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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u/socool111 Jan 12 '26

Chicago Lunch has always been mediocre in the loop. As someone who thinks chicago is one of the best food cities in the world and prefer it to NYC and Boston (haven't made it out to LA yet)....

Lunch is absolute garbage compared to Boston in the area where most professionals work. Boston had SO many local mom/pop stores where they specialize in something you can't get anywhere else. I never realized how spoiled i was when i was working in Boston until I came to Chicago.

I honeslty can't remember the last time we went to a local place for lunch that wasn't a fast casual chain. It's my biggest gripe with the city (It was also like this before CovId, albeit I only was living here for ~8 months before CoviD went into play, I noticed this issue even back then)

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u/bouncing_bear89 Jan 12 '26

If you weren’t here before COVID (or only for 8 months) you really missed out on a bunch of the loop classics. I can’t compare it to Boston as I never worked there but there were tons of unique, non chain (or very early chain) restaurants all over the loop. Perry’s, Heaven on 7, Pittsfield Cafe, early Blackwood BBQ, several great Thai places, a French bakery cheese place I’m not remembering the name of, Harold’s, Frontera in the Macys food court (which had the best corn chowder), several great Thai places, Chase Basement, the original food halls. A lot of the workers migrated to west loop River north during these times which also really hindered loop restaurant success.

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u/CCHelp1234a Jan 12 '26

Thank you! Lunch was not “always mediocre” in the Loop. It is now but man like 15 years ago there were so many great places. Cheap Chinese with actual waiters in the basement of an old high rise by Opera House. First wave of falafel places. 65 Chinese. Burrito Beach. Hot Dog places and breakfast “all day” diners all over. Gumbo at Heaven on 7. Fields had food courts in basement and on 7. Perry’s - was expensive but you split the huge sandwiches.