Fraiche

Been here twice and would give my food 2 stars. Two sandwiches (one no longer on the menu) and today the chicken meatball sub. Both were really dry and missing something. Meatballs were pretty bad. It may deserve more because my friends loved their dishes. The beet salad looked yummy, as did the Cheeseburger.
Service is also not very friendly.

When Coffee Lab was closed for renovation this summer, I walked across the street before going to work every morning to come here for a large americano and the occasional pastry. It’s a pretty good dependable cup of coffee, I guess. Nothing to complain or write home about. The pastries are awesome! Sometimes I have a hard time choosing. The same couple of people were there every morning, not too outgoing and rarely smiled — a bit awkward I guess, but they were never rude– but I was in and out with my coffee and usually didn’t mind.
The food there is slightly pricey for the portion size, but it’s pretty unique in terms of being outside the average lunch fare of sandwich/​soup that you’d get at say, Panera. My favorite thing I’ve eaten there is probably the breakfast burrito, very filling and flavorful and not too expensive.
I’d come more if they had wifi to get some work done over lunch here, but maybe they’re not aiming to be that type of place, so for me it’s not always the best lunch option in the area.
3.5 stars overall probably.

what is this cute little café right by the noyes stop and how have i not been aware of it until now?! oh, that’s right, i never go up to the north side of northwestern’s campus… ever. well, this week i had a reason to head up north and lunched at this adorable little café. the breakdown:
–teeny dining area… i’d imagine it gets packed at peak times
–baked goods to drool for. i did not indulge, but they smelled and looked fab.
–delicious quiche! i had a slice of quiche and mixed greens and it was amazing. goat cheese, mushrooms, red peppers deliciousness.
–reasonably priced
not to be punny, but everything in fraiche is fresh. it’s a cute little establishment and i will return!

This is a tiny (but cute) place that is full of fresh, unique dishes. Came here for brunch on a Sunday and the place was bustling. I was happy to find out that even though it was only around 10 am, they were serving lunch (and breakfast). Went for the chicken meatball sandwich, which had arugula, curried cauliflower, picked plums, and a cucumber sauce. For a side (which automatically comes with any sandwich), I had celery root and sweet potato crisps that were served with a mushroom ragu. The food was whimsy, fresh, and delicious! Even took one cupcake to go — had a hard time choosing which one to take!

Nice place, small dinning area and friendly staff.
Had the beet salad, very nice! My friend got the cheeseburger and she was very pleased. We had the cream cheese brownie for dessert, and we both totally recomend it!

A really cute place for breakfast/​brunch/​lunch, but really small dining area. On weekend mornings you will probably end up waiting for quite some time.
The bakery items are really good!
The food is a bit on the pricy side.

No stars if i could. First of all i dont care if its ur training day or not. Employees should know whether the duck sausage is a duck sausage sandwich or not. You don’t just lie about it to the customer.
I ordered the duck sausage… what i got was literally a sausage with two sauces, pickles and some simmered greens. I swear the description is not made up. Does that sound appetizing to you? Also, this was definitely not filling enough to be called a lunch item. Is this something french? I really wished there could have been at least some bread so that i could at least call it a hotdog… Also pickles and mustard??? Really??? Does that taste good? I did hear that fraiche had undergone change in its management but to really think that its food quality could drop this much.

The scones and coffee are superb.
The quinoa burger is amazing and the spicy aioli that comes with it is delish.
But please, stay away from Fraiche… I dislike waiting in lines.

Bumping rating down to 2 stars.
I came here with my gf for Sunday lunch. Menu was recently changed.
1. Oatmeal, 5
Pretty good. Came with dried cherries and almond slices.
2. Fried chicken and blueberry waffles, 10
Horrible. Fried chicken was just two chicken wings, blueberry didn’t complement well, and the bleu cheese was awful.

I used to love Fraiche. I’m not sure what happened, but the food and service has gone down hill the last two times I’ve gone.
One — the salads are teeny tiny! Mind you, this isn’t a trendy hot spot in Chicago. This is a little café in Evanston, home of income-​less college students. An 8 dollar salad was appetizer size. I was licking my plate afterwards because I was so hungry.
Second — what happened to the cheery gals that worked the cash register? Now they have frazzled, grumpy looking hipsters that seem like they should be running a dive bar rather than a café.
All in all, Evanston doesn’t have that many brunch choices, so I MIGHT go back, but I prefer not to.

