Little Branch Cafe — Restaurant in Chicago

We were in a hurry for something to eat between finishing our visit to the field museum and our reserved tickets to the Shedd aquarium. This place came up as within easy walking distance and so to save time we sent my pal's husband to grab us carryout while we finished checking out the last exhibit on our list. Since he went to get the food, I can't really comment on service or atmosphere, though he did say when he returned that the place was cute. Our food was packaged well and I enjoyed eating with a nice view of the lake!

My husband and I split the Little Branch Bagel, which is a bagel sandwich with eggs, hash browns, and cheddar cheese. It also comes with a few slices of fruit and some cubed and seasoned potatoes. My pal asked her husband to bring her back a pastry and a blueberry smoothie, while he got some type of breakfast sandwich thing too.

I didn't hear much comment from either of them about the food although she was miffed because she wound up with a blueberry scone and that apparently wasn't what she had in mind, lol. As such, I got to try a bite. The flavors were great -- sweet vanilla and tart blueberry -- though the scone itself was quite dry. They both finished their food (except the sadly unwanted scone) without complaint though, so I guess it wasn't bad!

As for our meal, it was serviceable though nothing mind blowing. I wish the bagel had been a little more toasty. The egg was cooked super well and was tasty, though I was grateful for the napkins they'd packed as the runny yolk got everywhere. The hashbrowns were a little soggy and wound up falling off the sandwich, which was frustrating. The cubed potatoes had good seasoning. Much of the food was unfortunately on the fairly cold side, which I'm sure is partly attributable to its journey to our location, though I can't help feeling like a lot of other food wouldn't have been quite this cold, especially given the rather warm weather.

Oh well. It fulfilled a need and was an enjoyable enough meal to share in a lovely atmosphere. Not a bad choice for a picnic sort of lunch near a lot of tourist...

Given the traffic as our time there progressed, this is not a hidden treasure to the locals.

FOOD what a great little spot that we found for today. The food was really good… We enjoyed blueberry pancakes, oatmeal, ham, eggs, blueberry muffin. We also tried one of their smoothies, which was quite excellent and refreshing. all the food was cooked appropriate and served with a very reasonable time.

SERVICE excellent service here. We had our regular server plus others who came to check on us. Everyone was quite friendly and knowledgeable and helpful. They were attentive without being overly so.

ATMOSPHERE It’s a cool looking little place. Sit down inside is probably limited to 30 or so people. Outside has additional tables that were fairly shaded when we were there in later morning/noon time. The seating had some regular tables and chairs, but also some fun uncomfortable seats that look like they were made out of logs and other assorted things.

SUGGESTIONS Though there is a decent sized outside sign, the signage on the front door is a bit hard to see. Once you know it’s there or Google tells you so, then you’re good to go. It might be nice to have a clearer sign on the front door.

Also, the restrooms, while clean, and appropriate were limited to one...

This was my first time eating here. I live in the South Loop. I came because of the great reviews (4.3 stars out of 5.) I ordered stuffed french toast with the blueberries on the side, 2 eggs over medium, and some chicken sausage. I did not have to wait long for my food, which was great. I got my french toast with the blueberries on it, both eggs were not over medium, and there was no chicken sausage. They took it back. After a very short wait, I received 2 more eggs, only one was over medium, french toast was fine, and still no sausage. I found out that this type of french toast doesn't come with butter or syrup so I had to ask for it. I was about to cancel the sausage but it finally came out. My eggs were cold by this time and I was now pretty upset with the service. After I ate, I spoke with a manager and let them know that I was unhappy with the service. "Sorry about that," was the response I was given. Since you pre-pay for your food, and there is also a lot of self-service, tipping was a little awkward. You can make your own opinion on this place based on my experience. And you can also guess if I will...