Cafe des Architectes

Chicago, United States

4.1

Open now

21 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards

Contacts

QR code, vCard

Telephone:
+1 312-324-4063
Website:
www.cafedesarchitectes.com
Address:
20 E Chestnut St, Chicago, IL, 60611
b/t Wabash Ave & State St
Near North Side
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
660 ftDearborn & Delaware
670 ftDearborn & Chestnut
730 ftChicago
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Bussiness info

Takes Reservations
Yes
Delivery
No
Take-out
No
Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Good For
Dinner
Parking
Valet
Bike Parking
Yes
Wheelchair Accessible
Yes
Good for Kids
No
Good for Groups
Yes
Attire
Dressy
Ambience
Classy
Noise Level
Quiet
Alcohol
Full Bar
Outdoor Seating
Yes
Wi-Fi
No
Has TV
No
Waiter Service
Yes
Caters
No

Today

Today 6:00 am – 10:00 pm
Open now
Local time (Chicago) 2:41 PM Thursday, June 12, 2025

Business hours

Monday 6:00 am – 10:00 pm
Tuesday 6:00 am – 10:00 pm
Wednesday 6:00 am – 10:00 pm
Thursday 6:00 am – 10:00 pm
Friday 6:00 am – 10:00 pm
Saturday 6:00 am – 10:00 pm
Sunday 6:00 am – 10:00 pm

Description

Specialties

With a dramatic interior by designer Pierre-​Yves Rochon, Café des Architectes features vibrant colors, overstuffed chairs, sprawling banquettes and mood-​inspired lighting. Located inside Sofitel Chicago Water Tower, the restaurant features outdoor seating in the summer where guests can the nightly Chef’s Market Selection — a three-​course prix fixe menu for $ 39. For more information, please visit www​.cafedesar​chi​tectes​.com.

History

Established in 2002.

Café des Architectes features contemporary French cuisine by Chef Greg Biggers and Pastry Chef Leigh Omilinsky. Open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and brunch, Café des Architectes offers market-​fresh menus using the best quality ingredients presented in an elegant and modern setting.

Meet the Manager

Greg B.

Manager

Blending French elegance with the very best in local flavor, Chef Greg Biggers’ menu celebrates the restaurant’s French heritage while offering guests a sophisticated dining experience. Biggers stays true to his mission to provide the best product available. Pastry Chef Patrick Fahy shares this vision, utilizing the best ingredients in his elegant and out-​of-​the-​box desserts. Café des Architectes can be enjoyed for breakfast, lunch, dinner or brunch.

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21 reviews of Cafe des Architectes

