Incredible value for the price. I think they keep it affordable because it’s near the campus. Maybe It’s ok for them to increase the price since I cannot find any $10 chicken biryani anywhere around Chicago.
Their chicken biryani is very tasty, detailed and full of complex flavors. The sauce add a nice sour taste to overall dish. The chicken is well-marinated.
One downside is that the store is a bit hot to stay in. I hope they keep the temperature around 71°F
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Nishanth Sanjithkumar
We went to eat there a few months ago. We were so excited to eat some Sri Lankan food as there are no others in the Chicago area. We ordered the kothu and mutton rolls along with falooda and a few other items. We were expecting to experience similar taste as in Sri Lanka. While the roll looked like a roll, it did not taste like it from Sri Lanka. Either it was air friend or baked. Not sure. Should be deep fried with similar spices as whats used in Sri Lanka. Kothu did not taste similar to Sri Lankan kothu at all. It was more watered down taste. It’s great to have a location that serves Sri Lankan food, now they just need to bring the flavor as experienced in Sri Lanka. We met the owner, he was very kind and it was good to hear his aspirations. I would encourage him to work on providing an experience for paying customers as if they would taste the flavors from Sri Lanka.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Shubham Aggarwal
Food was really good, try their fish dishes. Staff is nice.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 4
tina moon
sososososo delicious! thank you so much for the vegan options! everything we've tried was beautiful and comforting. kind people, nice portion sizes, nice seating area a+++ !
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Bo Zhang
Delicious food and friendly staff. We didn’t have to wait long at all for our meals, and everything was full of flavor. Highly recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Aravind Karthik M
I love the food in this place. But they have no regards for your time. We dined in a while ago, they took 40 minutes. Next time, I ordered over doordash and they took 2 hours to hand over the food to the dasher.
It is sad and disappointing such amazing restaurant is backed by such poor service. They lost a customer for life.
Rachel Hradecky
My Uber driver was the nicest Sri Lankan man and when we were talking about food here in the city I made an ignorant comment about how it must be hard not having access to food from his homeland, assuming there were no Sri Lankan places here. He quickly told me about Cafe Nova and how wonderful it was. He even recommended the Kothu Roti saying it was the best. I ordered in via UberEats and it came piping hot and beautifully packaged. He was absolutely right. It’s one of the best meals I’ve had in ages. I also really want to come eat in the restaurant since the Uber driver said it was clean and comfortable. So unbelievably happy to have learned of this new place and find dishes that are completely foreign to me! I cannot wait to try some of the other dishes in the future, especially the mustard curry and the fish ambulthiyal.
Shashank Tandon
Really good, flavorful chicken biryani. And the masala chai was so refreshing! And beautiful set up!
Shannon LaPenna
The chicken tikka masala was tender, spiced well and fresh. The samosa was crispy and the mint and tamarind sauces had depth of flavor. The butter naan was fluffy and soft and to die for!
Eric Chou
Food is decent and it's good to have a Sri Lankan restaurant. The wait is not reasonable tho. I placed a pick up order 20 min earlier (website says ready in 10-15 min) but I had to wait another 15 min when I got there and there were no other customers.
First I asked for it without spicy and it came very spicy 1.01, then I asked them to change the spicy one and this time it came with something tasteless and unsalted, just like rice with three or four pieces of meat in it. It is very expensive and not tasty, I do not recommend it to anyone. I paid $25 for biryani.
Jessica Skemp
The food was amazing! We had the eggplant moju, vegetable bryani. So delicious I will definitely eat here again.
Tharaka Ukwatte
The experience was amazing! Great Sri Lanka food! Loved the paratha! Finally we have a Sri Lankan restaurant in Chicago! Woot woot!
Sajini Wijethunga
It’s a perfect spot to enjoy delicious Sri Lankan food!
Incredible value for the price. I think they keep it affordable because it’s near the campus. Maybe It’s ok for them to increase the price since I cannot find any $10 chicken biryani anywhere around Chicago.
Their chicken biryani is very tasty, detailed and full of complex flavors. The sauce add a nice sour taste to overall dish. The chicken is well-marinated.
One downside is that the store is a bit hot to stay in. I hope they keep the temperature around 71°F
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
We went to eat there a few months ago. We were so excited to eat some Sri Lankan food as there are no others in the Chicago area. We ordered the kothu and mutton rolls along with falooda and a few other items. We were expecting to experience similar taste as in Sri Lanka. While the roll looked like a roll, it did not taste like it from Sri Lanka. Either it was air friend or baked. Not sure. Should be deep fried with similar spices as whats used in Sri Lanka. Kothu did not taste similar to Sri Lankan kothu at all. It was more watered down taste. It’s great to have a location that serves Sri Lankan food, now they just need to bring the flavor as experienced in Sri Lanka. We met the owner, he was very kind and it was good to hear his aspirations. I would encourage him to work on providing an experience for paying customers as if they would taste the flavors from Sri Lanka.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Food was really good, try their fish dishes.
Staff is nice.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 4
sososososo delicious! thank you so much for the vegan options! everything we've tried was beautiful and comforting. kind people, nice portion sizes, nice seating area a+++ !
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Delicious food and friendly staff. We didn’t have to wait long at all for our meals, and everything was full of flavor. Highly recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I love the food in this place. But they have no regards for your time. We dined in a while ago, they took 40 minutes. Next time, I ordered over doordash and they took 2 hours to hand over the food to the dasher.
It is sad and disappointing such amazing restaurant is backed by such poor service. They lost a customer for life.
My Uber driver was the nicest Sri Lankan man and when we were talking about food here in the city I made an ignorant comment about how it must be hard not having access to food from his homeland, assuming there were no Sri Lankan places here. He quickly told me about Cafe Nova and how wonderful it was. He even recommended the Kothu Roti saying it was the best. I ordered in via UberEats and it came piping hot and beautifully packaged. He was absolutely right. It’s one of the best meals I’ve had in ages. I also really want to come eat in the restaurant since the Uber driver said it was clean and comfortable. So unbelievably happy to have learned of this new place and find dishes that are completely foreign to me! I cannot wait to try some of the other dishes in the future, especially the mustard curry and the fish ambulthiyal.
Really good, flavorful chicken biryani. And the masala chai was so refreshing! And beautiful set up!
The chicken tikka masala was tender, spiced well and fresh. The samosa was crispy and the mint and tamarind sauces had depth of flavor. The butter naan was fluffy and soft and to die for!
Food is decent and it's good to have a Sri Lankan restaurant. The wait is not reasonable tho. I placed a pick up order 20 min earlier (website says ready in 10-15 min) but I had to wait another 15 min when I got there and there were no other customers.
Restaurantji Recommends
First I asked for it without spicy and it came very spicy 1.01, then I asked them to change the spicy one and this time it came with something tasteless and unsalted, just like rice with three or four pieces of meat in it. It is very expensive and not tasty, I do not recommend it to anyone. I paid $25 for biryani.
The food was amazing! We had the eggplant moju, vegetable bryani. So delicious I will definitely eat here again.
The experience was amazing! Great Sri Lanka food! Loved the paratha! Finally we have a Sri Lankan restaurant in Chicago! Woot woot!
It’s a perfect spot to enjoy delicious Sri Lankan food!
Get the chicken mustard curry
Loading...