Urban Orchard

Closing for good at the end of this week, with Saturday, January 31^st being the last day. I only suddenly learned this, a day or 2 ago. 20% off all merchandise in store, though I do wish the discount was slightly more (25% IMO). I asked about it when I stopped by earlier today, and was told it was because they were struggling to compete with other stores like Mariano’s and etc. Weird, since I actually liked the fact they stocked items (i.e. Zarlengo’s gelato, Brunkow’s cheese (from Wisconsin), etc.) that such other competing stores didn’t carry, and I thought at least they were drawing some business at least in that regard? And even if the owners was worried in the back of their mind about Whole Foods opening in the old Dominick’s space near Thorndale/​Broadway, a lot of WF’s own prices on items (i.e. Jeni’s) are worse anyway. And myself, I liked having an alternative to WF.
RIP, Urban Orchard.

This was one of the rudest customer experiences I have had in a long time. I am willing to spend extra money on quality food with the expectation that employees be helpful, courteous and knowledgeable. None of these qualities were present in the two young male bourgeois hipsters who cared more about what was on their phone than giving a courteous reply to a simple question about coffee.
There is no question that the store has high quality food, but there are many more stores around the city that have this quality of food and will also treat their customers with respect. Be a patron of a store that cares, not this one.

Had to update this review based on a recent experience of buying bagels from here that were already moldy when I got them home and took a closer look at them within hours of being at the store.
By that time, I couldn’t return to the store that same day but I left a message on their answering machine to inquire about the situation. I never heard anything back and went into the store the next day only to be told they have no access to their phone messages (so don’t leave one for them if you actually want someone to hear it). Beyond that, it took talking to three different people before a refund was offered (the previous two people acted as though nothing was the matter).
To be honest, after all the hassle and the poor customer experience, I feel like I can’t justify returning. Take a close look at anything fresh that you buy here (I’ve noticed quality issues in other items here as well) and proceed with caution when it comes to their rude service.

Despite being small, it has a great selection. The prices can be a bit steep, so I don’t come here to purchase a week’s worth of groceries; rather, I consider this more of a specialty food place for items you can’t find at larger chain stores, such as gluten-​free items or local, artisan breads, cheeses, etc. Plus, they sell Jeni’s Ice Cream! Since I can’t get my butt out to Southport very often, I can get my fix here.
There is also a nice café area at the front of the store. The coffee drinks are alright, but the WiFi connection is good, there isn’t a time limit, and it doesn’t get overcrowded like some of the more popular cafes in the area — perfect for studying!
This is definitely one of my favorite stores in Andersonville.

I don’t see the big deal or reason to hate on this little store. The stocking «issue» — get real. Live a little. There’s more to life than complacency and repetition! Let’s get this straight: Urban Orchard is a reflection of «old grocery». Consider it more of a boutique. Vendors change consistently, product differs by the season and consider the fact that it’s a grocery first and café second.
Want your coffee and tea as you prefer it, when you want it?! Go to a chain or remember why you return to the Orchard rather than the Starbucks a block down.
I come here for miscellaneous produce, sweets/​pastries and my daily caffeine fix. I’ve only been disappointed once when their credit card processor was down. Otherwise I’ve found new and different replacements for the usual shopping list. I’ve only ever felt like the awkward one here — nothing but nice staff thus far.
I dig it. I like that there are not a bunch yuppies making last minute decisions at the counter when all I want is my damn coffee. Their snacks and health-​friendly stock keeps me coming back.
Only gripe: The lids for their coffee cups suck.

The ready made food here is great (gf and vegan options), the seating area is nice to do some work, and the variety of natural, healthy groceries is nice. Nothing else in the area like it.

We want to like this store, but the customer service and lack of inventory rotation/​inconsistent stock hold us back from going more often.
It’s very close to where we live, and because it has some local and organic items we’d rather go here than Jewel, etc. Unlike bigger stores, though, we never know what items we’ll see when we go in-​things we come to rely on the store having all of a sudden they will no longer carry. We’ve also had to return some items because they’ve gone bad/​are moldy and this leads us to believe the stock isn’t rotated or checked that often. Also, it’s a mystery why some ‘standard’ items are unavailable whereas more boutique items are available.
Biggest problem is and has always been the staff… They rarely if ever venture out from behind the counter, show obvious disinterest in customers, and don’t seem to know the stock very well-​without ever offering to find out more information or provide what we have come to expect as reasonable customer service.
Pros: Convenience, local products, decent beer and wine selection.
Cons: Unhelpful staff that doesn’t seem to know the products, some items past sell-​by or good-​by dates, elevated prices.

