didn’t love the grilled cheese that I got but it was good enough and the coffee was good. I have a hard time finding coffee places open late in this area, so it’s a great option when nothing else is open too. Highly recommend checking this place out!

What a great find through my Unilocal search for nearby restaurants! I think this place actually used to be a nail salon I’d go to once in awhile.
Anyway’s it’s such a cute spot! I was greeted with a warm welcome. Along the wall were board games and there were quite a few customers reading books. Sort of reminded me of a classier Starbucks vibe.
The menu is really small, but they have a huge variety of bubble teas. I went with the grilled cheese. It was delicious and huge! For .75 extra J had her add turkey. The bread was delicious the sandwich was served on. I also got a Bundt cake, which was just okay. Great place to come to read, play games, and grab a bite to eat.

I came here on a Saturday with a couple friends. I was excited because it seemed like a «coffee haus» type of place in the city! woohoo. unfortunately, it wasn’t a 5 star experience this time around.
Drinks (milk teas, boba etc) — all made from natural fruit etc.
Taro smoothie ($ 5.09, total with tax) — one size, made with actual taro so the drink is white, not purple. I honestly prefer the purple powdered taro drinks, maybe I don’t like the original taro taste.
Taro milk tea — one size, you can get it either hot or iced. My friends got one hot and one cold so figure out which one tasted better. They liked the hot taro milk tea better. BUT both of the taro drinks tasted wayyy too milky… might as well just buy a gallon of milk for the cost of this drink. Not recommended.
Shaved ice — the bowl was too small for it, the toppings/​ice etc kept on falling out while we were trying to grab a bite. It wasn’t the delicious ppatbingsoo/​shaved ice taste… wouldn’t recommend.
Costs — ~$ 5+ for the items here.
Customer Service:
Atmosphere — it seems like the to-​go place to come to if you want to just chat with friends. not too small, but also not too big so depends on the day (you may or may not find seating). I like the idea of the board games though.
Customer Service — they are nice, but not too organized. My friends and I were confused on who’s drink was who’s when it came out one by one… apparently a lot of ppl ordered different types of taro drinks that day…
Location — very conveniently located near the Clark & Division Red Line and free parking on LaSalle street (on weekends/​during specific hours).
Heard the Jasmine Milk tea is good here so maybe I’ll stop by to try that next time.

This place is the best for milk tea, bubble tea, and everything in between. All of the teas and boba, and everything else are fresh and organic. no mixes or anything of the sort. Very, very good spot and a relaxing atmosphere with great service.

Finally a bubble tea place that not too far south in chinatown or too far north. This location is just right in Old Town!
The set up is pretty cool with board games, card games and a Foosball table. Once it gets more busy it would be nice to see more sofas maybe. They specialize in all natural ingredients in their drinks… which could be why they are bit pricy (even without bubbles). I tried the Jasmine milk tea with lychee which was pretty good.

It’s a bubble tea joint wedged between Old Town and the Gold Coast on LaSalle. Already, that’s an anomaly because those neighborhoods mostly have Starbucks. You’ll be hard-​pressed to find bubble tea outside of Chinatown.
Next, Cassava Café has strict quality standards. They use no syrups or powders. In fact, they make their own bubbles! You ask for an avocado slush (yum!)? They are made with real avocados. That means that Vung (pronounced Vaughn) sometimes has to tell me «no» because the avocados aren’t ripe enough. Think about that. I think it’s a reflection of her commitment to delivering consistently good products. She won’t give you a subpar product and hope that you won’t notice.
Vung and Jason really put their hearts into Cassava Café. They literally made some of the tables! They have free wifi, a foosball table, games (Cards Against Humanity, Battleship, Connect Four, Monopoly, Clue, etc.), puzzles, and novels to keep customers entertained. There are a variety of seating options including two-​person tables, communal tables, and a couch.
I like to stop by for a Vietnamese Coffee before work or date night in the evenings. We love the sandwiches and salads that Vung creates for us. Somehow she sears cheese on the bread making a delicious crunch! It’s incredible and I highly recommend you try any sandwich involving cheese. Besides that, they have some pre-​packages Asian foods: ramen, Meji Pandas, Yan Yan, and Shrimp Crackers. They carry two different kinds of coffees: 1) Metropolis and 2) Café du Monde. I’ve never seen Café du Monde outside of New Orleans so that’s a special treat.

Great little spot. A little hidden although it’s on a pretty busy street. A nice, friendly atmosphere, not too crowded. Great spot to get some work done. Haven’t tried the bubble tea yet but they have all sorts of coffee drinks and some food too!

