Corner Bakery Cafe

New to town, 1^st time customer & unfortunately chose this over Starbucks across the street. 8:50am: Cashier was pleasant but completely unhelpful to a new customer. Asked what fruit was in the fruit cup, and she had to ask two other people. I twice said I’d like my order to go, and at the end she asked me again. Handed a cup for coffee with no coffee in it and no directions where to go. Got to coffee station, poured coffee and out came grounds. Replaced cup. Went to different coffee machine, went to pour milk. No milk. Back to counter — girl hands me the gallon to help myself. Got to my apt opened sandwich and fruit — sandwich tasted good, but fruit cup was half empty! For $ 10 I am going to Starbucks for better coffee, customer service and consistency.

Great place for lunch! Their sandwiches are very full of flavor, well made, very tasty and delicious! If you decide to eat there, the dining area is pretty big, so you shouldn’t have trouble finding a seat. If you decide to carry-​out, they are pretty quick at making it for you. They keep the line moving so you are not spending more time in line than to eat your delicious sandwich. A link to their webpage is:

I am so here for the Asian Street Salad and Free wifi. Seriously. The salad was delicious, the customer service was great, there were mad seating options — anything from looking out onto La Salle to something more quaint, such as over looking the interior of the business plaza this place is located in. AND, AND, there’s a CVS inside the same building, right outside (so you don’t have to be cold!). Love this location and will definitely be back the next time I’m in the area.

Well I’m officially addicted to the Chopped Salad. I literally crave it. LOL. The workers are so welcoming and nice; they even know my face! I enjoy coming here and will come back again and again!

The manager reached out to me subsequent to my review and sent a hamper of treats for afternoon tea to the office. On this basis, I call it even for the extremely late catering delivery. For general food quality and service in store I give a 3. The baked treats tend to be delicious, however the bagels are dry and tasteless.

I ordered a full panini and a small salad and ended up with a half sandwich and tiny salad. The Cuban panini is a poor excuse for a sandwich. Here’s hoping they don’t try to make bahn mi.

My husband and I decided to stop by this restaurant for lunch as it was close to where I was working during the week. I believe we ate here three separate times and were not disappointed with the food. Our meals (for the two of us) were under $ 20 and I feel that is a pretty good price for two people to eat. Granted, we didn’t purchase drinks as water was available and we don’t often drink soda/​juice/​tea/​whathaveyou.
At this particular café, you order at the register and your order is brought out to you. I don’t believe we waited for longer than 5 or 6 minutes which is fairly quick in my book. All the staff, at the register and those who brought us our order, were very friendly. I did notice that the café was very busy around 12noon, so I imagine that I’m not the only patron that enjoyed the food and atmosphere here. Good and fresh tasting food, friendly service, and pleasant atmosphere — I’d visit again :)

Great place for a quick lunch. I’m having a bowl of chili today. Love the stuff and is filling enough to carry you through the rest of your day. There’s lot to choose from if your tastes differ. Soups salads sandwiches and pasta dishes

OK, I am a fan of the brownies. I admit it. I also like to go here from time to time when stuck at Union Station. So, I was happy when yesterday’s lunch meeting was planned for the location. (It’s near my office — nice!) But when I checked on Unilocal and read the other reviews here, I got a little scared about the waiting time. However, my lunch meeting was at noon and there was no wait at all. In fact, our food came out seconds after sitting at the table. OMG A miracle!
I must mention too that there is quite a bit of seating. Normally, there isn’t much seating in such places. And, it was quiet enough for me as a mildly hearing impaired person to be able to have a conversation. Pleasantly surprised.
I really wasn’t able to really pay attention to the food since it was a meeting. But, the spinach salad was good. Later though, I found out it was 13 Weight Watchers points — EEK! Next time I go, I will have to review the menu more carefully.

