Athenian Room

This is the place I go for Gyros in the city. The gyros are awesome, but what really nails it is the fries in the lemon sauce. To die for! I also love the half chicken.
When they have the soup (winter) get it, lemon rice, it is amazing. Solid Greek salad with a nice portion of feta on top!

Athenian room is my go to place for gyros in the city. I know it’s been in Lincoln Park for decades, so it’s an establishment that earned it reputation! I have to say that the service is always great. The owner usually greets us near the door, and the servers are consistently excellent. I usually get the gyro dinner and Greek salad. The gyros are not fatty like some other places I’ve been too. The spice and flavors are awesome! I think the best part about the dish are the fries at the bottom. Soaked in goodness — I could eat a whole plate! In the winter, you should order their lemon soup. Delicious! Thanks for all the great meals and more to come, Athenian Room!

I had the charburger with feta on pita bread. It was pretty amazing and I also enjoyed the Greek fries. This is officially our new favorite neighborhood Greek restaurant

We have been patrons of The Athenian Room for many years and have always enjoyed the food & service. My wife & I and another couple visited here last Sunday and I ordered the gyros plate well-​done, and the rest ordered the chicken kabobs. When the food was delivered, the gyros was not at all well-​done, so I asked the server if the chef could put the meat on the grill to further cook it crispy & well-​done. Meanwhile my friends bit into the chicken kabobs & discovered they were raw & extremely tough. Upon returning with the gyros, it was still not well-​done. We then asked to speak with the manager and this middle-​aged woman wearing square framed glasses comes over to the table & tells us that the gyros WAS well-​done and they refused to put the meat on the grill and that the chicken was not raw/​tough! She then said that’s the way it should be & turned abruptly & walked away!
We begrudgingly ate the edible portion of our meals, paid our check & left.
Later that night, all four of us felt sick from food poisoning.
It’s sad that the owner/​manager of a restaurant could exhibit such a self-​righteous, callous attitude toward their clients, ignoring the precept «THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT»!
Needless to say we will never visit the Athenian Room again.

Great Greek food! Got the famous chicken dish and man was it tasty! I am not a person who normally orders the chicken but it was so delicious!

I’ll never ever return to this place. I feel really sad to write this review because I used to love this place since I was a kid but feel I need to share this awful experience. Let’s just say It felt like I was on an episode of kitchen nightmares.
As someone who waited tables, was a line cook and managed a restaurant for several years I am truly baffled by the terrible service here. I understand having a rough shift but I’m very aware when a sever simply just doesn’t care.
To get to the point of the issue here: I ordered a skirt steak medium rare, like two others at my table. The other two guys steaks were spot on. Perfect. My cut unfortunately was uneven so the cook was medium well on half and medium rare on the other. It’s ok. It happens, I totally get it. So what made this experience so awful? They couldn’t have handled the situation worse.
I simply tell the server politely that the steak was unevenly cooked and asked if I could possibly have another. Our server starts off defensively stating that we have 3 medium rare steaks. I tell her that the other two are fantastic but unfortunately one was off and once again showed her the steak. She says rudely «so what are you telling me you don’t want it?» Her tone was annoyed obviously and we were being very civilized about the situation so I found it odd. I understand if customers are rude but I assure you I wasn’t. She comes back and picks up the plate and says «I have to show them this» So this was already pretty awkward but we were having a family dinner so I tried not to make too much fuss of her huge attitude. So out of nowhere comes the owner?/manager big Greek guy and he brings me back my steak, slams it on the table and says «what do you think this is?» (In my mind all I could picture was Gordon Ramsay freaking out telling someone he shouldn’t be in FOH) Hes picking at it and yelling over and over, asking me my opinion since he very much disagrees. So despite that crazy act I simply tell him the same thing I did the server and show him. He keeps pointing to the portion that’s medium rare and yells «this is medium rare! So you want rare!» Great job buddy, way to make your customers feel stupid. Little does he know that as a line cook, I’m very aware of how a steak is cooked. So he walks away mid conversation and the server comes back 3 minutes later and sarcastically says «hope this is what you’re looking for.» I look down and knew right away: this is raw. I cut into it and it’s ice cold in the center blue raw steak. Simply seared. At this point I just can’t believe what’s going on. I was just laughing with my brother. My family is just in shock of this crazy situation. The server asks how I like it and I show her that it’s raw and she rolls her eyes and says «so what you don’t want it? It’s too cooked or not cooked enough. What do you want» so I say nothing. The big Greek manager comes back after seeing the steak being turned away and it appears he’s ready to throw a punch. I just quickly tell him that we are perfectly happy on just forgetting about the steak. Everyone else was already almost done with their meal and I lost my appetite. Our host decides to ask at that point how our meal is while playing with her hair. It’s obviously dispassionate and she knows we know it too. She makes a sly comment about the situation and points out the fact everything else is perfect. Good for you miss! Thanks! We promptly get our check and they charge us for the steak… Nice move! Lol at that point it was obvious they hated us. For no reason. Just some good old fashioned terrible service from management down. I understand if they’re old school Greeks and have been doing this a long time but please, hire someone to actually manage your restaurant. Hire a friendly staff. That’s not hard, is it? It’s such a shame that my family, who’ve been going for 20 years, will never, ever return. And for what? Not being able to accept your mistakes and handle a situation with professionalism and kindness. Gordon Ramsay, where are you?