So happy a bubble tea place opened outside of chinatown. I discovered this hidden gem located right by the clark/​division red line stop. I had the Taro bubble tea which was probably the best I’ve ever had. It was fresh taro rather than powders and super sugary syrups. My boyfriend ordered the red bean milk tea which was also great.
There were a few other people in this cozy café, but it was relatively quiet on a Friday night. There are a lot of board games (catan, pokemon monopoly, apples-​to-​apples to name a few), and Foosball table. It would be a great place to bring a few friends and play games. There were also a good amount of outlets and free Wi-​Fi if you’re looking for somewhere to work/​study.
While it took a little more time to get our bubble tea than joy yees or Kung fu tea, I really didn’t mind because of the top-​notch quality. They’re also pretty new so this will probably improve with time.
Before we left we decided to order the shaved ice which came with ice cream, red bean, strawberries, apples, mango, lychee jelly, and popping boba. It was good but didn’t knock my socks off. But after that bubble tea, my socks were already long gone.
As a nearby resident, I’m already planning on returning and trying everything else they have to offer.

I’m a big fan of bubble/​milk tea, but it’s not the easiest thing to get out of Chinatown and Argyle here (there’s only one other place I know of, in the Loop, that outright does it and another in Wicker Park). When I read about this place opening not too far from where I live, I was really glad to say the least, especially with taro.
The space is pretty nice, clean, and open. I think it could use a few more tables, but not much. Another good and smart touch is that they have board games there which is great along with a few communal tables so you can easily play the games. This seems like a great place you’d come to work kind of quietly or just play your friends at some board/​card game.
The girl working today, who I have a feeling is one of the owners, was really nice, helpful, and cool. Easy to talk to and really had some great suggestions. I started out with the Taro milk tea (w/​boba). I’m used to seeing it purple and in this case it wasn’t. It quickly became apparent to me that they actually use real taro to make this as I sipped up little bits of it — a lot of other places use powder mix so I appreciate them actually making it the right way. The boba were also really good — not too hard but not too soft. High quality.
After that I had a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato which was pretty good. The tomato on it was roma tomatoes and on the outside was melted cheese (tasted like Asiago). Nice touch — not your typical grilled cheese but good. After that, I ordered some more. Some Jasmine milk tea with lychee, a lemon ricotta cookie, and banana bundt cake. All were really good and I ended up liking the Jasmine milk tea more than the Taro. The girl suggested the lychee in it which was an expert recommendation. The lemon ricotta cookie was really good too. Kind of sweet, but really lemony. The banana bundt cake was pretty damn good too.
I’ll definitely be back and this place is good. I really appreciate how they use fresh ingredients instead of powder mixes for their milk tea. I’m hoping they’re in business for a long time. There’s no shortage of pedestrian traffic near there. People just need to come in. Some people may be apprehensive since they don’t know what bubble/​milk tea is. They should give out some samples for free on the sidewalk to get people more interested and informed. I’ll be back next time to try some coffee. This would be a great place to just relax and play a board game too.

I really love the concept of this place and it executes extremely well. I was recommended to visit this place so I went to check it out. This store makes me wish I lived in Chicago.
As far as the atmosphere, the wall painting on the side reminds me of a certain Japanese Blossom lotion decoration from a popular bath and body products store, but I was told it was hand-​painted by one of the owners. Very well done!
As I walked in, one of the first things I noticed was a group of people playing Catan. I really love board games so they’ve got me hooked there. Also, there’s a Foosball table in the middle of the room so overall, it looked like a fun place to hang out during the weekend. Tbh, the selection of board games was a little sparse, but the wall space is large and they just opened, so I’ll give them some slack on that ;). (Also, I didn’t have time to enjoy their games this time since I was kind of in a rush.)
For the drinks, I shared with some buddies. We shared a strawberry slushy, a jasmine milk tea with lychee jelly, an avocado slushy, and fresh coconut milk. The drinks were all wonderful and I was very surprised to learn that the drinks were all made from scratch. No powder, even for taro milk tea. I’m planning on trying that next time since you really don’t see taro milk tea in an unpowdered form — ever. The coconut milk was also true to its name (on the blackboard). It was very fresh and you could taste it in how sweet the coconut milk was. Keep in mind, this is a freshly opened coconut. They even give you a spoon to help eat the inside. My friend chopped it open when we got back to his apartment (he was kind of excited to do it) and we got much better access to the coconut flesh then. As expected, the coconut flesh was very soft and sweet, and I’d definitely recommend chopping it open to get at all the flesh if you do buy one. Just be careful cutting it though since it takes a bit of force to chop it open.
Finally, I got a lemon ricotta cookie which, while a little pricey for the size, was delicious It was exactly that softness of a freshly baked cookie and was just the right amount of lemony goodness. That said, I would probably save my money and try one of the Vietnamese coffees instead. It seemed like other people were really enjoying those.
Overall, I highly recommend this place.