Tempo Cafe — Restaurant in Chicago

Finding gluten free restaurants are a pain however, Tempo Cafe was a delight.

Let's break it down:

GLUTEN FREE:

Personally, I am very gluten intolerant. Even contamination can cause me to break out in hives. I've been to Tempo Cafe a handful of times and I have yet to be glutened.

The menu specifically states "gluten friendly", for clarification I spoke with the owner (?) Stephano. Stephano was refreshingly knowledgeable about the distinct differences between Celiac and gluten intolerant. Stephano says the safest option for Celiacs would be the waffles as they have a dedicated waffle maker just for gluten free waffles. The gluten friendly pancakes and french toast are made on the same grill as regular pancakes and french toast which poses a contamination risk. If you are Celiac, Stephano told me that if you notify the wait staff about your Celiac disease that they can make the pancakes or French toast in a clean pan. Take note that if you have to have it done this way, cooking will take longer. When asked about glove protocol Stephano stated that if you notify the wait staff, they will change gloves.

SERVICE: Service was fast and seemlessly taken in both English and Spanish. They ALMOST forgot our Illy Nitro but the waitress remembered before we could ask!

TASTE: We ordered both the gluten friendly pancakes and french toast- both were really good! Too good as I had to confirm if it was gluten friendly. We asked for a side of fresh strawberries as it felt a little plain. The strawberries put the meal over the top! We ordered an Illy coffee, an in-house decaf coffee, an over-medium egg, and a casa Blanca. The Illy coffee was very good. The decaf was a little burnt tasting but still acceptable as decaf isn't as popular and tends to sit out on the burners longer. The casa Blanca was good!

EGG TEST: I ordered an over-medium egg. Most restaurants fail this, unfortunately Tempo did as well. The egg I received was over-easy.

PRICE: Tempo cafe is very well priced for the food quality! We paid about 14-15 bucks each for the pancakes and the French toast. Overall, 60 dollars was spent- 3 drinks and two sides (an egg and fresh strawberries). Money well spent!

ATMOSPHERE: Tempo cafe is often packed with people, every time I've gone there the restaurant was full but we have never had to wait for a table. I found the busy environment oddly comforting. People who eat there tend to smile and laugh which creates a relaxing wholesome experience. Soft lighting and clean simple diner table and chairs feel timeless. Eating outside is less noisy and very peaceful, especially...

TL; DR - Credit to the staff - they adapted to some unforeseen technical difficulties, but the combination of those, some service oversights, and other issues resulted in us waiting 2 hours for average breakfast food.

Party of 3 arrived at 11AM on a Sunday, put our name on the waitlist. We waited in the car parked out front until we were 3rd in line according to the online waitlist but we didn't move up despite seeing people leave. The waitlist just said "there was a slight delay" and we were still 3rd in line. It's a Sunday brunch spot, of course it's going to be busy, we thought. But after waiting for 45-50 minutes (the waitlist estimated a 24-35 min wait), we went inside to check. Turns out the online waitlist had gone down and they were now doing a manual waitlist. It was unclear if they had informed the crowd waiting outside the restaurant. Obviously, we wouldn't have heard it because we were sitting in our car anyway. We spoke with the maitre d' who put us at the very back of the new manual waitlist. While I understand it was chaotic and the staff did the best they could, it felt unfair, like we had been penalized, pushed from 3rd in line to the equivalent of 15th. Right before we were about to leave, we finally got seated. They removed two of our cups of coffee without us having to ask, due to curdled half and half, and we finally ordered our food. Then we watched plenty of other diners around us getting their food despite even being seated after we had placed our order. Finally our waitress brought out food to the table next to us, and we asked where our food was. She apologized profusely several times, as she had forgotten to actually submit our order. 2 hours after we arrived, the food came and it was just fine, nothing incredible and not worth waiting 2 hours. Granted, this might have been the worst day this restaurant has seen and a perfect storm, but it didn't feel like we had been taken care...

First off, the hostess (didn’t get her name, it was a mid/shoulder-length blonde-haired girl) was not accommodating and welcoming at all. Not friendly either, no smile whatsoever, and on top of that had a hateful face and felt like we were being glared up and down. This should’ve been our first red flag. Second, we came for the ambience and couldn’t even get a seat we could enjoy. So if you come in more than a group of 4, (even if it’s just 5), you can forget about getting a nice patio seating because they’ll tell you they don’t have space or it can’t fit. She won’t even try to accommodate to you. Did the same thing to another large group of customers. But the other hosts are more accommodating and tried their best to make it work for everyone.

However, our server (unfortunately we didn’t get her name either) was friendly. Her service was good, she tried accommodating us but the hostess just shut her and us down. But the server was commendable.

Food was really mid. Juices was severely diluted, to the point it came separated and further separated even more as time went by. The juice felt like it was 10% juice 90% water. Avocado toast was the worst I’ve had my life, might be a personal preference but combination of ingredients was bad and the avocado was in slices, not mashed, not seasoned. Do not recommend.

Sandwich was good thou. Waffles and french toast were alright but nothing special. Overall, it doesn’t feel like it’s worth the visit, especially with the hostess that looks like she hates her job places right at the entrance. Most despicable hostess I’ve met my whole life travelling and...