Ann Sather

This was much more of a grease spoon than I expected. I got the Swedish pancakes with meatballs and it was OK — a bit bland. Not enough lingonberries. I’ll be going back to Svea for my Swedish cravings.

Finally had the chance to try this Chicago brunch staple. We came in early on Saturday morning and there was hardly anyone there which was nice. I ordered the 2 eggs and chicken basil sausage with cinnamon rolls (how could I not my first time) and the hash browns. Everything was good and the cinnamon rolls were so yummy! The only the thing that disappointed were the potatoes and it’s more a matter of personal preference. They were seasoned well but they weren’t crispy at all which is how I prefer hash browns.

I want to give them 5 stars just because there are no other cinnamon rolls like these. If you know Chicago and cinnamon rolls, you know Sather. Sadly their entrée dishes are very mediocre and that’s why they get a four. Sometimes their meat can be very fatty and cheap. And their flavors are just kind of bland and diner like. I go in for the rolls and leave, but if you have a little extra money to spend, grab a jar of the lingonberry jam by the cash register because it is DA BEST!

My favorite brunch spot! I come for the crab cake eggs benedict, and stay for the humongous cinnamon rolls. Comfort food FTW!
The service is always quick and friendly, but I took a star away because they require the entire party to be present before being seated, even if it’s just one person in a group of 10. Annoying, but it is what it is.
Still worth it for the cinnamon rolls. Enjoy!

This location is pretty good! I was most impressed by my waiter. He was very nice, attentive, and prompt. The food is A-​Okay! The prices are decent.
I enjoyed my bacon and sunny-​side-​up eggs with hash-​browns. Everything was alright.
The ambiance was okay as well. It was a fast meal, but I never felt rushed. Coffee and water was steady with the flow.
When I arrived, it was a bit confusing, because the entrance is now on the side, not in the front. So the layout is odd (this place used to be a coffee shop). I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to seat myself or if there was a host/​hostess.
I was seated at a booth, which was fine, but it did have crumbs from the last guest on the seat and table, and there was an opened creamer in the dish.
Nonetheless, the vibe was cool, the place was diverse, staff and clientele. Welcoming for all. I enjoyed my early afternoon breakfast. I would go back.

Always fast, always friendly, and those cinnamon rolls are always next level! Great portions for the price.

Totally worth the extra bucks. Service on point! Food Delicious. I had the smoked salmon benedict and my friend ordered wheat toast with avocado ala carte It came with fruit. So good! We went to a «fancier» place the next day and we kept wishing we had simply went back to Ann Sather.

What a great experience!!! Friendly service wonderful food and an awesome fresh strawberry, banana, orange juice !!
Will be back for sure.

This is probably my go-​to breakfast place anytime I’m on the north side of the city. The hype about the cinnamon rolls is real, although I think they have made them smaller from the last time I went. Regardless, any menu choice is great and the price is great too for the huge portions you get! The country style eggs Benedict is to die for!

I was in Chicago for the day visiting my best friend and after seeing numerous pictures of the food served at Ann Sather we decided this was the perfect breakfast place to go to. We began by ordering banana, orange and strawberry juice which tasted so fresh. After seeing all the pictures of the cinnamon buns we couldn’t help ourselves but order a plate and oh my god was it the best thing I’ve ever eaten! I ordered a chicken fajita omelet with homemade salsa on the side and I couldn’t get enough of it. My best friend ordered eggs benedict over crab cakes and she devoured it.
If I was staying longer or simply lived in Chicago this would be the place you’d find me every morning, just getting fatter and fatter by the day. Amazing food!

Love ann sathers. BYOB and they have OJ and tomato juice for mimosas and bloody Marys. Cinnamon rolls are massive and delicious. They’ll give you coffee to go which I always find a small but really nice touch. Their service is always fantastic, you might have to wait but it’s worth it!

