Kramer’s Health Foods

wow, awesome friendly service, the guy gave me a student discount! and the food was good and reasonably price and most importantly healthy and vegan! it was not greasy at all, would definitely come back, this place is a gem.

Ah, who doesn’t love secret cafes in health food stores?! I mean, really! Who doesn’t? Thanks to this wonderful app I have on my camera, err, phone, called Unilocal,I found Kramer and all its glory on a fateful Monday morning when I really, really, really wanted an acai bowl.
Bingo bango, got an acai bowl, and it was perfect. If only I could have returned during my same trip and tried one of their delish looking lunch options, then I probably could rave on and on about this place. But if you need a healthy food or drink option, then come here. Check out the store, and then feel really cool knowing there is a café upstairs.

I’m not a vegan by a long shot, but I’m trying to eat healthier these days and Kramer’s for lunch has helped me meet this goal. It’s a little odd to walk through the store and upstairs the first time. The staff is really, really nice. The food! First of all, everything is cooked that morning and fresh! The staff takes great pride in the food they serve. Juices and smoothies are prepped right before you. The prices are very reasonable, especially the lunch deal combo which includes the special entrée, soup of the day, and an 8 ounce juice (staff choice) all for $ 10! You order and pick it up at the counter usually. Afterwards, you bus your own table. In this case, I don’t tip. But sometimes the staff helps you out and I’m glad to tip them. Go! It’s good for you!

The tacos were great. Staff really friendly. A great vegan and vegetarian option for Chicago.

Ordered food on grubhub. After 1hr 45mi of waiting for my food and an additional 15 min of working with a super nice grubhub agent (they refused to pick up the phone), I finally got an answer that they weren’t delivering today and ‘forgot’ to cancel the order. I’m hypoglycemic and almost passed out.
On my other experiences in store, food is ok. Bland and pricey. The store downstairs is just as bad. Juices are with a centrifugal juicer, so you are way better off going with a cold pressed in a bottle than here. If you are looking for healthy, try the French market. It’s way better.
Needless to say, I will rave about how bad this experience was to my friends and family and hope neither of us will step foot in this place again.

Kramer’s is like the secret place that you’d never necessarily know to look for, but everyone knows about. Hidden in plain sight.
They have a great healthy store which has tons of premade options, but you can also go up to their cafeteria and get an excellent lunch with a $ 2 juice to go with it. All of the healthy store stuff is very similar to whole foods/tj’s.
The vegan lunches in the café are great, plenty of variety in cuisine and all healthy options all around. I’d say this solidly puts this in direct competition with proteinbar, sans the meat.
The downside to everyone knowing about it, is that you’re going to have to wait in line quite a while to get your food at lunch. That’s about it. Also, inside the café you’ll have zero cellphone reception. I suppose that’s not terrible, but it is what it is.
Do come here. Do have lunch here. It’s absolutely worth a try.

This is my favorite healthy lunch option in the loop. While my boyfriend and I are not vegetarians, we always can find something we like on the menu. Lots of vegan options as well.
They have several sandwich options and salad options that are under $ 7. They allow you to add soup and a veggie juice to any meal for $ 2.50. Portions are large, everything is made in house, the staff are so happy, and it is so cheap for what you get. They have a dine in area or take out option. It is not fast food, but I would say that service is generally pretty quick.
Order at the counter, they bring the food to you, you tip and pay at the checkout my the front door.
In terms of the grocery, they have a good selection of supplements and other health store items. They have a decent selection of bath and shampoo products. Several different kombucha blends, and their refrigerated take away foods are very reasonably priced – cheaper than whole foods. The supplements are more than amazon or other online places but I feel like that is the price you pay for the convenience.

Wow the food is amazing over there, customer service was also so great the girls in the kitchen were so nice! I loved the shots, juices and everything else. One of my favorite vegan place for sure. Sucks that I’m so far from them.

I just ate at the café for the second time and was thoroughly impressed again. The panini sandwiches are incredible. Make it a combo and you’ve got a great, healthy and filling meal. Highly recommend.

My friend and I decided to have lunch at Kramer’s café… not a good decision! She waited for her salad 25 minutes and I waited for my panini over 30 minutes, and both were just OK. I understand that during lunch time it can get pretty busy, but we were there around 1:30 pm and there were maybe 3 – 4 people ahead of us, so it was not too crowded. Also, the lady that was preparing our lunch decided to take her lunch break right in the middle of making our food.
Store has nice selection of various products, but they are extremely overpriced.

Great products, but staff seem to have no knowledge of these things. When asked what was in a certain product they give a generic answer that provides no context for someone with food allergies or a genuine interest for what something with the title «source of life powder» contains. Or telling someone that a product «tastes terrible, but is really good for you.» Please educate staff on products — would make for a much more enjoyable experience and would give customers more confidence in eating/​shopping here.

This is a review for their Juice bar on the 2^nd floor.
I ordered the «Loyola» which is a fresh juice made of a variety of greens and apple.
I was surprised to find that this juice bar was using a Breville high-​speed «juice fountain». This is an entry level machine designed for personal home kitchens, not a commercial juicer typically used for juice bars and cafes. These high speed juicers produce an oxidized, low quality, aerated juice, and don’t extract much juice from leafy greens.
More importantly, either the machine needed to be cleaned out, or more likely there was a tear in the juicing screen which put an entire inch of pulp at the bottom of the drink. Ive never had a juice with so much pulp that didn’t get filtered out. There were even small chunks of leafy greens in the drink.
Also for the price I would have liked to see some organic produce on the menu.

