Chicago O’Hare Terminal 5 Guide: Food, Lounge & What to Expect
If you're flying through Chicago O'Hare Terminal 5 (ORD) for your next flight, especially if this is your first time here, you may be wondering:
What is Terminal 5 actually like?
Where do you go after you arrive? Where can you get a good meal? Is there a lounge where you can relax before your flight? And, in general, what should you expect before your flight?
We recently spent time exploring O'Hare Terminal 5, including trying one of the terminal's popular restaurants and visiting the Wingtips Lounge.
In this guide, we'll show you what we experienced and share some practical tips to help make your next trip through Terminal 5 a little less stressful.
🛫 What Is O'Hare Terminal 5 Like?
Terminal 5 is O'Hare's international terminal and is located separately from Terminals 1, 2, and 3.
If you're connecting from another O'Hare terminal, you can use the airport's Terminal Transfer Bus to get to Terminal 5 without going through TSA security a second time, as long as you meet the requirements for using the transfer service.
We covered that process in our previous guide:
👉 Best Way to Transfer from Terminal 3 to Terminal 5 at O'Hare
That guide shows exactly how we made the transfer and why using the transfer bus can be much easier than leaving the secure area and going through security again.
But once you arrive at Terminal 5, what should you expect?
Terminal 5 is a fairly large terminal, and all of the departure gates are located in Concourse M, numbered from M1 through M40.
Once you're inside, you'll find restaurants, shops, lounges, seating areas, and other amenities throughout the terminal.
And if you're hungry or looking for somewhere to relax before your flight, there are a couple of options worth knowing about.
🍽️ Where to Eat at O'Hare Terminal 5
One restaurant we tried during our visit was Tortas Frontera, located near Gate M18.
Tortas Frontera is from renowned Chicago chef Rick Bayless, a seven-time James Beard Award winner, and specializes in Mexican-inspired food.
You can order food to go using the self-service kiosks, or sit down and enjoy your meal inside the restaurant.
🥪 What We Ate at Tortas Frontera
The menu includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner options, including tortas, soups, salads, guacamole, chips, and drinks.
We tried three different sandwiches during our visit, including the Chipotle Roasted Chicken and Crispy Chicken Milanesa.
The Crispy Chicken was our favorite.
In fact, we liked it so much that we ordered it a second time!
We sat at the bar-style seating area facing the terminal, which was a great spot to enjoy our meal while watching the activity around us.
If you're in a hurry, you can also order your food to go. The restaurant packages the meals in sturdy containers, making it easy to take your food with you toward your gate.
😋 Our Experience at Tortas Frontera
We really enjoyed both the food and the atmosphere at Tortas Frontera.
If you're departing from Terminal 5 and have enough time for a meal, we think it's definitely worth considering, especially if you want something better than typical airport fast food.
And if you're already near Gate M18, it's a convenient option to keep in mind.
🛋️ Wingtips Lounge Chicago at O'Hare Terminal 5
If you'd rather find a place to sit, relax, work, grab a bite, or enjoy some drinks before your flight, Terminal 5 also has lounge options.
We visited Wingtips Lounge Chicago, located near Gate M19.
The lounge is open daily from 9 AM to 10 PM, with a maximum stay of three hours.
There are several ways to access the lounge, including Priority Pass and other lounge membership programs. A single-visit pass may also be available if you don't have a lounge membership.
🍲 Food and Drinks
After entering the lounge, the check-in desk is on the left.
The food area is along the side wall, where you'll find a small buffet.
During our visit around lunchtime, the selection included:
- 🍲 Soup
- 🥗 Salad
- 🍝 Pasta
- 🧀 Cheese
- 🥩 Sliced meats
There is also a complimentary drink area with non-alcoholic beverages as well as beer, wine, and spirits.
You'll also find:
- 🥤 A beverage refrigerator
- 🍪 Cookie jars
- 💧 A water dispenser
- ☕ A coffee machine
- 🍎 Fresh fruit
I personally enjoyed the vegetable soup we had during our visit.
✈️ Runway Views
One of the nicer features of Wingtips Lounge is the large windows overlooking the runway.
If you enjoy watching airplanes take off and land, the window-side seating is a particularly nice place to spend some time before your flight.
There are several different seating areas throughout the lounge, including larger round tables, smaller tables, armchairs, ottomans, and a bar-style high table with stools facing the runway.
The lounge has a fairly simple layout with three main rows of seating.
Some seats face the windows, while others are positioned along the side wall. The middle section also has several comfortable armchairs.
There's also a narrower section at the other end of the lounge, with additional chairs and a high bar-style table with stools facing the runway.
⭐ Is Wingtips Lounge Worth It?
Our overall impression is that Wingtips Lounge is a small and fairly basic airport lounge, but it can still be useful depending on what you're looking for.
When the lounge is busy, it can feel crowded because there isn't a huge amount of seating.
The complimentary food is also somewhat limited. You can find soup, salad, pasta, and a few other items, but we wouldn't consider it a replacement for a full meal if you're really hungry.
However, that's not necessarily a problem.
If you're looking for somewhere away from the busy terminal where you can:
- 🪑 Sit down and relax
- 🍲 Have some light food
- 🥤 Grab a drink
- 💻 Get some work done
- 📶 Use faster Wi-Fi
- ✈️ Watch airplanes from the windows
then Wingtips Lounge can be a good option before your flight.
And the runway views are a nice bonus.
💡 Our Tip: Do Both!
Here's a tip based on what we did during our visit.
You don't necessarily have to choose between eating at the terminal and visiting the lounge.
If you have enough time before your flight, you can do both.
We enjoyed a proper meal at Tortas Frontera and then headed over to Wingtips Lounge to relax before our flight.
That combination worked well for us.
Instead of relying on the relatively limited lounge food for your entire meal, you can eat at one of the terminal restaurants first and then use the lounge primarily as a quiet place to sit, have a drink, catch up on work, or simply relax before boarding.
🎥 Watch Our O'Hare Terminal 5 Video
Want to see what Terminal 5, Tortas Frontera, and Wingtips Lounge actually look like?
We've put together a video walking through the terminal and showing you what we experienced during our visit.
👉 Watch: Flying Through Chicago O'Hare Terminal 5? Watch This First!
The video gives you a better feel for the terminal layout, restaurant, lounge, seating areas, food, and runway views than photos alone can provide.
🧳 Final Thoughts
Chicago O'Hare Terminal 5 can seem a little intimidating if you've never been there before, especially if you're connecting from another terminal.
But once you're inside, there are plenty of places to eat, sit, relax, and spend time before your flight.
🍽️ For food: Tortas Frontera near Gate M18 was one of our favorite discoveries. We especially enjoyed the Crispy Chicken Milanesa and the restaurant's atmosphere.
🛋️ For relaxing: Wingtips Lounge near Gate M19 provides a quieter place away from the main terminal, along with complimentary food and drinks and some great runway views.
💡 Our recommendation: If you have enough time, grab a good meal in the terminal, then head to the lounge to relax before your flight.
We hope this guide gives you a better idea of what to expect the next time you're flying through Chicago O'Hare Terminal 5 and helps make your airport experience a little less stressful.
✈️🌍 And as always, Travel Smarter, Not Harder. 💡
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