Reviews for Plein Air Cafe in Chicago, IL
Chill little university cafe with good baked goods & coffee, also hot items which got good reviews from our group. Good music... which is a plus. Only drawback is it gets pretty packed. Read more
Cool hidden gem on U of C campus, right next door to a frank loyd home. Love the courtyard and coffee and food is great.
I went on a Wed @1p & it was PACKED. Very loud. Very busy. Before going I didn’t realize that it was on the U of C campus. I... ordered the grilled cheese, mushroom & kale pot pie, & a homemade chai. The latter 2 were m delicious. I would go again butavoid the busy student times. Also, parking sucks. There is absolutely nowhere to park. So good luck! Read more
Breakfast was great. I'd prefer my eggs and ham warm, guess it's the style they make/serve it, next time I'll ask for it warmed... up, but other than that great place, great hospitality and service! Read more
1 check-in We stopped by Plein Air for brunch on our final day in Chicago before heading to the airport. It's super convenient... to the University of Chicago, so the vibe is very young and airy. There's plentiful outdoor seating and the inside of therestaurant is beautiful - lots of bright, clean whites and modern furnishings. They were very busy when we got there, with nosigns of letting up. You get in line to place your order at the counter. We arrived at around 11:20 and didn't get up to placeour order until 11:55. It was a pretty slow moving line. The specific time only stands out because they serve breakfast itemsuntil 12. That's what I wanted to eat. Mercifully, even though we cut it super close, the employee agreed to put in mybreakfast order. Unfortunately, they were out of breakfast potatoes and they asked if they could substitute with a salad. Thatreally wasn't what I wanted at all, but not much to be done about it, so I accepted. We all placed our orders to go. To-goorders are shouted out through a window into the outdoor dining area. We tried our best to sit and enjoy our drinks while wewaited, but they had a serious influx of yellow jackets that day that simply would not leave us alone, so that dampened thingssome. My two friends' orders came out a lot quicker than mine, perhaps because they ordered from the lunch menu, but eventuallywe got it and walked onto the U Chicago campus to escape the yellow jackets. My food was alright. I ordered the two egg plate,with scrambled eggs, bacon, toast with jam and breakfast potatoes (which were substituted with a side salad). The eggs werebeautiful and overall decent but cooked a little hard for my preference - I prefer runnier scrambled eggs. I didn't like mysalad because it was mostly arugula and I just straight up don't like arugula. The bread for the toast and jam was nice andcrusty, but the jam (I'm guessing blackberry?) wasn't sweet at all. I was really hoping for some fresh, Read more
Spent several hours and two meals there. The homemade chai mix was flavorful and not too sweet. The beignet was very doughnut-y... and light. The tomato avocado salad was delicious but a tad small. Sandwich was large and very good. Staff was nice even when itgot very busy for late lunch rush. Read more
The home baked pastries that were fantastic. I recall saying "this is really good" several times while eating. The Mocha was... probably the best I have had. The patio was lovely and the property butts up to a Frank Lloyd Wright building. The breakfastburritos and potatoes were good. There were a fair amount of yellow jackets outside which were annoying at times. Read more
Good, clean food. Staff stayed calm and in control, even with high lunch hour traffic. Coffee was delicious! In and outdoor... seating available. Read more