Kristoffer’s Cafe & Bakery

A cute little unpretentious place. I recommend the horchata latte (!!) and the tres leches cake. I took the coconut flavored one to go, and even several hours later at work, it was unbelievably moist, but not overly sweet. The staff are always friendly, and the coffee is prepared quickly. Love it!

Love the fact that they have several types of tres leche cakes. Nice little café in Pilsen area and not too far from Chinatown or UIC.

NB: I got here right as it was closing, so this review relates to take-​out on two (delicious) baked goods, and not the experience of sitting and holding court at 1733 S Halsted Street.
Get the tres leches cake. It’s delicious. They do creative versions, such as egg nog (see: other reviews), and the day I was in was lucky enough to snag a tiramisu tres leches. YES. All things are a-​ok with this.
We also got the choco-​flan which is ½ chocolate cake, and ½, well… flan. Perfect for indecisive dessert eaters like me.
Homemade, great flavour, fresh as can be: so enjoyable.
Unilocal note: stay with your slice and stretch out on the charmingly mismatched sofas and play a board game! #dreamdate

I can’t get enough of this place. Seriously, I can’t have only ONE slice. They’re SO good.
I had heard plenty of great things about this place from a coworker. And one day I had to get a last minute cake for a friend. I decided I wanted to get a cake from here (without even trying it first) because I trusted my coworker’s rave about it.
I called and asked about their cake sizes and prices. I asked if she had any big cakes that day or if I had to order ahead. She said that ideally, they’d prefer a two days’ notice. However, they do make some large cakes that are available for purchase the day of. They had one 9″ caramel tres leches cake left! After I hung up, I started driving. I put their address on my GPS and it basically warned me that they’d be closing in 5 minutes. I quickly called back and asked if they were closing soon (you know Google Maps can lie to you) because I could make it in 10 min. She said yes, but that they’d close up and I can just call when I got there and they’d let me in. THEY WERE SO AWESOME. So accommodating. and so kind! The woman had just taken some delicious pan (bread) out of the oven and then served me some while I waited a couple minutes until she got my cake ready. The hospitality :’)))))))))
I think the cake ended up being like $ 45 plus tax. (Which I think was a liiiittle pricey? I don’t know how much cakes usually cost lol) And I tipped them cause they were obviously so gracious and I’m also not a barbarian.
Anyway, the same thing happened another time where I had to get a last minute cake and I lucked out. The woman recognized me too. Hahaa
I’ve also gone back to try their other flavors. All really great, but the best one is caramel!
You guys really gotta check this place out :)

My fav Cake in Chicago. their tres leches is simply out of the world. YUMM and super fresh. Who knew coconut flavor tastes so good. One of my friend introduced me to this place and i have been hooked ever since. All their flavors are awesome. If i have to pock. I love chocolate and coconut. Cant wait to go back !!

Small but nice & cozy. Search for parking is not bad compared to as other locations. However, you have to figure out which door opens up to the coffee shop since there’s no sign on the door. It’s the door that is completely black with business hours on it.
Ordered the Chocoflan wirh Mayan hot chocolate. The bottom part of dessert is flan & top is chocolate. Flan is the smooth densed version that compliments with the moist chocolate cake on top. Pairs well with plain latte or the Mayan hot chocolate. Mayan Hot Chocolate is Mexican hot chocolate with espresso shot. Not too sweet or strong in chocate flavor. I like it.

What a pleasant little place, maybe it was just my luck that when I arrived I was the only person in the place. Very friendly greeting, I’m guessing family run or at least it seems like it.
Perfect for lunch, I had one of the specials which was a couple of cheese and jalapeño tamales that came with a small side of rice and beans, the special had a special price of $ 6.50, it wasn’t what people are accustomed to, which is usually a pricier and larger plate of food. It’s lunch, it’s not supposed to send you looking for the nearest couch to take a nap because you ate too much. Not only was the size just right, it tasted wonderful.
They do have a horchata latte which I wanted to try, however it’s served only iced, which on a day of crazy mixed cold precipitation falling from our Chicago sky I decided on a standard hot latte, which was also very good. Truth be told I’m one of those people that drinks hot coffee on a 95 degree day. My wish is for a hot version of this.
There is only one thing I would change other than the drink, so that makes it two things, anyhow it’s the table height, the tables are a little low. I’m average height and I felt as if I were really far from the table. These concerns are so minor, and I’ll be putting Kristoffer’s Café on my list of places to come back to.

I was never a huge fan of tres leches cake until I discovered Kristoffer’s Bakery.
I’m giving Kristoffer’s 5 stars solely on their tres leches cake and customer service. So let me explain why.
The second time I ordered a cake, it was VERY last minute (bad habit of mine). I needed a cake on Monday, the day after Easter, and I called at 3:45PM on Saturday. I didn’t realize they would be closed on Easter Sunday so I was unable to pick it up the next day. Then, just my luck, I also didn’t know they are regularly closed on Mondays — sheesh! I told the woman on the phone that I needed a chocolate tres leches cake for Monday. She told me luckily she had one more left and that I can come by the same day to pick it up. Keep in mind they close at 4:00 PM on Saturdays! Technically, I only gave them 15 minutes notice :-/​
I arrived at 4:07 PM on Saturday and the cake was almost ready (I waited 5 minutes). While waiting, I purchased a scrumptious looking blueberry muffin. Excited to pick up the perfect cake for my coworker’s birthday, I dashed out of there as if I won a prize! A couple minutes after driving, I received a call from a 312 number … it was Kristoffer’s Bakery. They called to let me know that I forgot my muffin! They said I could come back to pick it up or come back at a later date to pick it up. I was pleasantly surprised that they actually called me to tell me that I forgot little ol’ muffin.
Now that I’m re-​telling this story, I’m realizing what a horrible Saturday I had! Kristoffer’s Bakery saved the day with letting me pick up a last minute cake. On Monday, everyone at my office loved the cake, so it was well worth it!

