ate breakfast there today. ooooo man, it was everything i could have ever wanted and more. i got the egg and cheeser biscuit with sausage and a side of home fries. do not leave without getting the home fries, seriously the best. my boyfriend got the jalepeno home fries, they were smoothered in cheese and had ham in them, yum. only complaint would be the long wait, but it was def worth it. best breakfast i have had in awhile. def going back! read more

The Catfish on Fridays is crazy good. I love the pork chops on the weekend. I am always wishing I could get there every week. Very High Quality. Very crowded. A long wait. Small diner. All homemade. read more

I had been to Sweet Maple years ago, not long after the restaurant had opened and had a very nice experience. A friend was coming into the city and I recommended this as a good place to meet. From the moment we sat down, it was obvious that they were trying to rush us out. We did order breakfast and ate. We were not offered refills on our coffee, the moment we finished, our table was cleared and we were asked to leave, all in less than an hour. I was so embarrassed, especially since we were there on my recommendation. The food was fine, but not good enough for the treatment that we received. I will not return. read more

I am from Michigan and my family members from Chicago even have mixed reviews. As for myself, the food is not good enough to make up for the lackadaisical attitude of the host and at least two of the waitresses. The customer service is bordering on poor. The pancakes are excellent and the omelets are terrific but the biscuits suck out loud and the salmon croquettes are (in the words of my my teen aged nephews) "WHACK"! ! The french toast is mediocre at best! If the customer service was better I could understand the crowd. Oh well, to each his own! read more

Long wait. Grody atmosphere (paint, are you peeling off the walls?). Service is kinda slow and atrocious because I can SEE MY WAITER CHATTING UP A GIRL when I have waited 45 minutes to sit and I... AM... HUNGRY!!! They need a manager to keep these peeps in line. read more

Best pancakes I ever had! This is our new favorite brunch place in the city. The place is cozy, the service is lovely, friendly and not imposing, and the food was just so good it made sweet maple cafe worthy of my first review on yelp. read more

Always amazing food, lovely staff. Can get a bit crowded, so plan ahead. Friday's they have a killer breaded catfish and egg special. Great grits and biscuits! Trust me, you'll be happy. Just gets a little cramped at times. Not good for large groups, I'd recommend 4 or less. read more

A GREAT place for Breakfast,or Brunch. I'd give it 5 stars but it's too small for it's greatness!!(smile).. I like the differnet twists they add/offer to traditional breakfast items,like Oatmeal with Brown Sugar,and rasins on the side..with Vanilla Cream. It's cream like you put in your coffee,but with a hint of Vanilla flavor...WONDERFUL!!! Actually,I DO put some in my coffee.I appreciate the corned beef hash....the corned beef isn't what you find in restaurants...it's sliced,chopped,corned beef. Not the processed stuff you usually find in restaurants. Cheddar grits!!!!! YES!!...when I've had pancakes there,the syurp is always warm. You can tell the orange juice is freshly made. When you go on Saturday...you WILL wait,but you expect that at a place with GREAT food. Sweet Maple Cafe serves that indeed. I highly recomend it.. read more

Updating my review to 5 stars even though I haven't been back since my last review. Why? Once I moved out of the area, I regularly thought about it and how much I missed going there. I think that deserves 5 stars! read more

Phenomenal pancakes!!!!!! Had a really good breakfast.I made sure to try their bisquits alot of you Yelpers recommended.They were good.But the side of pancakes stole the show in my opinion!!!!! Theres a few items on the menu that I definetely will have to come back for.Totally recommending Sweet Maple Cafe.Pleasant experience!!!! read more

Food is good.but coffee cups are waaayyyy too small.my fingers barely fit into the cup.

