Third World Cafe

When I lived in Hyde Park, this was a regular spot for me. The coffee was always top and, of course, when you are a regular then there is a bit of community that you establish with those who work there.
Fast forward to the present.
I return to Hyde Park ever so often and when I do, I make it a point to go to Third World Café. Seating is not an option, as the café is packed. However, the coffee has not been disappointing since I moved away from Hyde Park. Every time I have a caramel macchiato I want to go to some brand name coffee shops and tell them to go to Third World Café and get some lessons, And when my sister drinks the coffee sans sugar and not complain, yes, they are doing something correct. Always nice for a return.

Really overpriced sandwiches (8.50 for an all veggie sandwich? Really). Didn’t try the coffee but it looks like most of their menu items are overpriced for what they are (tuna melt for 8.50???). The mediterranean sandwich was satisfying but nothing special. You can get a much better lunch deal at the Sit Down across the street.

The staff here are extremely unprofessional and inconsiderate. The three guys working behind the counter were boisterous, vulgar, and dropped the F bomb a couple of times. There were children present!
The coffee is great and my Boca burger was scrumptious. However, If you are looking to get some serious studying done (and don’t have any headphones to block the vulgar language coming from behind the counter) I wouldn’t suggest this place. Try Café 53!

Come for a sandwich on a steamed (OR TOASTED JUST ASK) bagel or croissant! You can get breakfast sandwiches ALL DAY :) Their bagel and lox comes with cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers and red onions… not easy to find.
I wish the atmosphere was a little cozier for a café so I’m knocking off a ½ star.
Great organic, fair-​trade coffee! You can taste the social consciousness… it’s that good! Free Wi-​Fi. I can’t wait just writing this review… on my way now!

I love this place with all my heart. When I moved out of the neighborhood, it was one of the things I missed the most. I went back today, 15 months after leaving, and they owner STILL remembered my name. Not only that, he asked about my roommates too, by name!
It’s cozy, friendly and down-​to-​earth. Great coffee, delicious bagels, and homemade muffins. Also really good soup!

I used to hang out here all the time when I lived across the street on 53^rd street. The food is good, albeit a bit overpriced for coffee shop fare. The service is VERY hit or miss, but that doesn’t much matter to me with counter service. The space inside is very comfortable and I’m glad to see they’ve added outdoor seating as well. I do remember having to scramble for use of the power strip when I had my laptop, because EVERYONE brings their computer in with them. If you can’t grow some balls and ask to use them, they WILL leave their computers plugged in all day while your battery slowly fades into the sunset.

After reading the reviews, I was a bit worried to come here… however, I was pleasantly surprised.
Maybe this should be a relative 5 star review, but this place is great (compared to other coffee shops in the area)! I found that the employees were friendly and the environment is great for studying. Coffee is good, cheap, and there are other food options (I tried a bagel, nothing too special, but it was cheap enough). I get that they don’t want the moochers of tables/​chairs/​internet usage, but I appreciate that (especially compared to Hyde Park Starbucks which tend to be filled with people working for 6 hours)
Also, the music here is great! Not too loud and fun 80’s music! :)

Oh… Third World Café…
This place is a block from my house and I was very excited that a small coffee shop was so close to home, but honestly, it is nothing exceptional. I cannot comment on any of the baked goods because they do not serve anything that is gluten free. There coffee is your normal cup of coffee, though I always love their chai. I am just disappointed because I feel the place has so much more potential. Hyde Park is a qwirky place and it is in desperate need of a qwirky coffee shop!!! They take a little while to get your drink ready, so don’t plan on stopping by if you are in a rush. Don’t plan on using the wifi either.
But… I will say, if you can nab a seat at the right time of day, it is a pretty good place to meet someone for an interview or perhaps meet up with a friend. The only other major problem is that their hours are all over the place.
Overall… Pretty regular coffee… it has a laid back atmosphere so if you are having a lazy day it might be a nice place to stop by but otherwise, nothing spectacular

Good news to all. This café just expanded their business hours until 7pm on most nights.
I just went in here for the first time and got an iced coffee. The coffee is organic, which is great for those of us who are concerned about that. The coffee does not taste like Starbucks, so it will have to grow on me since that’s normally what I drink. But I love the fact that they focus on organic items. They even had organic half and half.
It’s a cute little coffee shop/​café stop. They have yummy cakes out on the counter that look delicious. The menu seemed pretty interesting. I was surprised to find the amount of choices they had. They also seemed to have a few things that were not on the menu being ordered by others.
The space in the café was packed when I went in. It was about noon on a Wednesday. Every chair was filled, but the café was quiet. Most people were on their laptops or smart phones in their own zone. So yeah, if you are trying to have a conversation, this is probably not the best spot as it is pretty quiet.
A mix of people, older and younger, different ethnicities. Just a chill place to get a cup of Joe and surf the net.
I will go back.

