How Many Restaurants Are in Chicago? (2025 Statistics & Breakdown)

Restaurants in Chicago: 3 Key Takeaways

• Chicago has between 7,300 and 11,500+ restaurants, depending on the source.
• There are 3,736 American cuisine spots, followed by 1,448 Mexican, 755 Italian, and 409 Chinese restaurants in Chicago.
• Despite strict regulations, Chicago hosts around 100–200 mobile food vendors, especially active during warmer months

Restaurants in Chicago are more than just places to eat - they're a bold expression of the city's soul. 

From Michelin-starred masterpieces to food trucks slinging late-night favorites, Chicago’s dining scene is a living, breathing showcase of culture and creativity.

This article serves up a fresh look at the scope, scale, and heartbeat of one of America’s most exciting culinary capitals.

Official Chicago Restaurant Statistics from City and State Sources

Determining the exact number of restaurants in Chicago depends on the source and definition of “restaurant.” 

Various sources report totals ranging from roughly 7,300 to over 11,500 establishments:

• City of Chicago official data: The city promotes that Chicago is home to “more than 7,300 restaurants.”​
• Private data analysis: Brizo FoodMetrics, a restaurant analytics firm, reports 11,524 restaurants in Chicago​ as of the latest data (2024).
• Online platforms: TripAdvisor lists roughly 8,300–9,600 restaurants in Chicago (e.g. about 9,605 in one 2025 update)​. 

These provides a general framework for understanding the city's dining landscape, with some exclusions for non-traditional food businesses.

City licensing and inspections

Chicago officially lists “more than 7,300 restaurants,” a number based largely on active Retail Food Establishment licenses.

This gives a solid estimate of traditional, brick-and-mortar restaurants.

However, this figure likely excludes bars without food service, small kiosks, pop-ups, and food trucks, which fall under separate licensing. 

So while the city's count offers a reliable baseline, the true number of food businesses is likely higher.

State and industry figures

At the state level, Illinois has a large hospitality industry. 

The Illinois Restaurant Association noted there were over 25,000 eating and drinking establishments statewide in recent years​. 

Chicago, being the largest city, comprises a significant share of that.

If Chicago claims ~7,300 of those, that’s roughly 30% of all Illinois restaurants, which seems plausible given Chicago’s population. 

Other analyses suggest the city’s true count is higher (closer to 11k), which would push Chicago’s share closer to half of the state’s total.

Number of Restaurants in Chicago According to Google, Yelp, and TripAdvisor

These online platforms provide a broader view of Chicago's restaurant landscape, with varying counts based on the platforms' focus and inclusivity. 

While TripAdvisor and Yelp capture thousands of eateries, Google Maps offers the largest count, though it includes businesses beyond traditional restaurants.

TripAdvisor

As a travel-oriented platform, TripAdvisor’s listings give one snapshot of Chicago’s dining scene. 

As of 2025, TripAdvisor indicates on the order of 8–9,000 restaurants in Chicago.

For example, a TripAdvisor overview page (updated April 2025) showed “...reviews of 9,605 Chicago restaurants”​. 

In another view, TripAdvisor’s site displayed approximately 8,388 restaurants in Chicago when filtering for current dining options​.

This suggests TripAdvisor recognizes roughly 8–9K places to eat. 

Yelp

Yelp tends to have an even more exhaustive inventory of eateries, including hole-in-the-wall spots, takeout counters and food trucks.

Yelp does not directly publish a total count on its city page, but a search for “restaurants in Chicago” yields thousands of results.

Yelp’s breadth means it likely includes neighborhood pizza joints, delis, cafes, and bars with food that might not appear on TripAdvisor.

We can infer that Yelp’s Chicago restaurant listings number in the high thousands (probably 9,000+), aligning with or exceeding TripAdvisor’s tally. 

The lack of an exact figure is due to how Yelp paginates results without a simple summary number.

Google Maps

Google Maps is very inclusive – if a business serves food and has a Google listing, it will show up. 

A simple Maps query for “restaurants in Chicago” will return a huge number of pins. 

Often Google will just say “Showing the first 20 of many results” or display “10,000+ results” for dense areas, rather than an exact count.

In practice, Google’s database might list well over 10,000 places in the Chicago area tagged as “restaurant” or related categories. 

This includes everything from McDonald’s to fine dining, plus possibly suburban listings if the map view isn’t strictly limited to city boundaries.

