Pure Cafe

Great atmosphere, even better food at really affordable prices.
The atmosphere was good, the owner was friendly. It was a great place to watch sports on Sunday.
The specials are really quite good. 50 cent wings, $ 7 burgers and fries, $ 5 flatbreads. They have even more specials throughout the week on drinks and food.

My experiences are limited to drinks during the time usually designated as «happy hour» which is commonly, late afternoon, soon after 4 pm.
A friend of mine loved hitting this café /​bar. He’d befriended one of their bartenders and would grab a drink or two on payday Fridays. He may have also liked the casual flirtation that comes with ordering drinks from an attractive bartender. Whatever the case, the daily special allowed for a «decent» pour of top shelf vodka at an affordable price. Two drinks were all that was necessary before pushing off to Devon ave for great curry.
For a few seasons, this was that place for a few friends to catch up. We were often invited to try their foods but with having our routine, we never got around to it.
Pure café is known as a «euro» hang. A café often visited by peoples of Balkan territory, though mainly Serbians, Bosnians and Croatians.

Great traditional food love the kebapi here perfect blend of beef and pork and their Palachinki are out of this world. This place is never too crowded which is weird because their food is phenomenal. It’s a hidden guilty pleasure in the heart of lincolnwood at the edge of Chicago :) keep up the good work guys! # Lebron James

Decent food. But expensive. The first time I went I was blown away by the food. But that was diminished by the horrible service. The bartender got both mine and my friends drinks wrong. But the second time the food was horrible and I decided that for the money (which they wouldn’t comp a mistaken order for the second visit) I decided to never come back again.

NEVER would I have thought this:
TV Infused, Off The Beaten Path, Strip Mall, Bar/​Restaurant would be SO DAMN GOOD!
The food was beyond FRESH!
Portions we’re GREAT!
Prices we’re RAD!
TONS of vegetarian options for me and a TON of other items for my non veggie pal.
The server was FANTASTIC!
Can’t wait to go back again!
:)

Great music, great crowd (not too many people, you can actually sit down and have a conversation), great service! Location is the only reason why i didn’t give 5 stars.

I hate to do this, but I have to. This is a place that wants to be good, but hasn’t nailed down what it really is.
Eight o’clock on a Saturday… but no regular crowd shuffling in. Just our party of 7 or so, looking for a decent dinner. Get the menu… clearly some central European influence (the men’s room indicates it’s Croatian), but a lot of Italian and some Mex-​Tex offerings.
I got a traditional Martini, dirty; pretty decent, moderately high price, but OK.
The table goes for appetizers – fried calamari, some hummus & sides, and chicken wings purportedly with habanero & sweet sauce. Well, the calamari wasn’t rubbery, but the breading was doughy & soggy; pass after the first taste. The hummus was watery; pass. And the chicken wing were covered with a kind of a grey goo. Taste wasn’t bad, but if there was habanero there, it was in homeopathic concentration.
Not too hungry, nor too sanguine about the absolutely-​nobody-​else-​in-​the-​place ambiance, so I figure I’ll go with something simple – pasta with mushrooms. Others went for burgers, with a flatbread and shrimp & rice.
Somebody in the kitchen loved salt. Seriously. The pasta was way past al dente, and seriously sodium enriched. The mushrooms – normal white button, pretty tasteless but sparked some debate if they were canned or just oversauteed fresh; the latter won, but by a hair. Otherwise, it was overcooked pasta, butter, and mushy mushrooms. Period. (Hint, guys – cut the salt in the pasta water. Don’t cook it to mush. Sautee the mushrooms with a little garlic, basil, oregano, and port or marsala. I love butter, but that can’t be the whole thing.)
The shrimp & salt – er, rice. Again, somebody really loved the salt cellar. The flatbread wasn’t half bad, really – although ordered without onions, so the person ordering wasn’t happy the onions actually seriously helped it. And everyone who ordered a burger said it was really good – a bit salty, but that worked with the meat. (But are you getting a trend here?)
The server and other staff we talked were friendly, and they did give some credit for the problems. But I’d have to suggest this isn’t the place to go if your primary purpose is food – the bar looks good, the band setting up around 9PM was promising. Go for drinks and partying. Suggestion to the kitchen – drop anything beyond pub grub until you’ve got the entrée thing down, some better recipes, and someone sits on the salt monster.

