Cafe Selmarie

This place is all about their bakery up front. You cannot walk out without indulging in their drool worthy bakery items. We came here for brunch on a Saturday morning. We had to wait around 20 – 30 mins for a table of 2. We were trying to decide on which goodies to buy from hte bakery on our way out.
The ambience and the service at this place is quite good. We ordered the wild mushroom sandwich and the tomato soup. The sandwich was good — nothing too great. It was a little too rich and the roll was too buttery, it needed some pop to cut through the richness of it. The soup was ok — again nothing spectacular. The food on the menu was decent — the portion sizes are not over the top. One person can actually finish a dish.
The real star here is the bakery. WE got a slice of their black forest torte and the chocolate mocha torte. We also got some of the raspberry, and apricot jam cookies — mmm!!! All of this was soo decadent and delicious. I am still drooling over their black forest torte… absolutely delicious!

Went here late for desserts and it was delicious. My friends and I shared 3 desserts and it was all excellent, especially love the strawberry roulade. The service and coffee were good too. Great place to people watch.

Ever changing menu so you never get bored. Delicious bakery with delectable sweet treats. Friendly and courteous staff. What more do you need for your go-​to brunch place?

This place is a gem! I’ve been here a couple of times to pick up apple strudel (it is hands down my favorite!), and have also come for brunch.
On another note, I’ve noticed that the people here are really nice– the servers are great and I’ve had great interactions with other customers (striking up conversations with folks in line while waiting to order.)
Will I come back? Absolutely! If you’re in the area, definitely stop by.

Honestly, I come here for a cup of tea and one of their amazing bakery treats. It’s hard to narrow it down but my go to is the raspberry custard tart, pear tart, mixed fruit tart, or the strawberry custard tart. So many great treats to try! I have had brunch in the restaurant. It is also very good.
Located in the heart of Lincoln Square, there are many shops to check out if you have a long wait for a table.
Everyone is very welcoming and friendly.

It has a great atmosphere and tasty food; staff is very attentive, polite and smiley… Their pastries look amazing…

Excellent food and pastries for the past 30 years I’ve been going here. Kind, helpful staff and all the pastries are made fresh daily. Excellent location in the heart of Lincoln Sqaure. It was a pleasure growing up in this area with wonderful cafes like this. Great area and this iconic café is a big part why. Try the morning buns!

Mmmmmm, Good! From breakfast to lunch and dinner, i had them all! sweets are mmmm good!

This is my go-​to brunch place. Their menu rotates somewhat, but everything I’ve tried there is great (chilaquiles, biscuits & gravy, etc)! As a tip, you can also create your own «standard» breakfast by mixing and matching the side items. I often order a couple eggs, sausage, and toast from the sides menu a la carte, and the overall price is super reasonable. And when you order toast, they bring a mountain of it (like 6 half pieces of toast). Also, try the mimosas for an extra fun brunch. They are basically a glass of champagne with a splash of OJ, rather than the other way around. If not, their coffee is always fresh and tasty.
I’m not as big of fan of the dinner options, mostly because I find them to be rather pricey. For instance, one time my boyfriend and I literally got soup & salad for dinner and somehow the bill came out to $ 70. WUT. We never run into this problem at brunch. Also, the ambience in there screams brunch to me rather than dinner. Very sunny, and a great bakery in the front.

What a fantastic breakfast experience! We were looking for a place to have an early breakfast with our toddler. We took our chances on this place, even though it could have been «too nice». We got there and were greeted warmly. They gave us a booster seat for our son along with water with a top and a straw.
We ordered coffee (hot and refilled frequently! And perused the menu. Too many choices! We settled on cinnamon roll griddle cakes, corned beaf hash, and the kids breakfast with sausage. The kids plate came out first — perfect. And it was a delicious pancake, egg, and sausage. The griddle cake, topped with warm bacon bits, was incredible. Warm, gooey, and even good as leftovers! The corned beef hash had nice cuts of meat, and great flavor.
I want to make special note of the service. Our kid isn’t «bad», but they were very accommodating and sweet to our son. They didn’t balk when we had a toy car on the table or he played some drums with the fork and spoon. And they had a changing room and ample high chairs! We will definitely be back.

Lovely little café with a bakery in front (unfortunately not much room there to sit and eat) and a sit-​down dining restaurant in the back. The coffee is pretty dang good. (I had almost 3 cups of it, oops). Our waitress was great, she had a knack for never cutting us off in the middle of a conversation, and always seemed to know just when we wanted to order more food. The kitchen was a bit slow that night but we didn’t mind too much.

Good place in Lincoln Square to grab a meal. Rarely have to wait for a seat. Lunch menu has creative items on it, and there is an interesting mix of beers to choose from. Prices are reasonable for the quality of food.

Truly excellent food in an approachable setting. Welcoming to groups, excellent and attentive service. Definitely a wonderful pastry case as well, and expansive menu sure to please anyone. Would highly recommend.

