Bockwinkel’s

While staying at Chicago’s Hyatt Regency on Upper Wacker, I was trying to find a place to get some snacks for the late night munchies. The hotel conveniently had a place that opened late into the night but there was a mark up of at least 50% on most items there.
I decided to take a walk outside and look to see what was around. In cool cement forests of downtown, I found a place just about 100 yards from the entrance to the hotel that had everything I needed. Bockwinkel’s is a nice little market that has everything from fresh produce to snacks, alcohol and pastries. I was excited to find this place and actually buy stuff that was reasonably priced.
I think the best part was the fact that they were open from 7AM to midnight everyday making it a very convenient location for me to get to at whatever time was convenient to me. I read some of the other reviews and tried to assess for myself. I thought their pies appeared fresh and the ones I looked at didn’t appear to fit the descriptions previously stated and everything else seemed to be up to par. They probably turned things around a bit.

I work at an office building nearby and have used their catering service twice for cookie and fruit trays. The trays were delivered picture perfect. The fruit was a fresh assortment of melons, strawberries, grapes and kiwi. The cookie tray was an assortment of chocolate chip, oatmeal, sugar, red velvet and peanut butter with peanut halves baked in.
Tom and Heather are a pleasure to work with, they understand customer service and demonstrate it from start to finish.

Bought a slice of banana cream pie that was supposed to expire in 8 days and there’s mold on the almonds. Terrible. Called to complain and all they offered was a refund and no explanation or offer to pull the product. Should only go here if you’re desperate or buying pre packaged items and even then you should check the expiration dates

Entrance is on corner of Stetson Ave and E South Water.
Great selection of ready to eat foods with a microwave to heat items up.

I work in an office building nearby and this is a great place to grab sandwiches and salads for lunch. Sandwiches are made fresh at the deli counter. The salad bar has a great selection of veggies and other toppings (like giardinara, cranberries, premade salads, fruit etc etc). They also have nice grilled chicken breast on the salad bar, not mystery meat chicken that you may get at chain salad places. Best of all is that they always offer you $ 2 coupons off a $ 7 purchase at the salad bar or deli. I make a pretty hearty salad and it still only costs me about $ 5 – 6 with the coupon. Great deal compared to the other salad places around!

Apart from fruit, there is pretty much nothing healthy in this store.

Good selection of items, everyday low prices.

Worse place ever… Rude employees incompetent manager
Place is dead for good reason lazy workers shows off the dust and grime that needs to be wiped down inside

Having spent 2 years in the apartment complex upstairs, Bockwinkel’s was my lifeline. After a night in River North, I knew I could count on Bockwinkel’s for delicious coffee and the softest bagels in the city. I’m dead serious. These bagels are the bomb. When I moved out of my apartment, I was sad to leave those delicious cinnamon raisin morsels behind. Whenever I’m back in the neighborhood, I make it a point to grab a few of those babies before heading back to Wicker Park.
Aside from the bagels, the staff is equally as awesome. Not to mention, they have a great deli that offers fresh sandwiches and pasta salads. There’s also an extensive salad bar and a selection of pre-​made meals. Overall, it is more expensive for some of the name-​brand goods, but that’s to be expected when you have a grocery store in the middle of the Loop.
I’ll still be back for those bagels. Cheers guys!

This little grocery store was perfectly stocked with everything this out-​of-​towner needed.
SOME MMMM HOT FOOD
Upon entry, the first thing you’ll see is the Deli and produce. Serving hot Boar’s Head sandwiches, pastries, and hot soups, this was reason enough for me to get here. The prices were reasonable as well. Since it was cold outside, I was craving some hot Soup so I grabbed a Tomato Vegetable one and ate it at the handful of tables near the entrance.
There’s also more prepared food around the deli such as packaged Sandwiches, Noodles, and garnishes.
LITTLE PLACE GREAT SELECTION
Despite its size, Bockwinkel’s seemed to contain all the basics for a meal away from home. The produce areas contained many of the popular Fruits and Veggies. In the back, all the staples and building blocks of cooking such as Oil, Cereal, Eggs, TV Dinners, Meat, marinades etc were there. Price-​wise it was a tad higher than what I was used to paying for back in Florida (but I understand BOTH being in Chicago AND Downtown overall prices were higher) so this was reasonable.

I was in town recently, staying at a nearby hotel, and didn’t want to spring for ridiculous room service prices so I sought out local carryout options.
Bockwinkel’s was located close by and upon walking in, looked like it would fit the bill. They pretty much have everything including ready made sandwiches, snack foods, and beer. Best of all, there was a deli stand where you could order anything prepared to order — a very nice alternative to chain sub shops.
I picked up a pretty good turkey on rye at the deli counter, freshly prepared, plus some miscellaneous snack foods, all for a fraction of what I would have paid for hotel room service.
Overall, I was impressed by Bockwinkel’s — it was clean, well stocked, and the deli counter service was thorough and friendly.
Definitely worth a visit if you work in the area or are just visiting…

You can find almost everything here. The operating hours awesome and the service is great. I believe it’s a bit more expensive than other supermarkets around, so if you you’re shopping for your family, I would consider checking out larger and cheaper places.

