Mood Cafe

Chaat: Carb salad consists of layers of crunchy deliciousness!
Base: fried crackers/​noodles, boiled potatoes, chickpeas, puffed rice
Sauce: sweet, savory, spicy, fruity etc.
Topping: vegetables, samosa, chicken, fruit, etc.
Sauce and topping varies from chaat to chaat and cook to cook
If you never had chaat, try it! It’s so different, yet so good! Its crunchy, savory, tangy, and spicy! Talk about a party in your mouth. Its also cold, which I was not expecting, but it also made it very refreshing even with all the different flavors.
Mood’s café specialize in Lassi (yogurt based smoothie) and chaat. It’s a great spot for lunch or snack! Definitely come from lassi if chaat is not your cup of tea. In fact, the lassi menu is bigger than chaat menu. All the lassi can be made vegan w/​almond milk, and there are lots of vegetarian options.
Vegan mango lassi $ 3.99 — It was very refreshing and not too sweet. I would definitely come back to explore their other 59 flavor combinations.
Samosa Chaat $ 5.99 — The portion seems small, but its definitely filling. I wish there was more than 1 samosa though.
Daal Mash Chaat $ 6.99 — A little bit more savory than Samosa. I wish there was more of a difference between the two. I felt the only difference was the sauce and samosa.
Chaat is a popular street food in India, and its awesome that Hassan brought it to West Philly.

I really wish I could base this review on the food, but I didn’t even get a chance to order.
Initially, I looked at the menu for Mood Café, but accidentally called Desi Chaat House. I decided to just roll with the mistake and order.
After picking up the chaat from Desi Chaat House, I thought, «Damn, that Dhokla chaat on Mood Café’s menu sounded bangin’ and I could eat 3 orders of chaat by myself!»
I call Mood Café and no one picks up. Maybe, they’re busy.
I go inside and there are two customers sitting down awaiting their order. The worker was behind the counter with his back turned making their lassi, so I just say hi – not rushing you or anything. He turns around, looks at me, and goes back to work.
Alright, whatever. Maybe he wasn’t in a chaat-​y mood?
Another customer rolls in and walks to the counter. The worker suddenly comes over to him to shoot the shit like they’re old friends.
Nope, I’m out.
I’ve worked retail before. I can understand if you’re busy and can’t pick up the phone or take down my order right away. But ignoring me and then dropping what you’re doing to talk to someone who came in afterwards was just bad customer service.
From other reviews that I’ve read, the owner is fine and friendly, but the younger employee isn’t — especially, when it is just him there.
I’ll update the review if/​when I get to actually try out the place.
Edited for clarity, because someone/​Yelp thinks that I posted this to the wrong restaurant.

mmmm, this will likely be an unpopular opinion, but i thought the chaat was okay. it wasn’t amazing or addicting like i was anticipating it to be. it is a yummy mix though! the owner is super passionate and seems very kind, which i really admire. also — best mango lassi i’ve ever had!

Best Indian I’ve had since moving to Philadelphia, can’t remember much more than that it was excellent as I moved further away from the restaurant.

Absolutely amazing. It’s a small place, but carries so much heart. The guy was amazing and so kind. He was very opening and informative to people who didn’t have too much experience with Chaat.
Food was delicious and the drinks were perfect. I highly recommend this place 10 times over.

Mood Café is one of the greatest places on Earth, and Hassan has created such an establishment to make everyone feel welcome.
Mood Café offers two staples, Chaat, an eclectic mix of crunchies, mangos, dates, onions, radishes and sauces, as well as the Lassi, a type of smoothie, prepared to you liking. Care to mix your Lassi flavors; Hassan will hook you up.
The place is immaculately clean and colorful, the seating is set up for a quick eat, but I’m sure you can relax for a while if you choose. The prices are quite appropriately and affordable, and the taste is out of this world.
Mood Café is a must try for Philadelphia.

I used to live right next to Desi Chaat House and pretty much went there just for the grab-​and-​go mango lassi. If you’re in the area, Mood Café is definitely the better out of the two. Depending on how busy they are, they will walk you through what exactly each chaat is (and what chaat is if you’ve never had it), and will make recommendations for whether you are craving something spicy, savory, sweet, etc. I’ve stuck to the lamb and beef chaats, but all of them are pretty tasty. Customer service definitely prevails on this one.