Wait time for brunch was about 45 minutes, but it was worth it. Got the Cherry Italian Soda, asked but a chocolate croissant but they ran out! :(
I ended up with the pesto scramble. It’s scrambled eggs with sliced tomatoes sausages and potatoes. Very yummy. I would come back!

Continues to run a successful restaurant because of the high quality offerings. Whether it’s a coffee you are looking to quickly grab, nosh on one of their sinfully delicious bakery items, this is a great spot when in the area. On this trip I grabbed a spinach & ricotta croissant which was flaky, light and flavorful.

Fabulous bakery. Croissants are perfect and the cakes are to die for. This reminds me of the bakeries in Europe, where excellence is more than just piling on the sugar.

My fiancé and I had spotted this cute café on our way to The Bad Apple while on our date night in Lincoln Square so after filling up on our burgers we figured there was still plenty of room for dessert… after all — despite was anatomy and biology has evidenced I’m convinced there’s a separate stomach for dessert. The dessert stomach — it’s a real thing!
If I lived in Lincoln Square having this café within walking distance would be a real disaster because I’d find an excuse to go there for dessert all of the time. As it is I don’t live there so I had to choose that which looked the best. Even that was difficult because all of their cakes, chocolates and other desserts looked amazing. Ultimately I chose this apple cinnamon bread pudding thingy (I don’t remember exactly what it was called) and it was quite scrumptious. It was little pricy for this dessert, but this isn’t an every day commodity unless of course you have the money and calories to spare.
This place is quite cute because in the storefront they have the café items and a bar along the wall so you can sit and enjoy your well-​deserved dessert while people watching. They also have a back part where you can sit and enjoy the food as if it’s a sit down restaurant. I’d be interested to go back and sit there while also enjoying some of the other food items that they have, which are not all dessert.

Café Selmarie is an interesting amalgam of pastry shop, coffee shop, and restaurant.
When you enter it looks like it’s just a pastry shop with a few small tables for enjoying your purchase or sipping a cup of coffee. But proceed to the rear, and there is a fair-​sized restaurant.
The menu offers American, French, Italian, and (at least the night we visited) German food, plus other eclectic international cuisines.
We shared the Brussels sprout salad, which was good, a special leek and bacon flatbread that was phenomenal (gooey topping, crisp crust), and a special German sausage plate that was also tasty.
For dessert we selected a couple of pastries from the case out front. There’s a small wine list with many selections available by the glass.
Service was friendly and professional.
The place is kid friendly, and there were quite a few families dining the Friday night we went. An adjacent open area provides outside dining when the weather is nice, and place for the kids to run around.
If you’ve not been to Lincoln Square, it’s definitely a cute neighborhood to check out.

To be fair I ate here once and stopped in to buy some treats another time. This place is still tops to me if you happen to be in Lincoln Square. Your sweet tooth will thank you. Yes, parking is a bit of a chore here and the line for the restaurant can be a bit long at times but the food is really good.
My first introduction to the cherry streusel cake was at a family party and I was hooked. On a free early afternoon my husband and I had a late lunch there and while we did wait for a bit the food was delicious. Their pastries and other bakery such goodies are phenomenal. It is a tiny restaurant so it can get a bit claustrophobic, so if anything buy something to go. You won’t be sorry.

This place stole my heart. Upon walking in I thought it was just a nice cute little bakery with the normal cake and pastries. But little did i know upon looking around I saw one of the most unimaginable desserts i could even fathom in my mind til i saw it that combined 2 of my all time favorite desserts together. Which was a OREO CHEESECAKE!!! I always love cookie and cream shakes and cheesecake as there own dessert, but putting them together ugh.-DROOLING– I was with another friend the also enjoys cookie n crème just as much but there suggestion was that it would be better if the crust was oreo. On my note i believe it was amazing as it is.
Continuing on aside from the oreo cheesecake i ate breakfast there. It was pleasent we sat outside on a beautiful morning where it had a nice breeze and the sun was height enough to provide some warmth. Over seeing the people walking about with there families and the water fountain brought a family welcoming vibe to the place such as a park.
Ordering food got a bit confusing because we were looking at there menu, but it was different from the sit down menu so that happened. I ordered the salmon eggs benedict. I’m a big salmon fan getting it for breakfast was a no brain-​er. the salmon was smoked to cook the begal used as the base gave it the crispy texture, the grilled asparagus added to the smokey taste, and the egg on top when cut through with the drizzling yolk gave it moisture and was the final flavor when combine with everything made it all perfect for a healthy breakfast in the morning waking all my taste buds.

Was there for a brunch last Sunday. The terrace was full and they had a long waiting list — as we could expect for a beautiful sunny Sunday morning, so I just took some food to go.
Their pastry is so delicious! I remember having a banana chocolate éclair, a chocolate croissant and some raspberry chocolate tart. Huge portions and everything is so tasty!
I also heard their flourless chocolate cake is worth trying, but I didn’t had enough appetite… next time!

