The Artisan Cellar

I have been to this shop many times. The owner Brian is so knowledgeable and friendly! They have a fantastic selection if you’re tired of the average CVS variety. My first time at the shop he recommended a sparkling red that is now one of my favorite wines! Today I bought several bottles and wanted to box one as a gift and he helped me set up the box since the instructions were confusing. So nice! Their panini options are good too, and they have free wine tastings every Friday. If I lived in River North I would probably be here on a weekly basis.

Cool little place — I think it’s really known for the wines and cheeses, i just went there for lunch. I ordered a panini with prosciutto and a latte. The sandwich took quite a while, maybe 10 – 12 minutes. It was a small but good sandwich. The latte was average. I’m not expert at delis but the meat was flavorful and whatever else they put in there made it a good lunch sandwich. There isn’t much place to sit but I sat on the tall stools near a little bar table. Service is okay as well.
Overall, i liked the place for lunch, probably wouldn’t go back just because I’m always in a hurry for lunch.

This little shop is pretty under the radar, and hard to find unless you frequent the Merch Mart. Their wine selection is good, and they are very knowledgable and happy to provide recommendations for every taste and price point.
Even better are their delicious sandwiches for lunch. There’s never a long line, but it does take a long time for the sandwiches to be made. Despite a small menu, it’s the best food you can get at the Mart. The bread is amazing, and the meats and toppings are superb. My favorites are The Artisan and The Caprese. Next to the register they have a pretty good selection of cold drinks, and even a few beers to choose from.

I wish I had discovered this place sooner. The wine selection was excellent and their Wine Specialist gave me great recommendations, I bought 4 bottles before I left. The food portion was small but very good. I hope to return soon!

Came here for my lunch break. OK so the ambiance isn’t there… but I don’t think they were going for any type of ambiance.
This place was clearly a shop they opened up to sell wines with but quickly realized they could capitalize on all the businesses around the area by serving up lunch. By lunch, I mean panini sandwiches as they don’t have much else.
They carry some great meats and cheeses which they place in between local bread and then stick into a press. Viola, that it their food business end to end. Simple, but very good. At roughly $ 7-​$ 8 a sandwich, this is also one of the cheapest places you can find a bite to eat in the pricey north loop/​river north area.

I ordered the Buffalo but was given the Beefeater. I found this out after walking back to my office south of the river. Beefeater was ok but being given the wrong sandwich on my first visit and when it wasn’t busy is very disappointing.

So I’ve never posted on the Unilocal before but felt this was deserving of a first post. I did not have bad service whatsoever, it was actually very pleasant while ordering and waiting for my panini to be made.
I thanked the employee and preceded up to my office to enjoy my lunch. After two bites of the panini I noticed what appeared to be a huge ant-​like creature hanging out of the bread — very close to where I took my second bite. I immediately spit out my food and returned it back to the restaurant. See attached photo.
The employees were very accommodating and insisted on giving my money back BUT I felt this was one instance that will hold me from ever going back to this place.
Note to customers, take bites with caution!

Terrific cappuccino and super friendly staff.
It is interesting that they have a Unilocal Check in offer that pops up but expired over 18 months ago :)
They offer cappuccinos in 12 and 16 oz sizes, and I went with the former. I requested 2% milk, which they didn’t carry on its own but we’re happy to offer and mix the whole milk with the skim to achieve the result. The cappuccino was just the right amount of espresso — strong yet smooth tasting with a nice foamy top.
The space itself is very shabby chic with wine bottles laying around in crates. They also have a good beer and bottled drinks selection (including the addictive Bruce Cost unfiltered ginger ale — yum).
The café is a most welcome addition to Merch Mart which has been hijacked with the standard box box brands for food and drink.

Sweetest staff. If you’re a tired vendor working at the Merch Mart, this is your spot for a hot panini. My team and I have eaten here for the 3^rd day in a row! Go for it– you won’t be disappointed :)

Everything at this place is first rate, high-​quality and certainly worth putting in your mouth! (O:

This place is great! They are my go to caterer. I’ve ordered many times now, for groups from 10 to 25. The food arrives at whatever downtown Chicago location I point them to, hot and on time. Reliable, great tasting food, very nice people (don’t call in your order during breakfast or lunch :-).

Paninis for lunch are my favorite! I have been here so many times that I should get a loyal customer card by now. The only inconvenience is wait time: plan for about 20 minutes to order and get your panini. But they are good: perfect size and taste great.

My legitimately crafted «The Artisan» sandwich was delicious. Fresh bread and top quality ingredients. I look forward to trying the others.
As the second half of the name suggests, it doubles as a lovely little wine shop. They have a nice global selection with many unique, new-​to-​most, labels to explore. I was impressed that they have bottles of a Rosso from a tiny little winery in Tuscany that I loved visiting.
Coolers offer chilled bottles and a decent beer selection also… may hit that up with my sandwich next time.
(They’re also in with LevelUp. so that’s 10% to the good for every $ 50 spent. Adds up quick if you’re tacking on wine.)

This place is mostly for winds which I didn’t buy any wine or beer but I ordered a coffee a caramel latte and I straight up just got milk with maybe half a shot sorry to say if they messed up or not but my first impression on this place is no good. If I wanted milk I would’ve went to Walmart. Not my kind of car should be shop. You don’t really have anywhere to said either so it’s not like a chill spot or anything like that

This is the best place you can find in Merch Mart!
Be sure to order their daily salad special and their paninis!
Also, the wine selection is stellar.

