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    TrueNorth Cafe Hyde Park

    3.3 (64 reviews)
    Closed 7:30 am - 4:00 pm

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    TRUENORTH CAFE HYDE PARK ATMOSPHERE

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    The menu
    Jackie R.

    Just popped in for a hot chai latte one afternoon on a chilly day. The place wasn't crowded; I ordered and picked up my latte quickly. It was very delicious.

    a man sitting at the counter
    Brandon B.

    Beautiful local shop for coffee and pastries, a place you could hang out and enjoy. I wish we had something like this in the Loop, it's an old school cafe/coffee shop like they used to be. I got some takeout coffee and it kept me going the rest of the afternoon.

    Blueberry Coconut Smoothie And Freakin Vegan
    Steve A.

    Good place next to Medici that's a little better to be honest. It has a kind of cafeteria feel to it but it's certainly better than cafeteria quality. TrueNorth is pretty popular among UC faculty and students. Just going here is enough to make you feel smarter and act like you know everything. Prices are kind of high on some things but it's expected because of the location and there's lots of organic ingredients used in things. Came here with a friend because Medici was too busy like any morning. It was still busy here but not as much. This is set up cafeteria style. Long tables with lots of chairs. We got smoothies. It's $6.25 for the regular. These are made with top notch organic stuff. I had the Blueberry Coconut. This is made with agave, bananas, blueberries, chia seeds, coconut milk, and mint. As for food we each got a sandwich, and liked it. I had the Freakin Vegan. It's $10.45 for a too small sandwich, but it's so good. This is on a pretzel bun, and has baby spinach, peanut tofu, pickled red onions, and sriracha. It was a tasty bun. The peanut and sriracha flavors really helped the tofu. She liked her sandwich, and I would get that one the next time here. There's just too much good but it's too expensive to get a lot. Fairly happy with all we got here. It has some pretty healthy things like smoothies and sandwiches. The prices are the worst thing but these aren't even that bad truthfully.

    The Mae Wilson
    David C.

    While walking down the street looking for a place to have a late lunch, we found the True North Café. We read the menu posted in the window and we were hooked. We went inside and were warmly greeted by a young man. We further perused the menu, and after a recommendation we selected our choices and he told us our order would be delivered to our table. We both ordered turkey sandwiches. Hers was the Turkey Pesto sandwich on a Panini and mine was the Mae Wilson served on toasted sourdough with bacon and guacamole. Both sandwiches were absolutely delicious. The turkey was obviously fresh sliced deli, perfectly folded in Artisan bread with guacamole and bacon cooked perfectly. The atmosphere can be described as welcoming with a hipster vibe. Several youngish patrons (I am 70 so I guess numbers are relative) were absorbed in their computers which made me think that WiFi was free. We are visiting from out of state however if we lived here, this would definitely be a place we would frequent.

    Amanda D.

    I'm sure it's hard being the neighbor to a very established block resident (Medici). However, the lattes are better and the service is nicer here at True North. There are lots of options for coffee beverages but the speed of service varies greatly. If you have someplace to be or have anxiety about confrontation (asking where your order is) this place might not be for you. The coffee is better than next door and honestly the service is way more polite.

    The Godfather Sandwich and chips
    Maricel J.

    Late post Yesterday, my colleague and I ordered lunch from here. Everything on the menu looked so good and we had a hard time deciding, but in the end, decided on the Godfather sandwich. It came with a bag of potato chips. We were glad we chose this sandwich because it was delicious. We will definitely be back!

    Strawberry Shortcake
    Ama S.

    I went here to grab a quick sandwich and smoothie. The customer service was great. The food was prepared and came quickly. The restaurant and bathrooms were clean. I ordered the strawberry shortcake smoothie hoping for a rich and creamier smoothie. I could not taste the whey powder or yogurt, and it tasted like coconut milk was used instead of almond. I tried the freakin vegan sandwich which was a decent, unique and tasty sandwich. I would recommend larger servings of sandwiches for the price paid. The coffee menu looks great. Next time I will try the coffee.

    a chalkboard sign
    Ellen C.