I’ve stopped into their bakery part more often than I can remember, whether it was because I desperately needed coffee (their iced coffee will wake you right up) or because they have a great selection of delicious deserts. I recommend the iced coffee for wake up purposes but I truly don’t have a recommendation for the sweets, everything I’ve had from this place was delicious, so just go with what you’re in the mood for once you get inside (this strategy doesn’t fail at selmaries).
I remember having lunch there once, but it was a while back and I can’t say that it was a memorable one. However, I just glanced at their brunch menu and it looks amazing. I’ll definitely have to stop by there for brunch in the near future.

I was feeling a bit under the weather this morning, and what would be a remedy? A place that serves vegetarian-​friendly brunch to boost up my blood-​sugar level so that I could make it to work this afternoon.
Daddy J., Mama J., and Rosa J. participated in the brunch date at Café Selmarie, «inside» of the commercial strip on the Lincoln Ave. A portion of the Café Selmarie resembled a regular, express-​version of coffee shop. However, a server would take you to your seat if choosing to dine in.
I personally went with something that would be comforting: vegetarian chili. Initially, I was slightly intimidated by the heavy layer of cheddar cheese. After I had a few bites, I realized that veggie chili was quite light. The bread that came with was also hearty and delicious. My energy-​level was immediately restored upon finishing my vegetarian chili.
Daddy’s turkey & cheddar sandwich and mama’s berry cheesecake were seemingly well-​crafted. They were satisfied with the qualities of the food, yet they expressed a minor compliant on the speed of service. Unfortunately, I was under the time crunch since I had to make it to work by a certain time. I’m normally an individual who dislikes «schedules» when it comes to munching.
Overall, Café Selmarie has met the expactation of being a healthy, relaxing, and family-​friendly breakfast/​brunch/​dinner place. The prices were fair in comparison to similar competitors around town ($ 20.48 for a party of 3). I will definitely tell my vegetarian husband about this lovely joint.

I am a big lover of Café Selmarie and have been coming here for the past two years. The food has never disappointed and is always good.
My only hiccup is the ever-​changing management and wait staff. It seems that overtime that I come here, which is usually for lunch and/​or dinner, there are a couple new staff members. Some of which can be overbearing and brusque.
So, my advice to the Selmarie management, please dedicate a bit more time to training your staff!
Regardless, this café is situated in the best spot in the Lincoln Square neighborhood. A wonderful place to walk through on a beautiful Saturday afternoon with friends and do some shopping.
With that being said, I would recommend this restaurant to anyone who loves good food and delicious pastries.

I used to think brunch was a really lame concept. But these past few brunches with my girlfriends have me in love and ready to pounce on the next brunch invitation that comes my way.
The Saturday brunch on the patio at Café Selmarie was a relaxing (and delicious!) experience. They don’t take reservations, but it was only about a 20 minute wait in the late morning. The view on the patio is of lovely Lincoln Square, with a fountain, lots of shady trees, and families gathering in the park.
I dove into my White Russian Iced Coffee, topped with real whipped cream. The Bourbon Cherry French Toast was dripping with mascarpone cheese and cherries soaked in booze. Deciding between sweet and savory is a tough choice, but I did not regret this one! My friend’s smoked salmon breakfast looked like a good, savory competitor.
On my way out I bought a Blood Orange Italian soda to-​go. Any café that has both blood orange and lavender syrups available has my heart.
Even if I don’t make it to Selmarie for brunch again, I will definitely stop in for a latte or Italian soda, and some of their baked goods, next time I’m in Lincoln Square.

Café Selmarie was the choice for our Brunchy Brunch meet up for May. I’ve seen how packed Lincoln Square is on Saturday mornings and I was a little worried that we’d have to wait a long time for a table. CS won’t seat incomplete parties either. But once all three of us arrived, the wait for an outside table was minimal.
Al Fresco dining is always what I prefer, but do know that dining on their patio here you’ll pretty much be front seat to all the little kids running around in the square. Well, I’m here sans kid, with some great friends and CS’s delicious iced White Russian coffee in hand and all that activity is quickly forgotten.
Thank you Osi V for opening with the cinnamon roll – it was definitely big enough for the 3 of us to get a good taste. It was a great opener – subtle cinnamon flavor and delicious icing.
For my main, I opted for the smoked salmon breakfast – cold-​smoked atlantic salmon, thinly sliced, with scrambled eggs, capers, red onion and a toasted english muffin and a side of cream cheese. I subbed the potatoes for fruit and received fresh pineapple and orange slices. The smoked salmon was of excellent quality and very tasty. The scrambled eggs were fluffy and well made. It was all very very good.
Service was friendly, although our server seemed a bit harried – I wonder if she had too many tables to take care of.
Before we left, I bought some oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip walnut cookies from their bakery to take home. These cookies are exactly the way I like – more crispy than soft/​chewy. Perfect with a glass of ice cold milk.