I’ve wanted to try this place out for a while, just due to the reviews on Unilocal.I FINALLY GOT TO!!!
Going in, I already knew I wanted a lassi… I’m not new to drinking them… I grew up eating Indian food, but for some reason, never heard of «Chaat». I had questions. There was a younger man behind the counter, who answered my questions SUPER FAST… On top of the accent, I really couldn’t understand him. I wish he’d taken the time to speak slower, and explain. So I felt kinda rushed to make my decision on food.
I got a Chicken Tikka chaat. I’ve had this kind of Chicken before, so I kinda stayed in my comfort zone. Chaat, is simply all over the place. There are a lot of colors, textures, and tastes involved. Sweet, salty, all kinds of stuff. It was not a distasteful dish, but for me personally, it was just too much going on at once.
I also ordered a vegetable samosa. I am absolutely NOOOO stranger to vegetable samosas. I’ve been obsessed with eating them since I was little. I basically only like them from one place in NJ. I have tried others, to no avail. Something is always off. But this placed, NAILED IT! They were perfect. I now have 2 places I will eat samosas from.
My lassi. The real reason I stalked this place out. Again, growing up, and still to this day, i loveeee lassi’s. I only had mango, and a plain version of Lassi’s before. I knew I need to expand my palate, and man will this place help me. My guava lassi was to DIE for. Definitely a key reason in why I will be returning.
On the way out the door, the owner exchanged in small talk with us, and thanked us.

Mood Café is such a delightful place for a quick meal.
You basically get to customize your dish which includes an array of spices, flavors and textures. I usually get the samosa combo which is so yummy!
Everything is made to order, including their lassi’s (which can also be made vegan) so plan to wait a few minutes for your order. It’s worth the wait!
Omnomnom.

I’m a little baffled by the 5-​star reviews here. I’ve come a couple of times now and each time have had horrible service with a decent-​to-​good chaat and good but not great lassis.
Service has always been standoffish; no pleasantries, no help with the menu, sometimes a curt «you don’t want that, get that» [I suspect they don’t actually serve the whole menu?], and grunts, if anything, for acknowledgment. It really seems like they aren’t interested in customer service even if there are no other customers.
The chaat is alright, but there’s not as much meat as I would’ve liked and a lot of filler stuff like potatoes. The lassis are also fine, but sometimes a little thin compared to what I’ve had elsewhere.
Worth stopping by if you really are craving a chaat (which is delicious), but not making the trek out here otherwise. Also, cash only (temporarily perhaps?).

I’ve been here a few times in the past, and I have to say, Mood Café definitely lives up to its expectations every time. Hassan is as friendly as all the other reviewers say, really makes you feel welcome, and makes you want to return again and again.
The menu might look a little confusing at first, but Hassan breaks it down and customizes each customers’ order according to taste. If you get a lassi, you’ll often get a little cup that contains the rest of the lassi if it doesn’t fit in the cup. The chaat is delicious, although I think a big part of this place is the experience and being able to interact with a restaurant owner in such a consistently positive way.
Would recommend, definitely revisiting this place when I’m in the area, if only to grab a quick lassi.

Mood Café is as close to perfect as you’re going to get. Being chaat rookies, we didn’t know what to order… not an issue here. The owner asks a few questions and starts piling things into a bowl. This may concern some less adventurous eaters, but after three tries now, we’ve gotten three different chaats and all of them were excellent.
I don’t really know how to properly describe the food other than: rice puffy, chewy, nutty, somewhat spicy, somewhat sweet-​y, fruity, yogurt-​y, crunchy, veggie perfection. The service is super friendly (every time without fail) and the lassis are solid as well. Do yourself a favor and head over here on Sunday, grab a chaat to go, and head down to the park for the farmer’s market.

We had no idea this was in our area. We usually go to Desi Chaat House, but this was surprisingly delicious. They have a vast menu. We had the samosa chaat and Punjabi chaat. I loved the dates and mango to cool down the spices. Only downfall was my samosa seemed a day old. The texture on the outside was tough.
The owner is incredibly sweet. We went a second time and the credit card system was down. He let us sit down and eat our food while he worked on it. I thought that was really sweet! We offered to pay cash but he insisted on us sitting down and eating while he corrected the issue.

So.Good. Chaat has like fifty ingredients in it. Jk. Maybe 15? I got the samosa chaat and my sister got one of the chicken ones. Both were delicious. The owner was so nice, explaining to us what chaat was and told us that if we didn’t like it we would get our money back. After we were done eating he came outside and gave us a complimentary rice pudding to try.
Also got one mango and one kiwi lassi.
Stuffed and happy.

What can I say about mood café that has not already been said?
1) Hassan is one of the friendliest and most welcoming person I have ever met. He creates a really unique concoction of chaat and knocks it out of the park everytime.
2) get the mango lassi
3) just get it
4) seriously.
5) It’s veg and non veg friendly. Which is strange because as an Indian, this was the first time I ever had meat in my Chaat. it was absolutely awesome.
6) If you are unfamiliar with Chaat, just get ready for an explosion of flavor and pure deliciousness of textures and tastes. Hassan does a great job at walking you through it and I seriously doubt you will ever regret coming here.

