Le Pain Quotidien – Lincoln Park

This cute little brunch place lived up to its high expectations on French cuisine. I went after catching the sunrise with some friends and ordered this flatbread. Delicious! I recommend if you’re looking to try a new and inexpensive place.

The avocado toast is so good! The service was good even for a weekend, and the coffee has wonderful flavor.

I love this place! I’ve been coming here ever since they opened for pastries and snacks but never adventured in the back room until one Saturday when I was meandering the neighborhood. I sat down by myself, it was pretty quiet. I had an egg salad sandwich with salmon and a raspberry lemonade. It was one of the best open sandwiches I have ever had. Comes out on a ceramic «cheese board» with a few cornichons and is absolutely perfect. The raspberry lemonade is quite tart but I love it. The server (I always seem to get the same female server, can’t recall her name but she is very polite and professional and makes your experience that much better). I even convinced my husband to join me for lunch one day and I was afraid this place would not be to his liking as he is the «steak with every meal» type of guy but he loved it. He said it was refreshingly different. Couldn’t recommend this place enough!

Really made me feel like I was in France or Belgium! What a cozy vibe :) food and coffee amazing as well… mochas made with real Belgian chocolate: D

Used to be my favorite little café for a latte and reading.
But corporate decided to be corporate and they no longer allow any glass mugs or tableware to be used out front where their lounge chairs are, which is where one would sit if you wanted to sip a coffee and read.
Was told they don’t have anyone there to clean it up. So instead, they wanted to invest in on an ongoing basis in buying throw-​away cups/to-go’s. Hmmm, that makes sense and definitely good for our trash dumps.
No longer my favorite place to pass the time with a book or work as this just grinds my gears. I’m here. Sitting inside. Buying your coffee and food. Why can’t I use washable tableware? If I wanted to-go’s, I’d be at Starbucks across the street.
I guess I’ll go there.

Not a bad place. I’ve dined in here three times. I’ve gotten a latte to-​go at this and other LPQ locations numerous times. Usually, the drink is on point, but the quality is inconsistent. Sometimes, the latte isn’t hot enough or doesn’t taste the same. The almond butter berry blend is overpriced at $ 8.95. Overall, the atmosphere is great; the servers are wonderful; and I like the food. But I do wish they were open til 9pm.

This place sucks. Less than mediocre service, and the prices are outrageous for the simplest things. Their salads are $ 12 for lettuce. Would not go to this place in Lincoln Park or anywhere else in the world.

Cute place with really good pastry. I like the little noodle area by the Window where I sit comfortably in the nice leather chair to read. The café gets a little loud tho but full of cute ppl.

Initially I thought this place was tiny but if you walk further in, there’s a bunch of tables. Had the avocado tartine which was delicious. Plus, I loved the fact that it wasn’t crowded.

We were looking for a new place for brunch, in a new neighborhood. After driving around for a while, frustrated with the parking situation in Lincoln Park we settled on Le Pain Quotidien. I don’t mean we «settled» in the derogatory sense, but sort of picked it because we somehow found a parking spot nearby on a Sunday around brunch time.
This place is great. There is a bakery up front and then restaurant in back. The smell of fresh bread hits you as soon as you walk in the door. The food was great, as was the bread, and coffee. Service was super friendly. There is plenty of natural light coming into the dining area, and tables are cozy with a rustic feel. It was nice to find a new place that none of our friends had been to before. We would definitely go back.

I can’t believe I paid almost $ 30 for lunch at a coffee shop. My mom, ever economical, would be so disappointed in me!
A friend and I stopped at Le Pain Quotidien during an afternoon shopping trip. Although our mouths watered at the menu, we were both surprised by the steep prices. After some serious deliberation, I settled on a delicious daily special: A bowl of quinoa and black rice, mixed with toothsome broccoli and greens, topped with pomegranate seeds and goat cheese, and tossed with a light, bright vinaigrette ($ 14ish).
I paid an extra $ 3 to add chicken, but I was a little surprised to receive four small slices of white chicken breast, seemingly unseasoned or dressed.
Although our waitress was sweet, I thought the service was lacking. The waitress forgot to bring the chicken until I asked a second time; she said the bowl didn’t come with bread, although it was clearly noted with an asterisk on the menu. (She did bring me a slice after I asked, but oddly, the bread wasn’t served with butter on the side.) I also spied chocolate smears on my coffee cup.
In the end, while I won’t rush back to Le Pain Quotidien, I might recreate the rice bowl in my own kitchen!

I rather enjoyed a quiet late morning brunch here and would recommend to those who like quality food well prepared.

Review based on café experience only:
While out gift shopping for the Pagan/​Germanic Winter Solstice, I grew a little hungry and really needed a warm drink.
I pulled out Unilocal to find a place near by and saw that Le Pain was less then a block away with a solid 3 star rating, why not right?
Well as you can see by the star rating I’m giving them, I had a much more then a 3 star experience.
When I came in I was greeted by a nice young man who seemed to be busy making a order. Its always nice when employees are chipper and greet you!
There was a nice selection by pastries, and other baked good for you to snack on and a good selection of both warm and cold drinks.
I couldn’t decide between these 2 lovely looking cookies so the young man was nice enough to give me one for free so I didnt have to choose. Thanks buddy you rock!
The cookies were fresh and amazing! As was the spiced apple cider I got to drink.
There looked to be a dinning section in the back which I will be back to try.