Thus Google’s count is broad to the point of being less useful for a precise city figure.

It’s essentially “tens of thousands” of entries, some of which are outside Chicago or not what one might traditionally call a restaurant.

Why Chicago Restaurant Counts Vary Across Data Sources

Each platform has its own inclusion criteria:

• TripAdvisor tends to include restaurants proper and popular casual spots. Closed restaurants are periodically pruned.
• Yelp includes any food-related business in its “Restaurants” category – including bakeries, coffee/tea shops, food stands, etc.
• Google is the most inclusive, automatically pulling in any establishment Google’s data sources identify as serving food.

Another factor is timing and updates: online listings change constantly. 

A restaurant that closes might linger on one platform but be removed from another. 

New virtual brands (from ghost kitchens) might appear on delivery apps (and thus on Google) but not on TripAdvisor’s list of “restaurants.”

These dynamics explain why TripAdvisor’s number (~9k) is lower than a data-mined count (~11.5k).

TripAdvisor focuses on established, visitor-friendly eateries, whereas data mining and Yelp/Google scoop up everything.

Types of Restaurants in Chicago: A Breakdown by Category

Chicago’s dining venues span a wide range of business types. 

Below is a breakdown of approximately how many establishments fall into each category, as of 2024–2025:

Note: These figures are approximate and categories often overlap

Full-service restaurants (sit-down dining)

Full-service restaurants – those where patrons are seated and served by waitstaff – make up a large portion of Chicago’s 7k+ official count. 

This category includes everything from neighborhood diners and family-owned eateries to high-end steakhouses and Michelin-starred destinations.

Chicago’s reputation as a culinary capital is bolstered by its 26 Michelin-starred restaurants and 7 AAA Five-Diamond award restaurants​.

While an exact number is hard to pin down, it’s reasonable to estimate Chicago has on the order of several thousand full-service restaurants.

TripAdvisor’s ~9,600 figure is predominantly full-service places (with some cafés). 

If Brizo’s data is broken down, many of the 9,087 independent restaurants they count​ would be full-service (since chains dominate fast food).

Thus, likely around 5,000 or more of Chicago’s eateries are full-service restaurants. 

This includes a huge variety of cuisines – American, Italian, Mexican, Asian, etc. – reflecting the city’s diversity.

In fact, American cuisine leads with ~3,736 locations in Chicago, followed by Mexican (1,448), Italian (755), Chinese (409), and so on​.

Neighborhood distribution

Full-service restaurants are heavily concentrated in certain areas: 

• Downtown (the Loop) and adjacent neighborhoods have a high volume due to tourists and office workers, and
• Areas like River North, West Loop (Fulton Market), Lincoln Park, and Wicker Park are known dining hotspots.

For example, the Fulton Market “Restaurant Row” in the West Loop has seen dozens of new full-service restaurants open in the past decade.

In contrast, some residential neighborhoods on the far South or West Sides have relatively fewer sit-down restaurants. 

Fast food and quick-service restaurants

Chicago’s count of fast-food and quick-service outlets is also huge – likely numbering in the thousands. 

This category includes major national chains, fast-casual chains, and independent quick-serve spots.

Chain restaurant data gives a sense of scale. According to Brizo’s count, Chicago has about 2,437 chain restaurant locations​. 

Most of these are limited-service places, since big chains tend to be fast food, coffee, or fast-casual.

The top chains in Chicago by number of units are:

• Dunkin’ (180 locations)
• Subway (176)
• Starbucks (147)
• McDonald’s (96), and
• Baskin-Robbins (60)​. 

Just these five brands alone account for ~~659 outlets within the city. 

And there are dozens more chain brands present (from Wendy’s and Taco Bell to local chains like Portillo’s).

In addition, Chicago has countless independent quick-serve eateries – think of all the taquerias, gyros stands, pizzerias, and takeout Chinese food. 

Many of these independents are captured in the “independent” count of 9,087 by Brizo​, but not all are full-service; a good number are counter-service.

For instance, Chicago is famous for its hot dog stands and Italian beef shops – most of those are quick-service and independently run.

Given the above, the fast/quick-service category likely includes on the order of 4,000–5,000 locations in Chicago. 

This category overlaps with the café category below and with food trucks, but here we’re mainly talking brick-and-mortar fast food.

The proliferation of chains and convenience of quick eats mean that by sheer numbers, limited-service restaurants could equal or even exceed full-service in count. 

