Heartland Cafe

This is a really solid neighborhood cafe with spunky atmosphere and friendly service.  My guest and I both had the buffalo burger, which was juicy and cooked to perfection.  In my opinion it's a little overpriced, but not enough so that I won't eat here again.  However, be warned that their service, while super friendly, is on the slow side;  I was here on a Friday afternoon, the restaurant was about a quarter full, and it still took about 30 minutes for our order, which wasn't that complicated.  So if you're looking for a place to relax and have a nice, unhurried meal, Heartland is the place!

The food here is decent. I find the protein here, both vegetarian and non-, is a bit on the salty side.

The service is adequate. Every now and then, it can a take a little bit more waving to get your waiter's attention when you need water.

So why do I come here, when there are so many food choices in this city to presumably waste time on something merely "decent"?

The atmosphere. I don't come here with the specific intention of filling up my calorie count in the tastiest way possible. This is one place where I come to talk to my friends in an environment that supports intellectual discourse, or if I'm in lone-wolf mode, where I come to do reading.

There are some X-factors to this place that makes your mind more accepting, compels you to want to seek out and understand difference. Might be the countercultural magazines you see on the shelves that you otherwise don't see anywhere else, might be the strange, occasionally demented conversations you hear nearby patrons having.

This place is less a restaurant, more a cultural institution.

I've lived in Chicago for almost 20yrs and have never ventured over to Heartland Cafe because, I always assumed it was a vegan/veg cafe and my better half is a meat and potatoes guy who would never agree to a meatless Sunday brunch. And it's a hike for us living in Irving Park. Recently, a friend of ours moved to the area and said it was great and that they do indeed, have meat as well as veggie options.
So we headed over today to meet our friend for brunch, surprisingly there was no wait. Seriously NO WAIT for brunch. On a Sunday. Hell yes. It was busy but not packed to the maximum.
The crowd was a great mix of hipsters, granolas, families and good north side folks. I almost felt like I was in Portland or something. It was great.
So the coffee was good. No I mean, REALLY good. I drank about 7 cups of it. Lol.
My omelette was amazing. Everything was so fresh and not greasy like from some other hip breakfast spots. Everyone's food looked great. As a matter of fact, I can't wait to go again and try something else!
Really, my only complaint was the service was a little on the slow side. Maybe they were understaffed for a weekend? I don't know.
I will definitely return and I definitely want to explore the area a little more.