Technically, 3.5 but…
Stopped in here after an employee found us on the street checking out the food places in the building and convinced us to eat at 3WC.
We were not terribly excited by the sparse menu but found the food that we did get to be very delicious. I had the ‘amazing apple salad’ and my dining companion had the chicken salad sandwich.
This salad was one of the best I’ve had. They did not skimp on the cheese and walnuts and the dressing was on the side– without me having to ask! Also came with warm pita-​like bread on top.
Chicken salad looked good and I was told it was satisfying.
Only qualm I have is that the tables felt very close together and we were pretty much unable to have a good conversation. Food took an abnormally long time for a simple salad and sandwich but we had the time so it wasn’t a big deal.
Overall a decent experience and meal!

Great place to study with free wifi and your drink brought to you in large, oversized mugs. I’ve tried both their mocha and the apple cider; both are good; have yet to try their coffee to see if they pass the real test…:P
My only qualm with this place is that it closes way too early… otherwise, if you’re an early riser. its a great place to get some studying done. :)

I love this place. They have the best salads I’ve had anywhere in HPK, and by far the best coffee. Having lived in the Northwest for almost 5 years, I know what I’m talking about with the coffee– and it’s good here– never bitter (brewed improperly as sometimes happens at Bonjour) or weak and burnt (like almost always happens at Medici), or bitter and gross (Z&H– I had such high hopes for them, too, but theirs is worse than these other two– not from lack of trying but from trying too hard and creating some sort of nasty petrolium mixture). Istria has great espresso, but their straight up, plane olé coffee just doesn’t hold a candle to this place. Backstory, which closed, gave them a run for their money in terms of coffee yumminess, but that is on the opposite end of HPK so kinda far and not convenient to walk to– too bad. Hyde park is lucky to have Third World, as this place holds its own with the better coffee places I’ve been in Chicago.
Also there are a few reviews below that are just incorrect or misinformed. If you order a coffee «for here» you will always get it in a mug, and they have a cute assortment of them. Also, if you bring your own cup, I think they give you the price of the size below your to go mug. And again, I just think the people who don’t like this coffee are insane or poisoning it with too much sugar and milk! There is a Dunkin Donuts down the street if you prefer!
Moreover, this is one of the only places in HPK that I am aware of where customer service is consistently awesome. If you come here enough times, the people who work here will remember your name and what you like. You can engage in some pleasant conversation and feel like a part of your community. Also, they are cool and laid back.
It’s a nice place to go to get some work done, as there are plenty of comfy chairs. The music is sometimes too loud, but often it is pleasant and exotic, which is fun. Obviously, we’d all love it if the place were open later, but as they have a small staff they have to do what works for their business. Also, it wouldn’t be helpful for them to have to pay wages while having students work there for 5 hours ordering one cup of $ 2 coffee until midnight. In an ideal world we could have our cake and eat it too, but this is the reality of supporting a local business (you don’t get 24 hour service like MD drivethrough).
I think the best sandwich is the Mediterranean. The veggie chili is awesome– I keep trying to adjust mine to be more like this one! The muffins are very good– baked fresh in the morning. I think they get their produce from Hyde Park Produce, which explains its fresh deliciousness. You can sub the chips with the sandwich for more vegetables if you like.

This is hard to write, especially because I tried so hard to stick by Third World when they went through some changes a few years ago. But it’s hard to patronize a shop that closes at 3 PM on a weekday with a 9 – 5 job. I wonder if they realize how much student business they’d get if they were open til 10? It’s like they’re throwing money away.
Don’t even get me started about the people who camp out in the armchairs on the weekends. I’d love to be able to go there, buy a chai and a bagel and sit and knit, but you have to get there by 8 AM to get an armchair or you’re SOL.
They still make pretty good chai, but at this point I don’t see a difference between going here or Starbucks.

I hate this place. The owner is anti U of C if you ask me. He turns off the internet on weekends so that students don’t stay too long. He also complains that students leave and eat at nearby restaurants. Instead of getting competitive by offering better food at lower prices (I suggest a serious $ 5 option), he just tries to impose rules that will change people’s behavior. This is often why mom-​and-​pop shops struggle. Imagine Starbucks responding to consumer demand/​behavior in this way. Finally, the art on the wall is atrocious.