Excellent service sub par meals. Their biscuits are really dense, eggs aren't anything special, and the grits are bland. When we asked the server about the pancakes she said it was better than iHop Really? That's not a place you should be comparing your food to... iHop is gross. I think this place is trendy and that's why people are in love with it. My father, grandfather, and grandma make much better breakfast. Come on over to my family's houses if you want some authentic southern type breakfast. read more

FUCKING DELICIOUS. Came to Chicago for a little trip. A family member suggested this place. Had breakfast here and order the 18th street scramble. Man oh man it was so good. The home fries was PERFECT - crispy and soft on the inside. Not like the nasty shit they give you in NYC diners. The biscuit... I had an orgasm. Anyway, just come eat breakfast here because it's so good. read more

The only reason I can't give this 5 stars is because of an almost hour wait, with really nothing to do but wait, no seats, heck we waited while standing a few feet from all of the tables, no drinks to have or snacks to keep us going...So that part was less than ideal. BUT the food, oh lord it's great. I had pancakes and I know it's hard to believe but it was totally worth the wait. The three others that were with me also felt like the food was worth the wait. So go early, be prepared for a wait, and be starving so you can devour every last thing on your plate. read more

I can't say LOVE enough to describe their menu.... everything from their mocha to biscuits and gravy and corned beef hash (real corned beef) the atmosphere, food and waitresses are great! When my husband and I are going into the city for the day we always leave early to eat breakfast here! My husband loves the pancakes! If you haven't been you must try! The weekend wait can get very long, but if you can make it here during the week there is usually not a wait and the food is worth you time. It is not you usual breakfast food served by most breakfast restaurants straight from the food distributors, theirs is homemade and you can taste it! read more

I found this little cafe from the "Check Please!" show. The restaurant is very small but cozy. The pancake and biscuits are so delicious and huge! The maple syrup they serve is the best I've ever had at any breakfast restaurant. We had: pancakes, biscuits, sausage gravy, 18th Street Omelete, ham, home potatos and coffee. Everything we ordered were well cooked, seasoned, not too salty or sweet and beautifully presented. The sausage gravy is made from scratch and the best I've ever had. It is not WHITE and creamy like the normal gravy. If you are a breakfast person like I am, you should give it a try. PS: They serve Seattle Coffee there, so that's a plus! read more

The chef must have been out when I went. I got the 18th street with the grits and biscuit. The biscuit, while large, was dry. The grits were bland. The meal itself was also dry and the chorizo was not that spicy. My boyfrends corned beef hash was dry and was more like chopped up ham and potatoes than the finer texture of normal corn beef hash. Coffee was the best part. I won't be back. read more

Superb breakfast place. Expect about a half hour wait if it's a weekend, but it's worth it. Their scrambles and pancakes are delicious. Biscuits and hash browns are terrific. Drinks are also very good. Service is excellent. Has a pleasant southern ambiance. Their is a free parking lot on weekends across the street, and this restaurant is situated in a great neighborhood. read more

So, I really want this place to be how it used to be. But over the years the omelette and egg dishes have become smaller and the service poorer. Most recently, to my dismay, I came in for weekend brunch and waited 40 min and then told that they were out of biscuits. Really? So many entrees are "bisquit-based". How do you run out of a menu item made of flour and water and you also sell them to go to make at home? I'm sitting there looking at dozens at at home biscuit mixes. Can you open one up and make some more? I guess not. I'm gonna have to find a new go to breakfast spot. Goodbye Sweet Maple. read more

My first time trying this place! It's quite small, but cozy with a southern rustic feel. The pancakes were amazing & so was the Carmen G scrambler, although the portion was smaller than expected. However, the grits were gritty & the cheese became quite clumpy as the grits cooled off. Everything is priced pretty well. I will be back! read more

Fabulous homemade biscuits-with or without yummy sausage gravy! The chicken egg & cheeser sandwich with the homemade apple sauce is great. Menu has variation and is a nice change of pace from regular breakfast fare. It is a small place so go early or anticipate a wait. read more

