Caffe Baci

Baci is a vaguely Italian spin on the coffee shop. You can get sandwiches (some premade, some grilled), salads, pizzas made in a wood fired oven and of course, desserts. My stop was for breakfast and I went with an English muffin sandwich that had scrambled eggs, Parmesan and sausage.
I do appreciate they make eggs to order vs microwaving an «egg patty». That means orders will take a few minutes, but I don’t mind when something is freshly cooked. Overall it was a «good» sandwich and not terribly priced at less than $ 6.
If you like coffee, they have an extensive list of coffee drinks for you. Staff is typical fast-​food disinterested. A big plus is that the interior here is huge so even on busy days you should be able to find a place to sit.

Bumping this up because, quite randomly, Baci makes one hell of a breakfast burrito. The sausage has a bit of a kick and the tortilla is nice and fluffy after spending some time in the pizza oven. The biggest surprise to me was the salsa — it’s pre-​made and portioned when you order, but it’s absolutely delicious.

Holiday Inn and Suntimes building lobby coffee shop. They make a nice latte, a bit on the milky side. Standard pastries and scones in a glass case. Some sandwiches.

The food was excellent! The only reason I’m not giving it 5 stars is that the restaurant and line are a bit tricky to navigate.

fresh from this morning.
bought a butter croissant for breakfast and went up to work. got some coffee and took a first bite to find a long piece of hair entangled inside. seriously, if it wasn’t the first bite, i would have probably swallowed it. it was disgusting.
brought it down for a refund and one of the employees brought it to someone who looked like manager/​owner (asian lady) but she didn’t even seem to be fazed by it which gave me the impression that this happens quite often.

This is in my building, so over the past five plus years I’ve eaten here at least a few dozen times. Some things I really hate, but other things I love. The soups are so expensive, but delicious. The pizzas are too big for one person, but the arugula one is also great. Not a fan of the cluster-​f&#% that is created by the multiple lines. Do like that I can get an entrée without sauce if I want. And the staff here is really friendly.

I got one of my favorite sandwiches, the «Classico» and it didn’t disappoint, fresh bread, just the right amount of meat to cheese ratio. My wife got a salad, she said it was really good with a nice dressing.

Love getting breakfast from here!

I work across the street and finally decided to give this place a shot. Their selection is huge — it was very crowded and the line is somewhat disorganized — one long line filters down to multiple lines depending on what you want — pizza, pasta, etc. I had a Sonora Wrap — it was basically pre-​made, wrapped in plastic and given to me cold. I was not impressed, it felt like something you’d get at an airport kiosk. I might go back and try something else, but for wraps/​paninis I think there are better options around.

I LOVE scones. I ADORE Scones, made right. This place does scones right, not dry.
I have tried Blueberry, cinnamon and raspberry.
Cinnamon being my favorite. Way better than Panera and some other shops offering scones.
Cashier always super friendly.
Will try lunch soon.

I really liked their outside seating. They also have a very nice inside seating area too. The food was mediocre and a bit pricey. The ordering layout was very cumbersome.
I followed the queue to approach the counter. Then they are 5 or 6 sections for salad, pasta, sandwich, soup, pizza and something else. Should I pass the person in front of me waiting for the pizza to get my pasta? Should I wait till she’s done? First time, I did wait then people passed like I was invisible. And the staff behind counter was too busy loading her stuff instead of helping customers.
I tried once pasta with marinara sauce and once the Cobb salad. Pasta was an obvious wrong choice as it was cooked for a long time and sat there for a long time. The Cobb salad was better but the spring mix was not super fresh so I had to pick some brown leaves out.
Sorry, Caffe Baci, I have to go to your next door for lunch.

Cool concept but a bit pricey. My lunch special (some kind of sauteed chicken with vegetables) was around $ 9 plus tax and it was hardly filling.
We were here with a group of nine. Two of us ordered salmon and at $ 12 for cafeteria food, I wasn’t willing to pay that much. The sandwiches did look good though.
Also, where on Earth is the bathroom? Heaven forbid they put out some hand sanitizer since the restrooms are no where to be found.

Good salad and pizza. But the real star is the gelato. I come here with cowokers for a treat.

I really like the food at Caffe Baci, and the fact that they have plenty of seating, unlike other casual places in the loop. I can sit alone and read without feeling like a jerk for taking a table for myself.
But they have the most annoying and inefficient line situation I’ve ever experienced. I always order a salad, either the trio or the gourmet. I have to wait in line behind the pizza, pasta and sandwich people (or the newbies who don’t understand the line situation), just so I can squeeze by to get to the salad ordering stations. And the ordering stations don’t match the menus hanging directly above them, which adds to the confusion. It’s a total free-​for-​all, and it’s a mess.

I walk into a lunch meeting at my office, see Café Baci bags and then become frustrated at the sandwich and salad choices. Baci’s food is great, but I might as well order deep dish pizza. The sandwiches are nearly impossible to make healthy. The ingredients are fresh, the bread is warm, soft, and salty, and the preparation is perfect. While the sandwiches are high quality, they are high calorie too. They are all about the Italian bread, cheese, and pesto. The Galiano and the Baci Tuna are great.
When I go into the café for lunch, the made to order salads are a much better option. Last week, i ordered the Tuscan but subbed out the Salami for grilled chicken and held the cheese. I’m sure the oily olives weren’t super-​healthy, but I was loving the marinated artichokes, olives, and peppers. My salad was great. My friends got a pizza and the apple walnut salad. My friend complained that her normally tasty pizza, was made watery by the tomatoes. Apparently, the Walnut Salad had way too much Gorgonzola. Being a picky orderer at Baci is apparently very important.
The service at Baci is great, the seating area spacious, and the patio is nice, but the order line is chaos. The long lines is divided into four ordering stations and all are cramped into one line. It also can get pretty loud. If you work in the west loop, Baci is unavoidable. Baci is tasty, but its not an everyday option if you want to stay fitting into your suits. My suggestion to Baci is to make a more interchangeable menu and watch the oil and cheese. Its a sandwich!

