The 5 Best Restaurants At The Chicago O'Hare Airport, According To Reviews

Chicago O'Hare International is a very large airport, and it's rated as the fourth busiest in the U.S. So, if you travel enough, you will very likely spend time in this Midwestern hub. Like many airports, O'Hare's interior is a busy mix of shopping mall and food court, and thanks to its 70-plus diverse restaurants, it was named one of the best airports in the world for foodies by Betaway (via CBS News).

Lots of travelers will end up in a familiar position: You step off a plane, look around a crowded concourse, and wonder where you should grab a bite to eat. You might have a two-hour layover — just enough time for a nice meal, but not enough time to dilly-dally. Chicago itself is famous for its eclectic dining scene; for longer stays, these are the 5 most affordable Michelin-starred restaurants for chic dining at a lower cost. However, if you don't have time to leave the airport but still want to experience the city's best eats, it's nice to narrow down the options.

So, here are five favorite restaurants in O'Hare for you to try on your next layover, according to critics who know the airport well. While it's impossible to declare the "best" restaurants in a given place — your mood and flavor palette will determine the kind of cuisine you seek out — these spots consistently earn top reviews. They also double as bars, which is convenient for adult travelers with time to kill, but guests of all ages are welcome. As you'll see, there's far more to Chicago than hot dogs and deep-dish pizzas, even in the stripped-down environment of an airport terminal.

The best thing about a torta is that you can eat it for just about any meal. Lunch? This popular Mexican sandwich was made for it. Dinner? Hey, you're traveling, and a Cubana clásica sandwich is portable, affordable, and filling. Breakfast? Tortas Frontera opens at 5 a.m., and the egg and chorizo is an outstanding breakfast sandwich, especially after an exhausting red-eye. Created by celebrity chef Rick Bayless — and one of his many successful, Latin-style concepts — Tortas Frontera routinely tops lists as the absolute best restaurant O'Hare has to offer.

As travel publication TimeOut put it: "Renowned Chicago chef Rick Bayless gives travelers the best reason to get to O'Hare early with this tortas spot ... his griddle-baked Mexican sandwiches are loaded with fillings like smoked pork, chipotle-roasted chicken and chorizo." And you probably won't have to travel far: The restaurant has three locations, in Terminals 1, 3, and 5, and service is pretty fast-casual, so you can usually order and devour your chipotle-roasted chicken torta with plenty of time before a tight connection. If meat-stuffed tortas sound a little heavy, consider the tortilla soup or chips and salsa. This place also serves adult beverages, from tropical cocktails to mezcal flights.

The vertical neon sign for the Berghoff Restaurant is a major landmark in downtown Chicago, and it's prominently located near the Art Institute and Millennium Park. This authentic German restaurant and bar dates back to 1898, and patrons have come here for frothy brews and live music ever since. The Berghoff Restaurant is a historic pillar of Chicago's dining scene, attracting thousands of tourists every year, so it only made sense to open another location in O'Hare International Airport. In the same way, visitors to Munich don't even need to leave the airport to experience an authentic German beer garden; travelers can try one of Chicago's best during a routine layover.

This smaller Berghoff Cafe is located in Terminal 1, right near Gate C26, and you'll find a long row of beer taps at the bar and tables for dining. The menu is thick with Germanic specialties, like wiener schnitzel and sauerbraten, though you can pick from American staples as well, like the breakfast bagel, veggie wrap, and Nashville chicken sandwich. A lot of folks will come here just for an acclaimed craft beer from Adams Street Brewery, but many beverages are family-friendly as well, including a popular house-made root beer.

"Berghoff Cafe's old-timey interior and stained glass is charming enough that you might momentarily forget you're stuck eating at O'Hare," wrote food critic John Ringor in his review for The Infatuation. "The food keeps up this illusion — it's actually pretty good even outside of airport standards. Their fluffy omelets are always a reliable breakfast choice, but the sandwiches are the best things here."

Not sure what a publican is and are afraid to ask? No worries: It's a British term for the owner of a pub. And Publican Tavern is a welcome establishment for pub enthusiasts. This place is sleek and modern, with well-curated lists of craft beers and wines. Bite into a hearty pub burger or fish sandwich or spend some extra time with a bone-in pork chop or wood-roasted salmon. Delayed flight? Treat yourself to a chocolate torta, complete with rye-spiced pecan caramel.

