Although I’m hopeful that the soon-to-be-constructed apartments at the former Sangamo Club, the eventual influx of office workers at the Armory and the future BOS Center expansion will lead to greater dining choices downtown, right now the pickings, as they say, are a bit slim. But one reliable choice, which may not be on your radar, is the 6 St. Café located on Sixth Street near the Old State Capitol Plaza.
Perhaps one reason 6 St. Café may not be on your radar is that its menu is hard to find online. I don’t know about you, but before I visit a new restaurant I want to know what they serve and what it costs. Despite having a surprisingly extensive breakfast and lunch menu, the menu options aren’t listed on the café’s website. In today’s environment, this strikes me as a missed opportunity. Fortunately, the food more than makes up for the inconvenience.
6 St. Café’s menu includes breakfast served all day, sandwiches, burgers, salads, soups and a handful of Springfield-style comfort food favorites. Prices remain quite reasonable, particularly given today’s restaurant environment.
The restaurant itself is modest in size. There is seating at the bar, a few tables near the front windows and several more in the back. Video gaming terminals occupy part of the space – a familiar feature in many Illinois establishments. The dining room is often busy with downtown workers, and there appears to be a strong takeout business as well. Throughout lunch, customers regularly stop in to pick up orders to go. I’ve also run into quite a few regulars on my visits, a testament to 6 St. Café’s staying power.
What keeps people coming back, however, is not the décor – it’s the food. My personal favorite is the BBLT. The description is straightforward: double bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayo served on toast. There is no unusual aioli, artisan bread or chef-inspired reinterpretation of a classic sandwich. It is simply a BLT with extra bacon. The bacon deserves special mention. I find bacon to be one of the most botched items in the restaurant business. Too many kitchens cook it until it becomes brittle enough to use as kindling. Other restaurants go in the opposite direction and serve it with unrendered fat (gack). 6 St. Café consistently finds the sweet spot: it retains some chew and texture while still providing enough crispness to complement the sandwich.
Likewise, the cheeseburger (available in various formats) clicks all the boxes for a classic standby: gooey American cheese, crisp veggies and a well-seared smash-patty.
My wife is particularly fond of the fried egg breakfast sandwich. Like many of 6 St. Café’s offerings, it succeeds because it focuses on fundamentals – well-toasted bread, properly cooked eggs, flavorful meat and correct proportions. There’s no need to reinvent breakfast when the traditional version is done well.
6 St. Café’s menu includes several other options that caught my attention, including the breakfast burger and ponyshoe, the Monte Cristo and the buffalo chicken salad.
Another standout are the tater tots. Tots, all too often overlooked on a menu, occupy a food category that should be easy to execute but often is not. The best versions arrive hot, crisp and golden brown, while retaining a soft interior. The worst versions taste as though they spent too much time under a heat lamp. 6 St. Café’s tots consistently fall into the first category.
Service deserves recognition. Staff is consistently welcoming, efficient and attentive without becoming intrusive. The employees seem to know many customers by name – usually a good indication. One of the small details I note with appreciation relates to takeout orders – I generally ask for a pickle. 6 St. Café makes an extra effort to make sure pickle juice doesn’t soak into the other items to create a soggy mess. Nicely done.
6 St. Café focuses on serving satisfying breakfasts, quality sandwiches and reasonably priced comfort food in a convenient downtown location. More importantly, it does so consistently, which is one of the most underrated qualities in the restaurant business. And that’s what I’ve found over my multiple visits here: good breakfasts, excellent bacon, crispy tater tots, friendly service and fair prices. There are flashier restaurants in town as well as more ambitious menus. But when looking for breakfast or lunch downtown, I continue to return to 6 St. Café.
This article appears in October SBJ 2026.