After searching Unilocal for the best place to get a tres leche cake I decided on Kristoffer’s. I’m certainly glad I did. I ordered the coconut tres leche for my sister’s birthday and, oh man, was it good. Perfectly moist and flavorful without too much frosting like other cakes I’ve tried. This is a must-​try for those that love this style of cake. I will definitely go back and try the other flavors. Plus, the staff is very friendly.

I cannot finish the tres leches. I’m actually here right now, and I had to take a break from eating it because 1: It tastes bad and 2. I feel an obligation to at least tough this one out, and finish all of it… since I drove all the way over here. The atmosphere is stuffy. No parking. I’m giving this place two stars because at least staff was nice. Service was fast. considering all I ordered was a caramel tres leches and they pulled it out of display. And it tasted like it had been on display for about a week. It’s not that bad. I keep telling myself. But it kind of is. Honestly? It’s not good at all. Disappointed because this place is reputed for the tres leches. Who knows, maybe they just had a bad day. And my wallet had a bad day since that cake was pretty darn expensive, and not worth it!

The caramel tres leches cake was excellent. As was my cappuccino.

The best kept secret in Pilsen. Their tres leeches cake is AMAZING! The only reason I gave them 4 stars was because the price for their cake is so steep. I have purchased their tres leche cake several times for family that have asked for it after trying it. A must try if you don’t mind paying extra

Best tres leches cake I’ve ever had,. I didn’t even like tres leches cake before,. But Kristoffers makes a totally different version I would say. Great bold coffee too! And im a huge coffee fanatic! We come here for my bfs birthday every year for sure, first stop of the day. He loves it, and I love it too now!
The cake is so perfectly moist, never over doing it, not too sweet, not too wet. My favorite is the coconut, but any you try I assure, it will not dissapoint! It’s calm and quiet and the owners are very nice and pleasant people! Always a very comfortable experience coming here.

We discovered this place while staying at an Air BnB near by. We came here each day for breakfast because it was tasty, fast, and the staff was super friendly.
We ate the Kristoffer special and breakfast burritos. A nice breakfast to start out the day.
It’s a cute little coffee shop. It has a warm feel.

Kristoffer’s Café. Well there is no denying how moist and perfectly executed their Tres Leches is. So I do return for that. But I will say that I only go this café when I have time to sit down to eat. More specifically, from a material waste standpoint, this café is great to sit down and enjoy your food and beverages, but not worth the waste to get take out from.
Positives: Kristoffer’s has all washable dishes when you dine in. Plates, silverware and mugs. Also, some of their baked goods are simply under glass without any unnecessary packaging.
Negatives: Kristoffer’s Café, although they have all of the washable items for dining in, some patron’s beverages are still served in to-​go cups. Mainly, though, most of Kristoffer’s Café’s waste comes from their to-​go packaging. They serve a single slice of flan or Tres Leches in their own plastic to-​go container. To-​go beverage cups are plastic, and the food is accompanied by plastic cutlery.
I really love this Pilsen café, and feel badly about giving them a low rank, but the environment is suffering from the waste that restaurants produce every day and it is time that even the little companies to pay more attention to these details. Kristoffer’s Café: consider switching to plant-​based, biodegradable containers for you to-​go containers, and give all eat-​in customers washable cups, instead of disposable cups! This would leave a smaller carbon footprint on your community as well as make it more appealing to get take-​out from your café! :)

Friendly small business with a great gems. I recommend the caramel tres leche slice and horchata iced latte. Great pit stop/​dessert place if you happen to be near by. Pilsen community farmer’s market is right across the street on Sundays too!

I would move to Chicago just to be near Kristoffer’s. I visited four times in two days. I had breakfast, coffee, and dessert. Everything was beyond expectations. The staff there are so friendly. They were patient as we decided what to order. They gave us great recommendations. The cake tops are so yummy. There are samples on the counter and they gave us more while we had breakfast. The coffee was brewed from intelligentsia beans and was brewed well. The bean burrito was so tasty I ate the whole thing on top of free cake tops. The tres leches cakes were also on point. The vanilla one has a thin layer of chocolate with intricate designs. The prices are reasonable. If I ever find myself going to Chicago again, I’d stay nearby kristoffer’s just so I can go three times a day.

My GF and I just came from breakfast. Overall, we had a very good time! I had the Spanish omelette with Chorizo, which was properly prepared (i.e., moist and flavourful). My GF had a traditional Mexican breakfast, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Since the coffee is Intelligensia (sp), you know it’s going to taste good. Aside from the food, the owners and staff were extremely friendly
and warm – they even gave us a free pastry! Lastly, the setup tends to invite the hipster and local set, definitely not the Lincoln Park set.

The caramel tres leches cake here is definitely better than the chocolate tres leches, and the chocoflan. I suppose maybe I heard so much about the tres leches here though that I was expecting more.
I would definitely stick to the desserts while dining here though— tried a chicken tamale and I have to say the frozen tamales I get from Trader Joe’s are better.

Horchata Latte: On point. Not crazy sweet. Nice rice milk flavor with a light cinnamony background.
Kaluha Tres Leches: So moist and delicious. Loved the texture and eggy-​ness of cake.
Staff was really nice and generally cared if we liked our food or not.