I love Corner Bakery as a chain. I have been working in the Loop as long as I have been in the work force and this chain is an easy choice for a quick soup, salad, or sandwich. The food is usually quick and good!
This location is a major exception. Every time that I have been here, the service is so slow. I have been during lunch hour rush and during off-​peak times and it just takes forever to get your food. I went in today at 10:55 AM to grab a sesame bagel with cream cheese. I watched as 4 people stood around the register chatting, about 3 people actually working hard in the back while the other 6 – 7 were socializing. I waited. And waited. And waited. There were no other customers. Finally, a full 10 minutes later my bagel was finally ready (conversely, a toasted bagel at Dunkin Donuts takes 2 minutes). The best part? It turns out they gave me a cinnamon raisin bagel instead of a sesame bagel. Yes, I checked the receipt and it clearly states sesame bagel.

This is a Panera wannabe. A pitiful attempt.
It had been awhile since I last dined here, and I went for lunch today. Suffice it to say I will not voluntarily go here again. I ordered the soup and salad combo– roasted tomato basil soup and spinach salad. The soup tasted liked they opened a can of diced tomatoes, heated them up, and poured them into my plastic bowl. The spinach salad had these bagel chip things on top of it. They overwhelmed the salad. I paid $ 8+ for this garbage. I want actual vegetables and fruit on my salad. Not preservative filled pita chips. And it took 10 minutes for the food to come out. I left hungry.
If you are a suburbanite maybe this kind of establishment might be ok, but for anyone that knows better– stay away.

Great oatmeal and they totally let me get extra walnuts and nothing else for same price! And they give you this toasted sweet thing with it! Not the healthiest with the sweet addition, but very delicious!

I love corner bakery! It is my go-​to lunch spot because of its consistency and variety of options. I usually get the sandwich and soup combo which comes with a free cookie, delicious. The breakfast is also very good. Definitely a safe bet.

I hate Corner Bakery. Corner Bakery and Starbucks are the weeds in the garden of Chicago establishments. Big, obtrusive, ugly weeds that crop up everywhere and quickly choke out any other life. Everything there is overpriced, and despite catering to busy working professionals, everything takes forever. Plus, nothing’s even that good– or good enough to warrant being the goliath of downtown bakeries.
The point is they don’t care if their staff is slow, food is blah or whatever… because when it’s raining or freezing, everybody and their brother is going to go to the Corner Bakery in their building and form a line out the door for sub-​par service and food. Smart marketing strategy: concentrate stores in cities with crappy climates (and near businesses with overworked, pressed-​for-​time employees). Anybody with time or ease of mobility will go elsewhere if they can.
If you find yourself stranded on a desert island with Corner Bakery, you’re best to order one of the following: multi-​grain bagel, California Panini, edamame salad, tomato basil soup– actually the best thing on the menu. I used to like the chicken tortilla soup back when I was eating meat (I did however pick out the chicken, because I never cared for floating chicken). Also, my husband says the chili in a bread bowl from there is good. However, don’t be surprised when they’re out of the multi-​grain bagels, out of bread bowls, and the panini takes 15 minutes. You’ll order something else you didn’t want as much and stand there waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Thinking to yourself, «What’s so hard about soup?» «Why are all of the people making bread in the murals on the wall ridiculously ripped– like Lou Ferrigno ripped?» «I could have been to Qdoba and back by now»…

I hate this place. When it comes to «fast food» lunch locations in the loop, Corner Bakery (at least the one right next to my office) is the absolute worst. Despite their stupidly high prices for sandwiches and salads, I’ve often run next store to grab something quickly to bring back to my office. Don’t get me wrong, the food is fine (I actually like a lot of it), but the customer service (if you could even call it that) is absurdly terrible!!!
EVERY single time I go there, it takes a ridiculously long time for them to make my food. There are no less than 6 people «working» back in the food preparation area at a time and regardless of whether there’s 6 people waiting, one other person waiting, or just me, it takes 10 minutes +…for a SALAD! So many times I’ve wanted to hop over the wall and make my food myself.
When I was thinking of a thinking of a place nearby to quickly grab a salad to bring back to my desk, I remembered that CB had one reasonably healthy salad that I liked– the Asian Wonton Salad. I knew I’d lose my mind sitting there waiting for them to prepare my salad (at 3pm, mind you– when NO ONE else is in the restaurant), so I called ahead (since they don’t have online ordering– which I think is also lame). I was told my food would be «ready in 5 minutes» so I hung up and felt like I’d made a smart move and would hopefully save myself some sanity.
When I showed up 10 minutes later (I figured I’d give them a little extra time, because, who am I kidding), no one had any idea where my salad was! This produced a wave of yelling, accusing and «it’s not my fault, I didn’t take the ordering», which was delightful to witness. Good God.
After a few uncertain minutes, I was told my salad would be ready «in two minutes», so I gave in and waited.
I saw my salad get placed on the shelf where the «finished meals» waited to be handed out to anxious customers, but the girl who was handing out the food, somehow didn’t seem to notice it, it sat there another few minutes, before I said, «can someone PLEASE just hand me my salad so I can get out here??»
Sheesh!!!
Get it together Corner Bakery. You’re too expensive, unhealthy (for the most part) and have terrible customer service.
Next time, I’m going to Potbelly where they take online orders and have it ready and waiting for me.