    I stopped by TrueNorth for a coffee earlier today. I ordered the pumpkin pistachio latte with oat milk and it was so so good. The pistachio notes were a bit stronger than the pumpkin ones but the combination proved a perfect drink for a fall day. Also, the drink was around $4.50, very reasonable as similar drinks would cost around $5-6 at other coffee shops. I want to come again to try their food.

    mae wilson

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    15 days ago

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    1 month ago

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    10 months ago

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    1 year ago

    I just stopped in to grab a coffee while waiting on a friend. Folks there were super friendly.

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    2 years ago

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    3 years ago

    Nice little student-run place. It isn't fancy, but their coffee was fine (Metropolis).

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    2 years ago

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    1 year ago

    sweet cafe! got an almond latte and bagel and enjoyed the communal tables. would recommend if you're on 57th :)

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    1 year ago

    Very bland, plasticky, and chewy food. Prices are way too high for such low quality items.

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    2 years ago

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    2 years ago

    The food was pretty good and affordable. The service was great and very quick. The ambiance was very nice, cozy and quiet in the morning.

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    3 years ago

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    3 years ago

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    2 years ago

    (Belated review from July 2023.) I can recommend the tasty sandwiches, smoothies, and the chocolate muffin.

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    4 years ago

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    Page 1 of 2

    Ask the Community - TrueNorth Cafe Hyde Park

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    Stony Sub

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    Stony Subs is a southside staple that is famous of the Jim Shoe (Gym Shoe). I probably would not…read morehave stumbled upon this on my own, but the notion of a perfect fusion of Greek, Jewish and Italian (The Holy Trinity) immigrant flavors in probably the most American sandwich you could have thought of. Thankfully this came about pretty naturally where these communities converge. I mean it's "we have the meats" and cold weather food combined. Corned Beef & Mustard from the Jewish cuisine, Roast Beef & Gaird from the Italians, Tzaziki & gyro from the Greeks and LTOC from American sandwiches. Some people and places put mayo and ketchup on there, but it muddies the cultures and makes it feel like not just a meat bomb, but a sauce bomb too leaving things indistriguishable. It's got this combination of hot and cold, crunch and chew, spice and cooling sauces. The only thing I'd like to see changed is have horseradish sauce in the sandwich and have the tzaziki as a dipping sauce. The cheese is swiss, but I'd like some cooper sharp, but I don't want to confuse NY'ers who chop their sandwiches (pre chew as I call it) as it might be a little too melty. The fries are well done, but putting them IN the sandwich is too much. The hoagie roll can barely handle all this meat on it's own. People say to use the BBQ sauce for the fries, but it muddles the flavor experience. I like to bring my own celery salt bc I love it on a Chicago dog so much that I think it helps. The bread is softer, but doesn't fall apart (don't take it out of the aluminum foil, like the In N Out burger, don't remove it from the diaper) It's not a classy sandwich shop, but a blue collar, greasy, cash only, curt coustomer service place that the is for the working man and the hungry man alike. Locals love this place becuase of how authentic it is and it's easy to see why everything is so popular. It's all good and it all sells. The only thing more popular is their wings, large, meaty, well seasoned. There is no eating inside or outside, so it's to go only. Grab one on your lunch break, best place to eat nearby is the telephone pole you could lean against or the hood of your car. Like most top tier places there is a way to order. It's not drunk food like Maxwells, becuase it's not singular in flavor. It's everything. A kitchen sink if you well, hence the name Gym Shoe. You might think it's some funky shoe, but it's a $300 pair of Jordans. It's open 24 hours, so depending on the hour it could get sketchy, but it's popular amongs LEO's that people wont mess with you too much. Service is decent, far less full of themselves as hotdog places around here, borderline friendly. My favorite way to wash this down is with a Mexican coke. Becuase there is so much meat, cheese, sauces it actually warms up pretty well if you can't finish it. Unlike other Chicago foods like the rigobene's breaded steak sandwich or a Jibarito. While it's something you can only find not just here (Chicago), but only in the Southside. It's hyper local. Unlike many foods which can't actually be replicatable elsewhere, this one can. You can find all the ingredients yourself. I don't reccomend doing that becuase eventhough I'm writing this, your not finding this unless your a foodie or interested in Chicago, i'm still sort of gatekeeping things. No sandwich shop owner has really come up with this anywhere else.