Consider this another rave review for a small but amazing place.
First and foremost, we walked in and looked at the menu. I’m sure we looked lost. Hasan, being the incredibly kind and helpful man that he is, asked «first timers?» And proceeded to walk us through exactly what a chaat is and what a lassi is, then helped us pick what to get according to our likes.
I seriously can’t sing Hasan’s praises enough. I was writing a paper on culture for my class and he was nice enough to sit down with me and answer some questions. It’s clear that he puts alot of pride and love into his food. Not to mention that he’s a joy to talk to!
To the food: I got a samosa chaat and a mango lassi. M got a chicken chaat and a blueberry lassi. The samosa was slightly spicy and delicious, and the chaat was so good. Every bite was different, so with every bite both M and I kept saying «mmmmm!»
We also got to try the rice pudding which is quite possibly the best rice pudding I ever had. We’re already planning on returning to try more chaats and lassis!

Wow, this place is totally unassuming from the outside, but is absolutely worth the walk to the counter for some food. Two lassis and a chaat are about $ 15. This establishment has very little seating. It is best to get your food to go. It will still be good in twenty minutes, I promise!
I never had street food chaat before, so I was really excited to taste the dish. I had the vegetable samosa chaat, which came with chunks of mango as well. The ingredients that made up the dish all worked really well together. If I hadn’t been sharing with Jared J, I would have eaten the entire thing and asked for more – it was absolutely delicious (though a little heavier of a snack than I was expecting because of the samosas). I also had a strawberry pineapple lassi, which was smooth, creamy, and absolutely bursting with flavor. I drank mine in about five minutes flat and was surprised that I didn’t get brain freeze.
In addition to serving great food, Hassan is probably the friendliest and happiest employee in the food service industry. He was very kind to us and talked continually as he made the food. His recommendations were also spot on. Can’t wait to go back.

Mood café est un des meilleur Chaat que j’ai mange a Philly. Le patron vous accueille et vous conseille avec gentillesse. Il nous a meme offert different lassi a gouter avant que nous passions notre commande et après notre diner pour nous en faire gouter d’autres.
J’adore cette place et je la recommande vivement.
One of the best place for Lassi and Chaat in Philly. Love this place. The owner is smiling, he customized our food and offer us samples before our order and after to make us discover his food.

In town for a weekend getaway and having no knowledge of the local food scene, I came across Mood Café while searching. Good reviews, excellent photos and decent prices brought me in, and I couldn’t have been happier with my choice. Thank you again, Unilocal,for steering me to such a great find in the city of brotherly love.
Mood Café had some seriously high reviews. a solid 5 star rating with close to 250 reviews, so they’ve got to be doing something right. They serve a dish called Chaat here. something I’ve never heard of and something that I figured I might as well try.
This place is much smaller than I expected. No real sitting area, but they have a couple of makeshift tables and plastic stools for people who want to eat there. Plastic forks, knives and napkins sit by the door as a «grab your own» kind of thing. You place your order at the counter and they prepare it in plastic to go containers.
Having no clue what I wanted, I told the guy behind the counter that I was in town for the night, saw they had some great reviews on Unilocal,and I wanted to see what it was all about. He explained one of the menus was yogurt based smoothies and the other was the chaat. He also helped steer me by asking if I wanted vegetarian or the type of protein I wanted.
I think I should point out that I had no clue what chaat was and really still don’t. I know it has a lot of tasty sauces. some crunchy bits and fresh mango in it. Mine had the Chicken Tikka in it too, because that’s what I ordered. There were some items in my dish that were cold and some that were hot. Some bits were crunchy and some bits were not. While I cannot tell you exactly what it was (or if it was authentic like some reviews claim it is not) I can tell you it was delicious and I ate every bite of it.
I also ordered the blueberry lassi and was really happy with it. A friend ordered the mango and we were each given a full glass of what we ordered and a smaller cup with the other one so we could taste it. I thought this was a really nice gesture and was very appreciative of it.
I’d love to tell all of my friends about Mood Café and haul them all to Philly to give it a try, but there wouldn’t be enough room in the place for everyone. Instead, I can only share my experience and hope it steers you inside on some cold and rainy night as it did me.

In all honesty, nothing that I say here will do anything except add to the truth we already know: this is one of the most fabulous eating establishments in all of Philadelphia.
I came here with my parents and a couple of friends. None of us had the slightest idea about what to order. No problem. The lone man at the counter asked us what meat we preferred, the level of spice we were looking to try, and if there were any sauces we were opposed to. The answers to those three questions produced, for each of us, a magical and absolutely exquisite combination that stunned the group into happy silence.
The lassi is also phenomenal. We each tried a different flavor – all amazing! Instead of tossing the leftovers, the man at the counter gave us all of the extras in smaller cups so we could sample them from each other.
If you are anywhere near this place (as in, somewhere within the city limits of Philadelphia) you MUST try the food here. It will be a simple and unforgettable dining experience.

