Vio Cafe & Grill

The burgers are amazing. Servers are very polite and
is not over whelming. Like you don’t have to second guess what ingredients you are digesting. The atmosphere is laid back and kid friendly

This used to be my go to spot but they completely ruined it. They changed the menu to a very dull all burger menu so it’s not very vegetarian friendly AND they bumped up the prices. Plus the staff kinda sucks now too. I brought my little one and asked for a high chair 3 times and they still did not bring it, so I walked out. Other customers walked as well because the staff are rude and absent minded. I’m sad to see this place go downhill but there are so many better places in pilsen to get your money’s worth. Vio get it together !

new owners/​chefs are running the latest addition to Pilsens eatery scene! modern day décor, great food, feel at home environment, byob. 2 floors, first floor dinning area, second floor used for special events (also used for rent: bdays, weddings, etc) a must try!

I came here for a BBQ rib cook off on a saturday in august. It was BYOB and an open patio concept in the back. Parking was easily found and there was plenty of room inside, outside and up on the balcony to eat and mingle. Althought I did not enjoy any of the food Vio actually had to offer, I did take advantage of the ribs and mulititude of sides the vendors had to offer. I enjoyed the atmosphere as well as the appearance of the location. Inside appeared small but ample enough for a quick bite to eat. Restrooms were very clean and well kept.

Came here after seeing the cute patio a couple times. The service was great and the whole restaurant looked really nice. I ordered the chopped salad and that was pretty tasty. The cream of broccoli was really watery– I didn’t enjoy that much.

Vio, how I love you so…
I really do enjoy coming here. It’s nice to have a place in the neighborhood that you know you can always afford and will always enjoy visiting. This restaurant is simple enough to offer you a good enough range of food without overwhelming you, and has service I have yet to see beat in such an affordable price range.
I can’t say that the food is anything better than an Applebee’s or Chili’s, frankly it doesn’t have any claim to fame on the menu.
But the food is always decent.
Out order never comes out wrong.
The place is decorated wonderfully.
And it’s AFFORDABLE.
They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner all day. They are BYOB and have enough seating to make it private if you chose to go with a group.
Overall: Vio rules.

The hamburgers, panini’s, and curly fries are great. The breakfast is top notch, friendly staff, and the place is beautiful. They also play some good tunes while you’re enjoying your meal. I definitely recommend it!

I have seen a couple times as i drove past damen & always wanted to go till i finally went today & I loved it! The place is beautiful & the food was delicious. Great customer service as well! Must go again. :D

I wanted this place to work out because its so close to my house. I gave this place 3 tries and all 3 times they struck out. Our 1^st time was the week they opened so it was a bit disorganized. Everything that was on the menu they ran out of, cheeseburger no cheese or fires, wrap sandwiches no wraps and the list goes on. We gave them a pass due to being new. Our 2^nd time 2 wks later nothing had change. OUR last time was completely empty during peak hours service was horrible they took forever to take our order and server /​cook /​cashier was a one man show. Food was over cooked and burnt and that was the last time for us. I really wanted them to work out the place looks very modern and chill but the staff and food is a mess.

Driving by pass this place for the first time and seeing the cute patio, I knew I had to come back and eat there and I did that very same day and I’m glad I did.
Of course, I chose the outside patio with the beautiful colors that got my attention for my dining experience. Since it was early I ordered breakfast and what the menu says is an authentic Mexican breakfast the Chilaquiles for $ 6.50! It was good and I will be back to try something else. This is not a Mexican restaurant as I saw a couple of pasta dishes on the menu.
The owner Rueben came over to speak to me and I asked him about the Café. He told me he is a mechanic, but his passion is art. He brought the building with the intentions of making it a gallery to showcase his work. When you go to the second floor (which can be rented for private events) you can see all of his wonderful pieces of art. The second floor also leads to a deck for additional outdoor seating.
The outside patio is an artwork itself. Gives you the feeling you are eating among friends and family. Rueben said it reminded him of the place where he lived as a child in Mexico. I love that the wall is not only a mural, but real pieces are a part of it like the doors. You can also choose to sit in the additional upper deck patio.
This is a cute gem in Pilsen that has free WiFi and it’s BYOB. They are opened 8 – 10 everyday for breakfast, lunch or dinner. They also have free parking, but it is kinda tight.
Thanks Rueben for telling me about the Mexican Art Museum!

