Lavazza Espression

The best coffee in town! And super friendly service. Loved meeting up with a friend here over coffee and dessert!

Tasty flavorful breakfast sandwiches. Highly recommend the egg frittata with salmon. Cool atmosphere, great place to sit & chill with a latte and fresh food.

I’ve been looking for one of these outside of Europe for a very long time. Very good espresso! Smooth and rich without the over roasted taste. Wish I had one of these where I lived. Come here for the café and great croissants.

Lavazza Espression is a chain of Italian coffee shops with multiple locations in Chicagoland. My friend and I learned that they were open on the weekend, so we stopped by on a Sunday afternoon for a coffee run.
I ordered the signature orange mocha de mio, which was just as other Unilocalers described: a rich chocolatey drink with a hint of orange. This has been a favorite drink of mine since I had it at a Seattle café (Diva Espresso on 5^th Ave).
Unilocal says they’re closed on the weekends, but Lavazza is open on the weekends from 8 – 6 pm during the holiday season. Their menu may be found online or on three flat screen TVs behind the drink counter. The drink menu was not functioning during our visit, so I suggest reviewing the menu online before coming here.

Such a neat place! Their lattes are gigantic,(not complaining). Super creamy as well! Can’t wait to go back to Chicago to visit LavAzza again :-)

Outstanding espresso and frittata with the best customer experience from a café I can remember. The experience goes well beyond their incredible beans.

This is my «special occasion» enjoy a cup of coffee spot when I don’t feel like running back to the office and I want to enjoy a cup of joe in a real glass coffee cup. Food is also good. I normally stick with their quiche (which is a small portion) and includes a small surprise salad with balsamic dressing but today I ordered a pizza which two people could split.

Great place for a mid afternoon pick-​me-​up. This location of Lavazza often seems to slip my mind, which is too bad, as it is a less frenetic alternative to the many Starbucks within the Loop. My go-​to is still Argo, as it offers a choice of teas and coffees, and has a better selection of food and baked goods, not to mention the seating on two levels. Overall, though, one could do worse than stop in here. It seems like the employees are checked out, which I suppose contributes to the feel of being in a European coffee shop. Tables are a bit too close together and I couldn’t see working in here for any length of time.

Holy coffee! Everyone handles caffeine differently, but… I ordered an Iced Americano here and it was seriously the strongest espresso I ever had. I asked for a few pumps of vanilla syrup in there, and barely tasted it. I actually added my OWN bottle of water into the drink just to weaken it a bit, and that hardly worked. My heart was ready to burst out of my body! I actually had to throw it out within a few sips. This coffee is definitely not for the weak [like me, apparently]!

Wow… have they sunk. Gregory J. nailed it. BAD ATTITUDE and of course overpriced mediocre food. Time to get a new staff and teach them a tiny bit of customer service. You’ve been warned.

What a great little place!!!
Lavazza Espression is located right off of Michigan Avenue, on E. Walton Ave. It is located in The Drake hotel, but, also has its own front entrance. They have gelato, salads, paninis, to go snacks, etc!!! If you are looking for a quick bite to eat, or a little afternoon pick me up, stop on in! They have some seating inside as well as outside! Great atmosphere, and great coffee!
Enjoy!

I’ve been here a few times only because it is nearby but it’s been the same experience every time. Bad attitude, slow service, overpriced everything.
They always pour the coffee too short, and this last time the coffee was burnt beyond belief. Plus the gelato tastes freezer burnt. Seemed like the employees didn’t care and didn’t even want to be working there.
There is a lot of seating room inside, but it’s an awful layout navigating in line and then around tables to exit.

Getting tired of Starbucks? Well, this is the place to replace your morning Starbucks runs with. I was shooting a short silent film in the city today when my team and I stumbled upon Lavazzo. I’m someone who’s an avid coffee drinker who has had to simply get used to Starbucks (mostly because I haven’t been aware of any other coffee shops). So when I walked in here I ended up getting a simple Café Mocha.
I will say, by no means am I absolutely in love and won over. But this is a coffee joint I’m willing to come back to and would go out of my way for. It’s also cheaper and I feel like they have more food choices. I still paid about ~4.00 for a tall, but that isn’t terrible in my book. Also this place is damn classy.

The coffee and the latte’s are solid, but the baked goods leave much to be desired. The muffins are lacking in something and I can’t quite put my finger on it. Having said that it’s all about the coffee for me in most places. If this were just about the coffee this would get four stars.