Late one evening in West Philly, I saw the lights of Mood Café, and peeped the sign for lassis from the street. We entered the brightly lit café and stood in awe of the 60 flavors on the board. Then we were told… this wasn’t everything. They could create infinite lassis! I was astounded by the variety.
The owner began chatting us up when we were deciding what to order, and filled us in about the origins of chaat and the lassi. He also claimed — and without dissent — that he makes the best lassi (not just in Philly, not just in PA or the whole US) IN THE WORLD. He said if you did not agree, you could keep your drink for free. But no one has taken him up on that yet.
We both got the house special — the mango lassi. Mine was vegan, and I was shocked that… yes, these were the best mango lassis I’d ever had. Even the one that traded yogurt for almond milk. It must be in the smooth mango that blended in. While making our choices, the second man behind the counter gave us tastes of both the banana date and rose lassis. They were both incredible. The rose lassi tasted like my past. AND IT HAS REAL ROSE PETALS.
Hands down, you’ve got to come here and try a lassi… or 12. I expect to come back for the chaat and update my review to an even more glowing 5 stars.

Wir sind heute in Philadelphia angekommen und wollten mal etwas besonderes essen.
Auf Unilocal haben wir an erster Stelle einen pakistanischen Imbiss gefunden: Mood Café. Frei nach dem Motto «Hunderte andere Unilocaler können sich nicht irren», sind wir von unserem Hotel in Blue Bell rd. 26 Meilen hierher gefahren.
Wir hatten beide vorher noch nie pakistanisch gegessen. Unser Sohn hat uns begleitet, wollte aber nichts essen. Der Besitzer hat meiner Frau und mir in aller Seelenruhe alles genauestens erklärt und uns dann 3 verschiedene Lassis (Mango, Erdbeer und Blaubeer) zubereitet. Dann hat er — nachdem er genau erfragt hat, was und wie scharf wir gerne essen — zwei Chaats zubereitet. Meine Frau hatte Chicken, ich Beef. Er hat das Essen also genau nach unserer Stimmung, eben Mood, zubereitet. Tolles Konzept.
Was soll ich sagen: Das Essen und auch die Lassis waren WELTKLASSE!!!
Der Besitzer liebt seinen Imbiss und er erklärt voller Stolz alle Speisen. Klasse fand ich auch, dass er zu jedem der Lassis (jeweils ein grosser Becher) noch zwei kleine derselben Sorte zubereitet hat. So konnte jeder von uns nicht nur seinen eigenen trinken, sondern auch noch ganz prima die Sorten der anderen probieren.
Er hat auch das Essen auf unseren Wunsch hin «medium spicy» zubereitet und uns mehrfach angeboten, bei Bedarf abzumildern oder nachzuwürzen.
Ich kann jedem deutschen Besucher von Philadelphia nur empfehlen: Leute, fahrt zum Mood Café, Ihr werdet es nicht bereuen!
English version:
We arrived today in Philadelphia and wanted to eat something special.
At Unilocal,we found as no. 1 in the ratings a Pakistani snack: Mood Café. True to the motto «hundreds of other Unilocaler can not be wrong», we went from our hotel in Blue Bell rd. 26 miles down here.
We both had never before eaten Pakistani. Our son has accompanied us, but did not eat. The owner explained my wife and me everything and then prepared us 3 different Lassi (mango, strawberry and blueberry). Then he prepared — after he has inquired exactly what and how spicy we like to eat — two Chaats. My wife had chicken, i had beef. He made the food exactly as our mood. Great concept.
What can I say: the Chaats and also the Lassis were WORLD CLASS!
The owner loves his restaurant and he explains with pride all the food. Really cool was, that he prepared to each large cup of Lassis two small cups of the same variety. So each of us could not only drink his own, but also just fine to taste the varieties of the other.
He also prepared the food at our request «medium spicy» and repeatedly offered to mitigate or make it more spicy when needed.
I can really recommend German visitors in Philadelphia: Guys, visit Mood Café, you will not regret it!

Attention adresse incontournable !
Dans la banlieue de Philly, le mood café né paye pas de mine extérieurement. Cependant l’endroit est propre avec deux-​trois table à l’intérieur et quelques unes dehors.
Le patron/​cuistot/​unique employé le jour de notre venue était disponible et prévenant sans être étouffant. Il a pris le temps de nous expliquer le chaat (street food indienne) et de nous donner des conseils.
Une cuisine savoureuse avec plus d’une dizaine de saveurs. Accompagné d’un lassi.
Le dessert nous a été offert (une sorte de fromage de chèvre un peu fermenté dans une crème — mélange sucré et salé déroutant mais bon).
Deux chaat et un lassi pour 25 $. Une découverte culinaire et un très bon moment.
Si nous revenons à Philly, nous retournerons dans cet endroit.