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Categories: Sandwiches, Breakfast & Brunch [Edit]
Neighborhoods: Near North Side, River East"Yum. Close to my office, lots of choices, and tasty? I'm sold. Roly Poly is my new go to lunch spot. There are so many wraps to choose…" read more »
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I enjoy breakfast all the time, so when I can have breakfast for lunch I'm on board.
I went here for lunch during the week and surprisingly the place was pretty busy. They have good portion sizes and solid food. It's not food that is going to knock your socks off but it's enjoyable and affordable. If you pass on anything pass on the coffee, it's not worth it. Stick with some juice or water if you're looking for something to wash it all down.
Yum!
Very large portions, very yummy food, reasonable prices for the area. This is a great place to bring people from out of town for a great brunch. I bring my family here when they're on their way out of town so they are nice and full for the car ride home.
The skillets are the best, in my opinion, but I've been with people who got waffles and pancakes and they loved that too.
This place gets very busy in the mornings on weekends. I don't know if they take reservations, but if they do I would highly recommend it. I've always managed to just get in before the rush, but I've seen 20+ people waiting in the cramped hallway. On busy days they have a back room that they open up which isn't as nice as the main area. It can be a bit annoying to get hustled off down a back hall to a close off room with no windows, but the food makes up for it!
My parents live around the corner so it's a pretty convenient place to go for breakfast.
BUT... I live in Lincoln Park. Would I make a trip downtown to go there? No.
The food is average and nothing to tell a friend about. One perk is that they include an English muffin rather than toast with your meal.
Go there only if you are in the area.
Inexpensive unpretentious breakfast place, tons of options. Too bad they close early (3PM I think), so sometimes hard to make it before closing on weekends after partying. Blue cheese omelet is great. Orange juice is said to be fresh but tastes like out of the box. In all other aspects the place is great, you will enjoy it.
I came here for breakfast before starting my crazy day. The West Egg Cafe is right across the street from the Doubletree. Yeah for me!!! I get breakfast!!
It was pretty packed by the time I got there, but they had two seats at the counter, so we took it. No wait, score! Everyone seem to be crazy busy but still managed to give some friendly prompt service.
I ordered the California Omelet, which I figured out that bacon + avocado = California! Not a bad combo at all for our little state on the west side. The omelet comes with an english muffin and potatoes.
The food tasted okay, pretty average. The potatoes I give a 2 star, fairly bland. The english muffin came buttered so I just added some jam. The omelete was pretty good, love the sliced avocado. The prices are decent, but nothing special besides their business cards which are white and egg shaped, I thought was cute and creative.
Good brunch spot. Groups of two expect to wait around 10-15 minutes on Sunday. Courteous staff. If you like your poached eggs soft, make sure to ask.
Here is a decent breakfast spot Downtown a little off the beaten Michigan Ave path. It is nothing to rave about but will fill you with some good run of the mill breakfast foods. I had the steak and eggs which was on par with most other places but nothing spectacular. Overall its not a must go to, but is a there if you want it place.
Don't go on Sunday mornings... it's completely insane!
Decent food, the service goes as best as possible, but seriously, avoid that Sunday morning if at all possible. Waited 25 minutes but the food was worth it!
Wow, I'm sure glad this place is by my condo. Besides mom's home cooking, breakfast food is top on my list of favorite foods. So much flavor and nutritiousness.
I like West Egg because the service is very quick, the food tastes delicious (today I had the Big Easy, a cajun mix of sausage, veggies, eggs, and potatoes on the side), and the prices are low. I came here with my mom, and she loves it too!
Great breakfast but a little pricey. But hey it's Chicago and everything is pricey.
Arrived here on a Monday morning around 10 am, the place was busy, but we were seated immediately. Looking at the menu, it seems that this place is very similar to a chain we have here in AZ called The Good Egg, which is a good thing, I go there quite a bit.