This was my 3^rd time@vio the service I got was horrible. I order 3 coffee’s and they were not prepare like other Pilsen coffee houses. on top of that I did not get any sugar or milk for my drinks!!! or pickles for my sandwiches The little girl who they have as a cashier was pretty «slow“I was excited at first to drink and eat my stuff but that excitement, turn into been upset the whole day!!!

Huge vegi-​panini with curly fries platter.
It was delicious.
Ate half while there and left the rest for dinner, good dark roast.
The customer service was great, very helpful have tips and commentary on their dishes.

I came here with my 9 year old daughter. She had the pizza. Basically, it looked like it was a frozen pizza thrown in the microwave. I had an egg omelette that was over cooked and had no flavor or had any kind of presentation at least. The waiter was nice, I had nice service. But the food and my coffee (didn’t even drink it) was def very dissapointing. =(

Yum Yum Yum!
Great atmosphere, great staff, great food. Loved the panini with curly fries! It was fresh, crisp, and worth it. The food was brought out relatively fast and it was just plain good.
I’ll definitely be stopping by again and am excited to try some new things!

I need some nice weather when I can sit on the deck and enjoy some wine or beer with my meal. Aside from getting your own coffee out the pots that they have available I had a pretty decent breakfast of chorizo and eggs. The meal had a fresh and crisp taste and I quite enjoyed it. Not greasy at all and the flour tortillas were excellent. Coffee was ok but then I don’t demand much from coffee other than it wakes me up! I’ll write again when I review some dinner and the weather get better. Until then if you have any suggestions to make — JIMMY is the man to bring em up to.
OH — BY THE WAY: BYOB BYOB!!!

This place was exciting to try. I drive by it pretty often. I went there and tried the chilaquiles. they were not my favorite. the red sauce sort of turned me off. Maybe next time I’ll try the green sauce. The panini was also pretty good but relatively small. Maybe we just got a bad batch of the bread. I hope this place gets a little more busy in the summer because it seems like it has potential. Pilsen needs another stop to hang out and eat. I would go back to try it again but I think they just need to get up and running a little better.
The food was not bad but it wasn’t amazing. It was pretty cheap, I think we paid like 20 $ for both of us. Give it a try. The staff is really friend and they have ample room so don’t worry about waiting :-)
I gave it 4 stars because even though the food was okay the service was great. no way. free parking, nice staff. and they could use a little boost in their ratings :-/