Nationally, limited-service restaurants slightly outnumber full-service in sales and unit share, around a 53%/47% split by sales​, and Chicago likely mirrors a similar balance.

Cafés and coffee shops

Cafés, coffee shops, and bakery-cafes form a significant subset of Chicago’s food scene, though they may not be counted as “restaurants” in every source. 

Chicagoans love their coffee – evidenced by the nearly 150 Starbucks locations in the city​ and an equally large presence of Dunkin’ donut/coffee shops (180 locations)​.

Those two chains alone give ~330 coffee outlets. 

Add in Peet’s, Caribou (at one time), and numerous local chains plus independent neighborhood coffee houses, and the number of cafés/coffee shops easily reaches several hundred.

These establishments often serve light foo, but their primary product is coffee or snacks, so they might not always be counted as “restaurants” by everyone.

However, Yelp and Google will include them, and city licenses would count any that prepare perishable food under the retail food license. 

Some smaller coffee kiosks might be under a different license if prepackaged only. In any case, expect a few hundred distinct café businesses in Chicago.

For example, the city has a vibrant independent coffee scene – every neighborhood has a couple of local cafés in addition to the chains.

Similarly, bakery-cafes and dessert shops (like Stan’s Donuts, Paris Baguette, local bakeries with seating) fall in this bucket. 

They add to the total count of places one can grab a bite or drink.

Bars and taverns

Chicago’s bar and tavern culture runs deep, from classic neighborhood spots to modern cocktail lounges and brewery taprooms. 

Counting bars, however, is tricky - many also serve food and hold a retail food license, placing them in the restaurant category.

Purely drinking-focused venues require a tavern license, and their numbers have declined over time. 

While Chicago once boasted around 3,000 taverns, today there are fewer than 1,000. A 2020 city report cited “more than 800 taverns,” while another source listed 494.

For practical purposes, Chicago now has roughly 800–1,000 bars and taverns. 

This includes dive bars, nightclubs, and brewpubs—many clustered in nightlife hubs like River North and Logan Square, though zoning laws leave some residential areas bar-free.

In our breakdown, we list bars/taverns (800–1,000) as a separate category. 

Some overlap with restaurant counts if they serve full menus, but they remain a distinct and essential part of Chicago’s food and drink scene.

Food trucks and mobile food vendors

Food trucks are a lively but tightly regulated part of Chicago’s dining scene. 

Strict rules - such as required on-board cooking equipment and limits on where trucks can park - have historically curbed their growth.

The city licenses food trucks as either Mobile Food Dispensers (pre-prepared foods) or Mobile Food Preparers (cooked on-site). 

While exact license counts aren’t provided here, anecdotal estimates suggest 100 or more active trucks.

Food trucks aren’t usually included in Chicago’s “7,300+ restaurants” figure, as they’re mobile and licensed separately. 

Yelp and Google Maps may list them, and platforms like Brizo might capture some if the truck has a consistent location. 

Many also operate as ghost kitchens or caterers, making them harder to track.

In short, food trucks add hundreds of seasonal dining options, offering everything from tacos to cupcakes. 

While a small slice of the overall food scene, they bring street-level variety and energy to Chicago’s culinary landscape.

Ghost kitchens and virtual restaurants

Ghost kitchens (also called cloud kitchens or virtual kitchens) are a relatively new but rapidly growing part of Chicago’s food industry. 

These are kitchens with no dine-in space, producing food solely for delivery or pickup, often hosting multiple “virtual brands” under one roof.

Counting ghost kitchens is challenging because it depends on what you count:

• Ghost kitchens have expanded in Chicago, with companies like Kitchen United and CloudKitchens operating a few dozen facilities.
• These spaces produce multiple virtual brands that appear as separate restaurants on delivery apps, despite sharing one kitchen. 

Chicago experienced a boom in virtual brands during the pandemic. 

In 2021 alone, about 700 new virtual restaurant brands opened in Chicago​ – a testament to how many concepts ghost kitchens were spinning up. 

So, if we talk numbers:

• There might be perhaps a few dozen ghost kitchen operations.
• The number of virtual restaurant listings coming out of those could be in the hundreds (700+ as of 2021, likely over 1,000 by 2025 as the trend continued).

Ghost kitchens blur restaurant counts. 

While each brand often appears as a separate eatery, the City of Chicago licenses them differently - issuing permits for both the shared kitchen facility and each “Shared Kitchen User.”