The menu was expansive, omelets, skillets, pancakes, you name it. My sister got the eggs benedict and I opted for the biscuits with sausage gravy. The gravy had good flavor, and the biscuits were fluffy. My only complaint was that the eggs were overcooked. My sister liked her benedict, and the side of bacon she got was cooked perfectly.
Overall, the service was attentive and we were in and out in no time, which was a bonus since we were heading to take the architectural boat tour.
Crowded on a Sunday for breakfast/brunch, but only had to wait 20 minutes. (*Note - if you don't want to wait for a table, you can choose to sit at the bar. )
Good selection on the menu. I chose the Western omelet which was yummy. My friend chose the Bacado omelet and liked hers as well.
I didn't get coffee after reading reviews here and stuck to water.
All in all, a good place. We came here before going shopping on Michigan Avenue and it was pretty convenient to get to.
The West Egg is a great place to brunch! The omelets are big and the ingredients are fresh. The service was fast and friendly and prices were very reasonable!
The place is around the corner so I used to come weekly and order the same thing. Chips and salsa (free refills) + The Bandito. The portions are big and the prices aren't bad. I eventually got tired of the crowds on weekend mornings, but West Egg is still my favorite place for brunch. Other places in Chicago might be trendier or more creative, but West Egg simply makes quality food. I've had The Bandito over 50 times and I've only sampled the other stuff, but everything I've tried has been pretty good. The food comes out really fast and the service is great even when it's packed.
If you're willing to wait on weekends, check this place out.
Fast, good, fresh and friendly. Specialties of breakfast plates at all hours operation.
Another tourist corral... I don't get why people will wait so long for this place (other than a lack of other options).
We tried it once and that was enough. Everything on the table was sticky. The coffee is disgusting (think hot dirty water). Service was rushed and unattentive. And the eggs weren't even that good (undercooked).
They do hustle you through here quickly...
The menu does have a billion options (if you think that is a good thing)... and in all fairness, I had some house guests who tried it (on a weekday) and weren't quite as un-impressed as I am (that's why I gave it 2 stars instead of 1).
But really, if you have 'egg' in your name- you should prolly be able to bring it- at least a little bit...
First time here I ordered the Swiss omelet which was delicious! Also tasted my friend's Hueves Rancheros and that was tasty too.
Second time here I ordered Feta Frittata which was also pretty delicious.
Only downer is the coffee. If you want amazing coffee, stop by Lavazza Cafe! Best coffee in town. Hands down.
I was not blown away by this place, but I also wasn't turned off by anything either...a pretty typical 3-star rating.
I had the Denver Scramble which was pretty good and came in a cute little skillet type dish. They were not stingy with the ingredients but it was kind of liquidy; not runny like it was undercooked, but juicy...which is kind of weird. My friend got the Berried Treasure (blueberry pancakes) which were really good, you could tell they used fresh berries not the frozen crap...plus they get bonus points for the catchy name.
We did get to sit outside (with no wait) which was so nice and the waitress gave me a refill on my iced tea in a to-go cup which was awesome. Seriously, I think I gave her a fright when I exclaimed, "Thank you, that's awesome!"
I would come back here again, but it's not the most amazing brunch food I've had in the city.
This place is AIGHT! Their eggs are super overrated...go figure! I went here once and will not be returning.The crowd is ridiculous but moves fairly quickly. The service was okay, the server rarely checked on us and tried to overcompensate by bringing us things that we didn't need at the moment. The pancakes are good, but you can have better a more mainstream restaurant.
West Egg is 2 blocks from my home so it was an easy roll out of bed to go there - twice, in fact - this weekend.
Good things:
The crunchberry pancakes with blueberries and granola. These are SO good, and enough for two people easily. (Having said that, I did pretty well at polishing off most of it...)
Seated instantly, water after 2 seconds, coffee within a minute.... the service is fast.
The french toast is far from french but tasty nonetheless.
