Melao Latin Cuisine

The empanadas are the best in town. Melao offers an authentic Colombian feel with a selection of typical foods that are delicious and filling. I would highly recommend this establishment! Try the Churrasco with the Chimichurri sauce it’s delicious !!!

My order took almost 2 hours and still never came. The people were rude. The only reason is gets 2 stars is because the arroz con pollo is very good. But unfortunately, I won’t be back.

This place was great! I’m a huge Colombian food person so I have been trying the very limited places Chicago has to offer.
Let me start with the empanadas and that’s the reason I only gave 4 stars instead of 5. If anyone knows how to do empanadas it’s Colombians. Hands down the best… but I was not a huge fan of theirs! They were the smaller ones… the meat and potatoes inside were almost soupy. They were okay but for sure the downfall for me.
On to the bandeja paisa. It was excellent! Huge portion… which is usually the case for this dish anyways but the steak and rice and beans were on point, cooked perfectly and great flavor! I shared it with my husband and we didn’t come close to finishing it, so for 16 bucks a plate it’s worth it, plenty of food to share. We also had s couple juices which were great!
The service was very nice. The lady was super friendly and the lady who I think is the owner or manager approached us a couple times to check in as well and also to let us know they have live music on Fridays. The atmosphere was nice, there were only 2 other tables and it was Saturday night at 7pm. I hope this places makes it, it’s one of the better Colombian spots in Chicago, byob also!

not the best food. very salty. service wasn’t very good. not recommended.

I was feeling for some good spanish food and I decided to try out this restaurant. I had their breaded chicken and loved it, but their beans didn’t really do it for me. I moved here from New York a while now, and every now and then I crave some beans and rice. This place is pretty good, but their beans is off in comparison to my favorite Spanish restaurants in NYC.

Have been here many times and the langostinos never disappoint! Staff is attentive. Food is great. Great byo!

Estuve en Chicago seis dias. El primer dia descubri este restaurante y los seis dias fui a comer comida colombiana. Probe la mejor bandeja paisa y las mejores empanadas, ademas la atencion me hizo sentir en casa. Disfrute mucho del lugar, disfrute mucho de la comida y de las recomendaciones que nos dieron. Mas que recomendado el lugar !!

Amazing place, family owned with delicious food! Love this place!!! :) Highly recommend!

Went to this place on a whim because the other restaurant we intended to go to was booked. They definitely accommodated our party of 8 with no problem right away. Very low key place very friendly! Although I do believe they were understaffed because the waitress took forever to come take our order and bring us refills. It is BYOB so that was nice. The food was phenomenal. And the manager came over to check on us so that was appreciated. Had to knock off a two stars for being understaffed because we had to wait awhile. But the food was amazing. And portions were generous. I ordered the Arepas and Arroz con pollo. So Delish! I feel like they could be a little more staffed, and also more efficient checking people out. Had some confusion when it came to Split the bill.

Very good! Excellent service! We tried something new in the neighborhood and were surprisingly pleased!

Was in the mood for a Latin soup and some nice Chicharron Con Arepa so I decided on Melao. The place has received solid reviews so I thought why not. The waitress was bullish and unfriendly. I smiled, was overly polite and tried to be friendly, to no avail… I saw her put some fresh cheese in a refrigerator and asked if she could cut me a couple of slices and that I was willing to pay extra. She looked at me as If I were crazy and as if it was an unaccomplishable feat. I asked her to ask her manager and of course her manager gave me a couple of slices for a small fee. And that was the highlight of my experience at Melao. The food is pretty good but the service and prices are not.