Meh....not crazy at all about this place. I came here with coworkers for breakfast. I had the Peaches and Cream Pancakes. They had peaches inside the pancakes & on top. I thought it would taste good but it wasn't all that. The restaurant is small & decor has a Southern feel to it which I liked. I tasted the biscuit and that was good. My 1star goes for the biscuit and because we have to give a rate. read more

I came here with 2 friends. We each had the special..eggs, bacon, biscuit and either potatoes or grits. I didn't find the food to be anything special. The grits were flavorless and biscuit a little too dense for my liking...i had to smother it with butter and 5 packs of jelly. In addition to the food being mediocre at best, the reason I will not go back here again is the service. I think her name was Sarah.. Another friend joined us late, she did not plan to eat but asked for a side of bacon. The waitress said no. After we sat there with our mouths agape, we asked are you serious! She said yes, your friends said you weren't going to eat. It was rude how she handled it. I can understand them not wanting to tie up the table but again the way it was handled was out of order. After that, someone else came to the table to grab our receipts and asked if we needed anything else. I said yes, a side of bacon, she answered, no problem. But, after being treated so rudely, my friends just wanted to get out of that place. We headed down the street to Stax in search of bacon. Will not go here again. read more

The spiced apple pancakes were perfectly spiced and their special syrup was just sweet enough and truly brought out the pancake's flavor. The ham had good flavor, but it was too dry and tough. The grits and omelette were just OK. The fries were the biggest disappointment. It was like a potato skillet minus the skillet and flavor. The atmosphere is good, but it definitely was not worth the wait. read more

I'm not impressed. There was a short wait when we arrived. The menu was basic. Mostly everything was a la cart. Some menu items come with fries (potatoes) and a biscuit but other items didn't. There was not an option to get a pancake instead of a biscuit which was disappointing. To the food. I ordered the sweet maple omelet and it was basic. Not much of a taste to it. I had to salt it which I hate to do. The fries and biscuit were great. My friend ordered the pancakes and bacon. The pancakes weren't well made but the syrup was to die for. FYI, extra syrup is extra money. They only give you a small container of syrup. If you like lots of syrup than you'll definitely be spending extra money. It was like any other breakfast spot. I probably should've ordered a fry selection because they were pretty good. I definitely don't have to go back. read more

I went here on a Friday morning around 8, hardly any wait but all the tables were filled - so the long wait this place is famous for....didn't happen for me. My friend and I shared a breakfast - pancake meal [2 pancakes, 2 eggs, 2 choices of meat), cheddar grits, and applesauce. Okay so first the pancakes - I like thin pancakes/small pancakes. The reason is that pancakes fill me up pretty quickly if they're really thick. I asked the waitress if I could have silver dollar pancakes or thinner pancakes and what she said? "no..we can't do that." It made me wonder why they wouldn't do that, aren't the pancakes made to order? Or is it not southern enough? Are the pancakes made beforehand? I knew my experience would end quickly if I started eating the pancake first... so I had the eggs. The eggs weren't special, they were regular unsalted eggs. The sausage patties were OK. They weren't really salty which was a plus, but again nothing special. The cheddar grits I had was ... well I've never had cheddar grits or grits in general. So it was my first time. It took a few spoonfulls for me to develop a liking for it. and lots of Louisiana hot suace, not Tabasco. The applesauce I can't put my finger on it...but it tastes okay/weird/different. It doesn't taste BAD. but I'm used to having really sweet/cinammon-y applesauce. It's okay. If I knew what was in it, it would be even better. The texture is chunky and soft, which is different from canned applesauce from the store. The pancakes were big. Plate size big. Two half inch buttermilk pancakes. After two bites I was full. They came hot, powdered with sugar, some whipped butter and syrup. My first bite tasted really doughy and for some reason made me think of tapioca pudding. It was ok. The waitress and hostess were nice and friendly, but nothing out of the ordinary smile and take order business. read more

Ate here for the first time and it was to die for! My son had been here several years ago and recommended it. Service was fantastic, coffee was always flowing and the food was yummy. Highly recommend the pumpkin spice pancakes. Will definitely be back! Irene read more

Sweet Maple Cafe is one of the best places to get breakfast in Chicago. Their food is really good. I love their pancakes, French toast, and biscuits. The muffins at Sweet Maple Cafe are delicious as well. read more

It's a very small whole in the wall kind of place. It's very cramp space and not much room to even wait for a seat. The food is excellent.