Third World is one of those places that I really want to love. I keep going back, but it consistently falls short.
The owner and staff are nice enough, but the prices are a bit much for what you get. The coffee is just okay, if that, and they do NOT know how to do tea at all.
Food at Third World is very inconsistent, except that it is consistently overpriced. They do have some pretty decent cakes, and the rest is not bad, but nothing worth going out of your way for. I’d rather go to one of the nearby restaurants to eat, and since the coffee at Third World is not very good, the inducements to not do exactly that are few.
Third World does have WiFI, but only with a minimum $ 5 purchase. It’s impossible to spend $ 5 without buying food, and in that case you then end up spending much more than $ 5. Lame.
Unlike Starbucks, the music at Third World isn’t cranked up all the time, so I can go to Third World to get some work done, which is nice. It’s not enough to make up for the high prices, sub-​par coffee and terrible tea, though.
The Hyde Park/​Kenwood area sorely needs a good coffee house, and Third World Café is not it.

Not sure why everyone is so down on this place, as it is decent enough and laid back for a regular old independent neighborhood coffee shop. Chicago has a dearth of true places like this that are open, friendly, on a nice corner, and not overcrowded with 100 medical students studying for Step 1 & 2. Sure its not a luxury setting, but that’s the trade-​off for having a little independence. There wasn’t any free internet but they were really friendly. Yeah it did close early but I was just stopping through so I can’t complain about that; it would be useless to me if I lived in the area and wanted to work later.

I ventured here once after a hard day of riding my bike down the lake front and decided to ride through Hyde Park.
Very nice place to go and open up your laptop and pretend you are really writing something. This is one of those calm coffee shops where everyone pretty much minds their own business and is not really open to free conversation. It is a little cozier than Starbucks and a lot more peaceful. I grabbed a seat by the window to watch my bike, because of the bike stealing hoodlums in HP then I proceeded to enjoy my dry sandwich and juice.

The guy who owns the café is super friendly! I’ve been here a few times and have always had good service though the drinks and food are just okay. I’ve had the coffee a few times, and it’s just average. The chai latte was super sweet, but decent.
I was really disappointed when I came here once before work hoping for a coffee and bagel. Wanting to support a locally owned business, I drove past Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks to come here. I got my coffee, but was told the bagel delivery hadn’t happened yet that morning! It was already after 7am and no bagels! I went to work hungry… I’m not a happy hungry person…
On a good note, this place supports local artists and sells the art displayed on its walls.

Annoying. There is a ton of potential for an awesome independent coffeehouse experience here, but it just hasn’t been realized. Which is so frustrating, because it seems like the feedback, at least here on Unilocal,for the past couple of years has been saying the exact same things:
–Make some better food and if you want to charge prices higher than Starbucks, then make that shit worth it
–Have better service
–Change up the furniture and layout to make it more comfortable and welcoming
–Duh — Free WiFi (refer back to first point — if there was better stuff to buy you wouldn’t have to hold the WiFi hostage to get people to buy your wares…)
It is just insane when independent coffee houses aren’t very good, but blame Starbucks for their loss of business. If you don’t put out a good product or a good vibe, nobody’s going to want to hang out there — Starbucks or no. It’s not my American duty to just give you my money and I shouldn’t have to be helping you out or doing you a favor. You’re the one in business — give me something good to buy. intelligentsia ain’t going out of business, because it’s good — so be good.
So I chime in with everyone else. I wish I could like it more, I want to like it more — Third World, can you please help me like it more?

Third World Café is the perfect place to go and hit up for some free wifi, at least I was told it was free, judging by the number of college students sitting with empty cups of coffee that was most likely finished 3 hours previously, I’m going to go out on a limb and say it was free.
I feel bad giving it 3 stars, but the truth hurts sometimes. Especially when you have to go through something painful to give it. While 3WC is a somewhat neutral looking coffee house, they serve food as well. Some small sandwiches, salads and brownies of course. It’s layout and atomsphere stop it from being that quintasential locally owners coffee house.
While the service wasn’t slow or rude, the staff of two sure as hell didn’t look like they liked working there. It could have been the 30 mooching college students who were taking ever available chair & table and most likely didn’t tip on that small mocha they’d been nursing for hours.
Fact of the matter is 3WC could be a great neighborhood café even with the bandwidth jumpers, but they need to come up with a better seating situation or start charging the dead beats for internet access so I can get a seat. Get tables bigger than a spare tire donut, try a couch instead of single padded chairs. And please but a sandwich with slices of meat in it not just tuna or chicken salad.