Park Cafe

Meh. Overpriced and under par. $ 8 glass of house Pinot Gris served in cheap plastic cups. Ordered simple chips, salsa and guac which was processed/​packaged and HELLA SALTY. I’m all about the seasoning but it just wasn’t good quality food.
Location is fabulous but that’s about all you’re gonna get here. Move across the street for some better options.
UPDATE: just received a glass of wine on the house. Either this person read my review and spit in the wine, or this place isn’t as bad as first impressions make it seem. Still only two stars. sorry!

The location is great. The staff is stretched thin due to the volume of people coming by after work. The food is truly horrendous. Over priced food and not well done. Everything has two tablespoons of added salt. Pricing is also high for the quality that you get. Wine cups are served in actual plastic cups like soda at kids parties. I recommend skipping this place if you’re in town.

This is the worst overpriced food I have eaten.
Don’t go there .
Across the street better food places.

The location is EVERYTHING! The fact that it sits right in Millennium Park under the Bean is perfect but the menu is terrible and it is horribly overpriced for the quality of food. We’re talking the basics here… hot dog, hamburgers, some sandwiches and possibly two salad options with extremely basic tastes. It’s all pretty expensive (you’re paying for location here). If you cross the street, there are MUCH better options with similar prices or even lower prices.
There’s also no private bathroom so you have to use the public park bathroom which is obviously crowded and not as clean as a restaurant bathroom should be.

This is not a good place at all… My sister and I took the kids to Maggie Daley Park. After we stop here because they had pizza and hot dogs. First… How do u run out of tomatoes for Chicago style hot dogs thats $ 5 and it didnt come with chips or fries… No peppers for the Italian beefs… and the $ 9 6″ pizza was a home run inn pizza that cost $ 3.50 in stores… I understand making a profit but wow… Not to mention that one of the girls that was preparing the food did not put my son pizza in the oven until i swiped my card even though the girl was ringing my order up so my 4yr had to wait 10mins. That was torture to him. Also they serve ice cream. Once the place starting getting packed the other girl yelled «if you want ice cream go over there» in a very unprofessional manner. So if i could put lower stars i would… I wont be back

First time here … Food was good. Drinks were skimpy … Service was good… Choice between a 25 cents bag of chips or slice of watermelon ridiculous …

Sehr gute originale Chicago Hotdog für 5 Dollar mit freundlichen service im Millennium Park

after my terrible meal at park grill, the hot chocolate here was the saving grace! nice hot chocolate for the cool weather ahead!

My wife and I stopped at the outdoor restaurant for drinks only. The first three beers on tap I requested were all gone. It just went downhill from there. It’s no exaggeration to say that the service at this place sucked more than any place I have ever been. Ever. Such a shame as it’s in a prime location.

My family came in from Canada and wanted to see Millennium Park. Everyone was starving so we stopped nearby at this place. Our waitress was friendly and served us drinks right away. Though every dish is pretty overpriced, the turkey pastrami sandwich I ordered was unique and tasty. The fries were average and not anything special. I live in the suburbs and I wasn’t used to paying $ 20 for a sandwich, but it was beautiful eating in the park and enjoying the sights Chicago had to offer. I would come here again if I wanted to spend more money for the location value.

My experience bore out the bad reviews here. Atrocious food, poor service. Lemonade had enough sugar to put someone in a diabetic coma. Nachos were disgusting, soggy and stale with some kind of substance that I assume was meant to pass for cheese, and a total of maybe four beans in the whole thing. We were digging to the bottom trying to find beans and scraping paper. It was inedible. Rest rooms are nasty. Not worthy of the location and a general blight on an otherwise beautiful park. I won’t be going back.

Let me start by saying the location is amazing and the staff is friendly. Those are the only two positives about this restaurant. Given that Park Grill is in such a prime location I expected so much more. The portions were small and the food was bland. The hamburger didn’t have any flavor and the container of fruit that came with it had a soggy potato chip in it. I had a Cobb salad and my daughter had a chicken sandwich we were disappointed with these as well. I’ve eaten from cafeterias that have better tasting food. I understand the downtown prices but come on… At least give us a little flavor. I will not go to this restaurant again. I’d prefer the chain sandwich spot down the block.

I will skip this place next time.
I have given it 2 chances and both were disappointments.
Overpriced, under par. Service was average. The food was blah…
Take the time to walk out of the park and get some good food!

