Wake N Bakery Chicago Downtown ★9.7

There is a category of café that exists because of a change in the law, and Wake-N-Bakery is the clearest example of it in downtown Chicago. From the sidewalk it reads as an ordinary bakery-and-coffee counter — glass case, cakes, a lemonade dispenser, a playlist. What makes it different is the question you get asked at the register: infused, or not?

Highlights

• A bakery and coffee bar where almost anything on the menu — a latte, a tea, a lemonade, a brownie — can be made with a hemp-derived cannabinoid shot, or left plain.
• Everything is labeled: products carry either a milligram figure or a clear non-THC marking, so you know what you are ordering before you order it.
• Non-infused versions of the whole menu exist, which means a mixed group does not have to split up.
• A genuinely large baked-goods case — brownies, cookies, cheesecake, cupcakes, scones — plus gummies and made-to-order infused cakes.
• The downtown branch sits in the middle of the River North hotel and shopping district, which makes it a walk-in stop rather than a destination trip.
• It runs later into the evening than almost every specialty coffee bar around it.
• Strictly 21 and over, in the shop and on the website.

What’s in the cup

Be clear-eyed about this: nobody comes here for single-origin espresso, and the shop does not pretend otherwise. The drinks list is the familiar one — lattes, teas, matcha, hot chocolate, and a lemonade that regulars rate above everything else on the board — executed competently rather than obsessively. If you want a bean origin printed on a card and a filter brewed to a recipe, several places within a short walk will serve you better.

What this counter has instead is a variable the others do not: the option to add a hemp-derived shot to whatever you ordered. In practice that means the same iced latte can leave the counter two entirely different ways depending on one word from you. The infusions are hemp-derived and sold under the 2018 federal farm legislation — full-spectrum CBD blends on the mild end, delta-9 preparations on the strong end — and the potency is stated in milligrams rather than left to guesswork.

The one thing worth knowing about the drinks themselves is that they run sweet. The fruit and cream builds in particular are dessert-scale, and more than one visitor has found the strawberry cream sweeter than expected. If you like your coffee dry and bitter, order simply and ask for less syrup — the counter will do it.

Who’s behind it

Wake-N-Bakery was started in early 2020 by Brianna Banks and her partner Mohamed Lotfy, who opened the original shop on the North Side selling scones, cupcakes, teas and lattes with the option to infuse any of it. The timing was either terrible or perfect depending on how you look at it: a brand-new café opening into a pandemic, in a product category that most people had not yet worked out how to buy.

What carried it was not advertising but the platform economy — the first location went viral on short-form video, and the queue that followed funded an expansion that is still running. Banks has framed the business around wellness and around treating cannabis as a culinary ingredient rather than a novelty, which is why the bakery case gets as much attention as the cannabinoid menu. The chain now runs roughly ten locations across Illinois, Tennessee, North Carolina and Florida, with the downtown Chicago room one of four in the city and its suburbs.

That growth is worth knowing before you visit, because it sets expectations correctly. This is a young multi-state operation with a standardized menu, not a neighborhood shop with a single owner behind the counter. The upside is consistency and clear labeling. The downside is the one you would expect from any fast-scaling chain, and regulars mention it: the counter interaction can feel transactional, and at the busiest moments you are better off knowing what you want before you reach the register.

What it’s for

A curiosity stop while you are downtown anyway. This is the honest primary use. You are in River North for shopping, a hotel, a museum or dinner, you have an hour, and this is the most unusual counter within walking distance. Order one thing, sit for a while, and treat it as an experience rather than a coffee run.

A low-key social hour. The bar-style seating suits two to four people who want to sit and talk without committing to a restaurant. The music is upbeat, the room is bright, and nobody pushes you out. It works particularly well as the stop after something else — a walk, a show, a long afternoon on foot.

Takeaway. Given where it sits, a great deal of what leaves this counter leaves in a bag. The packaged side — gummies, baked goods, pre-rolls — is built for exactly that, and the shop is set up to serve a walk-in who is in and out in five minutes.

Coming alone. Fine, and slightly easier here than in a quiet specialty bar, because the room is busy enough that a solo visitor is invisible.

Laptop work — no. This is the axis where you should set the expectation low. The seating is bar-and-perch rather than desk, the music is not background music, the traffic is constant, and the whole room is designed around a transaction and a short stay. Wi-Fi and power are not what this business is selling. If you need three focused hours, choose somewhere else and come here afterward.

Groups larger than four — also no. The space is a shop floor with seating attached, not a room you can rearrange.

The space

The downtown room is compact, bright and modern, with a retail feel that the older neighborhood branches soften slightly. The counter and the display case dominate; seating is arranged around the edges, mostly bar-height, with enough of it that a small group can settle in but not so much that you should count on a table at a peak moment. Photography and decor on the walls give it more personality than the standard chain fit-out, and the playlist is a deliberate part of the mood — upbeat, current, and not quiet.

