Cafe Caribe

I’ve been looking for good puerto rican food for a while. I searched on Unilocal and found this place. The food was great and the place was clean. The house hot sauce was perfect not too spicy and tasty!

great food and very friendly service. the sandwichs are sooo.good. This place is a hidden Jem in Berwyn and worth the stop. Try some real Puerto Rican food home made the way it should be done

I ended up at this restaurant kind of by mistake because I mixed up the name with another restaurant but it could not have turned out any better — I was looking to order a large amount of food to feed 7 people for my grandmothers bday :)
From the hospitality we received to the home cooked sabor, I was very pleased. My daughter and I had a nice café con leche and an empanada while we waited for our order. They were very helpful explaining portions and making recommendations to make sure we had a good variety and enough food for all. The place itself is casual and reminds me of the cafeterias in PR. They do a few things differently than some would choose to but I also work in the restaurant industry so I can see there reasons, more power to them!
The food could not have been better… of the Puerto Rican restaurants I have tried around the city and suburbs I would have to say I was most pleased with the food here at Café Caribe. The taste was like home made goodness. The frituras were not skimpy on the meat and flavored perfectly. The rice was amazing the lechon was juicy and flavorful. We also ordered tostones which did not disappoint either.
I may not make it to that area very often but I will make a special trip back here for some good food :)
To Café Caribe — Keep up the good work, your food speaks for itself!

Food is delicious. Service is great. Only downside is that it takes a while for them to get the food out to you. Other than that, I love this place.

Great jobaritos, rice is old and sticky. The cook is really nice but the waitress was on crack while serving us, we had to ask for napkins and our water bottles were bought next door lol kinda weird. I would only go back for the jibarito and take my own water bottle and napkins lol

Unbelievable jibarito con Lechon. Owner takes incredible pride in his work and came over and personally told his story. Highly recommend. Probably best jibarito I’ve ever had.

The food was insanely delicious, and the owner was so friendly! We got the pork and steak jabarito, each comes with the arroz con grandules. We will definitely be coming back with friends!

The Jibaritos are always on point and the café con leche is outstandingly addictive. The meat in the Jibarito is always tender. Also, I recommend you order a side of maduros (fried plantains) so mouthwatering. The owner is genuinely a very nice person and the music and atmosphere is on point. Felt like I was in la isla while I ate.

Brought here by a friend. The owner is super friendly, and the food came pretty quickly for as much as we ordered. The arroz con gandules is pretty solid, as is the Cuban. The Jibarito, however, is magical, and I don’t usually care for plantains. Melts in your mouth. Garlicky, creamy, meaty, with a slight herbal kick. I wish we had restaurants like this back at home…

Love this place… good food and nice people. I was super excited when a Puerto Rican restaurant finally was in the area and the best part is that its actually great!
Jobaritos, Cubans, Steak Sandwiches, Rice, Beans and the frituras are all BOMB!
Highly RECOMMENDED!

No way to miss this place as it has giant Puerto Rican flag draped in the front of the restaurant. Met the owner (Tony) and his Mom, both very friendly and passionate folk. Tony provided my friend and I with an Alcapurria appetizer. The Jibaro Sandwich was delicious. I’ll be back!

This place was outstanding. This is bodega-​style, ethnic neighborhood eating, but what an amazing gem this place is. You can’t even see the name from the awning, so don’t go there expecting to be pampered. There is no ice machine. This is lunch-​counter stuff.
None of this, of course, means a thing (and actually enhances the experience) to anybody who really wants to have an incredible Puerto Rican food experience. My jibarito (bistec) was to die for. The garlic punch that I would expect from this style of food was perfect. The plantain grilled «panini-​style» made it difficult to concentrate on how great the rice was.
The owner was incredibly inviting and accommodating. He gave us a small, complimentary appetizer to welcome us in. The waitstaff was happy to have us and glad we were there. The fact that they didn’t clock the time from serving us the food and checking in with us after that means very little to me in this sort of authentic environment.
Please, please don’t go down to 26^th and about Ridgeway or thereabouts in what I think is Cicero for this. It’s way too fantastic. You’ll ruin the vibe…

I went last Friday And the food was absolutely amazing and soooo flavorful. So glad this place isn’t too far from home and I don’t need to travel all the way North for some PR food. The owner was such a great host, greeted us and was extremely friendly. He even gave us a alcapurria on the house. We ordered the lechon jibarito which came with PR style rice and also a steak sandwich. Both were extremely delicious. The only down side to this place is they only take cash, other than that I still give it 5 stars because i have no complaints. I will be back soon :)

Nice to have a local Puerto Rican spot around here. I’ve been here twice and even though the owner/​cook is nice, both times the service was a little slow… although that’s most Puerto Rican places a anyway. I’m Puerto Rican, I can say that :)
First time I had a Cuban sandwich, pretty good. Second time I had a jibarito but it had too much garlic… And I like garlic.
I have yet to try my favorite PR dish, lechon, so going to give it another shot soon.
They also don’t take credit cards so keep that in mind.

