Where to eat in Terminal 5 at O'Hare

Most of the food at Terminal 5 is on Concourse M between Gate M4 and Gate M30, with the biggest clusters at Gates M10 and M11, M16 and M30. No walking route joins the terminal to the others past security, so if you have a long wait before a flight here, you spend it on that one concourse. Before security, there’s The Goddess and Grocer on the Departures level and three counters in baggage claim.

Hours are daily unless a cell says otherwise. The airport’s directory publishes no menus or prices. The Terminal 5 page lists the gates on Concourse M, and the food and shops page covers the other terminals.

Before security: one stop on Departures and three counters in baggage claim

The before-security food guide covers all four terminals. The restaurants in the Hilton are before security too, and the Hilton guide gives their hours.

Concourse M bars and restaurants run from Gate M7 to Gate M30

Concourse M runs to Gate M40, but its food stops at Gate M30. Of the places with listed hours, Butcher & The Burger opens earliest, at 4:30 a.m., and The Dearborn and Hub 51 close latest, at 10 p.m.

Counters, markets and coffee run from Gate M4 to Gate M30

Gate M16 has four counters and a bar, so a group that can’t agree on what to eat can split up there.

What the airport leaves out or prints oddly

The airport gives no hours for Big Bowl, Tocco, Tortas Frontera or the Garrett Popcorn Kiosk, in either its dining directory or its terminal map, so the tables say “Not listed”. The directory also lists Soli on the Fly near Gate M19 with no hours.

The airport’s dining directory prints no hours for The Dearborn and Garrett Popcorn Shops at M18, but its terminal map lists 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. for The Dearborn and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. for Garrett Popcorn Shops.

• Dunkin’ at M16 reads 12 p.m. to 12 p.m. in both the directory and the map, which could mean around the clock or could be a typo. The airport doesn’t say which.
• Chick-fil-A at M10 is listed Monday through Saturday, with no Sunday hours.
• Bar Siena at M30 is listed Monday and Thursday through Sunday, with no Tuesday or Wednesday hours.

For all three, ask at the counter itself.

Checkpoint 10 is open all night, but most of the food isn’t

Checkpoint 10 is listed open 24 hours, according to our security page. The Baskin Robbins & Dunkin’ in baggage claim, before security, is the only restaurant or counter in the terminal listed open 24 hours. Past the checkpoint, the EVOLVE by Hudson at Gate M14 is listed open 24 hours and selling snacks, beverages and electronics. The vending machines below are listed open around the clock too.

Between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. no other restaurant or counter past the checkpoint is listed open, apart from the Dunkin’ with the unreadable hours. Metropolis Coffee Company at M30 opens first, at 4 a.m. Our before 6 a.m. guide and late night guide cover the whole airport at those hours.

Vending machines are all listed open 24 hours

The directory doesn’t say which side of security each machine is on.

Leaving Terminal 5 for food

To reach another terminal’s food, take the Airport Transit System or, with a same-day boarding pass, the Terminal Transfer Bus. The terminal train guide gives the ride time, and the Terminal Transfer Bus guide gives the bus hours and who can ride. For a sit-down meal without leaving Concourse M, see the sit-down restaurants guide.

Sources

• Our pages: Terminal 5, Food and shops, Security checkpoints, The Dearborn, Wow Bao, Big Bowl
• Chicago Department of Aviation: dining directory and terminal map