No registration required
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
Finally! A place where you can hear yourself talking while enjoying attentive service (merci Romi et Mehmet!) AND great food… My favorite last week: la mise en bouche with foie gras on toast (I asked for seconds), the plump scallops and the duck, served thick and rare, and the selection of desserts, such a nice way to finish the meal– the nougat was délicieux and the Paris-​Brest sublime! And don’t hesitate to make arrangements prior to dinner with maitre d’ Paul Lortal if you dine with a group like we did– he’ll make it happen for you.
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
I’m going to have to come back for the dessert degustation. Lunch during Restaurant Week was just short of phenomenal. I would say it was perfect if I was offered more than one piece of bread like the table of ladies next to us. It is a nice touch that the servers come out with a tray of bread and they give you choices on which one you want.
The crab veloute had beautiful presentation, albeit a tad salty. The braised short ribs were delicious, but I ate around the fat. I usually go for leaner meat, but want the tenderness that fatty meat has when it’s been broken down by long cooking times. The chocolate cremeux and the brioche bostocks were both good– but I do love my chocolate. The berry ice cream that topped the chocolate cake was light and refreshing and nicely complimented the cake.
Service here was great as well. I would definitely recommend this place to others.
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
Great place and environment. We have gone there for breakfast and dinner. Their pastries are awesome, their desserts are perfect.
The waiters usually say hello and good –bye in French. There is one French waiter that makes you feel like you are in a different place (if you speak French with him).
All the staff is very nice and the food has good portion and great flavors.
A little expensive, but it is worth it.
Place rating: 4
Manhattan, NY
Very very good service. Attentive and friendly people. I ordered lamb bologne, lobster bisque, and salmon. All of them were very good. Highly recommend their lamb bologne. I think it’s a must try. For dessert I ordered Parisian mini desserts which consisted of 4 mini versions of their desserts. All were very tasty. My friend ordered their duck breast. Does not taste and was mediocre. However, they gave us some complimentary sweets.
Place rating: 3
Washington, DC
It was okay.
We stayed at the Sofitel for a week in the beginning of January. Breakfast was included with our suite and we were never disappointed with the options. Andriy, one of the servers, was a total sweetheart and we looked forward to seeing him every morning. Breakfast was made to order, the dining area was nice and bright, and all juices offered seemed fresh.
The host/​hostesses sometimes left a little to be desired however.
If you’re staying at the hotel, sure, stop by but otherwise it’s nothing to go out of your way for. There are so many dining option in the Chi. It’s one of my favorite cities in the U.S. for that reason. This is nothing special.
Place rating: 4
Chicago, IL
What prevents this from being 5 stars is the communication (or lack thereof) regarding NYE prix fixe.
I made a reservation for my hubby and I to come here on NYE. We were really excited to try the food, the choices on the website looked amazing. I suppose it’s my own fault for not asking in advance. But when we arrived on NYE, we saw that it was prix fixe only for $ 95 a person. I had no complaints about the prices on the website, but had I known that it was prix fixe only, I wouldn’t have gone that night. I wanted to try and share lots of choices and not spend that much money on a 4 – 5 course meal. Also, our waitstaff forgot to bring us the amuse bouche.
That said, most of the courses were delicious. The fois gras was underwhelming, but the scallop, pheasant, cheese course, and dessert were amazing.
This was the biggest restaurant splurge of my life, and I don’t think I’ll be back soon. But the food is well cooked and well presented.
Place rating: 3
Chicago, IL
My family and I are celebrating New Years Day in downtown Chicago. Our accommodations are at Sofitel –Water Tower. So, for lunch we ate here. The presentation, and, for the most part, the food was delicious. The salmon was cooked well, but, a tad salty. I bookmarked it in the hopes of having the Pineapple Vacherin. Today, they had Citrus Vacherin which was yummy. I gave it 3 stars, because it is overpriced, and, service suffered because our waiter was looking after a lot of tables.
Place rating: 2
Chicago, IL
Oy. What a comedy. Went for thanksgiving dinner. I think that the regular staff was off for the holiday… I hope. Literally, every dish that came out was served to the wrong person at our table. This lead to a lot of redirecting and shifting. Starter, main, dessert. I decided to look around the room. Same with every table.
I was told by our waiter that the lobster bisque was now a squash soup. It was lobster bisque. Now I felt like I was in some alternate universe. It was also luke warm.
The food was okay. Nothing great. Meh. At $ 65/​person, the damages weren’t severe.
At least we all had a good laugh.
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
Upscale casual dining atmosphere inside Sofitel Hotel. We went here for a la carte Chicago: celebrate the French table. Gorgeous presentation of delicious food! Also, excellent service.
Place rating: 5
Naperville, IL
We have dined at Café Architectes 4 or 5 times over the past few years. Located in the lobby of The Sofitel Water Tower, it is both upscale and warm at the same time. The food has always been excellent, especially when we went there to celebrate my husband’s birthday. The chef and staff knocked themselves out to give us a special meal. Since then it has been our choice for out of town guests as we know the food will please.
My favorite dish has been the pork belly and divers scallop. Very rich, but complex in the tastes. Whatever the salmon preparation is will also be superb. What’s new is the fairly recent development of Chestnut Provisions, the in-​house production of cheese and charcuterie. We’ve had the appetizer selection three times and it only gets better. Especially good are the creative jams and pickles served with the cheese and meat. Desserts are also complex with subtle flavors.
It is clear that the wait staff support Chef Biggers’ goals and are proud of the food they serve.
Place rating: 4
Troy, MI
