Savor Scout › Cities › Illinois › Des Plaines, IL
Where to eat in Des Plaines, IL
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A few places to eat in Des Plaines
- Des Plaines Family Restaurant Breakfast and Brunch · 0.4 miles
1769 Miner St, Des Plaines - The Depot Pizzeria Pizza · 0.5 miles
1557 Ellinwood Ave, Des Plaines - Casa Royale Banquets American · 0.5 miles
783 Lee St, Des Plaines - Dotombori Japanese · 0.5 miles
1526 Miner St, Des Plaines - La Marina Mariscos Mexican · 0.5 miles
1261 E Algonquin Rd, Des Plaines
The closest few by distance from central Des Plaines, not a ranking — local places listed ahead of chains. Listings from Overture Maps open data (September 2026); hours and openings change, so check before you go. Want one picked for what you're craving instead? Ask Savor Scout in Des Plaines.
The food scene in Des Plaines
Open listings put 167 places to eat within 2 miles of central Des Plaines, 4 within a ten-minute walk (half a mile). The most common: Mexican (21), pizza (19) and sandwiches (10). 19 are fast-food counters; the rest are sit-down restaurants, cafés, bakeries and takeaway spots.
What stands out in Des Plaines is hot dogs and dessert — types that are listed here at 2 to 6 times the national rate.
By type of food — tap one for what to order and how to spot a good one:
Mexican 21 Pizza 19 Sandwiches 10 Italian 7 Seafood 6 Breakfast & brunch 5 Ice cream 5 Burgers 5 Dessert 4 Diner 4
The food in Des Plaines
Des Plaines does not have infinite options, and that brings its own problem: you have been to most of them, and picking again is somehow still hard.
Savor Scout picks one restaurant in Des Plaines and tells you why it picked it. Say what you're craving and it reads menus and reviews for that specific dish, rather than sorting places by overall star rating. Free, runs in the browser, and one search needs no account.
Eating out in Des Plaines
Des Plaines has a population of about 58,918. Somewhere this size rewards knowing which places are actually worth the trip. Savor Scout searches up to 35 miles around Des Plaines, so places just outside the city are still on the table when they are worth the drive.
How well supplied is Des Plaines?
Des Plaines sits in Cook County, where the Census counts 4,260 full-service restaurants, 4,712 limited-service places, 1,149 cafés and snack bars and 891 bars — 11,012 places to eat or drink in all. Des Plaines makes up about 1% of the county's population.
That is 21.1 per 10,000 residents, comfortably above the national median of 19.4. Enough range that the deciding takes longer than the eating. Counter service edges out sit-down, which is the national norm.
Those county figures also cover Chicago, Cicero, Arlington Heights, Evanston, Schaumburg, Palatine, Skokie, Orland Park and 13 more, all within Savor Scout's search radius from Des Plaines.
County-level counts from the US Census (2022) — how we got these numbers.
What are you craving in Des Plaines?
- tacos in Des Plaines — what separates a good one from an average one
- pizza in Des Plaines — what separates a good one from an average one
- sushi in Des Plaines — what separates a good one from an average one
- burgers in Des Plaines — what separates a good one from an average one
- ramen in Des Plaines — what separates a good one from an average one
- wings in Des Plaines — what separates a good one from an average one
- chinese food in Des Plaines — what separates a good one from an average one
- italian food in Des Plaines — what separates a good one from an average one
- thai food in Des Plaines — what separates a good one from an average one
- mexican food in Des Plaines — what separates a good one from an average one
- barbecue in Des Plaines — what separates a good one from an average one
- seafood in Des Plaines — what separates a good one from an average one
- brunch in Des Plaines — what separates a good one from an average one
- indian food in Des Plaines — what separates a good one from an average one
- sandwiches in Des Plaines — what separates a good one from an average one
- noodles in Des Plaines — what separates a good one from an average one
Near Des Plaines
- Park Ridge, IL — about 3 miles away
- Mount Prospect, IL — about 4 miles away
- Glenview, IL — about 6 miles away
- Arlington Heights, IL — about 6 miles away
- Skokie, IL — about 7 miles away
- Wheeling, IL — about 8 miles away
Campuses in and near Des Plaines
Each has its own page: what is within walking distance and a few places to start with.
- Oakton College
- City Colleges of Chicago-Wilbur Wright College
- Triton College
- Northeastern Illinois University
- Concordia University-Chicago
- William Rainey Harper College
- Northwestern University
- Loyola University Chicago
How this differs from Google Maps and Yelp
Maps and Yelp are directories: they rank everything nearby and leave the deciding to you. Savor Scout makes the call and shows its reasoning — the match score, what it beat, and the evidence behind the pick. The underlying place data comes from the same public sources, so the difference is the selection, not the data.
Guides
- What to eat when… — 30 guides by situation, from a first date to a hangover to a group of twelve.
- Food guides — what separates a good taco, ramen or pizza from an average one.
- Eating out with a restriction — allergies, halal, kosher, vegan and more.
- Near a campus? — food around 637 US universities.