My friend actually thought this was a café but it turned out to be a bar. We walked in and heard a bunch of shouting. It was Monday night football and the bears were playing the lions. The volume from the plasmas was really loud and the guys were getting angry when the lions started destroying the bears, but overall this was a great place to eat and just Hang out.

I love this place! I never thought I would go here for a drink and a little something to eat, but here I was on a Saturday night with my homies. =)
They have daily specials on drinks and food. Totally get both, because the food is actually tasty. I came when they had draft specials and flatbread specials so I got both. My friend did as well. I got the goat cheese flatbread and he got the chickena and pesto flatbread. My other friend got two steak tacos which came out nicely plated! Snaps for Pure Café! My food and drink was about $ 12 plus tip.
It is not too crowded and there are plenty of places to sit by the bar or around it. The servers and bartenders were friendly. A little forgetful about minor things like ranch or ketchup but nothing to vent about in a review.
What a pleasant surprise this was.

Another review to add to my Strip Mall Adventures list. Pure Café is a hard place to find. My wife and I had to weed our way past the Mattress store, the Baby store and the closed Borders to find the place. The trek through strip mall hell was well worth it. Our experience at Pure Café was a lot of fun.
The décor is quite minimal. Other than a few flat screen TV’s, there is nothing to speak of. No worries, I like a place that keeps it simple. Not only was our server stunningly beautiful, she did a wonderful job. Pure pours a generous drink. The splash of diet coke in my bourbon was just that, a splash. I was pretty woozy when I walked out the door.
The menu is quite odd. The bar is obviously aimed towards a Eastern European crowd, but there was an entire section of Mexican food on the menu. I opted for the safe route and ordered a burger and some wings. The wings were quite good. They didn’t have as much heat as I normally like, but they were delicious. The Burger I ordered was fresh and tasty.
Here’s the bottom line: Sometimes the good things in life are hard to find, but when you find them they’re worth the wait. Pure Café is one of those things. We enjoyed great food, wonderful service and a fun atmosphere. If you are looking for a dining experience outside the norm, Pure café is worth a try.

I love this place! I’ve been here plenty of times w/​friends, coworkers, and family. You are guaranteed to find something on the menu that you will like as there are a variety of food items, drinks (both alcoholic & nonalcoholic), or coffee drinks. The prices are reasonable, kitchen is always open, and they have some tables outside, weather permitting.
The only thing that puts this place at a disadvantage is the location! As mentioned in the other reviews, it is in a strip mall that isn’t all that appealing. Other than that, the place rocks for a café/​bar. The interior is nice, new and clean and the waitresses are always friendly if not super friendly! They have different events every now and then, such as game nights, live bands, DJs, etc.
As for the smoking comment: that must have been a long time ago and has definitely been changed because there has never been any smoking inside all the times that I’ve been there. The smokers step outside w/​their cigarettes.

Pure Café is basically a tiny oasis in the middle of nothing. Why this location was chosen I don’t know, but it is close to where I live so I won’t complain.
The night we were there it was quiet, but our server was super nice and the Cosmo I ordered was super strong. I think I am pretty good at holding my liquor but I was buzzed by the time we left, and that was after eating!
And speaking of food, the burger I got was pretty amazing. Big and juicy with blue cheese and bacon on top. How can you go wrong? I got a side of grilled vegetables and those were charred perfectly and completely delicious. Oh the menu is a tad strange, with a section of mexican food and other things that look like they don’t belong. Stick with the basics and get a burger. You definitely wont go wrong there.
I saw a couple of reviews where people were getting all caught up in the name (I guess if you say «café» you are supposed to have some sort of specific look??). I don’t know about that, but here is what you are going to get when you come in. Its on the small side, has a sports bar look and feel to it. Wooden chairs and tables, lots of TV’s and neon signs for the Bears and various brands of beer.
But back to the location. It is in a strip mall, but slightly tucked off in the back, so you are apt to miss it if you are driving by fast. If you are in the area, however, I highly recommend it as there is not much else to pick from aside from crappy fast food. A big plus is parking, and then if you stuff yourself too much there is a gym next door.
Definitely a fan. Will be back!

horrible service… old food, messed up the order 4 times in a group of 9, short staffed, mean weird awkward door guy who just gives everyone hard looks, someone’s gotta tell him that he’s the doorman not a ufc ref…
food sucked… service took a long time. will not go here again with or without a coupon… new owners. their first business venture and its a flop… this place is not gonna last.