Went there for breakfast on a whim. Was near my hotel and on my way to work. What a great discovery! French pressed coffee was strong and flavorful. Ordered the most amazing savory waffle. It was called the hash waffle. Crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside with bits of ham. Yum! Topped with a poached egg, Hollandaise sauce and a strip of bacon. It was delectable. Memorable brunch for sure.
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
I went to this restaurant because of a Groupon. Sometimes with Groupon, unless you know the place well, the places can be quite bad… Instead Café des Architects was a pleasant discovery!
I loved everything they put in my place. I think I had one of the best foie gras ever there. So soft and flavorful. My boyfriend had sweetbread, amazing too! I also had halibut and he had rabbit. Nothing was wrong. Everything was just rich in flavor and tasty.
The service was very just perfect. In the end, they brought a complimentary tower of deserts but we were so full that we tried just a few.
I love this place, I think it would deserve a spot in the Bib Gourmand again!
Place rating: 5
Chicago, IL
I had a wonderful late breakfast here with my parents this morning. The smoked salmon plate with a side of eggs was excellent. In addition to the salmon, the fresh pastries that they bring around as smoothly as the coffee and water are refilled were outstanding.
This is a great place to have breakfast without hoping on a plane to France.
~Jonathan
Place rating: 3
Chicago, IL
Came here the 2nd time after a disappointing first experience. We already had dinner some place else and decided to come here for dessert. Ordered the dessert platter and orange soufflé. It was quite good and the variety on the dessert sampler is decent. Soufflé was good but could have used more ice cream on the side. Customer service and ambience was excellent. Overall a much better 2nd experience.
Place rating: 4
Chicago, IL
Overall: the executive lunch fair is a solid four courses for the $ 24 price. The dishes are hit or miss
Food: Executive option. Four courses sampling various French dishes that change everyday. I had a mixed greens and goat cheese mousse salad, salmon filet, cold tomato soup, and a dessert of chocolate cake and meringue pieces. The salad was average, the dessert was ok, but the salmon was excellent. The cold soup wasn’t good. It had a strange sour and smokey taste.
This restaurant is a cool little gem nestled in a hotel. Parking is a pain. The cuisine is French and the theme definitely shows; the servers greet you in both French and French accented English. The prices are decent for lunch and pretty classy.
One thing that was strange with our executive lunch was that everything was brought out at the same time. Unfortunately by the time we finished our salads, the salmon was getting cold. It was like a French benton box.
I recommend this place for a classier affordable lunch, either to catch up with friends or in a business setting.
Place rating: 1
Freeland, WA
This is an easy 1-​star review; we were seated for breakfast (patrons of the Sofitel hotel) — we waited 10 minutes — there was no acknowledgment, no service, no water, coffee, nothing. We left.
The food looked pretty good, but for an $ 18 eggs Benedict, I would hope for service too…
Place rating: 4
Lombard, IL
I enjoyed my visit here. We were seated pretty quickly. Our food tasted wonderful, the coffee was strong (just what I needed), everything tasted super fresh. Our waiter seemed a little rushed but I assume it’s because it was a Saturday morning. Wonderful breakfast meal.
Place rating: 5
Orlando, FL
What a wonderful meal we had here! I loved the combination of Michelin-​star level cuisine with friendly, fun service. Romi, the singing waiter provided theatrically French attentiveness without being stiff, and Chef David visited our table multiple times to make sure we enjoyed everything.
Perhaps all this attention was due to our ordering the menu degustation, as none of the other diners seemed to be having it. I can’t imagine why, as it is a real deal. David checked with us beforehand to make sure it was okay for him to serve different members of our party different dishes in each course, and we enthusiastically agreed, as it allowed us to sample twice as many dishes.
And dishes galore there were, each artfully arranged, and accompanied by thoughtful wine pairings. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves, but suffice it to say that each was just as delicious as it looks.
The pastry chef continued the trend with four spectacular desserts, some of which she concocted on the spot.
We will be back soon, as the creativity here seems endless.
Place rating: 4
Paris
Bel endroit … Ambiance cosy et Frenchy … :-)
La décoration est magnifique et très design … Le personnel est attentif et sympa… C’est réellement un endroit où l’on se sent bien…
Côté boisson et nourriture c’est aussi une bonne surprise… C’est délicieux !!!
Pour le petit déjeuner je conseille les œufs Bénédicte … C’est super bon !!! :-)
Un bel endroit en plein cœur de Chicago …
Place rating: 5
Grand Rapids, MI
Went early on Friday night. It was quiet and relaxing. The service was perfect.
Started with cocktails – a Martini and a Manhattan. Both were perfectly mixed.
The breads were good-​especially the olive bread.
The amuse bouche was tuna – very nice.
I had the lobster appetizer – it was delightful. The lobster perfectly done. The butternut squash tortelli was wonderful, if anything almost too rich. Husband loved the pork and the apple salad. he really liked the malted milk ball dessert. It was huge. Remember, they also bring a small complimentary chef’s dessert too.
Although we did not use it last night, the $ 39 three course prie fixe menu is a really good value.
The presentation is always terrific.
Place rating: 5
Frankfort, IL
I have been yearning, lusting even, to eat at this restaurant. We even had reservations once but had to cancel.
Finally we got to eat here and it was worth the wait, it is a sublime restaurant. We had a simply terrific waiter by the name of Romi and the entire meal was a delight.
We started with charcuterie for two and split it between four which was more than enough, especially after the hearty bread which was generously passed out. We also received a complimentary glass of bubbly. Cheers!
For my entrée I had a two part lamb which was unbelievably tasty, I have never had lamb better anywhere. It was a rib and shank plus some potatoes that were mouth meltingly fabulous.
To top off this perfect meal I had the dessert sampler made by their fabulous pastry chef, Leigh Omilinsky. With a fragrant and smooth cappucino to end the meal I felt I had died and gone to foodie heaven.
What a superb night with great food and superb companions. We must go again!