Safari Cafe

A wonderful place to have quality delicious food and enjoy coffee specialties. Great customer service, a warm feeling to the place. Feels like you’re visiting family or friends. We’ll definitely return! :-)

Omg yum! Get a banana nut muffin! I have been passing this place FOREVER and keep telling myself that I am going to go in, but then forget. FINALLY… I get why everyone loves this place. See my posted pics. The crossiant sandwich was excellent with turkey sausage and the mango smoothie hit the spot. The thing I like about the smoothie is that it is not too sweet. We sat there and ate on the couches which is such a cozy touch. I’m assuming the owner was there and was who helped us out. Either way the service was great and very cheerful considering it was the morning and I still had yet to get my coffee. HAHA! I will def. be going back and probably weekly, since all I have to do is get my lazy butt up and walk there. :)

Great service, attentive and personal first class. Keep up the good work!

Another great place in this plaza which I should have visited more. Such a cute and perfect place for lunch with kids.
I tried the old Chock full ‘O nuts coffee a few time when I dropped my son at Kindercare for about half year back to 2010. Coffee was fine. The décor and service, however, was not great. I stopped going after my son started the full day school.
My friend was telling me about this place where she got her daughter fed for $ 3.99 for lunch. When I realized she was talking about «Safari Café», I was like, really, «that place»? I’m so glad I listened to her.
The layout stayed the same as before. The lobby was clean and bright.
The safari themed decoration was so nicely presented. A few sofa was added to make it very comfy. The Giraffe statue was kids’ favorite to touch or to take a picture with.
The services were warm and wonderful. It is order at the counter then someone brings the food to you. My friend has already made friends with the staff so we knew the mom is on vacation this week. They were running behind with kind of lunch rush on Sat. They told it would take a bit longer which was totally fine with us.
We had grilled cheese kids meal then the naked pizza. The pizza dough was nicely flaked and wonderfully crispy. My mocha was very Chocolaty. Oh don’t forget to check in if you have the Unilocal app. You get a complimentary cup of coffee.

Good people and great food. I love the tuna salad with the signature Safari bread. It’s kind of like a nan bread. If your into meat then get «The beast»… It’s a open faced sandwich kind of like a mini pizza. The prices are reasonable but heck, I’ll pay a dollar more to avoid fast food and chains. Its clear the owners genuinely care about quality service. I work from home once a week an love being able to sneak out for a meal here.

Grabbed coffee and an egg sandwich on croissant in the morning before a road trip to Milwaukee. The coffee was decent, though nothing to write home about. The egg sandwich was also quite tasty. But the staff, although very friendly seeming, seemed to be confused about more than one thing that morning.
The egg sandwich took a LONG time to come out. I’m talking on the order of 15 minutes, and it was not crowded (there was maybe one other order happening around the same time as ours). After the first ten minutes, a boy came out with the sandwich looking for a table to set it on, exchanged a bunch of confused words with the lady at checkout, went back in, came out again still seeming confused, and then finally was instructed that the sandwich was meant to be takeout. This whole ordeal was frustrating to watch and wait for while we were eager to get on the road and just looking for a quick grab-​and-​go.
The place is cute, though, and people there (staff and patrons alike) seem friendly. There was a baby and some kids making some noise while we were there, and the checkout lady was interacting excitedly with the baby, so I assume this is more family-​friendly than your average café.

Fresh and tasty food. Great selection of coffees. WONDERFUL OWNERS! So friendly and kind!

My husband and I are huge breakfast people, so we are always looking for somewhere new to try out for the most important meal of the day. He stumbled across Safari after searching Unilocal.It is a cute little storefront in a strip mall not far from Benedictine. The menu is limited, but hits all the major breakfast marks. They also have pastries and sandwiches. I ordered a breakfast croissant sandwich with hash browns and an iced coffee. The sandwich was delicious and the hash brown was the frozen rectangle patty kind. I know that would be a turn off to some people, but I love those things so I liked it. Lol! They cooked it up nice and crispy. The other time we went I got a side of potatoes and they were under cooked. What I was most pleased with was my coffee. I am a bit of an obnoxious coffee snob, my husband hates ordering with me. So when I asked about their iced coffee I was nervous because the owner, who was lovely, told me they didn’t concentrate their iced coffee so it wouldn’t water down. It was a hot day though. so I tried it out anyway. Glad I did, because it was delicious! Perfectly creamy, but still strong. Way better than the ‘Buck.
My husband had a pancake breakfast combo and was very happy. I had a bite of the pancakes and they were very good.
One of the pastries they make is their own flatbread which they serve with their hummus. Definitely recommend trying both. The hummus is super creamy with a light lemon flavor, and the bread is delicious. It reminded me a little of naan.

