Expat — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

Our first visit to Expat was not quite the experience we had hoped for. We came specifically for the $10 Cheeseburger Day promotion, but unfortunately, what we were served didn't match the pictures we saw. The patty, a 1/4-inch in thickness is fairly sized, but was barely visible between the beefier-sized bun. The meat itself was bland and unseasoned, and the 'toppings' were lackluster at best—wilted lettuce and tomato sitting under the patty made for a soggy bottom bun. There were no onions, pickles, or special sauce to enhance the burger's flavor. I don't usually use, but there was no S&P on the table. On the plus side, the cheese was nicely melted.

I tried to salvage the burger a few times: I added dijonnaise to the top bun after a few bites, then rearranged the lettuce and tomato on top of the patty, and finally repositioned the burger to try to avoid the sogginess of the bottom bun. The patty seemed to be fried but lacked any real sear, and its uniform shape gave the impression of being mass-produced.

The shoestring fries, (not included with the promotion) were seasoned decently but were soggy and lukewarm. The dijonnaise served with the fries was flavorful, but the ketchup had an overly vinegary taste.

There is a limited selection of three beers—two lagers and a house pilsner, which they were unfortunately out of. Service was decent, but as others have said, there are automatic tip, service, and surcharge fees added.

It was dimly lit and I was not comfortable snapping pics.

On the positive side, there was no wait for a table around 7 PM, and the decor, ambiance, and music were all enjoyable. It looks like better reviews for brunch and can imagine also having a pretty daytime atmosphere.

All in all, it was a disappointing visit, especially for a place with such promise. We may give it another shot in the future, but based on this experience, we won't be in a...

I saw this place on tik tok under cozy cafe's people can get work done at and im not sure how people get work done here. I visited on a Saturday around noon by myself. Place had about 2 tables of people, so not busy. I sat towards the back, but didnt get any service for dine in until I physically had to get up and go to the bar to let them know I had not received service. The waitress was tending to the tables of people, but not me so I was confused. I dont want to accuse anyone of the service being the way it was because I was the only black person in the establishment, but it kind of felt that way. I ordered at the bar instead of having the waitress come to me, I didnt like that. The food came out at a reasonable speed and was pretty good. The part that was extremely confusing to me was that the place is advertised as a cafe by day and club by night, but the staff opened the glass doors to the patio and had a live DJ spinning at a cafe??? I came there to read my book and have a bite to eat and instead it was cut short because of the DJ and staff moving furniture around constantly. Service was trash, food was good, atmosphere was not as described. I experienced it and wont be back when there are actual cafe's with better service and...

Horrible service - stopped in around 6:30 on a Saturday for a drink before dinner. Tons of open spaces - not too crowded at all. The hostess was kind and told us to sit wherever. We grabbed a table and after 10 minutes no one had stopped by and no menu so we grabbed one from the bar. No one ever came to take our order so my husband went up to the bar to order. Took another 10-15 minutes to get two cocktails from the bar which was fine but it really wasn’t busy. Just really hard to get anyone’s attention. There was an 18% service charge on two drinks which is insane considering we were provided approximately zero service. No one ever came to check if we needed more drinks or food, never even received water. Thankfully my husband paid when he ordered so we just left when we were done. 1 star for the kind hostess, and 1 star for the cocktails being solid. Will...