Freedom o’Pictures Not Allowed!
It pains me to have to write this review, but it was a painful experience not to be repeated. I don’t consider myself to be an overly complicated person. I love coffee & drink it black no room for cream & sugar & also have a weakness for premium gelato. I also like Lavazza brand coffee & this Lavazza coffee shop located in the Loop in downtown Chicago, IL is a Lavazza Espression location meaning it also offers gelato & a more extensive food menu than just the regular Lavazza coffee shops. I’ve gotten just coffee here on previous occasions but on my recent visit I decided to try their gelato & baked goods. I ordered 1 scoop of espresso gelato which was $ 3 & was served in a glass dish. It was creamy, thick, rich & had a really good flavor, no complaints about the taste or texture. I also ordered the chocolate lava brownie which was also $ 3. This was a dark chocolate brownie that was very dense with a dusting of powdered sugar on top. The outside was too hard for my liking but the inside was pretty gooey/​tasty. Overall too rich/​heavy for my blood. I also ordered a tall, black drip House Lavazza coffee. Lavazza is generally one of my fave coffees but this cup was slightly warmer than lukewarm, boo!
Now for the rest of the story… So while waiting in line by the gelato case I snapped a pic of said case so I could post for others to view & for me to remember the selection. When I sat down, the manager (?) approached me by tapping me on the shoulder (strike 1: thou shall not touch me) & saying «excuse me Miss we don’t allow people to take pictures in here. You’re gonna have to erase that picture you took of the gelato case. I looked at him like are you effing kidding me but kidding he was not. He repeated «you need to delete it right now in a stern managerly-​voice!» He stood over my shoulder & waited until he saw me delete the damn pic from my camera roll! I was completely appalled!
FYI: Your «Rockstar gelato case» has like 8 flavors & doesn’t hold a candle to even the gelato case at the Mariano’s grocery store in Frankfort a SW burb of Chicago where a mini scoop is $ 1.25! You’d think I was trying to take a pic of some priceless artwork not some eyesore gelato case!
Also, what kinda coffee shop has like 2 power outlets in the whole joint, a suckey one! Another tip Mr. CommiePictureMan: maybe you should be a lil less concerned about the likes of me taking innocent pics of your gelato case & a LOT MORE concerned about serving HOT coffee as opposed to lukewarm coffee being that you are an alleged coffee shop!
Kudos to the previous Unilocalers who captured pics of the inside of your commie-​coffee shop & even gasp the crappy gelato case without being reprimanded or were you sleeping on the job those days?! Kudos to me for still taking pics of my cold coffee & food purchases before leaving & never coming back again! I guess I overlooked the sign that was posted about no picture-​taking on the premises. Oh yeah, there wasn’t one anywhere! So I can only assume it’s that guy’s policy to arbitrarily enforce the «photo ban» against certain individuals, perhaps only «Asian-​looking» patrons while others are free to snap away! Or is it your policy to discriminate?!
I do not recommend, endorse or support establishments that serve lukewarm coffee & prohibit/​ban freedom of expression/​food photography! Lavazza Espression oxymoron it should be named Lavazza Unexpression!

Customer service is good, although not the best I’ve experienced at a coffee shop. I had a smoothie, thinking it would be freshly prepared, but received one that was pre-​made. It was okay… nothing to brag about. I like their chairs, though, and the big, open window. Prices were reasonable and there are a lot of places to sit.

The only reason I «checked in» here was that a group of us walked through the blistering cold to get a nice hot cup of coffee, and warm up. I had found Lavazza on Unilocal and had decent reviews, but when we arrived, it looked dead inside. There were two employees cleaning and talking inside, and were completely oblivious to customers outside (even though we knocked on the window). We tried the door but it was locked, even though the sign on the door said they SHOULD have still been open for at least another hour. Guess the employees really wanted to get out of there and made the executive decision to close early… I bet management would be proud — NOT!

I am an avid coffee drinker. Every morning I drink a venti (20 oz) Starbucks dark roast, black. So, for me to like coffee, it has to be great even when nothing is in it.
I was impressed by Lavazza. First of all, the location is quite large and airy. They have ample seating, which is very good being that it is in the Loop. When we were there, it was not very crowded, but I wouldn’t classify it as slow either. They had enough staff to keep the line short.
The coffee was quite good. When I ordered black coffee, they asked if I wanted drip or «Americano». I always get drip at Starbucks, so wanted to be able to compare.
Lavazza’s coffee was not quite as strong as I’m used to. The taste was a little more bitter than Starbuck’s, but it was definitely drinkable.
So, the coffee was good. Definitely on my return list for when I’m in the city. I also recognize the name from visits to our local grocer. So, one more brand to add to our list.

The boyfriend and I had been out and about all day on Thanksgiving day and came across this café, which was open, so we decided to stop in to warm up for a bit. After ordering a drink, I asked if there was a restroom and was told that it was «out of order.» I later went back up to the counter and asked the lady if she knew of a restroom in the area that we could use (what restroom are they using??) and she just shrugged her shoulders and said «I don’t know, maybe Walgreens if they’re open» and walked away. About 30 minutes later she started yelling that the store was closed and everyone needed to leave.
Our coffees were okay, but the cranky employees made for an unenjoyable experience.

I’m back on a coffee kick after drinking primarily tea. So, I’m starting out with espresso drinks (mochas and the like) before I make the switch to strong black coffee like I consumed in the past.
I’d heard of LavAzza, but hadn’t stopped by since none of the locations in the Loop were particularly close to my work. I switched jobs recently and have more time in the mornings to fetch my beverages and thus, a trip to LavAzza happened.
Their mocha is fantastic! It is, by far, one of the best I’ve ever had. The chocolate flavor comes through, but you can still taste the espresso. It’s not overly sweet either.
However, it’s incredibly pricey! My drink costs even more since I ask for it with soy milk. FYI: the chocolate that they use does have dairy so if you can’t handle dairy at all, I’d probably avoid the mocha. A tall soy mocha will set you back $ 4.81 and a medium soy mocha will set you back $ 5.53.
In addition, the café looks super cute and I’ve never had to wait too long for a drink. The only downside is that some of the staff could be a bit friendlier. I understand that they may be tired in the morning. Furthermore, no one needs to hear you complaining openly about your personal problems.
4 stars for my beverage and 3.5 for service, but rounding up to 4 since the product is so darn good.