Just a quick update. As if it’s not bad enough that I want to eat every lunch meal here, but this morning for a company meeting we had BREAKFAST catered! And… it was beyond delicious and tempting of course.
Until this morning, I didn’t even know they serve breakfast, so now I have a place to head to on those mornings when my stomach is really growling (or any day really). If you love lunch and the bread the paninis are served on, then you’ll love the egg and ham mini panini rounds. Fluffy eggs piled high with prosciutto (shh…I went back for seconds). Accompanied by a carafe of illy brand coffee and a variety of mini croissants and pastries.
Oh, but that’s not all…
Hello to the yogurt and fruit parfait. A blend of creamy thick and rich yogurt atop fresh berries piled high in a cup. How on earth will I even be able to pass by Artisan on the way upstairs? I have absolutely no idea whatsoever!
I’m just so very happy about this new discovery. But, I’m sad that I don’t have one of those parfaits sitting in front of me at this very second. The worst part is the fact I dove in so quickly and ate it before realized I forgot to snap a picture.

Can’t say enough great things about this place if you’re anywhere in or near the Merchandise Mart.
For an honest price, this place has excellent paninis, coffee, espresso etc. My favorite is their panino — a small panini turned breakfast sandwich for only $ 1.50. It has a nice wine and beer selection too, although I never have a need for it since I’m at work when I come.
The owners (I think) are very nice too and are always in the place making sure you get the best service possible.

I’ve heard it’s a bit of a wait for these delicious sammies at the lunch hour, however I was lucky enough to have co-​workers call ahead and pick them up. I’d say it took only about 10 minutes to make the call, travel a few floors down, and bring them back to our office. Look out JJ’s, that’s some pretty freaky fast sandwich makin’!
I ordered the Prosciutto di Parma sandwich with tomato tapenade and fresh mozzarella. This sandwich was on point. The cheese was perfectly melty, the bread just toasted enough, and the prosciutto fresh and delish.
At first glance I thought the sandwich seemed a bit small and might not be filling enough. I even almost snagged a bag of chips to accompany my handheld, but I’m glad I didn’t. This sandwich hit the spot just right! I wasn’t stuffed, but it was definitely plenty of food. Content was my post-​lunch feeling.
Quick, tasty, and doesn’t put me in an afternoon food coma? I’M IN.

The Merchandise Mart has become home to my new office and I feel so fortunate to be surrounded by so many lunch options so I don’t have to leave the building on crazy cold days.
There’s the sandwich factory (aka: Potbelly’s) where you may have to wait in a long line, but you’ll have a satisfactory sandwich ready within minutes. And then there’s the Artisan Cellar, which could not be more different than Potbelly’s. I didn’t wait in much of a line, but thanks to all the tender love & care they put in their paninis it takes twice as long to get your order.
There are so many tasty paninis to choose from, but I was in a caprese type of mood yesterday. I would have loved to add a cup of their soup on this cold day, but the split pea option wasn’t really doing it for me. After waiting, waiting and waiting some more I expected this to be one of the tastiest sandwiches ever. The good news is that it lived up to expectations. I am a Potbelly’s fan, but this is way better than anything I could have ordered there.
I’ll definitely be back whenever I have some time to kill waiting for my sandwich. There’s only a few very small tables in The Artisan Cellar, but plenty of tables nearby within the Mart. I would love if they had an order ahead of time option, but from what I’ve seen doesn’t seem to be the case. Perhaps at some point!

Audrey Hepburn or Marilyn Monroe?
I hate that question. I hate that question and I can’t exaggerate my eye roll enough when I hear someone ask it as if it’s black and white, two categories that everyone and their mother, brother, neighbor have to fall into.
I know they’re two universally pretty popular figures in history, but I don’t like either of them. At all. I’ve never seen any of their movies, I think all the quotes I’ve heard from them sounds dumb, and I don’t find myself wanting to be or look like either them… Not that they aren’t good looking ladies, but to me they just seem kinda basic. Coupla basic b*tches and I, personally, prefer my heroes, pin-​ups, personalities, whatever they are, to be just a little less regular… just like how I like my sandwiches.
I know everyone’s loving AC’s sammiches, but personally, I’d go a 3 on the flavors of my Artisan Cellar Farmhouse panini… but then again, these kinds of sandwiches just aren’t my style and I know I’m in the minority.
I mean, paninis are cool, I guess, but I hate when bread is hard and crusty and onions are limp, wet, and wormy, and overall I just felt like the stuff inside the sandwich was majorly boring and commonplace and the same kind of thing I’ve had a hundred times before. No spice, no zest, no personality. Just meh.
It was only $ 8, and it was size-​able, but it was still what I would consider a basic b*tch’s sandwich and I was hoping for something a little more extraordinary. Maybe their meat sandwiches and wine are where it’s at, or maybe that this is one of the few places for noms within the merch mart that A. Is affordable and B. is decent, but if I’m in the Merch Mart again and faced with a lunchtime dilemma, I’d probably just grab a coffee somewhere to suppress the mid-​day hunger over getting a veggie sandwich here again.