Ikram Cafe

Nice décor, quiet. Food was ok, nothing special. It took forever. An hour and twenty minutes to get soup and a salad. If you’re going to be this full of yourself, have the food and service to back it up. Almost any restaurant around this place would have been a better choice.

This is a perfect place if you truly want to be in a place that you can catch up with people without the too much noise. I went here for an afternoon tea with friends and it was superbly done!
Overall the café has the perfect ambiance and the staff are just the best!

The décor and waiting staff was excellent. When I go out to eat I expect fair service, otherwise I would just eat at home. I brought my fiancé there and she was awed by the design of the place, we came in at 10:30am and we had to wait about 10 minutes to get seated. We were the first customers there. They were still getting ready and printing menus. The food was alright, I think I expected more from the omelette because everyone and their moms hypes it up on Unilocal.We were served olives, fresh bread, and butter. I ordered the Omelette and my girlfriend ordered the pasta. Then they gave us cookies for dessert.
* I heard the chef yelling at the kitchen at the waiting staff about making him work right when he got in. It made it feel like my meal was not made with love and rushed. I mean their listed hours was 10 am. I would figure he could whip up eggs by 10:45 am. I felt bad for the waiting staff and give them a good tip.

Took my daughter for lunch. Perfect spot to catch up. The intimate room size along with a wait staff that was attentive but not intrusive made for a terrific experience. Food was above average and very reasonably priced. Taking a 29 year old to a spot where you need to walk through a dress shop was dangerous. Happy to report I made it out unscathed. All in all, a really nice experience.

I have not had such a terrible experience dining out in a long time. My sister was in town from California so we were spending a fun day downtown. My other sister raved about the omelette here so we sat down hungry and excited to try it. There were seven of us, two of our party met us here during their lunch hour from work. We ordered and all of us ended up ordering the omelette. We were chatting and chatting and having a wonderful time and then there is that moment when everyone realizes wow, this taking a long time. We waited some more and the two lunch hour girls started getting antsy and when we asked our waiter if our food would be out soon his answer was no. After waiting FIFTY MINUTES the two workers left without eating lunch. It was awkward and deflating and everyone at the table felt terrible for the two that were going back to their desks hungry. My husband got up to complain and ended up talking to the chef, explaining to her that we had watched at least two tables come in after us (well after us) and were eating their lunch and we were still waiting. She said she doesn’t have seven omelette pans and wait for it. .. that she was offended that our table ordered seven omelettes. That she was OFFENDED that our table ordered seven omelettes. We should have walked out then but we waited some more and ate in silence when our food did come.
The food is delicious but that is meaningless to me. I would never go there again. Ever.

This place is fantastic!
The café is located in a modern red building, the ground floor is a clothing store and when you walk up the stairs and past a gallery of nice art pieces, you are approaching a beautiful café!
It feels like a real restaurant, with everything one could wish for, but it is a café, so the small menu is nothing to complain about. We loved the real flowers on the table and the tasty bread and salted butter to begin with. We shared the bison burger and the salad with all 5 choices, and both were fantastic. The burger was perfect and the salad creations were very creative and delicious as well! For dessert we had the blueberry and peach galette and the strawberry sorbet, the perfect end of a great early dinner!
Definitely worth a visit!

First off, how to get here:
1. Get on your phone and get your GPS going
2. Look for a red building that looks like a very fancy clothing store
3. Go inside the store, walk your girlfriend/​fiancé/​wife quickly by all the very-​nice-​yet-​super-​expensive stuff, up the stairs past what appears to be an art gallery entrance, and you’ll find this place
Once you arrive, you’ll find a cool little lunch spot that may seem a bit stuffy at first on appearance (because it’s nicely decorated — i’m not an art expert but it’s probably modern or contemporary or something like that) but is quickly dispelled by friendly and welcoming service.
My wife and I both had the bison burger, which was perfectly cooked but maybe a notch too juicy. Good problem to have. Some random complementary small plates, like fresh grilled shishito peppers, were dropped off which was a nice touch. The bottle of wine we had matched perfectly with everything we ate, and the dessert, which was a small portion of cherry sorbet, was unexpectedly mind-​blowing. The Chef was out talking to some other patrons and we had a chance to thank him while we were walking out.
Awesome meal on a great summer day in Chicago. Highly recommend Ikram Café and appreciate the good service from Nathan. Note: Not sure of the hours, but I’m pretty sure they were the same as the store. They don’t serve dinner.

My husband and I had a great lunch here and would have never known about this place if it weren’t for Unilocal.It’s set above a clothing store in a very unique red building. As we ate we saw many people come up and then leave… don’t be scared, this place was great.
Nathan was our server and you can tell he really enjoys what he does. He was part of the reason our meal was so great. The food was fresh and well put together. Nathan explained to us that they are open until about 6 p. m and often host meals before theater.
The food is fresh, the service is friendly and knowledgeable and the people watching is one of a kind.