Not-so-good things:
Guacamole in an omelette is as weird as I expected it to be and doesn't really work, even with some alleged chorizo there to help.
If you make french toast with raisin bread, it becomes bacon-incompatible in my book.
Coffee, as per usual, is rank.
I shall be going whenever the hangover drives me.
For the past 15-18 years, I've been going to Chicago for a trade show and the first thing I do is catch a late breakfast at the West Egg. Strangely enough, I've found it difficult to find a good downtown place for a decent breakfast until then a friend took me here and I've been coming back ever since.
This place is a good local hangout for a filling breakfast. The service is prompt and friendly and the food is always decent. There's a wide variety of omelets, skillets, french toast, pancakes and more to choose from. The menu says no substitutions, but if you ask nicely they usually oblige a simple substitution.
The place does get filled up quickly and there is sometimes a wait. But that just means the locals enjoy it and the food is good.
A couple of friends and I wanted to grab a bite before the Green Fest, so I suggested this place. When I got there around 9:50 on a Saturday the line was going out two doors, so I was a little hesitant. However, we got seated after about 15 minutes or so. They had plenty of options to choose from (it was hard to decide), but I continued my recent trend of ordering childhood memory foods, and went for the lox and eggs that came with breakfast potatoes and a bagel. I like my eggs scrambled softly, and unlike many places, they actually did it, so I was a happy camper. And my bagel was not overly toasted as places often do, another bonus pont. The portion was just perfect; I was sated but not overly so.
Not a place to really linger due to the crowds and quick turnover, but a nice, enjoyable breakfast place to which I would return.
To celebrate my triumphant return to Streeterville and earning paychecks again, my new boss took me here for lunch today.
Luckily we were both too busy to go earlier than 1pm - good thing, because the lunch rush had completely died down and we easily got a table.
Our server was nice and efficient. When I asked for water, he brought me my own personal pitcher. Score!
I ordered a chicken Caesar salad, and it was YUM-MY. When I saw it was $10 on the menu, I was like, "w-t-f" but it is HUGE. So huge my starving belly could not finish it all. So sad. But have I mentioned how much I love warm chicken on salads? Because I do. And West Egg provides that! Sweet!
My boss got the chicken dijon salad, and she was over the moon happy and two bites away from joining the clean plate club. I have to admit, hers looked really good and I might have to get that next time.
Bonus - they bring out fresh, warm, melt in your mouth muffins with your salad. I don't eat these normally, but they were so amazing I might have to change my mind.
Another bonus - they serve breakfast for lunch! Um... hell yeah!
At $23 for the two of us, I won't be making this a regular destination, but if I feel like splurging on lunch I will definitely make my way back here.
Oh, and the t-shirts they sell up front are funny. "Laid" at West Egg. Get it? Get it? Ha!
If fast traditional breakfast for a reasonable price is what you want, this place is it. No frills, good food.
so after our awful experience at O'Toole's, we came back to this area the next day to try the West Egg. why the doorman at the Avenue Hotel recommended this place is beyond me. The food was blah - overly salty smoked salmon in my scramble, weak coffee, and a dry bagel with Country Crock on the side (are you serious?!). My bf's eggs benedict looked pitiful covered in pallid hollandaise and served with cheap ham and a waterlogged fruit cup. The only saving grace were the potatoes, which were well seasoned and nicely crisped without being too greasy. Between this place and its inferior neighbor, I recommend calling it good and walking a couple blocks north to the Corner Bakery.
West Egg, you saved us from driving around Chicago, cranky and hungry. The plan was to meet up with some girlfriends in the South Loop for early Saturday morning brunch. The plan? One giant FAIL. *faceplant*
Having not been to the South Loop since Nov. 4th (Hail to the Chief!!), we missed the announcement that the Orange on Harrison is no more. Thank goodness one of us was running early.
We proceed to Yolk. I kid you not, at least 50 people were milling around the entrance. Oh, hell no, we're not waiting that long.
