Chicago Restaurant Review: 5 Loaves Breakfast Café
Is 5 Loaves Breakfast Café Friendly to Vegetarians?
Chicago, IL 60626
United States of America
Cons: I got to the restaurant at 4:25 pm, and although the restaurant usually closes at 8:00 pm on Saturdays, 5 Loaves Breakfast Café closed early for the Memorial Day holiday. Although I wanted to order sides, the waitress told me that they only had a few sides left because the cook didn't prepare much since they were closing early. This left me with a baked potato, rice and gravy, corn, cole slaw, and potato salad to choose from. That's not much of a choice, and other restaurants, like Alice & Friends and Bennigans', have a more flexible ordering time. I recall going in the latter two restaurants 10 to 20 minutes before closing, and the cooks and waitresses had zero problems with serving me and a couple of friends with whatever we ordered. I'm not sure if 5 Loaves Breakfast Café was more concerned about their customers than they were about quitting time, but that definitely put a damper in the mood.
5 Loaves Breakfast Café does not sell half plates on weekends, only full plates. I'd strongly suggest 5 Loaves Breakfast Café check out other restaurants that sell soul food side items. Boston Market sells the Side Item Sampler® for $6.49, and the sides are about the same size as this location, but three sides at 5 Loaves Breakfast Café are $9.99. The cornbread tastes like Jiffy while Boston Market's cornbread tastes homemade. One of my favorite soul food vegetarian restaurants, Soul Vegetarian East, a few blocks from 5 Loaves Breakfast Café sells homemade cornbread that is tastier as well.
The bathroom is extremely small, and if you lift your knees, they'll touch the bottom of the sink. The gravy for the rice and gravy was bland and with a chicken base, so if a vegan were to come in the restaurant, that side would be eliminated from her choices. The variety of vegetarian dishes was a vegetable philly, vegetable burger, veggie quesadillas, and a vegetable sandwich, but the rest of the food mainly had meat. If I'd not been to Quench! where the selection was larger, I may have expected the small choices, but being in 5 Loaves Breakfast Café was about the same as being in any other restaurant where a vegetarian's choices are limited.
Pros: The atmosphere is friendly and colorful. There about 10-12 tables in 5 Loaves Breakfast Café, beautiful paintings of different women and shapes throughout the eating area, newspapers for customers to read, and juice jugs along the side of the entrance area. The jazz music that played as I entered the location was soothing, and although the area is medium-sized, the tables were spread out enough so people didn't have to be in each other's conversations if they didn't want to. The customer service was as excellent in 5 Loaves Breakfast Café as it was in Quench! both in person and the two times I called in. The baked potato I ordered was huge with plenty of sour cream and butter, and although another customer got the last side of yams, those looked delicious. I don't recall ever going into a restaurant that served my favorite beverage, grapefruit juice, so I grinned wide when I saw it on the menu.
I watched the waitress bring a burger and fries to another customer in a cute little decoration. If I were a meat eater, this would be a great place to eat for me, but I don't believe I'll frequent this location again. However, I will be testing out Quentin Love's Vegetarian Life and visiting Quench! often.
Published by Shamontiel
Shamontiel is the author of "Round Trip" and "Change for a Twenty," and in mid-October became the Chicago Tribune's Digital News Editor. She works on National Travel, Health and occasionally Breaking News, a... View profile
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10 Comments
Post a Comment"So you think you can be a vegetarian?" Check out my tips, recipes, shopping advice, and news all at one location: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/message-from-montie/2009/12/so-you-think-you-can-be-a-vegetarian.html
"A proud meat eater"? To each his own, I guess. I don't understand how someone can take pride in eating something that has been beaten, chained, taken away from family, and sometimes raped in order to feed my stomach, but hey, that's your business.
As a proud meat eater, I can say should I ever be in Chicago, I'll give this place a try. I like smaller, non-chain restaurants. But that's just me. Nice review. The bathroom sounded unpleasant, but, I generally avoid restrooms in restaurants.
Honest reviews are always helpful!
Jcorn, again, I'm glad that my review was appreciated. As for being a mystery shopper, the first couple of times I did it, all I was thinking was, "Free food! Free clothes!" The most awkward mystery shop for me was going in Marshall Field's (now Macy's, but at the time, Marshall Field's was still here) as a pregnant woman looking for maternity clothes. Now THAT was wild for me. I shrieked when I looked at a pregnant version of myself with that body suit you wear to see how the clothes will fit. After Marshall Field's, nothing could phase me. As for the bathrooms, I don't go anywhere without spare pocket-sized toilet tissue, toilet seat covers, and antibacterial ointment. I am the epitome of a germophobic, so looking at sanitation habits anywhere I go is natural for me. I found some really good restaurants, boutiques, and grocery store sales doing mystery shopping. Fresh out of college. Needed money. Easy job. I loved it!
You have my total admiration for being a mystery shopper. I did that one time and would NEVER do it again. I had to look so closely at the restaurant, every detail, that I lost my appetite. Plus, the restroom was truly disgusting, beyond what I might have noticed on my own. I shudder to remember...and I still appreciate this honest review of yours.
HWMNBN, wait, I don't want you to get the impression that the restaurant was not a good one. For a vegetarian, it may not be ideal, but then again, I did not try the vegetarian sandwiches. Because I only tried salad at Quench!, I wanted to see what the sides were like here, so that's what I ordered. Although I wasn't crazy about them or the prices, that doesn't mean other people may not like it. I believe the restaurants are all Chicago bound, but if you visit, YOU may really like it. I'll tell you this much. I'd rather visit 5 Loaves Breakfast Cafe again before I ever step foot in Olive Garden. The food is all right, but the only thing I'm crazy about in there is the bread. I don't want to sway anybody away from this place, but nothing I said was a lie so I guess I can't deny what's typed. I'm all about Quench! though. Check that article out!
Mmmm....Boston Market :-)
Cool, I'm glad you could appreciate it. I try to be fair in these reviews and have no bias. I made sure not to take photos inside and let them know I was a reviewer because I used to be a mystery shopper a few years back. You'd be surprised how differently folks treat you when they realize you are a reviewer or a mystery shopper. However, at both Quench! and 5 Loaves Breakfast Cafe, the employees were as pleasant over the phone as they were in person. Of course I had to admit that I was a reviewer to Quench! because I wanted to take photos inside, but the guy working the cash register was so nice that I doubt he could've topped it anyway. And even though 5 Loaves Breakfast Cafe was closing soon, they didn't rush me out the door. I liked that, although I wasn't that crazy about the food. I can't wait to go to Vegetarian Life. I wish they were open on Memorial Day because I know my family is going to make a bunch of food I don't eat over the holiday.
Your honest review is definitely appreciated :)