It was Mother’s Day, and my family and I decided to go to a casual restaurant in Saint Charles. As I scrolled through the options on Zomato, I found an appealing restaurant called Prasino. Not only were the dishes reasonably priced, it also had a variety of vegetarian and vegan dishes.

We arrived to an urban looking restaurant on a busy corners of shops and restaurants. The restaurant was located on South Fifth Street, and boy, was it spacious! I was especially impressed by the atmosphere and design of the restaurant. The color schemes of black, brown, and white gave the impression of sophistication.

The restaurant was very crowded, but it was Mother’s Day; what else would I expect? I ordered a coffee and a Florentine crepe while my mom ordered a Chai latte and strawberry banana crepe. My dad on the other hand, ordered a portobello burger and a beer. What a typical dad, am I right?

Due to the immense crowd, the food took impossibly long to arrive- or maybe that’s how long it seemed through the haze of my hunger.

When it finally arrived, the food looked delicious. The crepes looked delicious, steaming as if it’d been freshly cooked. My dad’s portobello burger looked the best, I’ll admit that. The mushrooms and the vegetables glistened with a mysterious but delectable sauce.

We dug in, trying each others foods. The crepes at Prasino were different from the crepes I had experienced at traditional French cafes. Instead of the filling being between the layers of the dough, the fillings were heaped on top, leaving the folds of yellow dough on the bottom, unflavored. The same happened with my mom’s crepe, as both our crepes turned bland after we had eaten the the filling, leaving us with a flavorless, chewy, pancake like dough.

The portobello burger was the best out of all the dishes, although looking quite normal compared to the sublimely arranged crepes. As I bit into the fluffy, multi-grain bun and the grilled vegetables, the “mysterious sauce” quite literally burst in my mouth, enhancing the flavor of the mushrooms and the vegetables further.

In all, I would definitely return to Prasino, the waiters and waitresses were polite and helpful, and the food and the atmosphere complemented each other perfectly.

Visit Prasinos on South Fifth Street in Saint Charles.