The atmosphere is friendly and unpretentious. Downtown workers come through for a quick pick-up, visitors come in curious, and small groups settle into the bar seating for a slower visit. One recurring practical complaint is worth passing on honestly: the room can get uncomfortably warm when it is full and the weather is against it, so on a hot day, take the drink outside rather than lingering.

Beyond coffee

Yes — and arguably the case is the main event rather than the drinks. Brownies and cookies are the volume sellers, with an oversized s’mores cookie among the signatures; there is cheesecake, cupcakes, scones, gummies and made-to-order infused cakes for occasions. Portions are American in the full sense of the word, and more than one first-timer has been surprised by the size of what arrived.

Everything in the case comes in both versions, infused and plain, and the packaging tells you which is which. The shop also carries non-edible goods — soaps and bath products among them — which reinforces the impression that this is as much a small retail operation as a café. If you came for a pastry with a coffee and no interest whatsoever in the cannabinoid side, that visit works perfectly well; you simply say no at the register.

When to come

Mid-afternoon on a weekday is the calmest window, when the downtown lunch traffic has passed and the evening crowd has not arrived. Late morning is the second-best option, and the case is at its fullest earlier in the day — the popular items sell out rather than getting restocked endlessly.

Evenings and weekends are the busy stretch, and this is the shop’s real differentiator: it stays open long after the specialty coffee bars in the neighborhood have turned their chairs up, which makes it the default late stop for anyone in the district after dinner. Expect a queue at those hours and expect the room to be loud. Current opening times are in the schedule block on this page.

Getting there

The shop is in River North, a short walk north of the river in the dense band of hotels, galleries and restaurants that fills the blocks between the shopping district and the water. The nearest rail is the Red Line stop at Grand, roughly two blocks away; several bus routes cross the area, and there are commercial garages within a block or two if you drive.

Practically speaking, this is one of the most walkable spots on the list — if you are staying in a downtown hotel, you are almost certainly within fifteen minutes on foot. The frontage is small and easy to miss between its neighbors, so watch the numbers rather than looking for a large sign.

Good to know

Four things, and the first three matter more than usual here. First: you must be 21 or over, both to buy and to browse the website. Bring identification. Second: if you are new to infused products, start at the lowest dose available and stop there for the day. Edibles and infused drinks take considerably longer to take effect than most people expect, and the standard mistake is ordering a second one before the first has done anything. Third: do not drive afterward, and plan the rest of your day accordingly — this is a walking-and-transit visit.

Fourth, on the practical side: ask the counter directly what a given product contains. The staff are used to the question, the labeling is explicit, and the difference between the mild full-spectrum options and the stronger delta-9 preparations is significant. Products here are sold under federal hemp rules rather than as licensed dispensary cannabis, and nothing on the menu is evaluated as a medical product — if you take medication or have any health question, that is a conversation for a doctor, not a café counter.

And a closing note on expectations: judged purely as a coffee shop, this is a competent chain café in a neighborhood full of better ones. Judged as what it actually is — a bakery built around a legal category that barely existed six years ago, run by people who got there early — it is one of the more genuinely novel counters downtown.

Questions and answers

What does “infused” mean here?

It means a hemp-derived cannabinoid shot added to a drink, or baked into an item. The range runs from mild full-spectrum CBD blends to stronger delta-9 preparations, and everything is labeled either with a milligram figure or as non-THC.

Can I order things without any of that?

Yes. The entire menu exists in a plain version — coffee, tea, lemonade, brownies, cookies, cakes. You simply say no at the register, and a mixed group can order both ways at the same counter.

Do I need to be 21?

Yes, to enter the shop and to use the website. Bring identification.

How much should a first-timer take?

The smallest dose on offer, and nothing more that day. Infused drinks and edibles work slowly — much slower than most people assume — so wait rather than ordering a second. Ask the counter for the lowest-strength option and do not drive afterward.

Is it a real bakery, or just a front for the infusions?

A real bakery. The case is large and the baked goods are the volume business — brownies, cookies, cheesecake, cupcakes, scones, plus custom cakes for occasions. Portions are generous.

Can I work here with a laptop?

Not really. The seating is bar-height, the music is loud, the traffic is constant and the room is built around short visits. Come here after your working session, not during it.

Is the coffee itself any good?

It is competent and sweet-leaning rather than serious. If specialty coffee is your reason for the trip, there are stronger options within a short walk; if you want a decent latte with an option nobody else offers, this is the place.

How do I get there?

Red Line to Grand and walk about two blocks, or simply walk from anywhere in the River North hotel district. Garages are nearby, but a car is the least useful way to arrive.

Opening hours