Au Bon Pain

This place is the perfectly centered meeting point for my friend and I to meet up for lunch in the Loop.  We really tried to like it here.

The Thai chicken salad is pretty darn tasty, but I am not impressed with the quality and price ratio.  I usually spend just under $10, but for Au Bon Pain's mediocracy it's just not worth it anymore.  Their soups are often alright, but once again expect to pay quite a bit.  Now I understand that eating in the loop isn't cheap - HOWEVER, I have come to find that there are definitely hidden delicious deals and lunch specials everywhere around here, you just have to know where to look.  

I always envision the idea of Au Bon Pain to be a little bakery, making salads and sandwiches to order, where everyone knows your name.  It is a creepy assembly line version of this.  When you walk in, someone squaks hello in a panic - the made-to-order things are done in a frenzied sloppy mess, and the checkout is a line of frantic employees trying to move people through.

The charm that it tries to create isn't real.  There are still places that have this and I intend on supporting those.

I love their soup selection.  There are always 8 options and always a veggie option, a couple hearty, some low cal.  Add a nice baguette and you're set for a filling lunch.  Not cheap - large soup with bread will cost about 7.50.  Although I've come to expect this in the Loop.  Lots of seating here.

I like the Thai Peanut Chicken Wrap. It's delicious, and the vegetables, unlike other fast food sandwich shops who shall not be mentioned (cough Subway cough), the lettuce and veggies actually look appetizing. It's a good thing I like it because according to the menu, it's pretty much the only tasty-looking thing under 600 calories.

I go to this Au Bon Pain frequently as my office is a block away, but my biggest complaint about this location is that they are CONSISTENTLY understaffed, even at the lunch rush. Today they had two people behind the counter. It took 15 minutes for me to get in and out the door, but the entire time, there was someone standing in front of the counter taking orders like a maitre'd. Sandwich makers can only make one sandwich at a time....Imagine how much faster they'd go if each sandwich-maker took their OWN order, and the wanna-be-garcon actually chipped in?