Two stars only because we were seated quickly and our waitress was nice and trying to be accommodating. If it weren’t for these reasons and we were hungry, we would have left.
— I would not recommend the gyros. They are very dry and salty.
— if you get fries, the Greek fries are better than the regular (also dry)
–Tzatziki sauce is bland (basically mayonnaise with little pieces of cucumber– terrible)
–The cucumber salad is a rip off– $ 5 for a cut up cucumber with the bad Tzatziki sauce
Side note on service, the manager (maybe she was the owner) spoke rudely to a family that seated themselves at the outdoor patio– and loud enough to embarrass them in front of the rest of us dining outside. Not professional.
We won’t be back

This place is fine, but leaves something to be desired. My entire group wasn’t blown away by anything they ordered. The atmosphere is a bit odd, kind of fast-​food like. And they let you go through a back door to order drinks from the bar next door and bring it over, cool, but very unorganized and confusing.

This place certainly has not shortage of people who love it and the price is VERY reasonable. Actually, it’s really cheap and they have a nice outdoor area.
I got the Kalamata Style Chicken Dinner which the waitress said was their signature dish and what Tina Fey deemed as «her favorite chicken in Chicago». It was a fair amount of food and served with fries. Overall, it was okay and nothing special. My girlfriend ordered a salad and she had about the same thoughts.
It was probably one of the first nice days so I think they were understaffed. That said, the service wasn’t too good but I will give them a pass on it because it was pretty packed.
I guess you have to try everything once but the overall experience was «meh».

I’ve tried this place twice this year. I keep getting the chicken Kalmata style and it never disappoints. Chicken cooked perfectly, on a bed of fries soaked in vinegar. The dish comes with bread and salad all under $ 12. Huge portions, big enough to share with two people. Restaurant is cozy with the exposed brick and dimly lit. Food came out quickly. You can order to go too.

Thanks for having OTF Wrigleyville out for a business lunch today! Our owner had tried this place out before and absolutely loved it. The gyro was really big. I couldn’t imagine out big the king size gyro was.
Our server was quick and nice. She wasnt in our face, but was very accomidating at the same time. Our food came out quick and was delicious.
Can’t wait to open up our Lincoln Park location so I can make this place my go to lunch!

This was honestly the worst food I have had since moving to Chicago. First off, when I first stepped foot into the restaurant, the lady working the register with the large framed glasses who speaks French was down right rude. She was very impatient and said to me hurry up and decide already. I asked her what their specialty was and she said everything and looked at me as if I had three heads. Not a welcoming first impression to say the least.
As for the food itself, it was even worst that the initial greeting. I ordered the chicken kabob and my friend order the chicken platter, both of which were the driest chicken we’ve ever tasted. There was no flavor or seasoning. Horrible to say the least! On top of that, when I asked if I could substitute the fries for a side salad, she rudely responded substitutions. When we finally got the food, the fries were in the same bowl as the soggy chicken, which were both drenched in olive oil as if to hind the fact that the chicken was terrible. Who likes soggy fries?
Anyways, I strongly did not like it there and do not recommend it to anyone

Came here late night on Friday for a late dinner. I ordered the chicken kabob on a salad. It was good but nothing I couldn’t have made at home. I wanted to like this place more but what gets me is the $ 3.50 up charge for feta cheese on the salad. Maybe I need to try something else on the menu so I’ll probably go back and just know to try something different. All in all not bad by any means but certainly didn’t «wow» me the way I had hoped it would. Will revise upon return!