My company for a while always got catering from this place and not going to lie it was pretty good. Finally I decided… what the hell lets go here for lunch! This location gets packed quick and they’ve a patio so it is quite popular. They have a huge selection of salads, meals and sandwiches. I love, love, love, love, love the tuna salad and chicken salad here! There are big chunks of tuna and chicken and just the right amount of seasonings and mayo. Sorry… I will not eat chicken or tuna salad any where else since it comes out 90% mayo and 10% meat… ick!
I would give them four stars but: they are a bit pricey, and the lines they have are a hot mess since there are multiple lines for the stations.

The Caffè Baci montra says it all «Fast, Authentic, Italian, Chicago.» You walk into a beautifully designed interior with great food, exceptional service and enough breathing room to not get claustrophobia *hard to find in the city).
I went into Caffè Baci expecting a trendy place to pickup a snack with the family and got more than I bargained for. They offer authentic recipes and modern interpretations of Italian gourmet food for a reasonable price. Where else can you drop-​in and find over 20 fresh salads sans-​hippie.
Monterrey sandwich ($ 7.49) was an unexpectedly good to eat. The applewood smoked ham, sharp provolone, avocado, tomato slices, basil pesto mayo on a bollo roll works well together overloading your tastebuds. You can’t just stop there can you? No, no, no silly rabbit.
If you’re into smoothies (let’s be honest, who isn’t?) try the Dreamberry smoothie ($ 4.75 large). It’ll blow your mind and make you forget all about Jamba whatever. This fresh fruit smoothie tickles your tastebuds and brings you back to those warm summer days when you were a kid. Don’t know what I mean? Try one anyway, you can thank me now.
In addition to some great salads and smoothies, the pizza is decent too. I recommend finding your poison and giving it a try, I don’t see how you can go wrong with Caffè Baci.
They made a really small mistake on our order and gave us one of their mouth watering peanut butter cookies ($ 1.69). To. Die. For.
Remember folks: Eat Italian. Dream Italian.

I like Baci a lot. I agree with other Unilocalers — 1. It’s expensive. 2. It’s confusing (the line (s)).
But, go next door to Roti and you pay $ 8 for rice, veggies, and meat (that’s eh) I pay $ 8 for meat, bread, and veggies. I haven’t had anything here I haven’t really liked.
The salads are good, the sandwiches are better. I’m not a big pasta fan for lunch but the one time I was having a fat craving I got the garlic alfredo pasta and it was pretty good.
Their tuna salad is awesome… both versions. The Gallina sandwich is super good. The portofino panni could use a few more mushrooms but it’s good. Haven’t had the pizza. Their side salads are good too.
Yeah — it’s a bit pricey, but look where you’re at — Highest sales tax, highest parking rates, highest gas prices. If I can just convince myself that Lean Cuisine for $ 1.62 is a filling satisfying lunch… eeeee gads.

I love thin crust traditional Italian style pizza, and I love NY style thin crust pizza. Bacci definitely qualifies as thin crust, but the comparison stops there. I ordered the Milano (Arugula, Prosciutto, and shaved Paremesan), which was simply okay. The ingredients were definitely fresh, especially the arugula… but the pizza as a whole just didn’t do it for me. I think the lack of melted cheese, non-​existent sauce and slightly burnt prosciutto pretty much did it in. It’s only saving grace was the wood burning oven, but not even that can save this Italian disgrace.
My other complaint about Bacci is the extraordinarily confusing order process. You walk up to the counter and there is a gaggle of customers standing around, some looking at the menu, some ordering, some waiting for their pizza, some just staring at the wall. You have no idea who to order from and what line to get into. I swear there were at least 4 different lines that led absolutely no where.
Overall, Bacci is a merely adequate lunch spot with poser Italian food, a bad layout, and high prices. You can get better value elsewhere.

For the brief time I worked in this building, this was the go-​to spot on days when I didn’t feel like hiking my lazy ass anywhere else. Which meant, in my case, at least twice a month.
Not that the food is bad, just very uninspired. And looks are very deceiving. Like, for example the pesto tortellini salad. Yes, it looks very tasty and well displayed at the counter. But it had such a rubbery and stale texture to it, I really couldn’t eat it. The spaghetti and meatball lunch special was the same way. No kick at all to the very plain sauce. No spice, no real flavor. Meatballs were the same. Just almost tasteless.
I did like their sandwiches though, and thoroughly enjoyed my Mozza e Pom Pannini. But that brings me to the matter of price. For a small sandwich, a bag of chips, and a medium drink, my total was somewhere in the range of $ 15. I mean, come on, the sandwich consisted of tomatoes and cheese. Not gold-​plated duck liver, for cripes sake! But I guess that’s the price I paid for convenience and laziness on my part.
But the one plus was the staff and the general cleanliness of the place. The tables were immediately cleared, and cleaned, and every cashier and order taker was always phenomenally friendly. Extra star for that alone.