Sweet Maple Cafe — Restaurant in West Chicago Township

All we wanted was a good, quick breakfast spot and instead we were subjected to an absolutely great one. All jokes aside, Sweet Maple Cafe is a classic, quaint breakfast spot with great service and very good food. We arrived on a Friday morning with a party of 7 and were seated right away. They have both indoor and outdoor seating; we chose indoor and the setting was very homey and comforting. Street parking is the only option available so if you’re coming by car then be prepared to circle until you grab a spot. The menu is relatively standard aside from the fact that they offer specials depending on the day of the week.

We ordered the not-so-plain buttermilk pancakes with a side of bacon, the catfish nuggets (Friday only special) with an egg and cinnamon raisin toast, and a raspberry latte. The pancakes? Soft and light. Not too thick but not paper thin, butter melted right into it and kept its flavor. Just the way we like pancakes. The bacon could've been a bit better as it was stiff but that’s a small miss apart from the main dish. The catfish nuggets were straight up phenomenal. The batter was light and the catfish was cooked perfectly. The eggs were cooked just as requested and hey, even the cinnamon raisin toast was pretty good. Lastly, the latte was great. Smooth and sweet, the syrup not too strong but sweet enough to taste it. A great pairing to any breakfast meal.

By the time we finished eating we were incredibly glad we had come into Sweet Maple Cafe. The food, service, and setting; all great. It pains me not to give this place a 5 because 5 should mean something that blows your mind from a taste and experience standpoint. This place is a great example of why reviews should allow for .5 or.1 intervals on rating because this place easily deserves much more than a 4, unfortunately we are limited by Product Engineers, but hey, maybe they’ll read this and make a change...

After running 6.2 miles today, a small group of us decided to eat here for breakfast. First off, we love supporting black establishments throughout the city of Chicago. Entering Sweet Maple Cafe around 8am today, it was a ghost town inside and very limited space on their patio seating. We wanted patio seating, but ended up inside because of the limited tables they offered for customers. I believe we were greeted by the owner a (black woman) who was extremely nice and welcoming. The waiter was also nice and attentive. His recommendations were not best options at all for the food choices. We all ordered different, but simple/traditional breakfast options and we would rate the food here a 4 out of 10. It wasn't flavorful or tasty at all. If we are going to consume some hearty food, it needs to be good and I mean outstanding. We hate to waste calories or bad food. The catfish nuggets, home fries, and eggs is what I had with some house tartar sauce. The catfish nuggets had no flavor and looked like it was cooked in old fish grease. The tartar sauce needed some sodium or something.

Also, the inside was freezing. There was no temp control for the AC as well.

The only positive takeaways were the biscuits, hot chocolate and customer service.

For these prices and food quality, we won’t be returning here...

Although it's a cute place, this was one of the worse dining experiences I've had in a while. The "takeout" setup they have is so wasteful - you order at the window, pickup your food and literally sit outside before throwing out all of your containers. We literally saw people leave and not pick up after themselves, but there are so few tables that other guests have to. If you need to use the restroom or wash your hands, you have to go to the public library across the street.

As for the food, my girlfriend had the sweet maple special with eggs over medium but they came practically raw / translucent. I would've sent it back but she did not want to out of embarrassment. I had an be good omelet which was okay but the toast was literally two pieces of untoasted multigrain bread. The setup they have also makes it very frustrating to have to wait 20 minutes for a juice or coffee while your food is being prepared. The whole meal we were thinking about where we'd go eat after. I will say, however, the...