Mano Modern Cafe — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

What a nice use of a small space. I was waiting in between a meeting and needed a place to sit down to crank out some emails before the meeting started. I looked on Google Maps for a small café and found Mano Modern. When I walked in my favorite song was playing by Sir. This immediately set the tone for me letting me know that I have arrived in a place that feels familiar.

I didn’t try the food, but the ube chai what is delightful experience. I really liked how the purple set off the tones and the chai still tasted very much like a traditional chai tea. I did not have the food this time. However, the people that were ordering. Made the food look delightful and delicious. You couldn’t hear the comings and goings of the kitchen, so I didn’t even know they served for food.

I don’t know about parking and it looks like it was street parking and sparse. I did walk to the café, which was settled on the corner and easy to find since it’s all white building.

The atmosphere was good there was plants which I love TV plan the Magic School Bus and also music. People are in their working and on their laptops or drawing, which made us feel very community based café.

Not really a space for children as it’s not a whole lot of space to move around. The accessibility portion is challenging since you have to walk up a flight of stairs on a platform to order. Not sure how that got pass permits haha.

When I’m on the side of town, I...

The vibes in Mano are great— though a small-ish space and can get crowded, it’s decorated aesthetically with cool, purplish lighting. The music wasn’t too loud, so it’s a great environment for doing some light work and the playlist was great. The staff are really nice too. While I enjoyed the variety of the Asian-inspired drink flavors and the Filipino/Filipino-inspired food items, the drink flavors were too mild and the food portions were too small for the price. Nonetheless, it’s a wonderful vibe and the food is overall solid in taste, so I’d always be down to come back to chill, do some work, and try their other creative drinks and food options.

Food I tried: Pandan Latte (4/5): Tasted good overall, though the pandan flavor was very light and difficult to detect.

Vegan Chorizo Bowl (4/5): This tasted pretty good with solid flavors all around, but I wish it came with more chorizo. The garlic rice was also a little lacking in flavor. My main gripe was that the portion size is pretty small, and I still felt peck-ish afterwards.

Lumpia (4.4/5):Tasted good— pretty meaty in flavor with very crispy texture.

Tiramisube (4.6/5): Such a soft and moist cake with soft, light frosting/cream. The ube flavor was there, but not very strong. It’s a little pricey ($8), but easily shareable...

I’m not sure what it is about this cafe specifically that they cannot get their cashiers to simply be, polite? I myself have tried to have a cordial interaction and have heard others before and after me in line be polite, things like thank you, have a nice day, etc. just to be met with silence. anyway! I ordered a pandan latte, I usually get it two separate ways, either the pandan is on top of the latte or at the bottom of it, made inconsistently, whatever! not a big deal. However today, I asked that it be made with the pandan on top. Cashier agreed and I thanked and tipped. I get my drink, and it’s at the bottom? I bring this to the attention of the cashier and explain why I asked for it to be made the way I requested, to which she responded “oh yeah yeah yeah” somehow agreeing with me? If you agreed with me, then why make my drink the opposite way of the way I asked? I’m not usually a stickler for these kinds of things but if I’m paying $7+ for a 12 oz latte I’d appreciate either them being polite when I order, or polite when they mess my order up? idk...