If I could give this place 0 stars I would. Why?
Re: the café:
Inconsistent stock. Sometimes they have bagels. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they have a few basic black teas. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they have teabags. Sometimes they don’t. Yes. I’m serious. A grocery store with an attached café… which runs out of teabags. I mean, why not just give up and stop selling the coffee, too?
Poor customer service. Staff varies from polite to rude. Doesn’t seem to know much about the products in the store. No one cares if they put insane quantities of tea in said teabag (see above) or give you a plate for your for-​here bagel. I get the strong impression that no one here gives a shit.
Offensively bad music. I’ve worked in coffee shops before and I’m aware of how annoying it is to have to deal with customers whining about the music. But let’s set some ground rules. Don’t blast your music. Don’t play only top 40 hits. Or just country garbage. Vary it. Above all: don’t. Play. The. Soundtracks. Of. Musicals.
And again. Don’t blast it. I shouldn’t be able to hear it through my headphones.
Re: grocery:
The produce is frequently less-​than-​fresh. Again, strong impression that no one here gives a shit.
Plus side: the wi-​fi is reliable and there’s no credit card minimum.
I hope UO cleans up its game or at least leaves to make room for a decent coffee shop at the south end of Andersonville. Seriously, guys, get a grip.

Pretty pricey but they do have a variety of unique things that would probably be harder to find in other places.

Pros: Convenient, super vegetarian friendly, local. They carry just the brands I like — Kilgus, Red Hen, etc. — all those local guys. Produce is fresh as well.
Cons: Slightly pricey, even given the local nature of some of the products. Also, certain items that I would expect to be here aren’t. (They have dozens of cheeses, but no regular olé’ fresh mozzarella? Just the smoked stuff?)
Never had a problem with the staff, but I guess I haven’t interacted with them much. Additionally, I haven’t purchased anything from the café. It’s convenient, so I’m going to keep coming back, but if you’re not into the local foods scene, maybe Urban Orchard isn’t the place for you.

Pass.
This neighborhood is loaded with great shops. Urban Orchard however is not one of them. A spare selection, startingly rude and obnoxious staff, and extraordinarily high prices make for an altogether unpleasant experience.
I like the chocolate selection very much, but I’ll go someplace that makes customers feel welcomed.

I don’t think this place get’s a fair wrap. Sure it’s small and had generic looking shelves, but it’s good spot to shop for specialty items when you don’t feel like going to whole foods. It’s priced about the same as well and serves good coffee too.

Why do I rate Urban Orchard 1 star?
I’ll tell you why. Last Saturday I went to their café counter and asked if they had any vegan chocolates or baked goods. I was told by TWO people they only had vegan macaroons. These were to be a gift but I did not need to purchase just yet. I was doing my homework and thought I’d found my source. Today, five days later, I go back to purchase said vegan macaroons and ask again if they are vegan. Two staff members have no idea but don’t think so, so they ask someone else who proclaims confidently «No! We don’t have any vegan baked goods.»
Good. Good. Glad your staff has no flipping idea what products they sell. Some people have allergies, some people have very strong personal or moral reasons for being vegan. If your store is going to subscribe to extremely over priced, yuppie, hippie, organic, fair trade, cage free, antibiotic free, vegan, gluten free bull CRAP your staff & store better know what the (insert offensive swear word) they sell.
This is not a grocery store I would ever buy my weekly groceries from because they are so wildly over priced but now that I’ve been slighted by their rampant store wide ignorance I will never ever walk the two minutes across the street to buy even one much needed item for a recipe at the last minute. Your convenience is now lost on me. Your ignorance about your food and the contents within it enrages me.
I’m not vegan or gluten fee and I don’t care about organic produce but I have friends who are and who do so if your staff is so woefully uneducated in the wares they schlepp that you cause my gf friends to become ill because you thought something was gluten free when it was really just organic, or just nothing at freaking all … Well then … I’m going to leave you a bad review and write you off completely. Yeah, so there. YOU’RE PHONIES.

I went in to grab a bag of flour without looking at the price. When the cashier said $ 9.00 I had to laugh and walk away. I think that this place has potential, but the prices aren’t helping.
Also, the employees seem like they are allowed to do anything they want, which explains the lack of friendly service. I never get acknowledged anytime I go in there. This is a place that you go to when you are feeling really lazy and desperate to get specialty items and can’t make it to whole foods.

