Regal Reviews: Milli by Metric

Top 10 cafes for that fun "looks just OK from the outside...oh the inside is insanely cool, actually damn"

Coffee

Pour-over setup on a wooden tray. The carafe is a deep orange/brown and the cup is a round stoneware cup w/o a handle. Wooden tray is sitting on an orange table-top

Milli serves some damn awesome coffee here. Metric is putting out their very best for this cafe and you can really tell. I haven’t visited enough to form a comprehensive opinion of their offerings. So far though I’ve been impressed by their pour-overs, cortados, and espresso. So that’s a pretty solid win so far!

Closeup of white coffee box with embossed emerald tree boa. The writing says "Made By Humans" and lists a roast date and counter of which box of 800 this is Obviously I had to photograph the SNAKE coffee

Metric is one of the larger Chicago-local coffee roasters you’ll find served in cafes around the city.¹ And while I love Intelligentsia’s single-origin offerings, I think as a “daily driver” for cafes Metric is the all-around best.

Cafe

Wide shot of the main cafe area. From the top left, wooden boards and ceiling panels. Below are small windows into the roastery, sealed off from the cafe space. People will blurred faces are seated at 3 varieties of seating, all with treated wooden and metal chairs. In the foreground there are saturated blue & orange cafe tables Anyone walking into this room immediately comprehends the full value of this cafe

This is where this place truly shines. The cafe design is incredible. An overall warmth from the sheer amount of wood built into the walls, ceiling, and decor. The theming is consistent throughout the whole building, imparting a sort of largeness of the project, but also the grounded coziness that you expect from a coffee shop.

The first things I really noticed in there were the saturated blue and orange tables. They’re neat! And then after that I noticed these absolutely massive jade plants…! Good heavens.

View from the doorway, looking at the queue and espresso bar. Zz plant in the foreground is the only green. The rest of the space is a range of browns and orangey tans. The ceiling has a swirled brown design on orange. The light is a rectangular "tube" with protrusions giving a 70s aesthetic. The espresso bar is warmly lit with orange lights. Best first impression I’ve had in a cafe ever.

Angle of the espresso bar from the back, showcasing the lights and ceiling/wall decorations. The queue is currently empty, and you can see the window out to the street along side the merch wall Love to see a mod bar!

The entryway is so perfectly designed to be effective AND impactful. The vibes are incredible.

I think the queue area could use a little work, but mostly because I don’t think they anticipated how popular this place would be.

Entryway cafe space. Large windows on the left open into a cafe space with a few small tables and large central "meeting" style table with chairs. There is an archway in the back leading to more of the cafe. There's a bussing station in the foreground on the left. A zz plant. And on the right the barista table is visible. The entryway is usually decently loud—haven’t sat there yet but it’s still nice!

Price

Collection of fresh pastries with prices on placards in front They bake all their pastries in-house and they always look incredible

Pretty much exactly what I expect, price-wise. Things fluctuate with rotating offerings.
Expect to pay a tiny bit above average prices for normal things like Americanos or Drip, with optional $2+ surcharges for single-origin upgrades.

Drink Type (“M”)	Price (USD)
Drip	$4.50
Latte	$6.00
Cortado	$4.50
Americano	$4.00
Mocha	$6.75 (flat +$0.75 for any syrup)
Pour Over	$7.00 - $9.00
Draft Cold Brew	$6.00
As of November 6, 2025

Green and yellow cubbies on the wall full of predominantly white coffee bags. Largest at the top, smaller on the bottom. There's a green cactus barely visible to the right Great presentation right in the register queue

Productivity

Immaculate latte in a white & red mug, on an orange table, beside a book titled "Black Scare / Red Scare" Just happened to have the perfect book to match this latte!

Beautiful as this cafe is, its productivity value somewhat collapses under its own weight…The cafe is so beautiful, fun, and approachable that it is impossibly busy all of the time.

Both times I’ve gone I was able to get a table…but only just barely. It is not uncommon to see people sitting on benches, laptops perched on their laps waiting for a table.

It’s also very loud. The acoustics aren’t great for taking calls or focusing on a book—if you’re going to be there, it should be to socialize (unless you have good noise-canceling headphones).

View of a hallway leading to the roastery area, as well as the restrooms. A zz plant is visible in the foreground. Good example of the kind of acoustics you can expect from the walls here

Outlet availability isn’t great either—they have 4 huge tables against the roastery wall, and so far as I can tell those are the only tables with outlet access.
They’re always taken.

Vibes

Stone archway entrance. Wine glasses visible on a shelf to the left, and a rubber tree sits in the foreground Love the juxtaposition of ‘old warehouse’ and ‘renovated retro space’ vibes

If not obvious by now, vibes are fantastic here. Literally my only complaint is how busy it is, and you really can’t fault them for that.

Fresh food, fantastic coffee, a beautiful space, AND a roastery separated from the cafe space. Just fantastic. The neighborhood really needed a good, big space like this and I’m glad they got it.

In my opinion, the big 4 are: Metric, Dark Matter, Intelligentsia, and Metropolis ↩

CHISTARCHISTARCHISTARCHISTAR

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