Location is a little out of the way, from the corner of Maple ave and Yakeley, you take College road, past Benedictine University and the St. Procopius Abbey and the strip mall with Safari Café will be on your right in about a half mile. Careful, the entrance is a little bit hidden when you turn in.
The great thing about the Green Trails subdivision is there are a number of small businesses that work hard to provide excellent value and service and Safari Café is one of these. I can walk to the café to use their wifi from my condo complex and they are open until 7 PM now in case you feel like working late.
This Café is very laptop and professional friendly and brings in a lot of neighbors from the surrounding sub-​division. I have always had a great experience coming here and if you run or bike in Green Trails, Safari is a great place to stop for a gatorade or ice water or a nice clean bathroom break (always good to know).
Come join us. It’s so much better here than Starbucks.

Love. Love. Love this place!
Although they do not have a ton of selections as far as food goes, that actually helps them focus on the quality of what is offered.
The food is excellent!
The coffee choices are pretty good and it tastes great!
The staff is super friendly and genuine.
And the best part?
It is not expensive at all. I had a BLT and a large soy vanilla latte for only $ 8.00.
Even better is I live within walking distance.
How cool is that?

A friend and I stopped into Safari Café early on a Sunday morning for a quick snack and some coffee. The place was clean and welcoming and the employees were instantly kind! I ordered a bagel with peanut butter and then found out they did not offer peanut butter, which was okay with me and I switched it to cream cheese. However, for the inconvenience, the owner made us Safari bread, for free, and delivered it to our table for us to try out! The Safari bread was TO DIE FOR! My friend and I aren’t really into sweets and thought it may be a little much since it’s covered in powdered sugar, but we devoured it in about 3 minutes! Seriously AMAZING.
It’s so rare to be at a business and have the owners and employees go out of their way to be kind, outgoing, and make sure you are enjoying your visit even when they are very busy! I would highly recommend this place to anyone and everyone! Also, the iced tea is GREAT! :)

Great little oasis of local, homemade goodness tucked away at one end of a strip mall in Chicago’s Western Suburbs. Absolutely worth a stop-​in for their Safari Bread and house special hummus!

Went in with my wife for lunch yesterday; really wonderful food and atmosphere, and a very pleasant surprise — a lemon/​mint ice cooler that had the most remarkable (and excellent!) flavor. Recommend that, the cinnamon roll, doughnuts, chicken kebab wrap and chicken soup. Manager was very friendly and helpful! Highly Recommended!

This place was good. It’s worth checking out. I may lean towards it more as a breakfast place than lunch, but I will try to find out.
So at some point as the weather got nicer and we were strolling around, I saw the sign saying something like «Best Hummus in Town.» I always like to try places that claim the best, although the town of Lisle is pretty small, so that’s quite a qualifier.
Things we tried:
Hummus. My wife likes hummus more than I do, but I enjoy it now and then but not enough to be an authority. She felt it was decent hummus, but not particularly notable. Still might be the best in town though.
«The Beast». I had figured it was sandwich, but didn’t give it much thought. It’s more like a pizza, really. Though a unique not-​crisp crust. Someone here on Unilocal it was like filo dough, and that’s reasonable. This was tasty though. The meat was nicely marinated and it was very good and there was a lot of cheese, which appeals to me. I’d get it again, I might try the «double».
Cinnamon Roll: This was excellent. It mostly made us think we need to focus on pastries more. They say they make it all themselves daily. Maybe. It was well done. I need to try more of what they make.
Why not five stars? The selection didn’t have a ton that appealed to me. Still it’s good to do a small menu well, and it seems like they generally are doing that. I’d probably be more likely to go in the evening and they’re not open that late. Also, I’m a harsh grader, I fear.

