Metric — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

There are a lot of small, independent coffee shops in Chicago and this one of the better ones. Metric started out only as roastery, but in the past few years it made the successful transition to a retail outlet and coffee shop. There are a lot of reasons why this is a must visit coffee shop. First, the coffee is amazing. On my last visit, I got a oak milk latte. It was great tasting and made with well roasted coffee. The oat milk made the latte so creamy, just like I like it. Second, the interior is very cool. The inside is modern and they do not have walls between the retail space and the roastery. It's cool to see their cool roasting machine while you buy your coffee. Third, they have very good pastries and donuts.

There are some negatives. First, it is very expensive. On my visit, I got two large oat milk lattes and one donut, and it coat more than $17.00. While Metric is more pricey that other independent coffee shops, you do get great quality. Second, it's located bit out of the way. It's a little west of the Fulton Market in an industrial area. Basically, it's hard to walk here. You will have to drive. However, the location gives it the aura of the hidden gem that it is.

Overall, Metric needs to be on your coffee shop...

This is for the quality of the product… stellar. Hands down, awesome. Customer service however suffers from the same malaise that many coffee places do. Slow, inattentive staff that will often border on insulting. To be clear, not all staff, but in 3 out of 5 times I have been this is the case. Latest among them is when at 5 minutes after supposed to be open, the only person working prioritize getting his significant other waiting in the car outside a drink, then proceeds to set out chairs and tables under a pergola on a raining morning. When I asked if he was open yet he stammered to say he was the only person working and after he gets tables and chairs set up he will open. The other interactions are similar with often disdainful language from staff and customers alike. It’s difficult to deal with let alone control customers, but after living in the area and patronizing businesses here for near 20 years this place falls into the category of “excellent product,...

Perfectly textured milk is an art form. Not to discount their fantastic latte art abilities, but latte art does not ensure perfect texture. Anyone practiced can do latte art with milk that is ~80% of what “perfect texture” is.

Steaming milk is easy to get good at, but very difficult to master. Different drinks require different milk temperatures (based on the ratio of milk:espresso since espresso is hotter), and levels of aeration (the amount of foam). The barista must be conscious of these variables while still creating a dense micro-foam that doesn’t collapse as you sip.

Kudos to the training and passionate culture present at Metric. They do many things superbly, but from my experience, they do...