Honey Berry Pancakes and Cafe — Restaurant in Chicago

How do I start this review? Me and my two friends were visiting Chicago from Texas and Honeyberry was the first brunch place we went to during our weekend there. Although we originally meant to go to Honeybear Café but we had accidentally put in the wrong information on our GPS and found ourselves at Honeyberry.

From the beginning as soon as we walked in, we were greeted by a host who was in his mid 40s Hispanic and almost bald, and he was very rude. He asked us for a reservation name. We gave it to him, although it wasn’t in their system because we made the reservation for The wrong restaurant and when he noticed our mistake before we did, he then proceeds to ask my friend very rudely. “Can you read this? “ pointing at the name on their menu then proceeds to go “now can you read this ?” in a more sarcastic tone and points at her phone, which obviously says Honeybear and not honey Berry. He then continues to be very passive aggressive with us and we almost decided to go to a different restaurant, but we decided to just sit and stay because at the time there was not very many tables and we were already hungry because it was a 25 minute walk from our hotel.

We then got seated and our server was extremely nice. We loved her. She was kind And she wore glasses and also had tattoos, and I cannot remember if she had red or blonde hair, but I cannot recall her name at the moment. We had a really good conversation with her and she was very attentive and even gave us good suggestions when we asked her what was good. When we told her we were from Texas, I believe she ended up telling the host (rude guy) That we were not from Chicago but from Texas. Some minutes go by And the host decides to come up to our table and decides to ask us where we were from to try to get to know us better. I was already annoyed at this point and I did not really talk to him, but he did talk to my two friends and while he was talking to us not only did he make all of us uncomfortable, but he was also trying to invite us to a party that was apparently an hour away and had females from Miami going .

Now idk that Sounds really weird and almost sounds like a trafficking scheme. If not, it was really weird and made us all uncomfortable than a couple more minutes Go by I decide to go To the restroom while I’m in the restroom, he goes up to the table again and talks to one of my friends And asks her if I was annoyed by him, which I was . I’m glad he could tell because he was rude and because he sensed that he made me upset and also made my friends feel weird he gave us a 25% discount off our ticket. We did not ask for that he did that on his own.

Overall, the experience was Hella weird and for the first restaurant that we ate at since being in Chicago It did not leave a good impression on us and we made jokes about it the rest of the weekend because nobody was as rude to us as he was.

Food was mid. I don’t recommend anything with chorizo (the chilequiles were disgusting I didn’t even finish it and my friend got the chorizo eggs Benedict, she also didn’t like it) but the pancakes were good . And our server was really nice ! But the guy at the host stand is a NO for me . Weird and creepy and sounded like he was...

Located in the South Loop amidst a nice urban landscape, this restaurant is part of a chain that was unknown to me prior to this visit. They are based in Arlington Heights, IL, explaining why the majority of their 13 locations are in NE Illinois and SE Chicago. There are also a few in Texas. This was my first time to dine at one of these establishments and it was certainly a positive experience.

Our visit included our 5-year old grandson along with my wife and me. This place features pancakes, so it makes it a great place for kids just by that fact. We were greeted and seated promptly when we entered. It was a Saturday morning and surprisingly not as busy as I would have anticipated. The dining room offers copious seating, however, and the spacious feeling probably had a lot to do with toning down any feeling of being hectic or chaotic. By contrast, it was a relaxing experience. The interior was nicely done and presented an enjoyable atmosphere. Our server, Jada, did a great job. She was efficient, pleasant and seems to have mastered the art of being attentive without being intrusive.

The menu offered bountiful choices. Many were tempting and uncommon, such as the Key Lime Pie pancakes, the Banana Coconut Cream pancakes and the Oreo S'mores pancakes, to name a few that caught my attention. There were several good-sounding savory options as well. The chocolate chip pancakes (short stack with chocolate chips added) satisfied our 5-year-old's palate. My wife and I went a bit healthier selecting the Chia Power Bowl and the Quinoa Power Bowl, respectively. She was very happy with her Chia Bowl choice which was piled with fresh fruit on top of the chia seed pudding, coconut milk and granola. I had a taste and agreed it was very good. I chose the Quinoa Power Bowl which included quinoa, turkey sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach and feta topped with eggs (mine were scrambled) under a balsamic glaze. It was delightfully tasty and satisfying. We all had enough to take away leftovers for a snack/2nd meal. My wife had tea, which was to her satisfaction, while I tried the coffee, which was OK. I rarely get coffee at non-coffee shop restaurants with which I'm satisfied, so I can't ding them too much. This coffee was maybe slightly better than most you'd get at a café or diner.

The value was decent by today's expensive standards. Our total bill was $51 for two adults and one child. This included food, drink, tax and tip. Given the quality of the fare, the nice ambiance, the stellar service and the fact that we were able to get an extra meal from the takeaway, I'd be inclined to say this was a reasonably good value. I would eat here again if I had the chance, perhaps to indulge in one of their delightful-sounding pancake...

I have so many mixed feelings about this place. My first time visiting was May 6, 2022. Me and my bestfriend had a brunch date and the customer service was amazing. The food was cooked to our liking, convenient parking across the street. The drinks were very good and tasty. I ordered the waffles and fried chicken. It was so good that I wanted to bring my boyfriend back so he could have the same pleasant experience.

Unfortunately, that didn’t go as planned. I’m not sure if the service wasn’t so great because it was Memorial Day weekend and they were pretty busy but both Saturday May 25th and Sunday May 26th could of been organized better.

However, the hosts that greet you at the front door just seemed like they didn’t want to be at work. They told me it would be a 30-45 mins wait time when I first walked in and joined the wait list. Keep in mind they do not take reservations over the phone at all.

I didn’t mind waiting 30-45 mins because it didn’t seem that long. Unlike the day before May 25, 22 they told me a 2 hour wait time. I’m just confused on how the wait times are so long but yet when you walk in to get on the wait list there are 9-12 tables that’s available and ready for guest to be seated but they are unoccupied the entire time your dining in.

Literally once we’re finally seated at our table for only 2 guests those same 9 tables were completely empty and never used. On top of that once we were walking to be seated the table wasn’t even ready. It was food and syrup every where. My thing is since the wait times are pretty long as a hosts. Why not clean the table before you seat your guest? Then when asked to clean the table you half way do your job.

I ordered the chicken and waffles again that previously mentioned. When the waiter brought the food out it was a completely different than what I ate on May 6th. Instead of keeping the friend chicken tenders dipped in batter on the menu. They replaced them with some frozen chicken Pattie’s that’s more cost effective and takes less time to cook. I didn’t like them and neither did my boyfriend.

The manager took off like 7-8 bucks off our bill since I brought to his attention that these wasn’t what I expected and I didn’t care that they had replaced the chicken tenders with chicken Pattie’s. However, he should’ve just took the chicken Pattie’s off entirely since I wasn’t satisfied with half of my meal.

I also think they need friendlier hosts greeting people at the door because those two young ladies seem just like they were completely over being at work and that they had little to no interest about the guest that walk inside to dine in.

Here’s a picture of how the chicken looked previously and what I looks like now. I am not sure if I’ll be returning to this...