I had forgotten about this place and just recently, when I past it, I spontaneously decided I should go in and get something healthy to supplement a unhealthy dinner waiting in my freezer. So, I was glad that this was here and while initially I was afraid of their prices, the end result was surprisingly ok. I just got a box of fresh spinach, a delicious orzo salad and some cheve. I’ve had this cheve before, and I’ve seen it at Whole Foods and the now defunct City Provisions, and was glad that the price was on par with the other two.
I walked their aisle and was impressed in what they carried, and loved that it was small enough so that I don’t get annoyed with infinite amount of choices. I will definitely be back when I just need some provisions (I don’t foresee doing my complete shopping there, but since its so conveniently located for me, I don’t feel bad stopping by and supplementing my basic groceries)

I went to Graduate School in Columbus, Ohio.
One of the things I loved the most was Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream, and they had an ice cream parlour not so far from where I lived.
When I moved away to the big city of Chicago, one day I had a hankering for their Sweet Potato and Hand Toasted Marshmallow ice cream. But I didn’t feel like driving to Ohio.
A quick search on the internets revealed to me that Urban Orchard carried it. I was so excited I may have peed a little.
Rather than walk, I drove the 5 blocks to the store. Upon entering, I liked that it had that «indoor farmers market» feel, and the staff was very friendly and welcoming.
Lots of people reading the newspaper (well, there was more than one, they weren’t huddled around just ONE newspaper), people having coffee, and baked goods. Hard wood floors.
I easily located the ice cream in the freezer — and paid at the register. I contemplated buying two, but I realized I am obese — so thought better of it.
While I didn’t buy anything else while I was there, I was happy to find a well curated collection of goods. It is nice to know that a place like this exists in Andersonville.
I drove back home, and before putting it in the freezer — I got out a tea spoon.
Not a table spoon, a tea spoon. I force myself to eat a little bite at a time.
This way:
1. I enjoy it more
2. I can savour each bite
3. I don’t eat the entire container in one sitting
I managed to make this last for a full week. I’m not sure how, but I did.
I would go back and shop Urban Orchard for other culinary needs. But in my heart, they are my connection to Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream.

I can’t rate a grocery store that keeps their unripe avocados in the refrigerated section more than three stars.
Anyway, I popped in here the other night as means to pass the time for the Clark bus to show up. I ended up buying some spicy beef jerky and a wedge of blue cheese. Both were delicious, I wish that beef jerky was sold in bulk!
Not some place I’d do all my grocery shopping at, but I’ll definitely go back for more jerky.

I’m a big fan of local grocery stores so I definitely had to stop by this place after walking past it a few times on my recent trips to the area.
The selection is somewhat small, but makes up for it by carrying high-​end and local brands. For example, they sell Metropolis and Dark Matter coffee.
My boyfriend and I decided to stick to buying local brands that we haven’t seen anywhere else. I though the prices for brands that I could find at the grocery store were high so we avoided buying any of those items.
We bought a corn chowder soup starter from Frontier Soups in Waukegan. The soup was delicious and made, which was very delicious and served 6 to 8 people so we will have soup for a few days. I love eating soup when it’s cold out so I don’t mind.
We also bought some beer & pretzel caramels from Truffle Truffle out of Skokie, which also tasted delicious. It wasn’t too sweet at all either, which my boyfriend really enjoyed since he’s not a big dessert fan. The caramels were a little expensive — maybe 5 for $ 6.19, but worth every penny.
I also bought the Double Devil CaveChick cookies (Park Ridge), which are made without egg and dairy products. They are supposed to be healthy for you. The taste wasn’t compromised at all, but I found them to be a bit dry.
They have a small, but nice wine selection as well and also an area where you can eat in and study. However, I found it weird they check you out in the same area where you can order your coffee drink.
Unlike other reviewers, I didn’t have an issue with the service. Another employee noticed a line forming at the checkout counter and he offered to ring us up at another register. I appreciated that. Overall, good place and would go back in if in the area to buy local products only.

Urban Orchard is like having a farmers market in Andersonville seven days a week. They have a great selection of organic and sustainably crown produce for a reasonable price. There is also a small café area with free WiFi.
Aside from these features the store has a small selection and high prices. But all things considered UO is a great addition to the neighborhood. Any day other than Wednesday when the farmers market is on, I get my produce here and love the whole experience.

This is the newest overpriced-​artisianal-​farm-​to-​your-​mouth store, recently opened on Clark Street.
For wine, I’ll go to Andersonville Wines and Spirits. For organic baby stuff. .. well, I don’t need any. Pass. For produce, I’ll go to Edgewater Produce. I’m not an organic devotee, preferring quantity of vegetables and fruits and lower prices, so that is lost on me. For ready-​made snacks, I’ll go to Middle Eastern Grocery around the corner. High end organic skincare, I’ll go see my beautiful friend Sheila in the Andersonville Galleria.
Sooooo. .. the store is a bit redundant. I’m not sure it’l last that long, as it doesn’t seem like a place to do everyday grocery shopping, and. .. well, just meh.