Horrible plastic cups to drink out of, and tomato and mozzarella is nasty!!! 3 balls of cheese and no taste

One of the worst places I have ever been in the city. The service is terrible and the food even worst. No napkins, no drinks, cold food and it taste like it has been seating there forever. The waiter never came to ask if we wanted more drinks, never coming back again.

We stopped into Park Café to grab a drink as they were smoothing out the ice rink. The service is friendly. The prices are reasonable for its location. They have beers on tap and other adult drinks. The hot chocolate here is pretty delicious. I drank it faster than I though. I would return here if I was hungry and in the area. I will most likely enjoy this place more during the summer when all the festivals are happening.

A lot of reviews here are for the Park Grill (sit down restaurant) rather then the Park Café (which is a counter service) quick food location.
We stopped in here, got two hot dogs (you put the condiments on yourself) and two gatorades and left with my wallet $ 15 dollars lighter. The dogs were OK — hard to mess up a boiled hotdog on a plain bun.
What we missed in food unique-​ness was more than made up for by its’ convenience.

It was a beautiful Sunday and we wanted to be tourists so we headed to Millennium Park and then to the Park Café/​Park Grill.
Put our names down and had a few drinks at the bar and basked in the sun.
Drinks:
They have some house made concoctions like strawberry basil lemonade with which you can mix gin, tequila, rum or vodka. I like the flexibility.
Food:
Chips and Guacamole — average. Mild guac and thick crispy chips.
Hotdog sliders — the dog snaps when you bite into it!
Burger — pretty standard. they don’t have fries (or anything fried on the menu) but you can get fruit or chips. Sadly, my friend’s medium well burger came out medium-​rare and my medium burger came out well done. We each had different toppings and sides so we didn’t switch. Waitress never did the check-​back so we couldn’t get it fixed. See below.
Service:
Our waitress was very sweet and a tad shy, and we liked her at first but this is where the 2 star rating becomes more clear:
— LONG intervals between drinks, apps, meal, check etc.
— She was nowhere in sight most of the time.
— She never checked back on our food or if we needed anything. So we couldn’t give her the 411 on the burgers. Even when we finished eating it must have been at least 15 minutes before she stopped by. I told her about the burgers and she said she’ll get another one for my friend. Since my friend didn’t eat hers (I ate mine). I told the waitress she wasn’t hungry since she just ate the rest of the chips and guacamole so requested her to take it off the check. She said OK and left.
Expecting the check here… for 15 minutes the waitress is MIA. Finally comes back with guess what??? Another burger!!! WTF? I was pissed at this point since we wasted so much time there. I firmly reminded her that we don’t want it. She said she’ll pack it up! Still trying to be civil, I said we don’t want it because we don’t want to carry it around all day and the quality is going to suffer etc.
FINALLY SHE GOT IT.
My advice is to drink and bask in the sun and then head elsewhere for food.

We came here because I wanted this super special ice cream (Rainbow Cone) that I had read about but when I tried ordering it they said they don’t do that anymore. So we just got regular ice cream and it was nothing special and I was disappointed. Not their fault but just nothing awesome.

I’m surprised to read some of the bad reviews on here! Maybe it’s all about timing.
We were greeted promptly and our waiter was very quick when serving and checking on us. We ate there on a Sunday afternoon, and it was fairly busy too.
I ordered a Chicago hot dog and kettle chips which was VERY good.
The only thing I didn’t like was that I ordered a mimosa, which wasn’t that good, and it cost $ 9, the same as my hot dog and chips meal.
It’s nice sitting on the patio and having lunch there. Food is inexpensive, but tasty. I’d definitely go back!

Millennium Park Café is a great place to come grab a bite to eat. Great for any local Chicagoland dweller and it is definitely convenient to anyone traveling or those who are looking for tasty food and a nice view of the city (especially during the summer months!). The Park Café food was fresh and healthy. Location is everything! Millennium Park Café is next to the world famous bean, Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Lurie Garden, and Art Institute of Chicago.
The Highlights:
— Yummy sandwiches :)
— Great service! (Our server Jodei was awesome! Gave us great recommendations, and was super friendly)
— Beautiful view of the city, and things to do after
Final Thoughts:
No matter where you are from, the Park Café is definitely worth taking a look into! Healthy food, great service, and a stunning vie w of the city in a great atmosphere. Nothing more you can ask for!
Cheers!