On to West Egg. While we ended up waiting about 30 minutes to be seated, we were just happy to get a table at all. This place is like a mini brunch factory. One party rolls in, another rolls out.
I can't really say anything at all bad about the food at West Egg, but the coffee could use some improvement. In a word, it was rank. Service, while incredibly efficient, also seems to be on the grumpy side, overall. Would it kill them to crack a smile?
The food is pretty standard fare with a good balance between sweet, savory, and lunch-style options. Between us, we had the crunchberry pancakes (easily the best selection between the three of us), Albuquerque eggs Benedict (fist bump to the line cook for perfectly poached eggs over perfectly ripened avocado slices and roasted turkey), and a veggie egg white skillet. Our only complaint? The amount of hollandaise sauce on the bennies. The eggs were swimming in it. I'm not sure if that is normal, but next time around, we'll be sure to ask for sauce on the side.
Good breakfast close to work.. They deliver and that is a good idea if you don't want to wait to get a table.
They make an eggcellent ( lol) Veggie Benedict with tomato artichokes olives ect.. and they are fast as well...
Everyone else loves them too the best western and the Denver scramble are faves at work!
Nothing fancy but it hits the spot!
I don't see the big hullabaloo about this place! It sucks!
Went here after a couple of recommendations and came away with one of the worst feelings after a meal!
The food and utensils are just unhygienic and dirty as can be - all their cutlery looked like it had never been washed - even after we switched it 3 times we still got sets with leftover food from the past.
Their glasses were grossssss - we couldn't even drink anything here!
We requested our food in to-go containers - hoping we wouldn't have to use their crockery -- but the food itself has "stuff" in it that made is just throw it away. They wouldn't even replace it after we showed them what was in there - they said it wasn't their fault.
Uhhh - whose is it then?! And to not even offer an apology - forget abour replacement, not like we even wanted more food out of that filthy kitchen!
This place is THE most terrible breakfast place around - I'd rather eat at Fox & Obel than this place!
10 degrees out, snowing, and a girl walks by in a skirt and boots... the price of fashion. I realize I wanna be some place where everyone walks by in swim wear and the only frost is on your umbrella topped cocktail.
BRRRRRrrrrrrrr
The brisk walk from the Westin to the Egg cafe was invigorating and finding a great way to start your morning... if you don't have to do this everyday.
The place on a snowy weekday morning is not crowded. I ordered a hearty country fried steak and over easy eggs.
I was hoping for a perforated piece of meat or at most a hamburger but not a congealed reconstituted slab of meat... should have tried the omlett. The potatoes were ok as well as the eggs but nothing memorable or worth a return visit.
-19 in Minneapolis. I guess Chicago is really balmy according to the weather man.
The Santa Fe eggs Benedict lived up to all its glory. The portions are sizable, come with a good appetite and dont leave without getting this dish. Midday breakfast should be the new breakfast, screw waking up in the morning, wake up midday and go eat here.
I've been here twice in the past two weeks. My food as well as my dining companion's food is always fresh and delicious. Service is polite and prompt. I will be visiting here often!
This place is crazy, noisy and a little fast-paced, but the food is worth it. I went on a Sunday morning (busiest day ever for a breakfast place) and was seated about 5 minutes after putting our name in with counter.
The food is great classic breakfast food, big fluffy omellette (my favorite was the one stuffed with salsa and guacamole). The french toast was good, nothing to write home about. I would definitely say the eggs are why you'd come here (obviously....but just making sure I didn't miss that point). The coffee came in a carafe as did the water, so we didn't have to wait for refills (a huge plus when you order a huge breakfast).
The waitstaff is friendly and willing to answer questions, but be warned, because this place is a mad-house, they may seem a little rushed. Nothing personal.
If a boisterous, fun atmosphere is what you're seeking for a great plate of eggs at a reasonable price...you need to go here.