Have you ever had that feeling when you pass a restaurant and you know that it’ll be good, almost with a sixth sense? I drove past Melao a few times on Lincoln and instantly bookmarked it– I knew I had to try it ASAP.
I searched «Melao» and it means «sweet, syrupy like honey» and this place is definitely suh-​weet. I came here a few months ago and walked in to pick up my carry out order… the restaurant was FULL OUT swingin’. People were watching the football game (Argentina v. Colombia), going crazy and enjoying themselves. Like, I was approaching the cash register, vuvuzelas were in my face, people were cheering and I ducked and tip-​toed entrapment-​style around the horns.
This place had such a fun atmosphere, even the full two minutes I was in there to pick-​up my order. Their empanadas are more slim and looked more like dumplings (compared to the ones I’m used to at Café Tola) but they were delicious. Their vegetarian ones (spinach & mushrooms) were green, making it easy to differentiate when you order a bunch of different flavors. They are $ 1.50 each with other flavors including beef, and chicken.
I had a hunch that their meat (specifically their beef steak) would be amazing, and it was. Latin cuisine treats red meat VERY, very well. I ordered a dish from the «Tradicionales» section: Bistec A La Criolla, which is top sirloin in criolla sauce served with fried green plantains, white rice and house salad.
The portion was sizable and the prices won’t break the bank. I had enough leftovers for like a half-​sized lunch the next day (based upon my huge appetite and capacity to inhale food). Their steak is definitely the highlight. I would definitely come back if I wanted a beautifully cooked steak, included in a meal that would put someone into a food coma stat.
Dine-​in if you want a fun, festive atmosphere, especially during a football game. Plus it BYOB! It’s great for groups and it seems like their staff would always be accomodating to larger parties. If there was a special event, I wouldn’t mind coming here to celebrate (with vuvuzelas at the very least).

Excelente Restaurant, soy venezolana y aca en Chicago solo hay un restaurant Venezolano pero los restaurants de mi gran familia y vecina Colombia tienen platos unicos y similares que me recuerdan a casa; excelente comida aqui, gracias querida Colombia.
Melao’s is an excelent place, it reminds me of my home country «Venezuela», my family and neighbor «Colombia» and its restaurants in chicago has a really good service, excellent dishes, «Arepa de Choclo» is amazing. I found one of my favorites restaurants in the city.

When in doubt, order the Parrillada Mixta! That’s what I did. Why make a decision when you can have a mixed meat platter?
Our BYOB dinner group picked this for our April 2015 meal and it didn’t disappoint. I really enjoyed everything we ordered, but there were a few items that stole the show.
We ordered up a few appetizers. I chose the Chicharron con Arepa and it was pretty good, but I found it to be a bit tough. We all really loved the different Empanadas, though. You can’t really go wrong with those no matter what kind you get.
Everybody pretty much ordered a different dish and there were no regrets. As I mentioned above, I got the mixed meats and they were all incredibly juicy and flavorful. The pork was perfection. Still, if I go again, which I intend to, I’d probably only pick the steak and get a side of shrimp. They were the best, in my opinion.
Dessert was Coffee Flan and it was good. The flavor was great but it had a weird consistency. I personally prefer a flan that will fight back when you go to cut it.
Service was spectacular. They were on top of things and the boss lady came out to our table and told us about their various specials and special events. We never waited long for food or for a new bottle of wine to be opened.
The customers are pretty cool, too. We interacted with a few and had some good laughs. I feel BYOB brings out the best in people.
Just be sure to make a reservation if you have a bigger party or you might miss out. The place is not huge.

I’ve been coming to this place for a while now, the food is good, my favorite is the Bandeja Paisa which perfect if your not sure to go for beef or chorizo, it includes them both.
However the service is very blah, waitress comes does her job and she’s out. They aren’t rude but they just don’t care, you have to call her if you need something. The owner is also very blah, maybe they aren’t to expressive? Still nice to get a smile here and there.
Food — great
Service — not so much.

We were the only ones in there since it was Good Friday. Had a chicken and beef empanada and they were both delicious. Had the Sobrebarriga A La Criolla.(yeah, I copy and pasted that) It was pretty good but I needed to put the green sauce on it to get it some more flavor. I’ve had it before and it was very flavorful in the past. BYOB which is always a huge plus. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful with recommendations. The owner is hot.
Peace!

I love everything about Mealo!
Everything is beyond delicious and authentic one of my top 10 favorite spots in Chicago. ¡Pura Delicia! (:

I tried this restaurant after Chicago’s Best featured the show on their BYOB episode. Oh, the waitress knew this as well as soon as I got there. She takes my order, brings out my food. But she failed to bring my beverage. The food was very good! Then, we waited a long time for our check because the waitress was socializing with two other customers sitting down. Finally I was able to get her attention to get my check. I may try this place out one more time since the food was very good.