Don’t see why I would go again even if I still lived within walking distance.
Thought this would be a warm quick casual brunch on a cold day… It looked like an old school diner that serves simple food and always smelled of delicious buttery bread even a block or two down…
But even the cinnamon rolls are pretty average. Pretty much every brunch place and bakery has some variation of a sticky morning bun like that, and these are small, underfilled, and weirdly baked. If you get pieces from the edge of the tray or something like mine, those outer sides are really dry, and the inside is too wet with no fluffy warmth to it. Just eat cinnamon rolls from other restaurants.
The rest of the menu comes with «choice of 2 sides» and are completely overpriced. $ 7.50 for 2 eggs + sides? It really feels like it’s all offsetting the price of 2 cinnamon rolls per order; everything is dirt cheap on the menu to make. The «hash browns» are about six cubes of soggy lukewarm potatoes. The «seasonal fruit cups» you can see sitting in the warm pass of the open kitchen, pre-​measured and unrefrigerated for god knows how long. So unappetizing. The Swedish pancake is more of a crêpe, and tastes way too floury. The poached eggs on my benedict were small and overcooked.
Very below average meal. Will not come again or recommend to anyone. I’d rather go to Walker Brothers in Wilmette for similar generic breakfast foods, cooked a lot better than this. More variety, too.
The one surprising upside was that the coffee didn’t taste stale and burnt like most diner coffee, just a little weak. But again, go down the street to Metrop for some real coffee!

It wasn’t horrible, but it also wasn’t amazing. The wait staff was all friendly and efficient. We were seated and served quickly. I ordered the Veggie Eggs Benedict. It came with Hollandaise on the side and was topped with a mixture of zucchini, squash, carrots, and spinach. I wish the root veggies had been cooked more. They were so crunchy that it made it hard to enjoy and they didn’t provide much flavor. I got a side of Cinnamon Rolls. They were okay. I liked the icing but the roll itself didn’t have the best taste. It was a bit too doughy for me. However I did still eat the one I got to-​go later at home so it must have had something going for it! It did taste much better heated up that it had room temperature at the restaurant. Overall, it wasn’t terrible, but I probably won’t be back.

The worst ever! The place is dirty and I got sick from what I ate. Went with a friend, we were NEVER offered a menu and assumed that the only food was the menu on the placemat. Noticing after we ate that someone had a sandwich, I asked the waitresses was this the only menu. She said, «well we do have a lunch menu but it doesn’t have much on it» WHAT! So why didn’t we get it? We were there at 1:00 pm? She said well I didn’t seat you. I just got the table!
Do not go here! Share with everyone you know.

I came here for the cinnamon rolls, but I thought they were way overhyped. Getting two cinnamon rolls as one side is a good deal, but they weren’t as amazing as everyone seems to rave about.
The exterior of the roll was a bit dry and crunchy and was only bearable if covered in icing. Otherwise it was like eating stale bread. There wasn’t a strong cinnamon flavor inside either. At least the icing wasn’t too sweet, and definitely came with a generous amount to suit all icing lovers.
I also ordered the «Avocado Delight Wrap“and a special, the «French Toast Fantasy». The wrap was disappointingly small and thin for the price of $ 10. The French toast was a bit better, but not by much. The granola and berries were a nice touch. The mascarpone filling was delicious, however, the cinnamon rolls were again so dry and crunchy it left me wanting more filling to balance it out.
Overall it was just an average, if not disappointing, brunch. Nothing really amazed me. Maybe I just have different expectations for cinnamon rolls, but at the very least I don’t see why their texture here has to be so unappetizing. Shouldn’t cinnamon rolls be soft and fluffy? And at least taste like cinnamon?

I have dined here multiple times, and while I like it and will return, (Good service, Great cinnamon rolls, close to my house) there are a few little things that kind of skeeve me out about this place.
Whenever I drop in to pick up some cinnamon rolls to go, I see the cook slaving over the little cooktop behind the counter, sweating profusely, filthy shirt, no gloves. Just sayin. It grosses me out a little to be honest, and I always wonder how their last health inspection went. Also, a friend and I sat and dined there yesterday, and we watched server after server bring out plates of cinnamon rolls, globs of frosting dripping all over the floor past us. This place just feels… dirty.
BUT, on the other hand, I had a tasty bacon cheese and egg bagel, and my dining partner enjoyed his potato pancake. There is always a line on the weekend, and I haven’t died yet. So… 3 stars?