Way over priced for s small omelet with very little in it $ 12.55. Coffee for $ 3.45 was good-​but then 45 cents?. Poor service. Meal came with bread. Had to ask for butter. Only middle table had jam. One would think the waiter would ask if we wanted it. Had to ask for a second cup of coffee. At these prices, one would expect better service. I don’t fault the waiter. I fault the management. Poor training or poor watching their service
Never saw a manager walking around checking staff.

More of a 3.5.
I expected prices to be a bit steep considering the LP ‘hood, but thought their pricing was a bit steeper than steep. $ 5 for a raspberry lemonade? Feeling frivolous that afternoon, I actually got and it was delightful, as it was not too sweet and had fresh muddled raspberries. Maybe if it was a larger glass, I would feel better about it.
I got the goat cheese and oyster mushroom omelette and to my delight, the portions were actually satisfactory, as it also came with a big piece of bread and a baguette. The omelette was pretty good and I enjoyed the breads. The various spreads on the table (hazelnut, white chocolate, strawberry jam) seemed good, but I find it unsanitary as anyone can dip and use, eat, and repeat, using the same spoon or utensil. Boo got the salmon omelette and it was enjoyable, but admitted there are better options likely to be had here.
Our service was good overall. Our server was friendly, food came out appropriately and they seemed to be well staffed. We even wanted to sit by the window, but our server warned us that it was very hot over there. We were seated at the communal table which I do not prefer but it was not at capacity, so we pretty much had the whole table to ourselves.
Overall, maybe worth a shot for dining once in a long while, but I would recommend just picking up a few pastries and/​or some bread to go.

Very disturbing experience! We were 4 for brunch on Sunday 8÷16÷2015. 2 of us ordered the brioche French toast. I had previously sampled the French toast at the South loop’s location and was so looking forward to repeat that palatable experience. To my dismay, 3 pieces of stale baguette with a small jar of maple syrup were served!!! When I inquired about the brioche, I was nonchalantly informed that they were out of brioche and substituted with «baguette»!
The omelette was sub par and so was the tartines.

4 stars because I feel that it’s a littttle more pricey than it should be.
With that said, great quality of food! Everything was incredibly interesting to my tastebuds, I loved every bit of it. It was fresh, filling, but not too filling.
I went with a girlfriend for brunch on a Monday — we ordered a few things and shared so that we could have a little bit of everything:
We each ordered an iced almond milk chai, which wasn’t anything special, but refreshing on a hot morning. We shared the quinoa cake (AMAZING), the smoked salmon omelette, the quinoa spelt scone, which was perfect, and the brown rice pudding. Some bread and greens came with the meal as well. It was just the right amount for two people, if not a little too much, but the perfect variety of flavors! I tried a few of their spreads on the bread as well. It wasn’t very busy on a Monday morning/​afternoon and service was great.
To conclude — nice atmosphere, healthy, flavorful food, a bit pricey. ($ 50 total + tip for two people for the aforementioned drinks and food).

Ehhhh. It’s ok. Firstly, I have found that the food is quite tasty, there’s just never enough of it. Like, of anything. Salads, tartines, you name it. Teeny tiny. I got my husband a tartine to go once– it was maybe $ 14 and SO SMALL. I had to make him something else to eat because it was not enough food for an adult lunch (though for $ 14 you’d expect it might fill you up… and you’d be wrong!).
Also the service at this location (I’ve not been to any others in Chicago) is usually pretty terrible. My girlfriend and I went recently and while there were several servers milling about, not one stopped at our table. Finally after 10 minutes, I yelled out to one who was zipping past and said, «hey are you our server??» And he said, «um. I guess I could be.» And that was that.
Weird. It’s a nice option in the area if you’re not that hungry but if you’re looking for a real meal I’d keep going.

A friend and I were looking for a brunch place this past Sunday morning. Having been there before and having a good experience, my friend recommended this place.
We went in and asked for a table on the patio. The hostess seated us right away and took our drink orders. 20 mins later, we had still not gotten our drinks, our water was empty and we no one had come by to serve us. We went in to ask; it turns out the hostess forgot to turn in our order and tell the servers we were there.
After our drinks finally came out, we placed our order for brunch. No one apologized for the mistake and the hostess kept hiding from us, which was weird. The food came out and was scrumptious. We had to ask for the basics, like butter, jam, salt and pepper, but the meal was tasty! It was the saving grace of the experience.
The server did not come by to check on us at all, but finally brought the check. We put our credit cards in to pay but after waiting 15 mins and not seeing the waitress, we went in to give her the credit cards. After waiting another 15 mins, we went back and stood inside to wait for the credit card and the waitresses were just gossiping, not working. After seeing us, they finally scanned the cards so we could leave.
Food was good. Ambiance is nice. Service was awful (at least that day). Too bad. The place has real potential.

Gave It another shot.
Decided to stop in for brunch on Sunday. Wasn’t too busy and was seated fairly quickly. Our waitress was a tad slow though she could have been new. My boyfriend and I chose the mozzarella salad with grilled chicken and the grilled chicken cobb. I had the mozzarella and it was very good. The cobb had great flavor as well! Tasted the rhubarb jam with my bread and it was amazing.
Prices are steep, but my second experience was a lot better. Will be back again to try other items on their menu.
Note: don’t come expecting large portions.