    Hey what can I say? It's your typical hole in the wall food spot where you go after a night of…read moredrinking and questionable decisions, or when you're taking a break from your diet and want something greasy I've only had the fried chicken and pizza puff and both were really good. It's still cash only.

    Photos
    Menu
    Menu
    Jim Shoe
    Jim Shoe
    Order counter. Gettin' ready for a Jim Shoe to kick me in the mouth!

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    Order counter. Gettin' ready for a Jim Shoe to kick me in the mouth!
    The Hoagie Place

    The Hoagie Place

    3.3
    (67 reviews)
    4.1 mi
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    Edited to add that I'm seeing this establishment is only here to profit off of blacks, which they…read morefeel superior to. Most of the comments call out there poor customer service as well as questionable, predatorial behavior. Stop having people unfamiliar or afraid to interact with people in roles where they have to INTERACT WITH PEOPLE. Typical stuff, not being respectful when presented with ordering mistakes, trying to charge people for silly things like bags for each sandwhich, etc. Things that NEVER happen in white areas. Absolute trash. Poor quality bread that was like a doughy shake. Got the large. Poor quality bread made it a diabetic fright. And it was disgusting. Meat was carne asada. I got a sandwhich that's supposed to be shaved meat. The Sweet Steak is a specific sandwhich. Imagine drinking an Horchata that was made of coconut milk. That's how weird it is to have you try to use your recipe for sweet steak. Isn't from your particular culture. Obviously you couldn't be bothered to research and respect the culture that this sandwhich comes from. Like you're going to tell me how it's supposed to be made? Cruz? Are you from this planet? A coconut horchata, or a buttermilk horchata, or a mayo horchata, or a cauliflower horchata - none of these are what you can get at 99% Mexican restaurant. Is carne asada usually ground beef? Just coming from SoCal it's like you're being deliberately obtuse. Really hope you take the time to think about this. It is absolutely bizarre hermano. You look absolutely bizzare to people with time to think about why you are choosing to make these decisions. Moreover it's disrespectful that you're not even trying to figure out why things are popular the way African Americans cook it. Weird and Trumpy to say the least. I avoided another spot owned by my non-black brothers because of the tendency to get frozen fried chicken in retaurants. It's unfortunate that this place is attempting to profit from the name Home of the Hoagie, a historical black female owned restaurant, yet they only supplicate the experience with poor quality. Didn't even know Home of the Hoagie used cheese. Quality is subtle like that. This place had their cheese sloppily added to the sandwhich. It's like they don't care about the community they are serving this crap too. It's really a bad look. Another "Hoagie" shop I didn't go to was also because the people making the food didn't seem like they even appreciated the food enough to replicate it with the care and degree that made their shop famous. If Mr. Cruz wants my business, take the time to replicate, at least the quality of Home of The Hoagie. All that great customer service doesn't help if your going to sell Greasy Spoon to make that quick dollar. Brought my friend from Europe here thinking it might be anything like Home of The Hoagie on 111th. You lost out on those dollars. Lost on some international good will. He's told his countrymen about Home of the Hoagie. Wanted to see if I could save some time by trying out your spot Cruz. Ended wasting time as the food was sooo terrible. Just feels disengenuous that you take the name to profit from it yet can't respect WHY they are considered the best. It's hard work that got them the coveted title. Else your name would be Cruz's Soul Carne Asada. Threw the 2nd sandwhich in the garbage without opening it. Fries both were the pre-frozen cheap stuff. Fries that I asked for sauce had hardly any! lol This is a greasy pop up. It won't last. Somebody got money, hired people they knew but failed to do anything else that could help their business. Home of the Hoagie is older than me for a reason! They are good. Even after the owner passed away. If you call ahead there's still some wait. After this horrendous experience, I'll wait in the long line, shut my mouth and like it.

    I had received warm reheated fries with sauce but they weren't freshly cooked. They will…read moreacknowledge you when you enter the establishment majority of the time.

    Photos
    Cashier window
    Cashier window
    Tomato so old it's turning colors!
    Tomato so old it's turning colors!
    Outside of location

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    Outside of location

    TrueNorth Cafe Hyde Park - coffee - Updated June 2026

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