Starfruit Cafe

Starfruit Café is probably my favorite frozen yoghurt (actually made out of frozen «kefir») place in Chicago! Or even including the Bay Area and California. They have a variety of flavors that switch up and they’re always generous in letting you doing a taste test. I love getting the original tart flavor plus their granola. It is an amazingly simple combination that will satisfy your sweet tooth instantly. You can also collect up to 10 punchholes on a Starfruit Café card, and your 10^th one is free! I can’t wait to fill them all up. The service is amazing too!

The smoothies are very yummy I will admit that and great for a pick me up snack. They are a tad pricey. Also, sometimes the word healthy is used with too much ease considering how much sugar is in the flavored kefir and the granola to match. Example: pumpkin flavored with granola and caramel is not HEALTHY for you. Maybe healthier than a Starbucks frapp but still…

Love this place! It’s a healthy alternative to a sweet tooth. The staff is always nice and willing to serve you.

I’m a kefir fan and it’s soooo healthy, so I was excited to discover this place with a groupon deal. Both times I went to use the value of my starfruit card, they only had the original kefir flavor available, but with all the topping options, that was okay by me. I loaded up my frozen kefir with various fruits and it seems pricey for them to charge per topping, but since they add a lot per fruit selection, you get what you pay for. They close pretty early, so if you don’t work in or around the Merchandise Mart, I’m not sure how this could be a regular thing, but it was worth the scheduled trip. The service was really friendly and the ladies behind the counter seem genuinely happy to be there and make your delicious and healthy treat!

This is the place for your healthy kefir yogurt fix or fresh juice fix. Unlike the Jamba Juice, this place also gives you a variety of fresh juices to choose from like green juice to red juice to fruit juices. It’s freshly prepared in front of you. The prices are a little high so i typically wait for weekly deals that will take $ 1 off juices. The weekly deals are featured on a white board and have free upsizing, juice discounts, smoothie/​yogurt discounts.

I won’t pretend that frozen kefit is an equal replacement to a cupcake, but sometimes a gal wants something sweeet but needs her pants to fit. Starfruit to the rescue! It tastes like a less sweet frozen yogurt, and they have lots of fun topping options. The portions and toppings are very generous, which makes the pricing reasonable.
They also make fresh juices. My favorite is the green cleanse, for healthy days where I don’t want a lot of sugar. Yum.

I’m giving two stars because I totally support anywhere that offers organic and/​or healthful food items. That said, I’m not a yogurt fan (of any kind) so I’ve avoided Starfruit thus far. However, today, I was passing by this location on the way back to work and saw a sign for organic juices. I DO love organic juices, so I thought I’d try one. I ordered a small Limelight. The woman behind the counter told me that juices only come in one size, medium. I said ok. She then rang it up before making it and asked me for $ 7.75. I thought I’d heard her wrong and asked her to repeat it. Yup, $ 7.75– nearly $ 8 for cucumber, lime and something else. In a cup. To drink. I’m sorry, but that is just laughable for juice unless they are leaving gold coins at the bottom of the cup. I shop at Whole Foods regularly and make my own juices a lot. I buy Naked and Odwalla and all the other stuff. But organic or not, no juice should cost more than $ 5 for a medium-​sized amount. Needless to say, I laughed and cancelled the order. The counter person totally understood and even apologized. I’m willing to bet that that drink costs more than they are paying her per hour. Ugh. I guess the popularity of this place just proves that there is a sucker born every minute.

The store itself is fine.
I didn’t know what kefir is and I wish I’d never learned. It tastes like sucking on used nail files that an older woman used to clean the calluses off her heels. No, it’s actually worse than that, it’s like an overweight man ate (yes ate) a bottle of spoiled milk, and poured it into a cup through his sweat glands and relabeled it «frozen yogurt».
Just the worst.

There’s nothing I don’t love about this place! The frozen yogurt is delicious, and low in sugar and calories. The staff at this location is always super friendly. Also, the stamp cards fill up fast if you go on Tuesdays (double stamp day). My favorite combination so far is half and half lime and original with pie crust. I’m so in love with Starfruit.

Starfruit is the most amazing sweet treat you can imagine. I can’t say enough good things about this place. The only downfall is the Lincoln Park location closes during the summer =(so sad!
Also, a lot of people aren’t used to the taste of kefir the first time they try it and consequently, don’t like Starfruit. My advice is try the Heavenly smoothie! It’s so yummy with peanut butter, banana, chocolate, Oreo, almond and caramel. It’s a great transition from fro-​yo to kefir (which is much healthier too!).
If you go a lot, make sure you get the punch card. It’s so great to get a free Starfruit. And, check for a Groupon Now before you go because last summer, Starfruit offered a Groupon Now every Saturday or Sunday!
I will definitely be back many times!

