Little Reviews: Wildberry Pancakes and Cafe {Libertyville}

If you have lived in Lake County for a while and frequently cruise down North Milwaukee Avenue in Libertyville, you have probably passed Wildberry Pancakes and Cafe several times. If you have never stopped there, I highly suggest you try it out. With its extensive breakfast and lunch menus, it is one of my family’s favorite places to dine for a special occasion or to enjoy a nice breakfast out. We recently visited to celebrate my daughter’s first birthday with some extended family and had a great experience.

Wildberry is open daily from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. We went on a Sunday for brunch around noon. It was a rookie move to go there at such a popular time; we should have known better. We regretted it immediately as there was an hour wait to eat in the dining room or we could be instantly seated outside on the patio. However, with little kids in tow we elected to wait for the dining room, as it was a bit of a chilly day.  This restaurant is very popular on the weekends, and no weekend reservations are accepted.

While you can’t change the long wait, staff will text you when your table is ready, which is a nice feature so you can leave or wait in the car if you so choose. While our extended family decided to stay and wait at the restaurant and drink coffee from the lobby’s small coffee shop (with no wait!), we decided to go to a drive and hit up a park. Adler Park is literally minutes away and a great choice to burn off some energy with children.

Once our table was ready, we all sat down in an oversized booth in one of the side dining rooms. While we were hoping to be seated in the dining room with the fireplace, we couldn’t complain because at least we got a booth! I think that this restaurant is so popular because the atmosphere of the restaurant feels fancy, yet you can dine very casually. You might see kids in pajamas on a Sunday morning, or even come here to celebrate a more formal occasion in heels, and you would not feel out of place in either situation. Also both young and old will enjoy this restaurant; my grandparents are regular customers, and my five-year-old has yet to complain about dining here.

Wildberry is prepared for your kids. As soon as the server arrived, my five-year-old was handed a kids’ menu and crayons and the wait staff immediately brought two high chairs for the two babies in our group.  My five-year-old spent a lot of time on the word search and the coloring sheet, and the server cheerfully brought us additional crayons so that he could complete his masterpiece while the food was prepared.

Wildberry’s menu is extensive for a place that is only open for breakfast and lunch. I always have a difficult time deciding whether I want to eat breakfast food or lunch foods here. In the past I have ordered both. This time I decided to get a Wildberry BLT and split an omelette with someone else at the table. There are plenty of side dishes to choose from here as well. I ended up ordering sweet potato fries and the person I shared with received a huge plate of seasonal fruit.  My one-year-old loved the fries.

A secret trick about this restaurant is that you can add a side order of specialty pancakes to your meal for only $2. This is a good trick as some of the specialty pancakes looked SO good but I didn’t necessarily want to have a full serving. We chose the Oreo S’mores pancakes and they were to die for. Next time I think we will choose the cinnamon roll pancakes or pancakes made with Fruity Pebbles.

My son is the world’s pickiest eater. I am always grateful for restaurants that will serve french fries and chicken nuggets at breakfast time. Wildberry is one of these heaven-sent places for moms of picky eaters who refuse to try pancakes. This alone will make me come back time after time.

Overall, Wildberry is one of my family’s favorite breakfast places in the area. While the restaurant does get busy, it is totally worth the wait time for their delicious food and the casual, yet fancy, atmosphere. We will definitely be back, and hopefully we will get to eat out the patio next time.

Some more tips before heading to Wildberry:

• Baby changing tables are located in the handicap-accessible stall in both the mens’ and the women’s bathrooms.
• There is ample parking, but we like to park in the back of the restaurant as we find it easier to leave from the back parking lot.
• Going to Schaumburg or Chicago? They have locations there as well.
• Pack a small snack for young children if they are very hungry. My one-year-old simply couldn’t wait to get her food and got kind of fussy.

Wildberry Pancakes and Cafe
1783 North Milwaukee Ave.,  Libertyville | (847) 247-7777
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Disclosure: All thoughts and opinions are the writer’s own and no compensation was received.