This place was great.
The owners are just nice people, good nice people.
The food was great and fresh coffee in the A.M.
I do a lot of business in that area and it was nice to stop in a place like that.
Nice work!

Fabulous. I live about a mile away, so it’s the closest café to walk to from my house. With this whole screaming baby thing and lots of walks we’ve been having, I needed a destination.
Safari Café it was. My parents were in town, so I took them for a walk to have a little breakfast. The owner was there when we arrived and so incredibly nice.
We ordered two egg sandwiches, a bagel with cream cheese, and a coffee. The total came to about $ 10. Not bad, eh? We ate our sandwiches and hung out for about an hour on their comfy furniture and watching Hoda & Kathie Lee (possible deduction of a star for that one. Hah). I do wish they had light cream cheese, however.
Will we be back? Totally. My only sadness is that they’ve been there for about a year and I am just now discovering their awesomeness.

This is a very nice, cute place. we were in the area and we just wanted a coffee, so we walked in, and what surprise that was. comfy couches and neat décor, smelled good, like fresh brewed coffee and pastries. yuuuuumm. The lady, owner was very helpful and friendly, they introduce us to their special flat bread (safari bread) its awesome. we ordered the BEAST. it was nothing short of delicious. the coffee was good, my wife had the Egyptian tea, she loved it.
With free (fast) internet, this place is gonna be my new spot.

Had it not been for office hours here, I might not have stopped in. Glad I did.
I soooooooooooooooooo love being treated kindly, with no expectations. The 2 gentlemen working here were very kind and both checked multiple times to see if we were in need of anything.
This is a great little spot, with outdoor seating, to just kick back and rejuvenate. It was a perfect day for a smoothie (with whipped cream on top, no less). It was delicious.
So, they need those special safari cars with the elevated seats to go along with the big giraffe that greets you, but said he would love to come home with me as I was leaving :)

Nice little place for breakfast and coffee. Lunch is pretty limited in terms of menu items.
It’s a pretty basic operation: Order at the counter, grab your plasticware, sit down, they bring food and you leave.
I really liked the comfortable sofas and chairs. For a coffee shop, this place is great.
We went there on a Groupon and will go back if in the neighborhood.

Snarrrl, Hissss, Rawrrrr!
Yep, that’s a pretty accurate representation of me before I’ve had a hot cuppa something in the morn.
Lucky for me, this very conveniently located animal themed café recently opened up in the old ‘Chock Full ‘O Nuts’ location.
Now, I had never actually gone to Chock when it was there, though I did make a mental note to. I’m just always so busy running around and somehow I’d convinced myself that driving 6 more minutes down the road to the Sbux w/​a drive-​thru was more conveiniant than having to get out of my car and walk into ‘Chock’ so I never got the chance to patronize them… Aaand then they closed.
I’m not making that same mistake again. Keeping things local and supporting small businesses is important to me and I’m going to make every effort to bypass the big chain names and get myself to Safari Café more often.
On my first visit (today) I was impressed with the selection of drinks named after animals. Silly, I know. But that’s what I’m into and that’s what I like… plus it’s so rare to find a business that embraces it’s animal instincts the way I do. Come to think of it, there’s pretty just here and the zoo (and my house, but I’m only counting that off the record). I got my usual café delight of a Chai Tea Latte w/​soy. Verdict: Delish! It takes a bit of time to come up but that’s because they make it for real and (I hope and can only assume) they make it with heart. They also have baked treats (the earlier in the day you get there, the better the selection– obvi) and have hot and cold sandwiches. The banner along their side window reads ‘Lunch Special: $ 4.95′… and wouldn’t you know it, a $ 5 lunch is right in my price range. I’ll defo be back for some of breakfasts, grilled cheese, paninis, maybe some housemade hummus, or even a salad if I’m feeling leaf.
I do wish it felt a bit cozier in there. There are a few couches but the entire long side wall are all oddly placed super small 2-​tops (I’m just one gal, a large chai, and a laptop and even I felt a bit cramped). And it was super frigid by those floor to ceiling windows– not even my hot bevy could ward off those chills.
I’ll definitely be heading back (probably next week) to try their sammies and smoothies and to soak up a little more of the wild side of Lisle.