Corner Bakery Cafe Review »
While wandering about the downtown area, we stopped to get some directions and happened to find ourselves in a restaurant of sorts. It was the first we had seen, but after we saw this one, we must have seen ten more.
I had never before heard of the Corner Bakery Cafe, but looking at their web site shows that they are a far-flung operation with outlets in California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Texas and Virginia (and I think Washington DC). That's an odd footprint, to be sure.
In any case, we weren't impressed in any way. Sure, it was early on a Sunday morning and we were tourists. But the place was just blech. The staff wasn't helpful, it took ten minutes to get a toasted bagel with cream cheese, the selection was poor and the quality of the food wasn't that good. The bagel wasn't even darkened by the toasting and the cream cheese wasn't even fresh - it was just one of those little plastic containers of cream cheese, so I have no idea what took so long.
I'd much rather go to a Panera Bread if all the outlets are like this one (we didn't try any others, but we do like Panera Bread). At least the staff there is friendly. The staff at CBC isn't friendly, and they don't seem to know what's going on at all, with the cashier forgetting Denise's order about 10 seconds after it was given to her. Not that we'll be back in Chicago any time soon, but it wasn't pleasant.