West Egg has a great selection of breakfast/brunch food, a lot of the choices are southwestern/Tex Mex inspired. I had the Bacado, an omelette with bacon, avocado, cheese, and tomatoes. It was tasty, and came with home fries and an English muffin. I had a bite of my friend's bran muffin, which was the most delicious bran muffin I had ever had. Good prices, too.
The food was ok, the service was quick and the waitress did bring my hungover boyfriend some soda water for his stomach but really not too exciting. It was very crowded and pretty touristy but we were seated quickly and received our food in no time.
Not bad, but for breakfast, I prefer Tempo, which isn't far away.
West Egg's coffee was pretty weak, and left me starving for more flavor.
Their menu is cheesy, but in a cute way - little cartoon eggs smiling at you, and phrases like "Egg-cellent" here and there.
I ordered a veggie skillet, and it was good. It came with diced zucchini, broccoli, cheese, diced potatoes.
The place is worth a try, but like I said, there are better options out there.
West Egg... west of the lake, west of remarkable, west of memorable, really. We were dismayed to be greeted with a 20 minute wait here on a Wednesday morning around 10 am... apparently, every Streeterville grammie and gramps were out for breakfast!
Because I dislike waiting for breakfast even more than eating at the counter, we grabbed a couple stools and placed our orders for coffee and omelettes.
I ordered the 'Bacado'-- a well-portioned omelette stuffed with bacon, guacamole, jack cheese and served with a side of salsa. At an attempt to not overdose on calories in my first meal of the day, I traded yolks for egg whites. Surprisingly good, but a dousing of avocado makes anything better. ANYTHING.
Average coffee, okay service, but a decent option if you happen to find yourself in Streeterville. And props for recovering my friend's left-behind oxygen, mhmm Blackberry.
Fantastic pancakes. Blueberry with granola...had them three mornings in a row. Everything else looked pretty good, but there was no need to stray from the blueberry goodness.
Crowds seem to hit around 8:30 - 9 AM.
We ate here on Columbus day so I think it was probably more crowded than a normal weekday but probably less crowded than a weekend.
There was a really long line when we arrived at 9am and the guy taking names was super disorganized. I thought he was going to have a heart attack at any moment because he was running around so fast. There was no clear place to go to leave your name as that one guy just had a notebook and was sometimes inside, sometimes outside... People were following him around for a few minutes sometimes before he stopped and wrote their names down. He also kept telling everyone it was going to take 18 minutes before they were seated. Honestly, for everyone 18 minutes?
Once we were seated and ordered though, we were happy! It's kind of loud inside, but in kind of a happy way. My skillet with bacon and onion was awesome! (There's a picture up there somewhere.) It had potatoes, bacon, onion, and cheese and then two sunny side up eggs on top so that when you cut into the eggs, the yolk got all over everything. YUM! My friend got huevos rancheros and rated them highly too.
Even with the line and wait, we were in and out of West Egg in an hour. And we were very, very full!
This is a pretty decent choice for brunch if you're in the River North area..
The popularity of this place makes it something less ideal than what it used to be. There can easily be a 30 minute wait on weekends now. I think every concierge in the area must recommend it now.
Food is usually pretty decent, service average.
No alcohol, so no bloody mary's!
They do have good Eggs Benedict. In most other ways it's pretty typical diner food.... so if you're wanting anything unique, this isn't your place.
Parking in the area is a pain... you can usually find street parking if you're willing to drive in circles for 15 minutes.
tourist spot- but im a fan :)
i came here 6 years ago with my family on our 'chicago family vacation' and when they returned to visit me this summer, we played 'tourists' once again- and had to revisit the west egg.
possible waits on the weekends- but food is really good and fast! potatoes were my favorite- and the biscuits and gravy.
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Category: Breakfast & Brunch
Neighborhood: Near North Side
Category: Coffee & Tea
Neighborhood: Near North Side
Category: Restaurants
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