So listen to this.
Saturday, I was having a tough day. Car problems, crappie weather, and very hungry! Got my car running and went looking to fix the other issue that was within reach.
I had been wanting to check out Café Caribe for some time. So I suggested it and we went.
Got there. Warmly greeted by everyone in the place. That put a huge smile on my face instantly. I love a good generous welcome any day, but today, it was most appreciated.
I ordered a café con Leche to start. It was great coffee! Shocking! There is such a drought of truly good coffee in that area, but this was perfect. we ordered. Alex had to try their jibarito sandwich and Arroz con gandules. I had their special; bacalao guisado accompanied with arroz blanco y habichuelas. But first and when ever possible, we start with a pastel.
Got the pastel first. It was accompanied with a lightly dressed salad and avocado. The salad was fresh, crisp and delicious, however, that pastel, blew my mind! Once we had the pastel, we just had to try an alcapurria.
We order one alcapurria, and that’s when we checked in on my little pain in the ass. It didn’t want to start again. My car, that is. My bad. I wasn’t supposed to turn it off. Booo! how was i suppose to know?
We couldn’t be too upset because the alcapurria was delicious!
The rest of our food gets there.
Alex is on the phone reaching out to someone for help with my car. I’m having a party in my mouth. The rice and beans, the bacalao.. Alex ’ s jibarito… I drowned my sorrows in the in all the delightful flavors. The food and the people in the restaurant made us forget our worries, and for a short while, even changed the weather. It felt like I was in a warm place surrounded by sun, song and dancing.
Finished our meal, paid our tab and sat there waiting for help. Then, another café caribe miracle happened. Mel. Dancing, singing, cooking, warm and giving Mel came to the rescue. He went out and got us a jump. Not before delighting us with a complimentary shot of expresso.
I think it is not surprising that I love this place and will be coming back soon, but after having such a wonderful experience, I really needed to bag some of that love and take it home with me. So, instead of sequestering Mel’s mom, I did the next most sensible thing and ordered some frozen pasteles to go. To enjoy on another wintery, crappie day.
Ps: need to restock my freezer. Those days are in abundance here in Chicago!

I think this place is very good. Previously I said some things about this place having bad service. I have come to the determination that the owner means well and is being flooded with new business. Perhaps a little more than he can handle. That is very good for him and I think he deserves it because the food is good.
This place is a nice little café that produces the best jibaritos in the neighborhood. He brings fresh ingredients and a friendly attitude to the customers. Sometimes you may find yourself waiting a little longer than expected for your food. Call your order in ahead of time if you can. Give them about 25 – 30 min to prepare your meal. I used to grow so frustrated for these wait times to the point where I stopped going all together. I have concluded that this place is a small family run business and they are trying hard. Perhaps they are in their growing pains as a newer business. Either way, my point is that if this was some big chain place I would probably be upset with the service but since it is a family business I am very forgiving and willing to support such an establishment.

Incredible Puerto Rican food served by the friendliest and one of the most passionate owners I’ve witnessed. Sure you can get PR food closer to the city but it won’t have the quality nor flavor that this gentleman cooks with.
Enjoy Sucks…

Amazing first time at Café Caribe. My husband and I both walked away feeling like we were part of Mel’s family; it actually felt like we were transported back to Puerto Rico! The owner was hospitable, the place was clean and inviting and everything we had was on point. The Cuban and Steak sandwiches with Tostones and a couple other delicacies were deeelish! We will definitely be back!
So happy this is close to Oak Park.

Just had lunch @Café Caribe again for like the 100^th time. Just had to update my review. Food is still delicious. Sometimes I wait a bit but I dont mind because its worth it. Always order the café con leche with my meal. Just LOOOOOVE IT!!! Anyway, the reason Im updating my review is to mention what GREEEAAAAT customer service they have. Its like going to someones house for dinner!!! Its always a pleasure. Owners are just so nice and welcoming. Im soooo glad they’re still around. Seems like Im a regular now.lol.Yep.EVERY FRIDAY and sometimes IN BETWEEN!!! I’ve never had a bad experience. Thank God I dont have to go all the way to Humbolt Park for a Jibarito anymore!!! ;-)

Whaaaaaaaat? A non-​Mexican restaurant in Cicero? This was the find of the year! I’ve been getting pretty tired of the same-​old, same-​old taco joints around here in Cicero, so for fun I started doing a little research on Unilocal.I could not believe when I discovered a Puerto Rican restaurant… just a few miles from my workplace!
I went for lunch today with my coworker. We ordered jibaritos –mine was pork and hers was steak. We LOVED the food. Mike, the owner, was super friendly and made it a great experience. We had a great conversation, great food and left with a great impression!
If you are looking for great, speedy service, delicious made-​on-​the-​spot fresh food and a good vibe, check out Café Caribe!