This is my favorite restaurant on the entire planet. I wish I could say something sarcastic but I can’t; the staff is friendlier than a slew of kindergarten teachers, the food is outstanding and fresh and cheap, and it just feels nice to sit up here. I come every Friday for lunch — the combo is a stupid-​good deal (entrée soup and house-​pressed juice for $ 10) so I feel like I can always swing a trip. Everything happens quick, the crowd that congregates is nice, everything is casual in the best way ever. I wish I could make out with kramers. I buy chocolate on the way out and I feel like I’m never too far away from vitamins. I like how it smells in here — sort of like a banana, but in a really homey kind of way. Not in a gross old-​banana way. You know what I mean: it’s like you’re at your aunt’s house who was always into eating better and didn’t have a tv; it is not like you are at your ex-boyfriend’s house who doesn’t know how to take out the trash. I would like to give kramers a kiss in the lips. And a butt grab.

Vegetarian café in a health food store in the heart of Chicago Loop. Get a combination of your choice of sandwich, Panini or salad with soup and health drink of the day for $ 10. Same lunch at Natural Foods — $ 15 – 20. Good value and very tasty (although soup luke warm.)
So why only 3 stars? The service. Firstly the café staff are dressed more like hookers than restaurant workers. Very short shorts and their bellies and butts hanging out is the first thing you see — not good for the appetite. Waited several minutes to PLACE my order, 13 minutes to RECEIVE my order and a few more minutes to pay for my order — almost 20 minutes and this was well after the lunch rush. Also no wifi and no bars on the phone.

Yummy vegan burger, bowl of soup and a juice for $ 10! They also have burritos, ratatouille, tabbouleh, salads, smoothies and more. A great find for vegetarians and vegans alike.

Solid experience with great and very kind and down to earth staff. They have smoothies and juices all in one roof and in the loop can’t beat that!
With a wide variety of healthy food, they also have beverages, personal products and other natural products.
It’s amazing you can find something like this in the loop. Because if it’s whole food. Well f whole foods they charge you a shit ton. These guys have water bottles (1 liters worth) for 2.something. Now that’s amazing.
Sad part is the they are open for a small frame, so get here between the business hours ASAP!

kramers has been here forever! I used to go in when i was in college to get some snacks, but I recently discovered the vegetarian café upstairs and now im hooked. Their salads are so fresh and delicious, and the price cant be beat. Overall it has that granola-​y, college town kind of vibe, but thats not necessarily a bad thing! The food tends to feel fresh and healthy — and they have quite a bit of options to choose from. They have fresh juice bar, and usually a soup of the day. You can find samples sometimes in the front of the store and they have a case in front with alot of to-​go type of food from their kitchen, karyns raw, etc. I recently tried a piece of locally made coconut cake that was vegan and was probably THE BEST slice of cake I have ever had.
They have a selection of vitamins, snacks, cookies, etc and freezers in the back as well. So its a great place in the loop to find something out of the ordinary i may need and dont want to make a trip to whole foods for. The pricing is whats to be expected from a health food store. It is defintiely nice to have something like this so close to where i work!
oh, and a bonus — one time i ordered a veggie burger and i asked to add avocado– she told me it would cost 25 cents extra! haha. Most places are at least a dollar or two to add avocado! gotta love this place.

OMG. Best fresh pressed juice I’ve ever had. I built my own juice with apple, kale, lemon, and ginger. It was spicy and delicious. When I took a sip, I looked at the juicer and said, «That’s some bomb-​ass juice!»
She coyly responded with, «Thanks, brah!»
Let’s just say, I was glad I ended up craving juice while killing time in Chi.

Paradoxically, this store – and I’m only reviewing the store, not the café – is unhealthy – for your wallet. Prices here are zany and off-​the-​wall. I was in today. Boxes of Celestial Seasonings herbal tea had labels that read something like this: «Reg. price $ 7.19. Sale price $ 4.99.» Everyone who drinks this stuff knows the regular price is $ 2.99 (Jewel) to $ 3.99 (WFM). Exactly the same with Health Valley Organic Soups – $ 2.99 (Jewel)-$ 3.29 (WFM), but it’s $ 4.99 at Kramers.
I get that this is a mom and pop shop. I get that the Loop is a supermarket desert. But why price gouge your customers, who obviously are making an effort to eat healthy? I’m NOT talking about unique, locally sourced, limited edition, artisanal produce, homemade goodies, and similar products – charge whatever you want for that. I’m talking about the ordinary products every grocery store carries.
And while we’re at it, what’s with the poorly stocked shelves, disorganized aisles, fluorescent lights, and cracked linoleum floor? This place reminds me of a grocery store c. 1979 someplace in Bulgaria. Why not spruce the place up, align prices with today’s realities, and you just might last another 50 years?

On a whim I walked into this storefront on Wabash. Tried the 10 dollar tacos, soup and juice special and was quite satisfied with the flavor and portion. They have an extensive menu and nice dining in area above the store.
Service is fast, the staff is friendly and helpful. I’m glad to have found a good soup and juice place in the loop and can’t wait to try more.