If you are staying in the Hyatt Regency, this is your go to supermarket. They have almost everything you need, from alcohol to fresh fruits to a salad bar to snacks.
I came her to buy water, wine, bananas, bagels. Its convenient!

Love this place downtown. When I stay at the Downtown Loop Hyatt this place is great to have. Much larger than it looks, it has almost everything you would find in much larger stores. They even have caryout beer to take back to your room!!! ;-)

I visit bockwinkles at least once a week for lunch, mainly because it’s close to my office. The great thing about this place is that it’s downtown without the «downtown prices». They have a wide selection of soups that rotate by day and you can see what they have each day on the website or by stopping in. They do combos soup and salad or soup and sandwich which is nice. The salad bar has a great selection of salad toppings and dressings. The sandwich choices are endless since they have a full deli. I do wide they had a better bakery selection, besides the apple pie slices, I haven’t had much in the way of sweets from there that I have loved. The best part about this place is they give you a $ 2.00 off coupon every time you visit and you can use it towards any deli purchases.

I’m a little disappointed in this place today. I got an Italian already made sandwich from their deli area. the line to the actual deli was a bit long and I was on the run so just decided this would be quicker. Also grabbed a fudge brownie. The brownie was fantastic!
The sandwich was less than desirable. You can see for yourself in the pictures below. The meat still had frozen ice on it and impossible to bite into as it was freezing cold. The bread was defrosted already but everything else was just not good.
I was actually here the day before and grabbed a case of beer that was sold in a can that no where else sold. Also grabbed a bottle of water and the checkout process was pretty good. I gave it a 2 star because i would have given 4 for yesterday and 1 today.
Maybe I will try the salad bar next time. Maybe.
The very interesting things about the store:
As you walk in, there are seats right on front of you. You enter the store on the right. (outside of the store, there are plenty of outside seating which is fab!). Soon as you enter, you’re greeted with the salad bar on your left. As you enter farther, all the deli stuff is right in front of you. As you walk around the salad bar, you’re at the soup station and there are several choices to choose from. On the other side of the salad bar is the deli counter where sandwiches can be made to order as well as lots of options for pastries. In front of that are some already made sandwiches and pastries to go. there is nothing fancy here however.
As you turn to the right after the deli counter, there is an oven with roasted chicken and other things going on inside. if you don’t noticed it you can seriously burn yourself! and just after that is a whole couple of isles of booze — all sorts: hard liquor, wine and beers. Further in is a fridge of booze as well for those wanting it cold right on the spot.
Once you exit out and walk into (after the bottle neck of the store) you’re in a grocery store with a pretty good variety of every day household needs.
There are a few cashier stations as you exit. The lines usually go pretty quickly. I looked at my receipt and it seemed there are taxes and fees for everything! including water… lol. that’s just so new to me lol. the good thing… $ 2 off next $ 7 purchase in salad bar, desserts and sandwiches… yay!

This place was right behind my hotel, though I didn’t really pay attention to it because it looked like a barfront. On my last day in Chicago, I ran over there instead of down to CVS or across to the East Tower overpriced Starbucks store. It was a pleasant surprise. They had anything I could want for my drive home, at good prices. In typical my Dad style, he raised us to always buy scratch-​em lottery tickets when we were out of town. So I got one, and won $ 5.

Pretty good spot for lunch at an extremely reasonable price this side of the loop (talking 4 – 6 dollars for more than you can eat). They carry a variety of boar head meats, have 6 – 7 soups on selection, a fresh salad bar, and a pretty good choice of desserts. My biggest gripe about their sandwiches is the bread they use; could be so much better if they didn’t use generic bread.
Don’t forget to print out a $ 2 off coupon from the website.

«Bockwinkel’s» sounds like something in the Urban Dictionary. A slang fussy name for something else.*
But it’s an ok deli and grocery store. Their strong suits are the sandwiches and salad bar. The grocery lacks selection and is overpriced. This is ideal for Lunch and carry out.
*no offense to readers named Bockwinkel or if that’s still the owners name. It just sounds similar to a word such as Tallywacker, Dingleberry, ect.

I go to this place quite often for lunch — they have a great salad bar and I’ve had a few of their soups and all were delicious. It’s even better with the $ 2 coupon they constantly give out.
I don’t shop here for regular groceries because they are more expensive than other grocery stores nearby; however, if I need something and don’t want to walk an extra few blocks to get it, then this is my go-​to grocery store.