Krema

Pick Me Up Cafe in Chicago, Illinois
Apr 17

This place looks cool and is in a good location. And the fact that it's open 24 hours and has vegetarian/vegan options is great. My daughter and I went there for the first time and everything about was wonderful....except for the FOOD. Mine was OK...I got a hummus sandwich with fries...not easy to screw that up. My daughter however had a terrible experience. She ordered the vegan mac and cheese. It was inedible. I will admit she is very picky for a 20 year old, but I am not, I can eat almost anything as long as it doesn't contain meat. I tried it and could barely swallow it. Not only was the sauce awful...not even sure what it was...the pasta was way overcooked and the whole thing was watery. So we told the waiter she didn't like it (have never done that before!) and he was very nice about it (he did say others have also not liked it) So she ordered a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich. This was also really bad. Was not in the least bit grilled, and the soy cheese mixed with the juice from the tomato and turned into some kind of goop that was dripping off the sandwich and had the worst texture. It was also inedible. We are not bitchy, picky restaurant patrons. We felt so bad about it we wrapped half the sandwich up in a napkin and put it in my purse so they wouldn't know we didn't eat it. We've been vegans for a while now, and we weren't expecting a real cheese experience, but have these people ever tasted their own cooking? I (not my daughter) will give this place another try because it is cool and it is open all night...but Chicago Diner is still the best I've tried so far. Wish they were open later.