Cafe Fili — Restaurant in Baltimore

Very inviting cafe, bright and open and comfortable. Although the service model is order and pick up drinks at the counter and have food brought to you, it’s more of a proper restaurant than a coffee shop/cafe, and so I wouldn’t say it’s a good place to camp out and work, but lots of seats have outlets available if you need to charge anything. They serve brunch food with a Mediterranean and French influence. The fridge of packaged drinks focuses on local brands which is cool. Friendly and helpful staff. I came for lunch and had the Falafel Grain Bowl, the Mascarpone Chocolate Amaretto Cream dessert cup, and a Fili Tea Latte (butterfly pea flower latte). Everything was outstanding! The falafel bowl was fresh and all of the individual components were seasoned well - very flavourful. Basically every part of the bowl was notably good. Generous portion, enough for a hearty meal (not a super-sized American portion though; totally normal for one person). The dessert was also delicious. It was like a mascarpone mousse with a chocolate amaretto sauce on the bottom. The chocolate sauce had a great authentic taste and you could really taste the amaretto. The crunchy topping had an interesting flavour and I’m not sure what it was (could have been just amaretto) but it was very tasty! Normally butterfly pea flower drinks are really mild but their take had a more concentrated flavour which was nice for a change. I’m sure it was mostly the vanilla syrup helping to bring that out, but they definitely also use a high quality tea powder. The prices on everything are completely reasonable. For the bowl, I’ve definitely seen similar meals for a significantly steeper price, so I actually feel like I got a pretty good value which is not something I can often say at a modern urban brunch place like this! From my one visit, it seems like this is a really nice place on every front and I would recommend it for plenty of occasions - a casual brunch (or even dinner since they’re open late) with a date or small group, or just a relaxed meal...

Yes! Yes! Yes!

I've been looking for an empty, swanky cafe with good coffee that's open for dine in during this time. Found it! Almost don't want to share it but I've found it and it is good! Cafe Fili.

Guess what ... Lo-Fi music blares from the speakers. What better way to sit down, enjoy coffee and get your work done.

There's a 2 hour limit for dine in. Perfect! For my first visit I ordered the Chicken Pomodoro Panini and a Caramel Latte. Total: $16 bucks without tip. Not bad!

The Chicken Pomodoro is Grilled chicken, roasted and sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil, provolone cheese & basil pesto aioli. It was accompanied with a side salad. Both were delicious! Really, really good. The sandwich is fairly big so I'm taking half home with me. The house made dressing on the side salad is soooo good. When I return next week for my 2nd visit I'm going with a whole salad. I love the basil pesto aioli on the panini.

I knew I wanted a coffee drink but couldn't decide on what to get. I told the very kind gentleman behind the counter that this was my first time visiting. He said ... "let me make you a Latte with a flavor of your choice. We make good Lattes here". So I took his suggestion and went with a caramel Latte. I'm so glad I did. It was crafted perfectly and look how pretty it is. I mean come on :)

Heading back next week .. and the week after ... and probably the week...

Overall: 4.7/5 (to go)

Very cute, clean, & spacious cafe. Fast service. Friendly staff. Reasonable prices. What's not to love?

Almond Croissant ($4): The almond croissant wasn't heated up but it was still good. It also had a bit of filling in it. The croissant wasn't very sweet and also is great to dip in your coffee.

Pistachio Baklava ($2.95): Really good baklava with great flavors and plenty of pistachio bits. One of the best ones I've had!

Regular Chai Latte With Oat Milk ($4.95) and Biscotti Syrup ($0.95): The cashier girl was really sweet and was indulging me with experimental flavors for my latte. She recommended the chai latte since it was cold outside so the spices would warm me up. I don't usually go for chai lattes since every time I've gotten it, the spices were too much so I wanted to add a syrup to it. She gave me a few options that could go with the chai and I chose the biscotti one. She was also the one who made my drink and it came out really well. My husband who doesn't drink coffee loved my drink and drank half of it!!! Usually he only takes a sip to try so this was huge. I liked it as well but thought it was a tad too...