Chicago

233 W. Monroe (11/10/2015, Rating C)

Michael, 5 more pics coming in second e-mail. Went to this location for breakfast ~8:30am. Was a decent group of customers ~10 (they are seated on the left half of the restaurant that I didn't get a good picture of. Overall the location presents well from the exterior. It is in the lobby of a 20ish story office building (bldg. I used to work in actually). Also attached to the building is a Chipotle that opened ~3 yrs ago and took a big chunk of traffic from this location. Staff was friendly, ordered the florentine wrap which was mediocre and only about 1/2 way warmed through...And here is the recurring theme....CLUTTER!! Omg, look at the pickup counter. A dozen or more pickup tags scattered about, napkins, bags, cloth, etc. Not a very good look. Also, the random fruit stand in the middle of the lines, the drink boxes akwardly placed in front of the registers again. It doesn't seem like management understands clutter is not a good thing. Menu boards were fine. This location had the 'conventional' or 'old format' of order placement a la Panera. Order/pay at the register and then pick up to the left when your number is called (pagers at Panera). Overall the location flirts between a C+/B- IMO. Great location, but management could do much more to capitalize on it.