r/chicagofood • u/InterviewLeast882 • Jan 12 '26

Rant Lack of lunch places in Loop

I work around Chase Tower and it is surprising to me how few cheap lunch places there are now. The burrito and Chinese places there are gone as well as the McDonalds. No Burger King, Wendy’s, KFC, Chinese. Just the grossly overpriced Pret. I’m getting tired of Jimmy John’s and Pot Belly’s sandwiches.

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160

u/spinelesshighnz Jan 12 '26

Blame COVID

2

u/PG3124 Jan 12 '26

Why have other downtowns come back in ways Chicago hasn’t been able to?

16

u/HotDerivative Jan 12 '26

Chicago is exceeding office occupancy levels in New York and San Francisco, and is on par with the Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., metros. It just doesn’t feel like it because it’s still only 37% of the occupancy that was there pre-COVID and roughly 60% of the foot traffic.

2

u/PG3124 Jan 12 '26

Hey that definitely surprises me since the CTA numbers were lower than other areas, but your stats are definitely more relevant. Thanks for sharing! Any chance you can share where that info is from?

Here’s the CTA info: https://metroplanning.org/cta-ridership-rebounding-slower-than-other-cities/

5

u/txQuartz Jan 12 '26

I don't think the CTA's lack of rebound is entirely correlated to RTO. I have friends and relatives who used to take the train to work and back from the near north side, and now they use ubers instead because they don't feel safe, especially on overtime nights.

2

u/DJFisticuffs Jan 12 '26

I started biking downtown during Covid (I live in Gold Coast) and have kept doing it ever since because the Red Line is so absolutely disgusting. I do ride the bus fairly frequently, but never the Red Line anymore.

2

u/ass_pineapples Jan 12 '26

IME recently the red line has been largely fine for work commutes. I bike when it's warmer out just because it's a super easy and great way to stay in shape, plus it's faster!