Restaurant Details

The latest entry into the Chicago cupcake sweepstakes, Swirlz seems designed with franchise expansion in mind: from custom-made boxes to T-shirts, its branding is ubiquitous. The bakery offers ten rotating flavors daily (including one gluten-free and one sugar-free), but when I visited at around 3 PM one afternoon there were only five left. The cupcakes are gorgeously decorated, but the intensely rich buttercream became almost nauseating when I tried to eat two in a single sitting--and at three bucks a pop that’s probably not a good idea anyway. The cake was dense and bit dry, with subtle flavor--in the case of the carrot cake, way too subtle. Swirlz should put as much trouble into its product as it did its business plan.

— Peter Margasak

Features: Open Monday

Price: $

Payment Type: American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa