Orange

Restaurant Review
Well it looks like based on the website it is closed now, but when I went a few months back it was an interesting experience. If you want a contemporary artsy breakfast this is a place dto go. Where else can you get a flight of pancakes with unique flavors. Definitely not a bread and butter breakfast sort of location. I would say it was artsy and unique in flavor but is it worth it for the long wait times and price… I guess not since it is now closed.
Pro– unique breakfast items, colorful and thoughtful designs
Con– expensive, super long wait times
Hidden deal– None

WARNING: CLOSED!!! Went to the Clark Street to location of Orange today to find it closed, the sign removed with no explanation. Worse, you can call their phone and get a voicemail with their hours, no mention that the location has closed. Very poor form, Orange.

Getting here for brunch at 10:30 a.m. on a Sunday during a holiday weekend was perfect — our wait was brief and before a crowd had to gather to wait themselves.
With the menu separated into savory and sweet, my friend split two dishes to get the best of both worlds.
The chai tea french toast was not overly sweet, a riccotta-​stuffed brioche topped with caramelized apples with honey.
The presentation, however, was not practical. It came in a big bowl, which was nice to look at but because the chai tea reduction was a pool in the bottom of the bowl, if left the bottom slices soggy.
The #5 omelet came with apple-​chicken-​chardonnay sausage with caramelized onions, spinach, white cheddar and spiced-​pecan sour cream. It came with a side of potatoes, which was like mashed potatoes with a thicker consistency.
The sausages were amazing, with a slight tart kick because of the apples. However, there were only about three pieces in the entire three-​egg omelet. There was an abundance of onions and spinach.
The sour cream, which we got on the side, was refreshing and yogurt-​y.
We also shared the Irish coffee carafe, which had whiskey. Strong and potent is the best way to describe it. Although, we had actually ordered the Irish cream coffee.
Another thing I found unique about the place is something small: Our water came with a cucumber slice. Sounds like no big deal, but I really liked the added refreshment from the cucumber.
I really enjoyed our meal overall, but a few gripes kept me from giving it five stars. I’d love to come again and try their other dishes — brunch time only, however, because the lunch menu doesn’t seem as creative as the breakfast.

Good place for brunch. The servers are super friendly and the ambience is nice. It really is orange, the décor, the lights, the furniture is all orange: P
Love their Orange Rosemary french toast. Its a pretty big portion and the tinge of rosemary to the rich toast adds something of a different flavor. I like it.

I should have known better than to trust an establishment that would make something called «fruishi.»
Do not be enticed by the extensive menu, which includes an attractive-​sounding pancake flight: Yes, it sounds like a great idea in theory, but they rotate the types of pancake available for the sampler, and the day we went for breakfast, not a single one sounded appealing. Had this been the Bongo Room, I would be jumping for joy — but alas, no such luck.
My blueberry pancakes were OK, but really just that. If you’re going to advertise yourself as a breakfast place, you should have solidly good pancakes, though, and these just don’t make that cut by a long shot in terms of flavor or fluff.
Do yourself a favor and do not be discouraged by the lines/​waits at other area breakfast restaurants: There’s a reason it’s easy to get a table here, even on a holiday. I wouldn’t bother going back.

During a weekend in Chicago, my wife and I discovered this River North gem. Our usual Sunday morning haunt, Heaven on Seven, doesn’t open until 11 am, so we were in search of a breakfast spot open at 9 am. Thank you Unilocal for delivering us to the promised land!
Orange is located on Clark a block beliow Chicago. The room is long and narrow with a somewhat Scandanavian feel. The cutlery is wrapped in paper napkins with a simple piece of cotton string holding it together. The wall has ornage sconces. The walls are painted in a maize yellow. There’s a full-​service bar at the back of the room near the kitchen.
I ordered Omelet #11.5 with egg whites. It includes sauteed bacon, leeks, white cheddar and guacamole. The hashbrowns were or the wet variety and placed on the plate using a ring mold. Piled on top of the potatoes were several slices of multi-​grain toast. Delicious to the last bite.
My wife selected the baked orange-​rosemary french toast, infused with orange juice and topped with a rosemary cream reduction. In a word: sinful!
The service was pleasant and the food came within 15 minutes of ordering.
A little on the pricey side, but still a great breakfast option!

I love breakfast. I like it more than brunch. I’d rather get out of bed earlier and have a good breakfast and go back to bed than go to brunch at 10 am. Luckily, Orange is open early on Sundays to cater to my breakfast cravings.
I was really surprised there wasn’t a longer wait at 9 on a Sunday, but we were seated in about 10 minutes. The food was good, as it always is at any Orange. I had the peppercorn — raspberry egg sandwich, it was delicious. Just the right amount of every ingredient, nothing throwing off the delicate balance of sweet and savory.
The service was so so. He was nice enough but seemed distracted and only stopped by to take our orders and to drop off the check, and we waited for a long time for the check.
I’m sure I’ll be going back to this Orange. Especially since 25 Degrees next door doesn’t open on Sundays for brunch until 11 (I’m starving by 11!!!)

Omelet number 6 folds in asparagus, forest mushrooms, sauteed garlic and marjoram, aged jack, toasted and slivered almonds along with balsamic reduction. And hot damn it, this fluffy and moist pocket was worth the slightly longer wait time!
Also flanking was an odd but tender, grey puck of garlicky-​smashed potatoes instead of the usual fried chips of red potatoes that are customarily offered during brunch. There’s no direct option on Orange’s menu to substitute instead of receiving toast, but we had to order the golden, buttermilk pancakes that were slathered with a quite tasty maple syrup that was almost impossible to shake out of those shitty, olive oil pour bottles. (They’re cute, but we suggest that you replace them!)
But where it really counts, it should have been evident from the first sip of orange zest-​flavored and bold, rich coffee that a plush love affair was to be had.
Now THIS is what I expect from major market culinary artists. Orange is a boutique brunch chain that’s been shuffling their Chicago-​area locations lately like those shady CTA train shell game thugs, but they definitely delivered today.
There’s this silly theme I’m actualizing now that I’ve turnt 40. After being quite conservative and sometimes frugal for so long, I’ve said screw it, let’s celebrate life a bit more and step it up a few levels. So when I finally escaped my Chinaport apartment this morning, I was in the mood for a gourmet breakfast with exceptional pancakes and outstanding coffee and that’s just not a lot to ask for, since we live in this great city of Chicago.

Came here with some friends while visiting Chicago. Had the pancake flight, which was delish! Also had the frushi, which I could have gone without. The frushi is alright, but lets leave the sushi to the experts, shall we?
Very cool, hip place. I’d go back again if I were in Chicago.

Last time I was near this building, it was a sleazy bar that they were taking some Chicago Bears player’s bodyguard out of with gunshot wounds (I was next door at Clark St. Ale House when it happened). Now it’s an Orange!
Orange’s food is awesome. Their specials are awesome. Their pancake flights are adorable. The food is fresh, well-​made, vegetarian-​friendly, and tasty. Definitely a new go-​to brunch place for me and mine.
I had a goat cheese omelet, which was a special for that day. The last ingredient listed on the dish’s description was corn.
When I got it, it was so full of corn. It was a corn omelet with squash and goat cheese… In that order. There must have been 2 cobs worth throughout that omelet. It was just… too…much…corn.
Minus one star for excessive corn, but try their fresh juices. They’re awesome. Fruishi is a bit of a gimmick. Some of the flavors don’t even work… And the «nigiri» style fruishi just falls apart when you try to use chopsticks. No plates with the fruishi meant me eating the remnants of the obliterated fruishi out of my hand… and that rice is extra-​sticky. Cool in concept, but it’s executed poorly.

Beat the 10:30am Brunch rush. You won’t regret it.
Pancake Flight looked too sweet for my stomach and I wasn’t in the mood to «drop it like it’s hot» at the restaurant’s bathroom so I went with more conservative choices.
*Steak Eggs Benedict — looked like an ice cream sundae. Freaking delicious. Potatoes were spiced just right.
*Strawberry Orange was good, but not quite as good as Yolk’s Strawberry «Orange» (ironically).
*“Orange Coffee” — good coffee but the orange zest didn’t go well with our taste buds. Big props to our waiter for allowing us to switch to regular coffee.
It’s incredibly loud in here. There’s music playing in the background, but there’s no way you’d know it.

Popped in here after a beautiful (but freezing!) stroll through Lincoln Park Zoo & Conservatory. As usual, I had the endless debate between sweet and savory brunch before finally settling for the chai french toast (I’ve been obsessed with chai lately… even though I don’t like spices in my milk tea!). It was beautifully presented in a bowl, but oh-​so-​difficult to eat. Every time I tried to cut into it, it’d move around in the bowl… The good thing is it wasn’t overly sweet. The toast was stuffed with ricotta cheese which also mellowed the sweetness. The chai sauce was nice and mild, with good balance between the milk and the spices. I wish there were more of those marinated apples. they add a complexity to the dish.
Since this was brunch of course I had to get coffee. I opted for the regular coffee, but they plonked down a carafe of their orange flavored version anyways. The regular was nice & strong, but the orange flavored version was just too artificial for my taste.
I noticed a few guys trying out their frushi (basically fruits shaped like sushi). Interesting concept, but not sure if interesting enough for me to return. Appreciated the cucumber water though.

Totally agree with many of the reviewers– Orange makes for a really good brunch. And they don’t do alcohol, so it really means that Orange is pretty good at what they do even without the brunch mimosas!
I originally wanted the cinnamon roll pancakes, but had a last minute change of heart when I talked to the very helpful waiter, and he suggested the orange-​rosemary french toast for my savory desires. I’m glad I made that choice, because it came out savory as can be, as four large pieces with rosemary sprinkled all over. I won’t lie though– as good as it was, I got tired of eating it after a while, and really started to crave some variety.
I am really glad that I didn’t get the cinnamon roll pancake though. A friend got it, and it was little too sweet for me. Another friend got the flight of pancakes, which looked too cute, but I wasn’t feeling the theme for the week: ice cream parlor. But what looked really good was the egg scrambles. It comes with a side of potatoes in a weird cylinder-​can mold with toast on top. The potatoes looked a little too translucent, but I’m sure it still tasted good.
As for the wait… we went on a Saturday morning and there was virtually no wait. Maybe because of the weather and the snow. But I can’t imagine that would stop the tough Chicagoans (sp??) from getting out to eat.

I hadn’t been to any of the locations under this chain in years but a friend and i were looking for a spot to brunch today, thursday and they are pretty easy to get to from either of our places so i chose it.
first, its like zero outside so the last thing that you want when you walk into a restaurant is for it to feel just as cold.
i don’t know what the deal is/​was but people sat there eating with their coats on.
i personally like to chill out and enjoy myself when i dine, so needless to say this was a major bummer.
i ordered the orange rosemary french toast and my friend ordered the caprese benedict.
there were approximately 7 customers in the joint so i am baffled that both of our food arrived cold.
i mean you don’t have many customers, would it be too much to ask that you treat the ones that are there properly?
we told the server, stephanie that our food was cold and asked her to warm it up… which is extra generous on my part because really there was no excuse for the cold food…
she took it and heated mine up so that now it was lukewarm instead of ice cold and i guess since nuking eggs really isn’t cool, they remade the benedict.
while it had decent taste, the meal was really ruined for me since my teeth were chattering the entire time.
todays visit definitely reminded me why i hadn’t been to any of their locations in a very long time.

The most recent addition to the Orange empire– this location has all the things I like about the other locations (cute interior, great food and friendly service) and seems to be missing the one thing I don’t like which is the long wait!
We went on a recent Sunday around 1pm and were seated promptly. The interior is cute– long and narrow with a small waiting area by the front windows.
The menu is the same as the other locations as well, featuring their «frushi» (sushi like objects made out of fruit) their signature pancakes 4 ways and plenty of juices to create.
I ordered my standby of Eggs Benedict (traditional but they have 4 versions of it) and it was delicious! The hollandaise had just the right blend of butter, egg yolk and lemon. No prepackaged sauce here! I also had a side of their bacon which was crisp and quite good and had a distinct flavor that neither my dining companion or I could put our finger on.
My friend had the stuffed french toast which was served in a bowl and somehow had way too much moisture in the bottom so the toast was soggy. Too bad as it smelled delicious!
Service was attentive and friendly. Know if you order hot tea– there is none of the fanfare I expect with my tea. Here– it comes in a small metal container that I usually associate with small pitchers that cream comes in. Oh well…if I had a wish it would be to take this up a notch. I don’t remember it being this way at the other locations but maybe it was. For the two of us, our bill with an entrée, side and beverage ran about $ 40.
Metered street parking is available right out front. Or if you prefer– there is a lot just to the south of the location that charges around $ 8 to park.
No wait (hope that wasn’t an anomaly), great food, easy street parking right out front, and great service puts this location of Orange, high on my list to visit again.