I went to Sweet Maple this morning after a little hiatus due to this crazy economy. Boy, it was good to be back. The wait wasn't too bad (about 30 minutes) and there weren't large parties crowding the middle aisle like they sometimes do. My husband and I had our favorite server--white girl, maybe the only one?--who is fast and friendly. We watched while others' coffee cups were left empty as we sipped our delicious hot cups. I always order an omelette, but tried their new "Country Scrambles". I had the Carmen, which was perfectly cheesy and came with those heavenly potatoes and a biscuit just like the omelettes do. Like others have said, there's going to be a wait if you go on the weekends, but pick a nice day, sit outside, relax, and get ready for the yummiest meal you will have that week! read more

Best breakfast in the Chicago area. During the Summer, make sure you get there really early or you will be waiting outside. During the Winter, make sure you get there really early, or you will die outside. The biscuits are the best I have ever had. read more

Great breakfast/brunch restaurant. They have the most amazing pancakes, so nice and fluffy! If you're in the area, check it out. Parking lot is right across the street and it's free. read more

Excellent breakfast!!!! That Cinnamon Roll pancake is in a class all by itself. Also the Bacon Cheeser was a star. Worth the trip from LA! Service was great too!!! read more

Hands down the best breakfast in Chicago !!! Homage grits sausage gravey ... enough said!!!!!

I was not impressed at all. I ordered pancakes, sausage, and eggs. The pancakes were ok. The eggs and links came on a separate plate. They were all pushed to one side of the plate, my plate looked like i was missing part of the meal. No effort in presentation what so ever. And they forgot my wifes syrup for her french toast. Not the best experience read more

Really great breakfast here and most of all great service!! There was a 30 min wait for a table but it was more than worth it . I tried the scramble with bell peppers, onions and jalapeños with an egg on top and omg love! read more

I will use any excuse to go to "Little Italy" but it really sounds funny when I say I am going for southern food! The biscuit and gravy and their corned beef hash make me think of sittin on a porch with a sweat tea on a warm summer day. Don't get me wrong their hot cider will warm your bones on these cold Chicago days. Worth the wait, but parking can be tricky. read more

Are you into Southern style cooking? I'm not and even I love Sweet Maple! Great service and amazing food! Since returning home, I've wanted the chicken cheeser but I'm afraid to make it because it can't possibly be as amazing as the one from Sweet Maple. Additionally: you need the cheddar grits. Seriously. You need them. read more

My sister took me here when I came into town for a great breakfast. We did have to wait for awhile but I was promised that it was worth it. I have to agree! We were seated and a friendly server helped us. Great service all around actually. I ordered the corned beef hash and a side a home fries, to which the server gave me a weird look. Well, the reason is because this is not your ordinary mash of corned beef and potatoes. It is actual chunks of salty, yummy corned beef and their home fries mixed together - no need for an extra side! We stuffed our faces and were completely satisfied. The price was reasonable and if I lived in the area, I would be here too much! read more

I live 5 steps away from here and finally placed an order for carry out today. My order was ready in 15 minutes and as soon as we got there and paid, we were on our merry way. Thank God I didn't have to wait in the long line streaming out the door. I ordered the banana pancakes that were fluffy and filling. They tasted like clouds of deliciousness. My brother ordered a biscuit sandwich with fried chicken. He could not stop raving about it. Although I would like to sit down and eat at Sweet Maple, take out is a great option for those with less patience. Yummy! read more