Their menu is inventive, I give them that.
The reason for my 1-​star review is that I found a strand of hair in my egg sandwich. Since I have lost all my appetite upon my discovery, I told the staff I did not want it replaced. You would think, an apology would have been in order. Nah! They took my sandwich back and said nothing. This was yesterday, 3÷25÷2012.
You could serve the best food in town (Fraiche does not serve the best food in town though) but if you have sanitation issues, no thank you!

Honestly, I could sit at Fraiche all day long and devour everything on the menu.
There’s inventive and well-​crafted options for both vegetarians and carnivores, excellent breakfast and lunch with something new every time I go.
And the pastries… ho man.
Yes, it’s true: seating is very limited, so getting a table can be tricky, but you know what? It’s worth it. Chill out, wait for a table, and nom it up.
The staff is super nice, even when they get overwhelmed I know they care about their customers.
I don’t understand the reviews complaining about price. I think ten bucks for a fresh, unique, and delicious meal is very reasonable these days. And I’m broke. Which is the only reason that I DON’T sit there all day long and devour everything on the menu.

This is like my fourth time updating my review for this place, and probably the last because I’m sure I’ll be back more in the future. It’s turning into one of my regular spots and I’m probably not going to re-​review every time I come here. I’ve figured out that I’m not a fan of their sweets but if I stick to their regular menu (written on the chalkboard wall) then I won’t be disappointed.
I ordered the fried egg sandwich and my bf got the chicken burrito, and we just split everything to share. I really liked my sandwich and I thought that the pretzel croissant bun was so interesting (where does one get pretzel croissants? I want to buy some for breakfast). I liked his chicken burrito relatively less, but it was still solid.
Already have my eye on the sweet potato hash for next time…

Ex-​pen-​sive.
I know the Northwestern students are loaded, but man, this place is not someplace you can go every day for lunch. Luckily the pastries and coffee are a bit more in-​line with daily ventures, but you’ll easily reach $ 10 for a meal here. I will say that the soups and sandwiches are good, but super pricy.
I understand all of the ingredients are super fraiche (har har), so at least I sort of feel like I’m getting my money’s worth here. At the end of the day, I’ll go to Al’s Deli if I want a meal.

Everything you may have read or heard about the scones at Fraiche is true. They’re nothing short of delightful.
My mom and I also came here for breakfast (even though my main reason was to get the scones). When we arrived, there was a line about ten people deep. The layout of this place could be improved, to say the least. You wait in line next to the bus station which also houses the silverware and coffee condiments, so people are constantly trying to shift about to allow for people to empty their plates and adorn their coffee. There’s not a lot of room to move about as the place is very small. I must have said «excuse me» at least a dozen times while I waited in line because it felt like I was always bumping into someone or on top of them. A mild case of claustrophobia set in.
At first I panicked when I got to the counter because all I saw were cheddar scones and I prefer fruit ones over savory versions, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask if they had other flavors. Turns out they were just pulling a batch of blueberry scones right out of the oven. Um, I’ll take three please. We devoured the scones while we were waiting for our table.
When we finally were able to get a seat, I instantly felt better. We both ordered the breakfast sandwich of fried egg, greens, red pepper and aioli on a pretzel croissant. I’d never seen a pretzel croissant before. What a delicious combination! There was a bit too much aioli on the sandwich for my liking, but it they get mad props for the creative ingredients. On the side were perfectly roasted, seasoned potatoes. All of this was only $ 8.00 and filled me up for the rest of the day.
I just finished the second blueberry scone and despite being a day old, it’s still quite probably the best scone I’ve ever had.