Corner Bakery = Not for me
I ate lunch at this location about six months ago, the service was not good and neither was the lentil soup. I decided to give this location another shot today, thinking that last time may have been some fluke, and decided that I will never go to this place again. Today I ordered the Greek Salad minus the dairy — I specifically asked if there was dairy in the dressing and told her that I’m allergic, her response «I’ll have them put it on the side», well I ate my salad with no dressing today because the dressing is white and I don’t know if it’s dairy and I don’t want to get sick. It would have been nice if she would have suggested something else. When I was waiting for my salad I noticed my receipt said ‘w/​Chicken’, I told her no meat when she asked. She had them change the order but didn’t offer to refund me the extra dollar I was charged for the chicken. The manager fixed this, but seriously, I expected a little more out of this place. I won’t be back.

This is another review I feel compelled to write after coming here to get my boss’ lunch for years. Nora is a perfect example of what great customer service is. I applaud her for dealing with the long lines and crazy people with a smile on her face. Through the last couple of years we have become very friendly. If you have noted how great she is at her job, you should fill out the survey that is on your receipt because it will help her out.
For a long time my boss got the same thing every time, but we have convinced him to branch out and try new things. I bring my lunch so I rarely get food here, but I have had the tomato mozzarella sandwich before and really do like that one. Also, they have a seasonal Thanksgiving sandwich with turkey, cranberry sauce, and stuffing, that is amazing!

Man o man. I like Corner Bakery as a general matter and I really want to like this particular location because its on my coffee route… But good lord! How long does it take to TOAST a bagel? It takes so long that every time I order a toasted bagel, the time indicator flashes red on their order screens because its overdue: D
Today I counted 10, that’s right TEN employees. How many were doing work? Three were prepping for lunch and/​or cleaning. Five were talking around the registers. One was on break and another was bothering the one on break. And its always that way. On several occasions the managers are having meetings at one of the tables by the coffee station. Believe me, I know how crazy this location can get with the lunch crunch and I have literally been here for takeout and waited 40 mins.
Although I like the food and I like the people, the loooooooooong delays kill me. I’m gonna have to find a new coffee route.

Source of my first meal ever in Chicago… Didn’t realize that it was chain (it’s found on corners every few blocks!) and can be had in California or else I wouldn’t have ventured in… (I’m not really interested in eating at deli chains, I guess…)
I ordered the tomato mozzarela sandwich to go. Pretty good and even better once I took out a couple of large pieces of roasted red bell peppers. I really enjoyed the chips. Haven’t had anything quite like that before! YUM!

Ah «Corner Robbery». Is it possible to like the food at a place, but still hate the place? It just seems too expensive for what you get. Yeah it’s fresh, blah, blah, blah. I just feel like a mark paying $ 7 for a sandwich just because it’s on pretzel bread. However I have no problem when the company caters it in for lunch. Also, the menu seems quite stale. Sure it’s a chain joint, but even McDonald’s tries new things more than Corner Bakery.
I’m sure I’ll go back, though, because I’m among the million corporate stooges that eat lunch in the loop. If you have a White Hen buy your office, with a good Deli, give it a try as an alternative some time.