Starfruit is the shiz. On their website, they call themselves the lighthearted lovechild of taste and nutrition and that is absolutely correct.
I came here with my friend who had a groupon but I would have gladly paid the 4 – 5 dollars they asked for their frozen kefir. It fills you right up and is delicious. We ate this starfruit at around noon and didn’t even feel hungry at 6pm when it came time to eat dinner. I wish Starfruit would open next to Hyde Park so I can eat it all the time. Really recommend all fro-​yo lovers out there to try out Starfruit. Your mind will be blown and you’ll want to eat kefir all the time, all day, e’ry day.

Once one is able to actually find this place in the Mart (took me about 15 minutes of dodging business people, walking into dead ends on the second floor, and two encounters with non-​English speaking janitors the first time — peeps, it’s by the pedestrian crossover bridge, or, as you’re exiting the L, on the left aisle of the elevator banks FYI!) YOU’LL BE HOOKED.
I have to admit – the first time I had ever been to a Starfruit, I had the mango and it was wayyy too tart. I am the type of sour (loving)puss who eats the lemons and limes out of sangria and sucks on Warheads all day, and this flavor really made me pucker! Original is the way to go, IMHO.
Shout out to Katrina (I actually pulled out my receipt to find your name!), who apologized profusely for making me wait a *whopping* five minutes in line, and gave me two coupons! There’s nothing like a lovely smiling lady like her serving froyo to turn your frown upside down.

I get coffee there every morning. They are so nice and always put a smile on my face to start my day. Today I tried a smoothie for the first time and the Breakfast Blast (w/​Strawberries) was awesome.
Intellegentsia Coffee there is yummy!

I have a bit of an ice cream fetish. Unfortunately I also have an obsession with low-​carb dieting. The two don’t really play together well.
I work in the mart and one of my coworkers is a crazed kiefer fanatic. After a lot of persuasion she convinced me to try starfruit and honestly now I’m kind of hooked.
It’s a nice sweet treat for a hot day or one of those afternoons when I just need to have that little extra. Although it doesn’t replace my ice cream it sure makes it a lot easier to avoid.
Raspberry is my favorite flavor and I honestly have not had one that I didn’t like. The staff is always friendly and as mentioned will not hesitate to let you taste the flavors. I’m definitely a fan.

Very tasty… a lot like Pinkberry actually. I had chocolate truffle, which tasted nothing like either chocolate or truffles but was delicious all the same. Toppings are pretty expensive at $ 1 for the first and .50 thereafter. My treat was light, refreshing and mostly guilt free, what more can you ask for?

The 5 star rating is completely based on the service. Every time I have been in here, the service is super friendly. They are always handing out free samples of their products-​yogurt, smoothies, and Intelligentsia coffee, too. I have taken advantage of the coffee and oatmeal deal some mornings when I’m draggin. The oatmeal is wonderful and not at all bland.
Their ongoing promotion (9 punches, one small yogurt with 2 toppings FREE) works well if you go there on Tuesdays for double punch days. You get your free yogurt way faster!
They also have Vosges hot chili chocolate bits, too ;)

Starfruit Café gets 5 stars from this reviewer because of their «popular» drink option. I loved every bit of my coconut flavored concoction. Starfruit says it best with their opener on the café’s homepage…
«Starfruit is here, the lighthearted lovechild of taste and nutrition. „Welcome cosmic baby.“ The planet will never be the same.»
It’s true, my life before Starfruit was fruitless and now I can honestly say my life is FRO-​ever changed.
If you have the opportunity to enjoy a chilled beverage/​smoothie or just feel like getting crazy and mix n’ matching flavors to create your dream dish… Starfruit welcomes you.
Love this spot and can’t wait to revisit when I move to Chicago!

I like this place a lot. I occasionally get the «Breakfast Blast» smoothie. Super tasty and subtle.
My only complaint is the price. It’s a little steep, which makes it something I probably won’t order all that often. I know they’re trying to make money, but I really can’t justify $ 5 – 7 bucks for a smoothie. If only I could.

I want to like this place. I REALLY do, but I just can’t get into it. I tried it out four times using a Groupon that I bought. I never had Kefir before and it seems that I’m just not a fan of it. I tried the smoothies and the parfait, and the smoothies were alright, but the parfait just did not do it for me. I think it’s because, to me, a parfait has yogurt in it. The parfaits here have the Kefir in it, which is slightly thicker than milk, so you need a straw to drink the Kefir and a spoon to eat the parfait toppings. It was messy and the granola tasted über funky to me.
It is just steps outside my office door, but realistically I probably won’t go back. I’m sorry Starfruit Café :(

I had the vanilla kefir with coconut flakes, yogurt chips, and almonds. It came out to over $ 5 with tax which seems kind of expensive but I did enjoy it. There was a good selection of toppings and it was a guilt free way of fulfilling my ice cream craving. Plus I get to support a local business — the Starfruit stores were started by Lifeway Foods from Morton Grove. I hope this business is successful — I heard there are more competitors entering the market.
This branch is not the easiest to find — it is nowhere near the food court — you have to walk towards the elevators, cross over by the shoe shining station, and walk down the corridor where the q101 radio station is.