Indie Cafe

My first time ordering take out from here. the salmon almond roll was yummy also the wait time for pick up wasn’t that bad. The order taker was kinda rude but that won’t stop me from coming here, next time I will be definitely dining in.

Excellent food, service, presentation and artwork. Will be coming back as soon as possible.

Nice place to eat lunch with inexpensive price. I had Pad Thai for Sunday lunch. Vegetable dumpling was terrible, but Pad Thai was good! It was well balanced with sweet and spicy. Noodle was cooked perfectly.
It seems restaurants are closed on Sunday lunch around here, so I’m happy they open! It is close to Metropolis coffee, so it was convenient!

My first visit was yesterday, on a lark. I was walking down N Broadway around lunch time and just started looking around. I’d passed the restaurant before and today I stopped in for a little lunch. WOW, what an amazing surprise!
Fast, courteous service, clean, friendly staff!
The food, well I give it 5 stars, happily! My lunch was so ample that I really didn’t even want dinner.
I wasn’t in the mood for sushi so I had the lovely and nice size portion, Seaweed Salad-​delighted my palate! The Tom Yum soup, shrimp, lemon grass, cabbage, tomato, lime juice in hot and sour broth-​oh so delicious, sweet and tangy– of course I added just a bit of chili flakes to give it a bit of kick. But, that’s just me, I love spicy. And the Golden Triangle– fried tofu w/​sweet and sour sauce and crushed peanuts. I was so full, so happy! I had to take another Tom Yum soup to go.
I have Never written a review before– never impressed enough with the places I’ve eaten in Chicago, whether it was in Chinatown, Mexican, Italian, burgers, dogs. You name it.
INDIE CAFE IS AWESOME! And that’s my 2 cents worth.

This place is fantastic. They have a massive sushi selection on top of delicious non-​sushi Asian fare. The crab rangoons are creamy and delicious, and you’ll have your pick of the litter to satisfy your Asian craving. As a nice bonus, the alcohol is very reasonably priced, so you can really make it a full meal. This is a great place to go if you’re looking for Asian food at a good price.

I’ve been here many times throughout the years.
Four stars is for consistency. You always know what you’re getting.
It’s not the best sushi or Thai but extremely consistent on service and for the price you pay the food is very decent. It never disappoints.

This is one of the Best suchi restaurant in Chicago, believe me i tried most of them! I love there crab rangoon, dragon, crocodile, rainbow rolls! also they have delicios Tom Yam and my favorite classic spicy tune and smoked salmon. It’s little bit of wait special on weekend, so if you on a rush it’s not the place to go, waiting time for food about 20 min, but believe me it’s worth it, everything it’s very fresh and looks Amazing! Delicioussss!!! love this place!!! Highly recommend to try!!!

I previously rated Indie a little lower because of it’s inconsistent food quality, but it seems like they have turn things around and it’s gone back to being really great again!

Absolutely delicious and nice décor – a hidden gem. Right next to the new Whole Foods. Apparently it was started by two young women who came here to study art originally. That definitely shows in the interior design.

Food was great! Waitresses were nice!
Sashimi was very fresh and huge! The crocodile roll was very cute and unique! Also very tasty :)
Highly recommend this place!

Came in Friday night for a huge reunion party. Staff was welcoming, prompt and helped us with our orders.
I had the Signature Indie Curry with white rice which was delicious! The sauce was based off of coconuts, the beef was tender, and the potatoes were very soft. Tried some of my friends sushi (non spicy since I have a weak stomach) and it was not only plated beautifully but fresh fish and a great blend of flavors.

Tucked in amongst a block of relatively drab joints along broadway is this little gem of a restaurant. The dark interior with super weird super cool art on the walls really helped transport us out of the humdrum of the streets. The food was delicious. I had the signature curry dish with the beef and the potatoes and the squash. It really hit the spot on a windy fall day… even though I swear that painting was looking at me.

Indie café has easily become one of my favorite local restaurants. The staff is super accommodating and incredibly friendly. I’m a Red Curry man, so I typically stick to that entrée — food is delicious and very well priced. This place can get busy, so make sure you give yourself some time. It’s small (er) but they have plenty of seating and the wait isn’t typically too long.
Also, try their cocktails or share a bottle of wine. You won’t be disappointed.

I was really excited to try this place especially after hearing good things about it from other people and seeing such great Unilocal reviews. I came with some friends for an early dinner. I got the seafood udon which was tasty and was a very good portion. I tried my friend’s which I think was pad see ewe which was actually more fragrant and had more depth of flavor than mine.
I was really craving tempura and saw some other people have some delicious looking vegetable tempura so I decided to order it. This was the most disappointing dish of the night and was what made my experience 3 stars vs 4 stars. Typically, tempura is known to be a very light and airy breading that should feel fluffy. The shrimp tempura was the complete opposite (please see my pictures). While the presentation was nice and the flavor was ok, I think this dish is better labeled as shrimp corn dog because that’s how thick and heavy the coating was. This is a different style of preparation than the vegetable tempura that I saw other tables receive. I warn those who are used to traditional shrimp tempura that you will not get that here.
Based on the Thai dishes alone, I might be back but I would love if they could make/​offer a more traditional shrimp tempura.