Located on the edge of Terminal 3, Publican Tavern is open daily from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. The sit-down experience is a nicer alternative to O'Hare's food court. Although any customer is welcome, you also would feel right at home in formal or business-casual clothing. This location is also a spinoff: The original, known as The Publican, is a renowned fine dining establishment in Chicago's West Loop, which opened in 2008 and helped spark the now-popular Fulton Market. Like what you're tasting? Find an excuse to head into town and try the full menu.

John Ringor of The Infatuation reviewed this spot as well, writing: "When it comes to sit-down restaurants at O'Hare, this offshoot of a Fulton Market New American spot is one of the better ones. And though the airport Publican has a much smaller menu and the food doesn't really match up with its downtown counterpart, it's still solid." We'll drink to that.

When Goose Island Beer Co. was founded in Chicago in 1988, the concept of craft beer was still pretty obscure, and this award-winning company has paved the way for untold legions of brewers ever since. With its clever artwork on the cans and astonishing range of stouts, IPAs, and barleywines, Goose Island has earned its Terminal 1 location in O'Hare. Just head over to Gate B1, and you can't miss it. As Jeffy Mai at Eater notes: "The spacious hangout sits in the middle of Concourse B, allowing travelers to keep an eye on their gates while refueling with seasonal drafts, sandwiches, and pizza."

The brewpub has a bar with overhanging TVs, so solo travelers can relax on their own and chat with strangers, while groups can sit at tables for a proper meal. High-quality beers are the main event here, though the bar has a modest wine list as well. The menu offers classic pub fare, like the pulled pork sandwich and buffalo wings, while vegetarians may enjoy a well-made Impossible burger. Goose Island opens at 5 a.m., so early morning travelers can break their fast on griddle cakes or a mushroom and swiss omelet.

A longtime favorite star of "Top Chef," Chef Fabio Viviani opened Siena Tavern in 2013 to great fanfare, and the concept has grown by leaps and bounds since. Viviani and his business partners, Luke Stoioff and David Rekhson, found inspiration during a group trip to Italy, and the fashionable restaurant is modeled on a bar they loved called La Taverna. Since then, the trio has opened three more casual locations known as Bar Siena, one on the North Shore, one in the West Loop, and one at O'Hare International Airport. This upmarket Italian eatery has pretty reasonable prices (for an airport) and can be found in Terminal 5. The place is open most days from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., though it closes an hour earlier on Sundays.

This is great spot for romantic dinners, family outings, or an expertly prepared shrimp spaghetti when you just can't stomach one more tuna sandwich from the grab-and-go shelf. No need to bust out the Italian phrasebook; these dishes should all be familiar, like fettuccine bolognese and margherita pizzas. Bar Siena in O'Hare has the open-air atmosphere of an Italian street venue, with a beautiful artificial tree composed of cable lights. With the subhead "Cibo e Liquori" (food and liquors), you can bet the drinks menu is worth browsing as well.

The Infatuation critic Nick Allen put it this way: "The O'Hare outpost offers a similar experience, just with a smaller menu. The pizzas and pastas are solid, and the roasted meatballs are a standout. While you'll find much better options for all of the above in the city proper, this is a reliable, genuinely decent Italian choice."

O'Hare is full of food and shopping, and as long as you pass through during a reasonable hour, you're bound to find something tasty to eat. I've spent a good amount of time milling around O'Hare but, for this article, I've used some personal experience while also comparing "best" lists from several trusty epicurean websites, including Chicago Eater, TimeOut, and The Infatuation, plus various less formal reviews from travelers across the Internet. Many critics disagreed about their absolute favorites, recommending venues that aren't listed here — and are also worth checking out — but all the places chosen for this list came highly rated, and none of them are likely to close anytime soon.

There's another important factor as well: local roots. Every restaurant listed started in the Chicago area, and in most cases, you can visit an original location in the city itself. If you end up with more time to explore, these are the five restaurants considered the most beautiful, according to Chicago residents.