The Green Ape is a plant-based restaurant in Chicago's Wicker Park, known for its elevated comfort food with bold flavors and soulful inspiration. It offers a creative culinary experience, curated by Chef Bri, focusing on gourmet vegan dishes.
Customer Perception
Customers generally praise The Green Ape for its incredible quality vegan food, generous portions, and delicious flavors, often highlighting the candied yams, mac & cheese, and vegan fish. While some find it a bit pricey, many agree it's well worth the cost. The atmosphere is described as cute, trendy, welcoming, and chill, with good customer service. One review mentioned some dishes being too salty, but overall feedback is highly positive.
Additional Details
The Green Ape is located at 1310 N. Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago, IL. It aims to provide crave-worthy classics alongside innovative signature dishes in a plant-based format.
Honestly, too expensive to be mid at best. The second try with this place, really not good
First time trying with partner: got the oxtails w Mac & the “fish” that comes with yams & greens. We were both a bit stoned and thought it was good but not great. We actually wrote down a review and basically did 3.5/5 with the best being the yams, smoothie, and oxtails. Sat in, and it was nice. Nothing amazing or “worth coming back” imo, but my partner enjoyed it a little more
Second time: got the same thing plus the shrimp. The shrimp didn’t come with a sauce so it was bland. The “fish” was crispy, but tasted slightly off, the yams were overcooked and not as cinnamony as last time, and the greens were bland. The oxtails were fine and the Mac that came with the fish was dry.
Service: the first time it was decent. They offer water and aren’t rude. Music playing: Chris Brown so yea nah lol
Second time service: ordered but their thing was messed up so by the time I came, they hadn’t started on my order & I even tried calling to make sure it went thru just in case because we used Toast & it said to do so, no pick up. Got the food around closing, so maybe that’s why everything was a waste
But in general, waaaay too expensive to be throwing just anything on a plate also, Drake was on second time lmao. They were kind and apologetic
We do enjoy the seating/layout inside and the smoothie the first time was great
Glad they changed their thing from AI though…first 2 pics from first trying & third was at home the second time. Didnt picture the dry shrimp :/ but it did make my tummy hurt
I visited this establishment yesterday 07/18/2026. I was very curious about this place because I visited Chef Bri's other location (Taste of Bri) sometime last year and really enjoyed it. I had really high hopes for The Green Ape because of my experience with the first restaurant.
From this establishment, I ordered The Green Ape Soul Plate. I replaced the yams with an extra serving of mac and cheese.
The greens were a little bit more bitter than I prefer. The mac and cheese was okay, but not super flavorful. The fish was a bit too salty for my liking and the flavor was dominated by whatever lemon-flavored seasoning was used to prepare it. I paid about $27.00 (plus tip) for this meal, and I was a little disappointed in the quality and flavor overall. I do not care much about pricing, especially because vegan cuisine is much more on the pricier side in general. However, I at least like the food to taste good regardless of the price I pay for it.
Aside from this, the customer service was impeccable and quick. I really like the self-checkout kiosks. Bathrooms were very tidy and smelled nice. I do wish there were more room for tables and walk space, however. The fact that people kept having to squeeze by me to get to other areas did kind of bother me. The music was slightly too loud, but I had headphones in anyway, so I did not experience too much overstimulation as I was able to block it out.
Overall, I would try another dish from here in the future because I love Black owned businesses and I feel like everyone deserves a second chance. I would just hope that they dial back on the salty elements and find alternate ways to introduce flavor.
5
Went here to celebrate my birthday after reading about the place online. My friend and I both had the vegan soul plate. The sweet potatoes and the mac and cheese were awesome. The fish and greens were also good, but a little too salty for me to fully enjoy. I'm not into salty food, but other people who are might find it to be really good. Overall, this was a very enjoyable experience. Chef Bri was even nice enough to pose with me for a picture to remember the experience.
5
Stopped by to check it out, picked up lunch to go. The atmosphere was very cool and extra chill. Decided on the Soul Plate with the vegan fish. Food was ready to go after a very short wait, less than 10 minutes. It was not cheap, but the portions were generous so I didn't mind the cost. The candied yams were delicious and the Mac & Cheese was creamy, tasty and terrific. The greens were a touch spicy, fresh and very good. The stand out was the vegan fish filets. I air fried them when I got home to crisp it up again and it was craveable and crispy. The portions were enough to get two full meals from this one order.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
I will definitely be back soon to explore more of their menu.
Very interested to check out the vegan Oxtails and several other interesting items.
5
Incredible quality vegan food that is well worth the price. Plates are well rounded and recipes are well thought out. Highly recommend. Best crispy lions manes wings we ever had. the alfredo is also incredible and will put you into a food coma! dont miss out on going to this spot!