We stopped here twice. Once for breakfast then decided to try lunch. I am hoping they are going through growing pains or something — here is the good.
Very friendly people. Blueberry pancakes were delicious. Owner or someone was there and asked how the food was. The building is amazing! Everything is so pretty — the space itself and the bathrooms are amazingly done.
The bad:
Thing is, my omelette was under cooked, and chiquillaquiles were basically corn chips with cheese sprinkled on, scrambled eggs thrown in, and green sauce kinda dribbled on. It wasn’t very good, looked like kind of like messed up nachos. The nice thing was they re-​did my omelette and it was fine afterwards, but looked very sloppy, there was a piece of cheese in there that was intact and not melted at all.
So breakfast was disappointing. We decided to try lunch, since people were saying it was good. Well it was disappointing too. The only good thing were the curly fries.
Chicken panini was basically some deli meat and some cheese — and it was leaking for some reason, not crispy. And was missing bacon. I asked for sourdough for my veggie sandwich but it was still made with wheat bread after I was assured that it would be with sourdough. I asked for hot sauce and whatever I got was really bad — either spoiled hot sauce or something that had no flavor. It tasted bitter.
Tea was odd — the little tab that hangs outside the cup was torn off and the teabag was just put all the way into the cup — I don’t understand that — what if I need to take the tea bag out?
We ordered guacamole and chilli as appetizers — we waited for 30 minutes and then 10 more for those sandwiches. Chilli was watery and luke warm.
We kinda ate lunch fast and left. Partially why we didn’t want to say anything is that guac, soup, and 2 paninis took 40 minutes, and we didn’t have time to wait more.
While there were 4 people in the kitchen and 4 tables occupied in the café. And I think everyone looked mad.
Please change how you make your food!
It can’t take 40 minutes to get a sandwich with 4 ingredients that you put on the panini grill. It can’t take 30 min for guac and soup to come out. While the staff is always friendly and the space is nice, they need to raise the bar on the food.
And watery paninis and messed up orders will not help your business. You have some awesome places as your competition on Cermak and well as on 18^th street.
I really want this place to succeed since it looks very pretty and it’s near where we live, but with so many other options just a short drive or walk away, it’s bit hard to justify spending money here.

3.5 Stars…
This place has so much potential and I hope that with time, it gets better, and I WILL be returning for sure and already know what I will be ordering. They have some kinks to work out for sure. Currently you place your order at the front, get a number, sit down and your food is brought to you. If this place gets busy, this could be a problem… the addition of waitstaff would definitely be beneficial… just my dos centavos. The ordering process was a little chaotic, there were a couple of technical difficulties while we were there — but the food itself was pretty good.
I had a burger, my SO had the chilaquiles. Food itself was actually good. Burger was made perfectly, the bun was nice and soft and tasted really good. No choice of cheeses for the burger, but the one they had was good. The fries were curly fries — they were just ok — hopefully they will eventually be changed up because a good french fry can really make a place — right now, those fries are like the ketchup and mustard packets on the plate — just a condiment.
The people who worked there really tried had to be as accommodating as possible — which I really appreciate. Everyone was very nice.
Like I said, I am totally rooting for them — the second floor/​outdoor space is gorgeous. I look forward to hanging out there when the weather breaks — it is BYOB after all! — now if they could work on getting WI-​FI and some Abuelita hot chocolate, we’d be all set!

Came here for breakfast because it just opened up in the neighborhood and was disappointed with the food. The place looks very nice and the staff was pleasant. However, the food was not good. We tried the breakfast stuff. The Mexican specialties were not authentic. I’m pretty sure they used tostitos chips in the chilaquiles. The potatoes that came with the breakfast sandwich were dried up like they had been sitting around for hours. The coffee was good though and self serve so you could have as much as you want.
The owner or manager (didn’t ask who he was) came to the table and noticed the unfinished food and asked us what they could do better next time. He took the criticism well and asked if we wanted something else free of charge. We declined but he sent over complimentary brownies. I give the food 2 stars but the staff and ambiance is why I will be back.
I will try this place again in a few months when they work out the food kinks. The place has potential!

Great new BYOB spot in Pilsen!
Girlfriend and I decided to try this new restaurant that just opened this weekend. It was empty, but the food and service were great! I got the cheeseburger which was big and had real ground beef. Girlfriend got the Chicken Panini which she LOVED. It had thin slices of chicken, provolone cheese, fresh spinach, tomatoes, and pesto. Both our meals came with deliciously seasoned curly fries. The price was pretty decent (about ~$ 7 each).
The café is pretty big with plenty of TVs all around. The upstairs has huge pieces of art everywhere and a very artsy/​modern feel to it. We were just surprised that it was empty considering it’s opening weekend… But overall, it was nice and clean. Can’t wait to try their breakfast items and can’t wait for it to be warmer out so we can enjoy their patio!