The Greenhouse Café at Allerton Park serves up lunch or provides refreshments and respite
Next time you head out to the gorgeous Allerton Park and Retreat Center for a visit, plan to rest and refuel at the Greenhouse Café.
Allerton ranks at the top of our list for both a glamorous picnic setting or a family picnic outing. If you don’t want to pack your own picnic meal, or in case you only discover your need for refreshments after you work up a sweat strolling Allerton’s grounds, the Greenhouse Café is the place for you. Located adjacent to Allerton’s Visitor Center, you can set your GPS for the cafe and park in the handy lot right across Old Timber Road.
When you go inside, simply place your order at the counter. There’s a lot to look at in this cheery, bright space while you wait for your food, including Allerton- and garden-related art for sale.
The café is operated by Blue Dragonfly Catering in a partnership that began in 2021. It offers a nice selection of classic lunch options such as sandwiches, wraps, and paninis — mostly meat-based but with several vegetarian choices — charcuterie or hummus platters for sharing, and salads. There are a few food items on the menu that are available all day; full lunch service begins at 10:30am.
Drinks include coffee, iced tea, and lemonade with a few specialty combinations… and, we were surprised to see, beer, wine, and mimosas! (No word on any time-of-day restrictions on alcohol sales.)
Consult the chalkboards to see what other special treats are available. The day we visited, we could choose from a whole tray of croughnuts from Central Illinois Bakehouse, as well as individually-wrapped servings of frozen treats from Sidney Dairy Barn. (Note: Our ice cream was frozen all right — frozen SOLID. Manage the expectations of hungry little ones to allow for some thawing time.)
You’ll see why it’s called the Greenhouse Café, since it shares its building not only with restrooms (yay!) but with a working greenhouse. Kids will enjoy peering through the windows at the variety of plants inside.
The Greenhouse Café is a seasonal operation and is closed on Mondays. Its peak season runs from the beginning of April until Labor Day, and its off-peak season goes from Labor Day until the start of November, when it closes for the winter. Check here for the most up-to-date hours of operation.
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