Greektown Chicago Restaurants: Where to Eat on Halsted

Greektown Chicago restaurants sit along South Halsted Street, a few blocks west of the Loop. Greek Islands, Athena, Ithaki Estiatorio and Meli Cafe are four places people head to for flaming saganaki, gyros, grilled fish and a Greek-style breakfast. Come hungry, bring a group and expect a smaller strip than the one older guides describe.

Where are the Greektown Chicago restaurants, and what is left of the strip?

The street is compact: you can read three menus in the time it takes to cross two intersections, and most rooms are within sight of each other.

It is also a neighborhood that has changed. The Parthenon, a Greek dining landmark often credited with the origin of saganaki, has closed. Its space at 314 S. Halsted now holds Ithaki Estiatorio, so the old address has a new kitchen rather than an empty window. Older guides still list places that are gone, so check a place is open before you plan a night around it.

What is Chicago saganaki, and where do you order it?

Saganaki is cheese, usually a firm one such as kasseri or kefalotyri, dusted with flour, fried and set alight at the table with brandy, then finished with lemon and served with pita. Chicago diners treat the flame as part of the meal, and the dish is widely said to have started in Greektown.

Greek Islands is known for its flambéed saganaki, and The Infatuation names it alongside avgolemono, a lamb shank and grilled octopus. Ithaki also puts saganaki on a menu that leans toward seafood. If you order one for the table, share it fast: the cheese is best hot, and a squeeze of lemon does the rest.

What Halsted Street Greek food is worth ordering beyond the cheese?

Greek Islands is the old-school choice. Reviewers point to the octopus, the soups and the lamb, and the room is built for big tables. Athena, close by, is known for gyros plates, chicken kabobs and galaktoboureko, a custard pastry, and for a large patio that people use when the weather allows.

Ithaki takes a different line. It describes itself as seafood-forward, with a wood hearth, rotisserie grills and a whole fish flown in from Greece and shown in an open kitchen. Order something from the grill, add a plate of dips, and ask which fish came in that day. If you want a quick lunch instead, a gyros plate at a counter is still a Greektown tradition.

Is Greektown dinner better for a group than for a date?

For most people, a Greektown dinner is a group meal. Plates arrive to share, the rooms are large and the staff are used to a table of eight ordering one of everything. Greek Islands has long been known for family-style dinners, and Ithaki seats a big crowd in a space that was a landmark for decades.

A date works too, if you pick the right room. Ask for the patio at Athena in warm weather, or choose a seafood dinner at Ithaki where the open kitchen gives you something to watch. Whichever you pick, arrive hungry and order in stages rather than all at once, because the saganaki and dips alone fill a table.

Where do you go for Chicago Greek brunch?

Meli Cafe has a Greektown location on South Halsted and is known for a Greek-leaning breakfast, including a shakshuka bowl, pancakes made in house and a juice bar. Reviewers also note vegan and gluten-free options, which helps with a mixed group.

Most of the dinner-first Greek rooms are not the place for a morning meal, so Meli is the usual answer when someone asks where to find Chicago Greek brunch near here. Pair it with a walk along Halsted afterward and plan dinner somewhere else on the strip.

How do you keep track of a Greektown meal?

A Greektown night involves a lot of plates, and by the next day you will not remember which dip came with which dish. Mosey lets you rate a place with just the place and stars, then add the dishes you ate by name, so the saganaki and the lamb stay attached to the room that cooked them.

Add a tag if it helps, such as Group Dining when a table of friends was looked after. Put your favorites in a list called Greektown and share it with the people you are going with next time, or send an invite link so friends can add their own picks and the shortlist is built by several people instead of one. Write one line with each rating, such as the crunch, the heat or the size of the portion, because a note about the dish helps the next reader more than a star count. How this works in the app: Make a list.

What else is near Greektown?

Little Italy and its Taylor Street strip are a short ride away: see the Taylor Street Italian food guide. For more Greek dishes across the city, including places outside this strip, read Greek food in Chicago. The West Loop food scene starts a few blocks north, covered in the West Loop and Fulton Market guide. The rest of the city is gathered in the Chicago food guides, and the US food guides show how other cities handle the same questions.

Get the Mosey app, rate your first Greektown dish and start a list of Halsted Street places to build on over your next few visits.