When our business partner suggested meeting here for lunch I was kind of unexcited. From her description, I imagined something like the old Bonwit Teller restaurant in NYC, where «ladies who lunch» would gather for a meal of crustless watercress sandwiches after a rough morning shopping for designer clothes. This image was not dispelled on arriving at the shop, which seems geared toward outfitting the well-​to-​do of Chicago’s tonier neighbourhoods.
Once you approach the café, however, the situation starts to improve. First of all, the area before the café is devoted to a very interesting art gallery with some truly unusual art, and a little shop selling design items and artistic goods. Then you get to your table and see the menu, which is devoid of watercress sandwiches and is instead full of interesting sandwiches, salads and other dishes that make ample use of locally sourced produce from the area’s farmer markets. Everything we had (I had a turkey banh mi sandwich) was excellent and interesting, and served by an enthusiastic waiter who was very excited by all the cool things on the menu. The other diners were a motley crew, and not at all the type of lady I was expecting. And best of all, the pricing is not stratospheric.

This restaurant was the most amazing lunch I’ve had in Chicago. I am visiting from Pennsylvania so I just used Unilocal to find restaurants. This restaurant got 5 stars on Unilocal,and I am absolutely sure Ikram deserved it.
Dishes that were beyond amazing were
the 3 – 5 salad dish and all soups.
Desserts are absolutely outstanding.
The service and staff were pleasing.
The owner was super nice and amazing, for she let my daughter go in and see the chef prepare our food.
The overall feel of the restaurant was great and they were very catering to gluten-​free and vegan diets.
Ikram is now my favorite restaurant in Chicago and I definitely hope to come back.

Stopped in for lunch after a disastrous attempt at Eataly. This café is a fancy respite in the middle of the city. Do not be distracted by the $ 7,000 bracelets and $ 1800 belts, just continue up the stairs to the café. I had an order of kale chips, an omelette, and coffee. It was all so simple, yet so good. Great place to impress a friend who things they ‘know’ Chicago.

Amazing food, great wine, and perfect atmosphere for a lunch date or business meeting or just a fancy day out with friends. One of my favorite nooks in the city!

My favorite restaurant in Chicago. You honestly cannot go wrong with anything on the menu. The foods are always delicious and combine an interesting blend of flavors. Definitely order the cookie assortment at the end of your meal. The room is small and as a result, when it reaches maximum capacity, can be a bit loud. The waiters are knowledgeable and friendly. I can’t get over how great Ikram is!

What a gem! The restaurant is located above a high end «boutique» store, both owned by local fashion celebrity, Ikram Goldman. The bold red exterior of the building reminds me of a modern art museum.
As you walk in you are guided to walk up the grand staircase you enter into an impeccably decorated dining room.
Now on to the food, the menu is outstanding — the restaurant supports local farms and focuses on seasonal menus.
We were offered «amuse bouches» with gourgere’s, warm olives and house made baguettes with Plugra butter.
The menu is small and is a good example of the breadth of the cuisine has to offer — the parsnip soup with garam masala and preserved lemons was outstanding. You can share plates and sample a little of everything.

I love Ikram café (more than I love the store). This is truly a hidden gem. The food is excellent, and not particularly overpriced. I’d expected it to be much more expensive. The atmosphere is nice, the servers are knowledgeable, and the fresh squeezed juices of the day are worth the price of lunch. I’ve eaten here two or three times, and while I cannot remember specifically what I ordered, each time I have thoroughly enjoyed my food and the experience.

Why hasn’t anyone reviewed this? Total hidden gem. The food is farm to table. Fresh. Lots of organic. They made an amazing broccoli tarragon soup. Just those 2 ingredients plus salt, pepper and olive oil. Completely simple and amazingly flavorful. When you have good, fresh ingredients, they speak for themselves. The house cured olives are insane. I don’t even normally like olives! The pork tacos were a million times better than Big Star. My favorite is always the salmon salad. It literally melts in your mouth. Be sure to try the house made ice cream. It’s beyond creamy. Nathan, our waiter, was absolutely charming! The only negative is that they might want to brush up on food allergies.

Perfect lunch in a hidden spot. Not many know that inside the luxury goods store is a lovely café that serves delicious lunch. Very chic and obviously a mostly well heeled and well dressed crowd. The food was delicious; the country pâté was fantastic as were the grilled salmon tacos but the knock-​out of the day was the orecchiette pasta with turnips. This dish was magnificent. High marks on the décor. Wines are good. Not too pricey either. Hope to come back again.