I’m a fairly regular customer here since I live around the corner.
I usually come in for breakfast when I want something warm before heading to the office for a day full of reading and meetings. Breakfast is adequate, but nothing has blown my socks off.
I also had a sandwich (the Panzanella) here once. It was pretty good. It was loaded with creamy goat cheese, basil, and tomatoes, but for the price (I believe it came out to almost $ 10 after tax/​tip), I felt a little robbed.
This is a business I really really want to like, but it hurts my wallet a little too much for me to be as repeat a customer as I want to be.
The place is clean, offers free wi-​fi, has great personnel working both in the front and the back, and even the customer base seems to be nice and approachable (I constantly find myself talking to strangers while eating here).
I’ll come back a few more (dozen) times and hopefully they’ll win me over!

Not only is this outfit still making some of the best scones around (the September 2011 Chicago magazine agrees with me), but they make a darn good breakfast sandwich too. This is not your grandmother’s egg sandwich. This is a fried egg on pretzel croissant (who knew??) with roasted red peppers, greens, and tarragon aioli. Big ups for creativity, not to mention execution: the sandwich was delicious.
It will take them about ten minutes, so don’t think that you can just pop in and out. Go ahead and eat your scone while you wait.

3.5 stars.
I went in on a Sunday and it was pretty busy, it took a while in line to get to order, which I was okay with at the time — you’re willing to forgive a little more when you know folks are busy and working their butts off.
Thing is, by the time I got to the front of the line, the two women working the counter were so busy making coffee, running back and forth to the tables, I was not even acknowledged for a good 5 minutes. No «just a sec» or even a smile or «sorry, we’ll be with you in a soon» or anything. It’s the little things! Just a wee bit of kindness can go a long way in bringing people back.
So– that said, I might come back to try more of the baked goods, which looked delicious. I ordered the Horchata cupcake. The refrigerated case it sat in did not do it justice– the buttercream was hard — they should really warn you to order and let it warm up (I’ve seen other bakeries that do that). Other than that the taste was really great, the concept was creative too. Horchata flavored cake, carmel buttercream, and cinnamon cream cheese filling. Pretty damn good. If i’m in the neighborhood again I might stop by for the whoopie pies or something else.
The rest of the things we ordered were just okay. Salmon crêpe was cold and was presented more like a wrap– it was fine but I was just expecting something else based on the write up on the wall. Our cappuccino was pretty strong and the chai latte was just okay.
So, i’ll come back again to maybe pick up some goodies for a special occasion if I’m in the neighborhood, but I won’t go out of my way.

I’ve known about Fraiche since it was called Kim’s Kitchen back in the day! I love coming here for their baked goods — I haven’t been disappointed by anything that I’ve gotten. My absolute favorite is the chocolate toffee scone, even though these days when I drop by they never have them anymore. I also love the variety of cupcakes that they always offer. I’ve also tried their breakfast burritos and they’re pretty decent, nothing special but very fresh-​tasting.
I also love the décor — the look of unfinished wood, fresh flowers, chalkboard menu, large open windows to let in lots of sunlight — I get a casual, homey feeling from being here. The staff is pretty nice, although the wait can be a bit too long when they’re busy.
The ONE thing is that their coffee is SO BITTER. I am a coffee fiend and I’ve tried just about every kind of coffee from various cafes and coffee shops. The coffee here, hot OR iced, always makes me want to cringe. Even two packs of Splenda and lots and lots of creamer can’t save this coffee. I always buy a cup just to give them another chance, but unfortunately they always disappoint me! I would love to have some GOOD coffee to complement their amazing pastries.
P. S. If you have a Northwestern ID, you get 10% off!

Divine. Yummy. Fabulous. Delicious.
The only way to describe my experience at Fraiche. I had the Warm Brie & Pear sandwich which was the most marvelous compilation of tastes ever! This with a yummy broccoli salad and warm apple cider sent my taste buds in over drive.
I adore this place!
My only complaint… we arrived at 3:10. Ordered. Received our food about 3:25…and was told by the server that the restaurant closed at 4 p.m., so please be finished?! Really? Is that Customer Service? Although, I guess we were lucky because she turned away several customers… I guess she had to get home to a fab Super Bowl party, but I found it a bit off putting. Not enough to stop me from going back, however!!!
Next time, I may have to put my diet on hold and try one of the fantastic pastries! They looked sublime.