Cute place, tight seating, decent food.
Pancake flights sounded delicious but I was craving egg after my 2-​week salmonella scare hiatus. The brunch special looked awesome but when we tried to order it, our waitress informed us that they were out of it and pointed out the lucky person two tables down who had gotten the last plate of it… hmmm, gee, thanks. So as a consolation prize, I ordered the omelet #2 which contained ham and pineapple and drizzled with coconut shavings. It was delicious though I think there were only two pieces of pineapple in it. My toast was cold and barely toasted but the house potatoes made up for it.
Fresh squeezed orange juice is very good and pulpy, but watch out for the seeds at the bottom of your glass. Restaurant is long and narrow and you don’t have much privacy since you’re sitting so close to other tables. I’d go earlier or later to avoid a wait for a table because this place is probably not worth the wait.

This place elevates breakfast to fine dining in a very inventive and delicious way – highly recommend for a weekend brunch!
In town for a girls’ weekend, we checked this place out on a Saturday around 10am and got seated pretty much right away. The menu had so many options, plus the weekly specials (pancake ‘flight’ and omelet of the week), we took a while to decide. I went with the chai tea french toast and a side of apple chicken sausage.
They have little cards that you can create a custom fresh-​squeezed juice, which everyone loved. They also have ‘orange’ and regular coffee and left carafes of both on our table for self-​service. I tried the orange first and it was good, but not for more than one cup. Service was friendly and pretty efficient. To note, this location is BYOB, so if you want mimosas, be sure to bring your own champagne!
My chai tea french toast was amazing – stuffed with ricotta cheese, with the chai tea creamy-​syrup at the bottom of a huge bowl. The portion was huge since it was pretty rich dish, so even after I was through, several people sampled a bite and there was still about ¼ left. The chicken sausage was a nice complement with a bit of spice to cut some of the sweet richness of the french toast.
The next time I’m in Chicago, this place is definitely on my list for at least one breakfast/​brunch!

My, oh my… I think there may be more locations of this popular breakfast spot than Starbucks throughout Chicago now!
We took the pup for a long walk and were on a search for a brunch spot where our party of 6 (+ the pup) could eat outside. The new Orange was a long shot, but my stepdad and the hostess bonded over both being from Florida and she hooked us up. Thank you hostess from Tampa!
Our waiter was friendly and brutally honest, but in kind of a refreshing way:
When I asked for the oatmeal he told me they were phasing it out since the ingredients were too expensive. When we asked for plates for our fruishi (yum) he told us they didn’t have any clean ones in the back.
Since they’re getting rid of my beloved oatmeal (sad) I opted for the homemade granola, a special from their menu that I had also enjoyed just 2 days earlier in their Roscoe Village location. And it went perfectly with all the bites of the french toast stuffed with ricotta (amazing) I kept stealing from my mom’s plate.
Our parents like it so much that they were hoping for Orange locations i their hometowns of Boca Raton and Dallas. And if Orange keeps up this crazy expansion they may get them sooner than later!

Eh. My friend was in town so I picked her up at The James Hotel and we walked the couple blocks over to Orange for a quick breakfast. Or so I thought. The service here is terribly slow! It wasn’t crowded at all when we sat down, and we waited almost 30 minutes for our drinks to show up, and much, much longer for our food. That took up a good 2.5 hours of my day :(Utterly disappointing. Also, they don’t seem to really have the finesse of juice-​making down… mine had chunks in it.
Their food was alright, though I wasn’t very adventurous in my choice (traditional eggs benedict). I’d like to come back some other time and try their Flight of Pancakes (the special was Michael Jackson-​themed), but the slow service definitely turns me off. Food was beautifully presented, but it tasted just average. Our plates came with mashed potatoes on the side, which were very bland.

Fun menu and staff. Our waiter was very sweet, although he did forget about taking our orders after we asked him for a few extra minutes. Luckily, we were engrossed in conversation anyway. He made up for it with a plate of frushi and refills on our coffee (unless those are free anyway)
I liked the idea behind the menu… fun combinations, many of which include orange. We all got iced coffee with orange, which was good but a bit watered down. I ordered the asparagus and mushroom omelet with balsamic reduction and almonds. It was great! They split the orange rosemary waffles… pancakes…i dont remember. They likened them to eating ras malai (a creamy indian dessert). They enjoyed it, but did find it quite rich. My friends loved the potatoes as well (I thought they were good, but had to add a dash more salt to them)