One ghost kitchen site may host 10–15 virtual brands, all cooking from the same location. 

Online sources like Google or Brizo may count each as a separate “restaurant,” whereas the city may count just a few licenses.

In short, ghost kitchens may add hundreds of virtual brands to Chicago’s dining scene, though the actual number of physical establishments is much lower. 

This highlights how digital listings can inflate restaurant totals.

Pop-up restaurants and seasonal vendors

Chicago has embraced pop-up restaurants and seasonal food venues in recent years. 

These are temporary dining concepts – e.g., a Chef takes over a space for a few months, or a holiday-themed bar/restaurant opens for the season.

The city even created a special “Pop-Up User” business license to facilitate short-term restaurant operations​. 

This license allows restaurateurs to operate in a non-permanent location for a limited time without going through the full brick-and-mortar licensing process each time. 

This innovation means that at any given time, there are numerous pop-ups “popping up” around the city, though each is temporary by design.

It’s difficult to quantify pop-ups, but we can highlight a few areas:

• Summer food festivals and winter holiday markets bring dozens of temporary food booths
• Some well-known Chefs launch pop-ups to test concepts
• Places like Revival Food Hall or Politan Row host stalls that sometimes rotate new concepts (some semi-permanent, some pop-up style). 

Because pop-ups are transient, they aren’t counted in the static numbers like 7,300 or 11,524. 

However, they are an important context – illustrating the fluid nature of the dining scene. 

They show how dynamic the count can be: today’s pop-up might become tomorrow’s permanent restaurant (or might disappear).

Where to Eat: Neighborhood-Level Data on Restaurants in Chicago

Chicago’s 77 community areas and various neighborhoods have an uneven distribution of restaurants. 

Downtown and North Side neighborhoods have Chicago’s highest restaurant concentrations. The Loop alone hosts hundreds, serving office workers and tourists. 

Near North Side (River North, Gold Coast, Streeterville) is packed with dining and nightlife, with restaurants on nearly every block.

West Loop/Fulton Market has rapidly become a top dining district, transforming from warehouses into a hub of acclaimed spots along Randolph’s Restaurant Row. 

Nearby areas like South Loop, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, and West Town also feature dozens to hundreds of eateries each, driven by affluent locals and visitors.

Neighborhood hotspots include Wicker Park, Logan Square, Andersonville, and Chinatown, each known for vibrant local scenes. 

For example, Chinatown in Armour Square packs a high density of restaurants into a few walkable blocks.

A 2016 study found per capita surprises: the Midway area had a high restaurant-to-resident ratio, while Far South Side areas like Roseland and West Pullman had far fewer.

In terms of sheer numbers by neighborhood: We don’t have exact counts for each, but we know:

• The Loop (downtown) contains a large share of the 7,300 restaurants
• Near North Side also likely has many hundreds of restaurants and bars; TripAdvisor alone lists well over 600 restaurants
• West Town and Lincoln Park each have several hundred.
• Outlying community areas have progressively fewer. Many residential areas might have a few dozen each, centered on main streets.

Restaurant distribution in Chicago is highly localized. 

Downtown and North Side areas - like River North, Streeterville, Lincoln Park, and West Loop - have dense clusters, often with hundreds of restaurants per neighborhood. 

In contrast, industrial or lower-density areas like Pullman or Hegewisch have far fewer.

If mapped, restaurants would appear heavily concentrated along corridors like Randolph, Halsted, and Lincoln Ave, with sparser dots in the southwest and far South Side. 

This pattern closely follows population density, tourism, and commercial activity.

While the city’s open data could offer precise counts by community area, the key takeaway is clear.

Most of Chicago’s 7,000+ restaurants are clustered in central and north-side neighborhoods, with fewer in outlying zones. 

Broader counts may also vary based on whether nearby suburbs like Oak Park or Evanston are included.

Conclusion: Understanding the Numbers Behind Chicago’s Food Scene

Chicago’s restaurant scene isn’t just big — it’s layered, fluid, and deeply tied to the city’s social and economic fabric. 

Whether you’re dining at a world-class steakhouse in Fulton Market or grabbing a late-night taco from a food truck, restaurants in Chicago offer more than meals.

They serve as mirrors of the city itself. 

With numbers exceeding 11,000 when accounting for digital and mobile food venues, Chicago’s culinary universe is vast, nuanced, and always in motion.