A great lunch spot. Very quiet and empty when I went (around 11:30am) Ordered the Grilled Steak lunch special and came out in 5 min. I like the ambiance, light Latin music possibly Colombian but not sure. Nice lady who gave great suggestions.
As for the food, it was good, a simple dish Colombian style, hit the spot, not too filling but just right for lunch portion. Grilled steak was thin, and sort of difficult to cut but marinated well and tasty so I overlooked the «work» I needed to do to get the right bite size piece. There was rice, and liquidy beans pretty good supplements, and a salad with lettuce, tomato, some kind of vinegar dressing. And lastly a tomato, cilantro, onion, lime based salsa, not sure what it was called but very tasty, great supplement to the steak.
A great gem hidden on a big city corner! Definitely would stop by again.

I went for their lunch special and it was again perfect. I had empanadas as well. Generally the seasoning is light and I like it that way. The delicious salsa can be added when desired. The rice was perfect. Very fresh good food.
I have been there for dinner several times and the food can be heavier in flavor and richness. Once I found the beef to be quite salty but that was an isolated incident.
I will continue to go to Melao.
PS, I am pretty sure the owner waited on our table of four for a recent dinner and was lovely. She took the time to explain the history of several dishes. Great service.

Melao showed up on a Thrillist of best empanadas in Chicago, so since I frequently have business (read: buy beer) in North Center, I had to check them out. The shells are light and non-​greasy, with a nicely balanced texture midway between crunchy and yielding. And they were color-​coded to indicate the filling. The insides were not as interesting, though. My favorite was the spinach and mushroom; both beef and chicken were pretty bland. However, the accompanying salsa jazzed them up well.
I also got some guacamole which was equally boring, but also satisfactorily rehabilitated by the salsa. So all in all it was a decent lunch, but I couldn’t see making this a regular empanada stop.
PS. I placed my lunch order in less than sixty seconds using the Unilocal mobile app.

I have a true love/​hate relationship with Melao. On the one hand, the food is good and the lunch specials are cheap. On the other, the waitress (owner?) hates us. I mean, straight up ignores us for 5 minutes upon walking in, then ignores us for another 10 before bringing us water. If we’re lucky, she stays long enough to take our order where the cook then takes over giving us the stink eye. I won’t assume what goes on in the kitchen, because like I said, the food is good and it’s one of the best cheap lunch spots in the area, and I just can’t bring myself to ruin that for me.
There are 4 or 5 lunch specials for $ 5.95, if I remember correctly. Meat, beans, rice and «salad». Considering the amount of food you get, $ 6 for what can be two meals isn’t bad. My friend and I almost always get the breaded chicken, but the grilled steak and grilled chicken are also worth trying.
Their sides never seem to be consistent. Some days they’re over cooked, other days under cooked and every now and then they’re perfect. It really depends on which cook and how busy, from what we’ve determined. However, we’ve tried a number of items from the menu (aside from just the specials) and have never been disappointed in the taste. I mean obviously, or we wouldn’t keep going back knowing how much they loathe us walking in.
Onto that. We’re nannies. We have small children and for the most part, they’re well behaved. That is until it’s time to go and we’re being ignored. Tears usually ensue and struggles to put on coats begin, and yet, they never want to bring us the check so we can leave before full on meltdowns happen. I wouldn’t care so much about them disliking us (because I’ve been around entitled parents who let their kids do whatever and even I want to slap the parents), but we’ve seen the same waitress cater to a table of other nannies with children who were running around and screaming and throwing things the whole time and leave their area a mess. Clearly, they’re friends.
If you don’t have children, you’ll probably receive alright service. If you do, don’t be surprised if it’s lacking. It can get busy during lunch, presumably because of the specials, but the food usually comes out pretty quickly, and it’s never been packed when I’ve gone in. During warmer months they have a little sidewalk patio, so that’s a plus.

El llano se hubiera quedado. Comida si estilo, sabor mediocre, ambiente triste, lo único que se salvó fueron los jugos.