Wheat Cafe at the College of DuPage

I’ve been to a few different student run culinary restaurants so this was not my first experience with this concept. We did the pre fixe dinner. The waiter decided to forgo menus and he would instead explain the menu to us.
We started with the spring roll with two sauces. No explanation of what the sauces were so I asked. His reply was I’ll check with the chef. By the time he returned we had already finished the spring roll. If it wasn’t for the honey mustard sauce it would have pretty bland.
Second course Hot and Sour soup. Once again it really lacked flavor. I guess I was expecting it to equal what I’ve had at Chinese restaurants.
For the salad course the waiter described two salad choices and he didn’t get either description correct. I ordered the chopped salad. What a huge disappointment 3 tiny pieces of avocado, a little tomato, green onion, lettuce and tiny amount of blue cheese.
For the main course I had the open face portabella sandwich. Finally an item that had some flavor! The vegetables were nicely grilled and seasoned. The potato side dish was also quite good. This was the highlight of the meal.
We had two desserts to choose from. Once again the waiter didn’t describe either dessert correctly. I had the crème puff that was suppose to contain a whipped cream and strawberry center with a chocolate drizzle. It wasn’t whipped cream but instead it was ice cream inside with no strawberries or chocolate drizzle.
If this had been the first couple of weeks of service I could understand but this was at the end of the spring session. The food was average at best and the service was mediocre.

Located on campus at the College of DuPage Center for Culinary Arts, the Wheat Café offers a complete 5 course meal every Wednesday night by reservation only. Prepared and served by the students attending the Culinary Arts program under supervision of the program’s head chefs, the meal at Wheat Café consists of 5 course menus with multiple choices for everyone. They change the entire menu every couple weeks, so there’s always something new. During my meal the first course was an appetizer in the form of a green apple and brie tart, served with a raspberry purée. The second course was my choice of soup, and I had beef with lentils and root vegetable. Course 3 was the pear and watercress salad, followed by my entrée, the pork loin with pickled onion and potato salad. Desert consisted of my choice of a chocolate crème brûlée served with fresh berries, or a peanut butter and chocolate dome. I chose the crème brûlée, and i was definitely not disappointed. The entire experience was very enjoyable, and I was very surprised at the caliber of food, as well as décor. I think the most astonishing thing about this place is the price. I’ve dined at other establishments offering the same level of service and paid 3 to 4 times the price of Wheat Café. The service was great, the food was amazing, and I was happily greeted with a bill for $ 22. Enough said.

The food was great, the experience was not so great.
This is a hidden gem on the campus of College of DuPage. It’s part of their Culinary School and the students run it. For $ 22 you get an appetizer, soup, salad, entrée and dessert. They have soda and wine for beverages and they are extra. They have red and white wine. You get what they have and it’s a bottle or red or white, no choices. You NEED a reservation.
Our food was really good. I had spring vegetable soup, a romaine salad, mahi mahi and a banana dessert. Their menus are listed online so you can view here
Hubby had onion soup, heirloom tomato salad and a flat iron steak sandwich with fries. We both had a tomato and leek tart for an appetizer. His fries were kind of soggy and my mahi mahi need a bit more flavor, but the presentation was wonderful (see the photos).
Apparently some group gamed the reservation system and reserved 50 spots. When we walked in there were 5 tables seating 10 people each and then our table for 2 by the kitchen door. It was an abnormal size table and we couldn’t reach all the way across. Not intimate at all. When we walked in, we wondered if we were in the right place. At first we thought we were crashing a wedding reception, then we looked and thought it might be a retirement party or funeral dinner. Think of lots of ladies with clunky jewelry and Chico’s clothes and lots of older men with sweater vests on.
It was VERY noisy, they kept clinking their glasses with their knives (what’s that about?) and towards the end I couldn’t take it anymore. We got our dessert to go! Because of the set up, servers kept going by us knocking up or pulling or tablecloth. Generally speaking, I’m ok with some inconveniences when I eat out. I have 4 kids and am desperate for some time away with hubby alone, so we sucked it up and said we were having an adventure.
When one of the seniors came over and asked why we had our own table, that did it. At that point, they could have been paying me money to stay there and I would have left! Our server was not happy with the situation either and was so apologetic, he even took care of our drinks.
I’m not sure anyone will experience this situation like we did, because the staff was so overwhelmed and unhappy, perhaps they will figure out how to avoid it in the future. You need to check this place out for a great meal, but beware!