Should have reviewed the Athenian Room some time ago; just never got around to it. However, I recently had an epiphany when I (finally) realized that there was a doorway connecting this nice BYOB Greek place with Glascott’s Saloon, situated right next door. I also (finally) realized that Glasscott’s (an Irish Bar) served food from the Athenian Room. This means, of course, you can either eat in the cozy Greek Café; or in the more «energetic» bar — perhaps having an adult beverage, while watching «the game» on their numerous TVs. Either way, you won’t have a «Greek Town experience;» no flaming Saganaki with waiters yelling «oops;» just filling Greek street food.
As for the food. .. it’s pretty darn good. Huge platters of Gyros; flavorful roasted Kalamata chicken; fresh salads; crispy fries. Basic. Good. Hearty. Cheap. Looking for something triendier? Keep heading south on Halsted until you hit the Clybourn Corridor. Only eat Vegan? Head even further south on Halsted until you hit the hipsters in the West Loop. Taking your family out for a «traditional» Greek experience? Then stay on Halsted until you see the Ionic columns surrounding Greek Town. But looking for a nice lunch? Or craving a great Gyro, but don’t want to eat in a fast-​food place? Then stop in at the Athenian Room or Glasscott’s; won’t be disappointed!

I have unfortunately never been to Greece so I have no way of comparing the food at this restaurant to the real thing. It was a decent place, but the portion of what I ordered (the chicken) was a little overwhelming. If I happen to go there again, I definitely plan on getting something smaller and more manageable.

Athenian Room was pretty good, overall I had a great time with friends there, and the service was very good. My friend raved about it so we decided to check it out.
The food was pretty good also, they do not skimp on the feta, and the feta was delicious, and they have quite a bit to choose from. Their tzatziki sauce was average and their Greek salad was pretty average also. Again, the feta was good :) Their proportion sizes are large and it’s overall a great value as their prices are reasonable.
It would be a huge plus if they added byob. You have to go next door to the bar to get alcohol, which isn’t a huge deal, but it would be nice if they served alcohol or you could byob.
I would go again as it was a good restaurant.

We ordered food from here while sitting at the bar next door. The server that came and took our order was very nice. The menu had many different options to pick from. We werent sure if we were going to enjoy the food but everything was delicious. We plan to stop by again.

My friends and I came to the Athenian Room after they had run the Hot Chocolate race. The Athenian Room is known to be Tina Fey’s go-​to place in Chicago, but its also my friend’s go-​to place for catch-​up sessions with her undergrad friends. She wanted to share the AR experience with us, and we trekked to LP for lunch at AR. There was no line and no wait for a table on Sunday morning. We were immediately seated and served water.
Everyone ordered the kalamata chicken, which is half a chicken, accompanied by bread, french fries and salad. We also ordered two plates of feta cheese to eat with the bread and salad. The chicken has a vinegar base, which pairs well with the steak fries. For $ 11, this is a very filling meal, and I ended up taking half my chicken home for use in a spinach salad.
I recommend AR for its comfort food.

Not bad, but also not worth the hype. There were definitely some hits, but I wasn’t a fan of the large differences in quality.
The portions are very generous – we got the kalamata chicken and the spanakopita, and that was enough for two people. I really enjoyed the spanakopita; the pastry was buttery and flaky while the spinach and feta filling had a very good ratio and nice texture.
The chicken (which was actually a half chicken) came with a side salad and a loaf of bread, the latter of which I found rather stale. I loved the vinegar sauce that came with the chicken; I just wished there was more of it given that the chicken was rather dry and somewhat tasteless once you got past the drumstick. I also loved the steak fries, which went extremely well with the vinegar-​based sauce (despite not being a fries person!)
The standouts of the night were easily the steak fries that came with the chicken as well the spanakopita. However, I was rather disappointed with the experience overall and felt like the quality of food just wasn’t really there.

This place is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC! I was doing some online research to find a reasonably priced Greek restaurant. I had an odd craving for Spanakopita. I found Athenian Room and immediately started my voyage to Lincoln Park. I was already heading to the zoo so it was rather perfect because Athenian Room was literally a straight walk to the zoo. And a very nice walk.
It was also nice to sit out on the patio. I came around 2 so there was no wait for a table. My waitress was pretty solid, she didnt hover. Which I particularly enjoy. I could truly enjoy my food in peace.
And boy did I.
I ordered Spanakopita to start, and the Chicken Kalamata style for my meal. The meal included Greek fries, the chicken, a salad, and French bread with butter.
The Spanakopita came right out super fresh and hot. The pastry was flaky and buttery, the spinach and feta filling was warm, gooey, and creamy and tangy.
The salad was your basic lettuce tomato with dressing combination. Nothing special there.
But what WOWed me was the chicken. Okay, first of all I had no idea when I ordered chicken that I would receive half of a chicken. Literally. The leg, breast, and wing. The outer skin was blackened, the inner meat was succulent, juicy, flavored to the bone, and served on top of the Greek fries.
Those fries were something from another world too. Perfectly fried, but drenched in vinegar and Greek herbs. My tastes buds were going insane.
As always I ordered too much, but I forced myself to down every bite because it was THAT good.
Seriously this restaurant is a must try.