A friend & I were looking for a nice place to meet up & talk on a Friday night. We were looking for something smaller & not too loud, not too quiet. We were recommended this restaurant by a Loyola student who swears by it. It was just right! It does not have a sign or any kind of advertising on the outside so an average passerby-​er would not think to stop in, making this a hidden gem.
(EDIT: It does have a sign! I swear I didn’t see it the first time.)
I didn’t get to try much of the menu, as the Almond Monkey maki roll was enough to fill me up, but I definitely will be coming back to explore some more. Speaking of the Almond Monkey, I loved it so much I ordered another to go! It was a bunch of my favorite things rolled together (fried shrimp, bbq sauce, cucumber, avocado, almond & coconut) and it was delicious.
Service was at the perfect level of attentiveness for us since we were doing a lot of talking & not too much ordering, but I could see how it would be considered a little slow if you were in a hurry to get out.
It is BYOB but their selection of wine by the glass was just fine for me. Only issue I saw was how close the tables were to each other. I was hearing the guests at the table next to ours better than my friend across the table from me. It’s difficult to walk in between tables because they’re so close to each other!
Since I live two blocks away, I am definitely making this place a go to for the fall!

I’ve had sushi all around the world but this is by far the best place I’ve ever eaten sushi at, its also BYOB. This is a great place for a date night. The staff is beyond grateful and very attentive. The atmosphere is amazing.

Perfect gateway on a lazy weekday. Affordable Thai food with decent selection of wines. I would not skip their drunken noodle and probably compliment it with Hum — a traditional Thai drink (alcoholic).
I would also recommend their delivery service.

I’ve officially given this place enough tries. The sushi is bland and the service is poor. We had three people sort of wait on us, neither of which communicated with each other. Food took forever to come out, and when it did, it wasn’t worth the wait. It was very bland.
To top it off, their internet connection was lost, so they had no way to take our credit card. We ended up having to leave credit card number, name, and address, which makes me really uncomfortable considering that identity theft isn’t a very rare occurrence.
Never again!

Squeezed into a storefront on Broadway, with a great view of the empty shell of the neo-​Spanish-​revival building which used to be what we were calling, «the Giannoulias bank,» the now defunct Broadway Bank. It was a very comfortable room to be in during a winter’s night. Our waiter was very attentive.
Our appetizers were a mixed bag: The gyoza were tasty, but less satisfying were the samosa-​like sweet-​potato samosa (It was only samosa-​like because each were made in a quick method, similar to how wontons for a soup might be, with half-​inch edges of the dough all around.). Later we enjoyed our Pad Thai and California maki roll. But these portions were small, though properly priced as such. Like our appetizers, the desserts, from a very limited menu of them, were also a mixed bag: the green tea ice cream was generous and tasty, while the mango cheese cake came out so frozen, it had to be rejected.

Food ok, not great. Service, a total fail on all levels.
I should have seen it coming when I had to track down the server to get the wasabi and ginger that was absent from our sushi appetizer.
The main issue was a problem with my main dish, lacking the advertised garlic sauce. Up to this point, our server had been inattentive — very slow to bring drinks, never checked with us on how our appetizer or main dishes were. I had to get up to find her to note the problem with my meal and ask for some sauce. She left and avoided our table from that point on (until delivering the check). I had to track down the manager, who eventually brought some sauce — no apology. As my husband noted, they seemed to act like I owed them an apology for pointing out a problem with the meal. A better-​run place would have replaced the dish. Overall we felt unwelcome.
My two dinner companions liked their meals well (tofu curry, cashew chicken). The appetizer (spider roll) was mediocre for sushi.
We’ve been twice before and liked it pretty well for a quick neighborhood meal. But we’ll give this a long break in the rotation before they get another chance.

Nice, neighborhood Thai restaurant.
When I’m dressed casual and I want to go to a sit down restaurant without having to get all dolled up, I come here. It is a trendy little restaurant that is inexpensive.
I ordered the green curry chicken and a Harajuku Mojito. Both the dish and the drink were delicious. Don’t let the mojito fool you. It tastes so good but it will get you tipsy!
The staff is nice but the seating is a little too close together but hat doesn’t stop me from going back. If it’s not super packed, It’s not bad. They also have outdoor seating in the summer.

My boyfriend and I have ordered delivery here a handful of times. I always get the Seven Samurai Salad and a miso soup. Despite being delivery, the fish has always been pretty fresh. My boyfriend loves, and always gets the Basil Chicken.
We spiced things up last night when we decided to dine at the restaurant and by getting the Andaman Salad. It came with shrimp, calamari and scallops. The fish was warm, which I wasn’t expecting, but it was still quite tasty. I could have stopped there and have been content with my meal, but we had also gotten Crab Rangoon; they’re pretty small but really tasty. Definitely top contenders for best Crab Rangoon I’ve ever had! I also got the Chicago Crazy Roll. I was full, but I managed to eat the whole roll! It was very fresh and exactly what I expected. Oh, I also had some house sake and my boyfriend got some beer — only $ 3.50, what a steal!
The atmosphere was modern, clean and nice. There were some crazy pictures on the wall, I didn’t get a chance to see all of them, but they’re quite unique (re creepy). The staff was attentive and friendly. Excellent dining experience for a Saturday night and no wait.

I tried out Indie café for the first time by placing a carryout order.
I ordered some pad thai and an appetizer by phone as I walked over from the bus stop — and here’s where they underpromised/​overdelivered: they said it’d take about 20 minutes for my order, and when I walked over in less than 10 minutes the order was ready so I paid and walked right back out.
The food was good and came in decent portions, but the pad thai was not especially distinct from most other places even though it satisfied the cravings. The proportion of flavors and ingredients in the pad thai seemed well-​balanced, too.
Having scoped out the place it seems really great for a relaxing sit-​down meal with a group or date. Lastly Indie café stood out for its decorations — notably a wall panel with Thai-​looking lettering fashioned out of metal wire. Would be happy to return or do carry out again to try something different on the menu.