Surprisingly great food. I have had quite a few things on their menu and never been disappointed. The reason I say surprising is because the location would not draw you in the door. Although parking lot is a plus and its easy to be close to the door. It doesn’t look like what it is. Which is a good restaurant with good prices and great food.

ZERO STARS. Just because when we went in the place was full of smokers. When I asked about the no smoking ordinance the hostess was extremely rude. Somehow they think they are exempt. I spent all of 2 minutes inside the door and can still smell smoke on me.

Really odd location, across from the Home Depot. Excellent lunch all around. The bar seems comfy with great art on the walls; will have to check it out some night. Not into sports, which were showing on the TVs, so sat outside on the great little patio, even with the unfortunate views. Great service. The best tomato soup I’ve ever had, and a huge yummy salad. I hope this place makes it; it definitely seems like a diamond in the rough.

I give 5 stars to Pure Café. The food and drinks are great. I dont care what anbody has to say about them.
The burgers are awesome and I feel its chopped the right way. Furthermore, the location and parking is excellent near the mall on lincoln ave.
Excellent TV for you to invite friends and watch a game.
The waitresses are courteous, friendly and pretty looking.
I also enjoy the multi cultural ethnic balkan specialties from croatia and other parts of former yugoslavia like cevaps.

Great neighborhood spot to catch a game or meet with friend over a drink.

My first experience here, I was there to just order food to go. There was no one there to greet me right away which was kind of awkward and I noticed other people waiting by the bar so I figured someone would. A few minutes later, a guy at the bar noticed I haven’t been helped and took my order (although he didn’t really seem like he was trained to take orders yet because he wasn’t familiar with the men). I probably waited 7 minutes for my order which was a little longer than I thought considering the fact that there was only 2 – 3 other customers. I ordered the Turkey Pesto and split it with a friend and it was really good. It wasn’t «AMAZING»…but it was what I expected. Their fries though were AMAZING. I really enjoyed the seasoning on them and made me wish theaters served them in buckets. That’s pretty hard core for french-​fry-​wishes.
I gave this place another shot on a Sunday night. Again it wasn’t very busy, my friend and I were the only ones dining give or take about 4 – 5 people at the bar. Sunday nights they have $ 5 burgers which were truly everything I wanted and more. Sunday night football on plasma TVs all around + $ 5 burger on cibatta-​like bun + $ 3 drafts was exactly what I needed! The waitress was very friendly, a little bit too friendly for me personally, and at times, I had this feeling she forgot we were even there. NOT COOL. But it was hard to get mad at her because she really was very hospitable and warm.
I’ve watched this place grow in the last few months and I have noticed them making a lot of progress. They have more and more people coming now for lunch and have bands come in on weekends which help fill up the place too. I’d keep a lookout on their specials… I’ve noticed they change them up daily. Like one day they had $ 8 steak sandwiches which were extraordinarily tempting. They’re also making the place bigger and I am curious to find out what’s in store for PURE.

Saw the place while driving past and decided to have dinner with a friend. I think everyone will agree that the location is odd. It’s in the same mall with a shady looking tanning salon, Hong Kong buffet, and a horseshoe casino pickup spot.
However, the food was very solidly okay. No real fancy ingredients. The flavor was also very decent. I had the pesto turkey on ciabatta and it was too oily and not enough pesto but overall taste was ok. I got it with a side of garlic mashed potatoes which was heavy on butter and light on garlic. My friend had the burger with cheddar and grilled veggies. That was much better than mine! Great charcoal flavor on burger and veggies. Fresh lettuce and good bun. It’s half price burgers on Monday nights.
The food isn’t spectacular but the service is so very friendly and since it’s a nice atmosphere and there aren’t any places near that like that, I might go again if the opportunity arises, I just wouldn’t seek it out, except for maybe on Mondays.