Ann Sather is a Chicago/​Andersonville institution. It is the classic American diner with a twist of Swedish panache!
This is the place for a good, inexpensive hearty breakfast. No matter what you order, it’s a lot of food! Everyone gets one of their famous cinnamon rolls, which are huge, baked to absolute perfection, always moist, with a sweet dough. Their topping is marvelous, sweet and creamy.
This is a great place for a hearty «farmer’s breakfast’ with substantial amounts of basic food.

We chose Ann’s because of cute window decals. We were greeted and seated right away. They serve breakfast all day. They served cinnamon rolls like other restaurants serve bread. The rolls were delicious!
I ordered the garden omelet with hash browns and low fat cottage cheese. I couldn’t believe the omelet was made with only 3 eggs; it was so big and fluffy. The hash browns are actually breakfast potatoes but were good.
My sister ordered the club and they make that with real pieces of turkey instead of thin sliced. It was also pretty good.
I gave this a three because while it was good, it was average. I would go again.

Sehr nettes kleines Diner, dass ein bisschen versucht schwedisches Flair in die vereinigten Staaten zu holen. Wir haben nur gefrühstückt, und daher ist mir nicht aufgefallen, ob es hier Köttbullar (für einen Deutschen, dessen Schwedenbild maßgeblich durch Astrid Lindgren geprägt ist, das Indiz für Schwedisches aller ersten Ranges) gibt oder nicht.
Aber es gibt Kanelbullen (Zimtrollen), und die sind nicht zu klein. Zwei Stück von diesen gibt es als Beilage zu Hauptgerichten dazu, dabei würden allein sie schon ausreichen einen zu sättigen. Daneben auch echte Pfannkuchen mit Preiselbeeren.
Die Portionen sind recht üppig. Das mag auch an dem Land liegen, aber nach einem Benedict zum Frühstück, war ich für den ganzen Tag bedient. Idealerweise gab es hier Kaffee satt, der auch ungefragt immer wieder voll geschenkt wurde. (Wohl Standard in den USA, leider war ich bei meinem Aufenthalt nur dieses eine Mal auswärts frühstücken.)
Toll sind auch die kleinen gemalten Figuren an den Fenstern, die wohl zu einem Jubiläum (denn das Konzept mit mehr als 3 Standorten in Chicago gibt es wohl schon seit einigen Jahrzehnten) von einem Künstler aus Chicago gestaltet wurden und sehr an Midsommar erinnern.
Auch sehr skandinavisch ist der große Raum im hinteren Teil mit seinen hohen Decken. Dieser hat mich sehr an Restaurants in Stockholm erinnert.

I love brunch so having such a cute place next to my campus was a dream come true! Their cinnamon rolls are def the best and worth buying them on their own! The choices are very accommodating in the sense that you can pick and choose which 2 sides you want with your main dish: fruit, biscuits, cinnamon rolls, potatoes and etc. it is pretty expensive though if you are a college student such as myself, but it’s good to spoil yourself once in a while!
Ive had their crab cakes which were a little too peppery for me and their Mediterranean omelette which was unbelievably bland is why this place only received 3 steers from me, but the cinnamon rolls that come with them are too amazing pass up!

Open on Christmas day helped me avert a crisis. During the haste of the season someone (not me) forgot to remove some items from the freezer. As this was supposed to be the sweet item for brunch something had to be done. After a flurry of groups texts aroused me from my Xmas eve slumber… I replied Relax, Ann Sathers is open and I will grab some rolls on my way out.
Thank you for being open and a second thank you for being friendly that early in the morning on a day where you would have probably wanted to be elsewhere.
Happy New Years… I promise you will not see me New Years Day… see 2015 is looking up :)