Cross-Rhodes

I am Chicago born and raised and I didn’t expect to find the best gyro in Evanston. It wasn’t greasy but still packed with flavor and topping it the Greek fries was delicious. I am not sure of the sauce that was on the fries, but it was well seasoned. I will definitely compare every gyro I eat to the one at this place.

Awesome awesome and just awesome. I love it here. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been in because we moved away from the area but it’s still the same great place. Service was great, and everything was consistent with my memory. I start every meal here with the lemon egg soup. It’s perfect! The right balance of lemon, egg, and rice. The only problem is that it comes to the table pretty hot and I want dive right in, but if I do I’ll burn my mouth. On this visit, I had the small Greek salad with gyro meat and couldn’t even finish it. Also got a full order of Greek fries to share with my buddy and it was MORE than enough. We would have been fine with the half order. It was a great meal. We ate until we hated ourselves (thanks Louis CK). Looking forward to coming back with my kids.

Cross-​Rhodes continues to be the best restaurant in the Main St corridor. It’s the friendly neighborhood spot that always hits the spot. There are occasions my wife and I will dine-​in, but we prefer to take-​away so we can pig out in our pajamas at home (don’t judge). The portions are ridiculously generous here, it’s Grandma-saying-you-don’t-eat-enough huge. I’m not sure if they’ve gotten bigger over the years or if my stomach has shrunk, but the gyros dinner is now ample for two meals. All the standards are still great, but when I am feeling carnivorous, I go for the charburger. You may ask, «Why would I order a burger at a Greek diner?» and the answer is quite simply, «It’s one of the best damn burgers you can get.» Seriously, don’t sleep on the charburger.

I’ve only eaten here once. The chicken souvlaki was tough, dry, and a bit burnt. The Greek salad was unappetizing – the lettuce wasn’t very crisp. The pita bread was tasty, though.

I’m shocked to see the bad service reviews. I would say we got some of the friendliest service we have had in a long while. We were in a rush so only got the chicken pita to split but it was very good and came out quickly. There is a lot of lemon but we happen to like that so it wasn’t an issue. The lady who runs the cashier is a sweetheart and made our experience very enjoyable. We live in the city but will come back anytime we are in the neighborhood.

This place is a local jem. The food is fantastic, never a long wait for a table or for the kitchen. Try the gyros of course but they have great chicken and skirt steak as well. Comfortable atmosphere, friendly servers.

This was the 2^nd time I’ve ever had Greek food and I must say I have another type of food I’m into. Cute place with family friendly type of atmosphere, little tight and packed with other lovers of this place, but worth it considering decent prices and good quality. Would go again.

Country pork souvlaki sandwich hands down the only thing I get here haven’t had a chance to move around on the menu for last two years always the same order. Holla
Service hit or miss has been good lately though. good wine deals by the bottle. Cash only which blows but whatever for now. Have passed the place up a few times over that. It’s not Cuba… report the income

This place has just average food. I have mainly had vegetarian dishes here, the moussaka and pastitsio. They didn’t seem particularly freshly made either of the times I’ve had them and were a bit bland.
The one thing that irks me about the place is they are not very accommodating. They won’t substitute any of the sides with their dinners, even for an extra fee. Just today I went in to see about getting a vegetarian pita sandwich made «country style,» which includes fries and tzatziki sauce on the pita. The server very adamantly said that they cannot do this. I really don’t understand why they can’t do that, they have three meat sandwiches in this style and I don’t see why it would be a problem to alter their vegetarian sandwich in this way. It seems like they’re not very keen on being accommodating for customers, you take it or leave it. Sorry but your restaurant is not that good to be in the position.
Their pricing is also a bit on the high side for their portions, especially since they don’t offer lunch specials. And a $.35 carryout fee is pretty unusual, I can’t think of any other restaurant that does that. Much better Greek options in Chicago proper.

We just moved to Evanston from Texas a few days ago, and the owners of our new rental brought us here for dinner to introduce us to the neighborhood (and their favorite local restaurant).
On a Tuesday evening, we only had to wait a few minutes to get a table. They mentioned they used to visit almost weekly when they lived in the area, and the server, Sam, recognized them and greeted them. Really welcoming — I’m not sure if it’s family-​owned, but it had that sort of feel where everybody knows everybody.
It was super family friendly, with toys for the kids to play with and cheese and crackers to snack on (great for the one-​year-​old in our party). It’s a crowded space, but I really enjoyed the atmosphere — like some other reviews mentioned, almost like a diner type feel. I’m a big fan of «local» places, and this one has a great local feel.
We had a half-​carafe of wine (seemed to be reasonably priced but I didn’t examine too much). I ordered the sandwich-​portion of the gyro with a half order of greek fries. The gyro portion was great — very glad I didn’t order the dinner portion, as they said it was larger. It was delicious! I resorted to fork-​and-​knife-​ing the meat/​etc. out of the gyro (I’m an amateur). The spices in the meat were delicious and each piece had a crispier side that was delicious. The greek fries were amazing too! So flavorful and crispy. Reminded me of Gilroy’s garlic fries for anyone who has been to AT&T park. My Husband had the charburger (a burger with a crispier «crust» from what I understand). He said it was really good as well.
We will definitely be visiting again — they seemed to do a lot of take-​out business while we were there, and with it being just a few blocks from our condo, I can see many burger nights in our future! Definitely worth a try if you are looking for some comfort food with a local feel!

What a nice surprise of a Greek restaurant! My friend and I connected at this place as a «mid-​point» choice between our homes. We enjoyed a great salad with loads of feta. We followed that with two vegetarian dishes that were wonderfully flavored and nicely proportioned.
The only minuses were the wine choices (cheap supermarket choices) and they took no credit. Since we were unprepared for that, we limited the number of items we chose from the menu.

What a wonderful place! Service is excellent, great care with quirky orders (allergies), and tops in burgers and Gyros! Yummy, yummy, yummy!

I’ve been to Cross Rhodes twice now, and the first time I went, I definitely would have given a strong 5 (maybe a 4 because of the cash-​only thing). The serving I got in my gyros was huge, the waiter I had was attentive and kind and the food came out so quickly.
The second time i went, I had gone for a celebration — literally right after my graduation ceremony. The food, the waitstaff, all great. However, my qualm came when I had to interact with the manager. I went up to pay and i had mistakenly given a smaller dollar bill than I thought and had expected change in return. When I asked about it, she corrected me, showed me the bills I had given her and I told her that it was fine and I was walking out. As I tried to leave, she shoved the check over the counter towards my face and started yelling at me about why I would even ask the question and what I was expecting back.
I was expecting change back so I could leave tip at the table. However, due to my lack of small bills and just the general feeling that I NEEDED to leave and that I was unwanted, I never got the chance to do so. I feel guilty and if I return and have the same staff, I’ll be sure to leave more. But I’m getting the feeling I’ll never return because of the manager alone.

My partner and I walked in and were invited to sit anywhere. The restaurant has a distinctly diner-​ish feel. Clean, simple, very low key. Even at about 5, pretty earlier for dinner, plenty of tables were full. As people came in they often said «hi» to particularly servers; clearly a place with lots of regulars.
They have the Greek standards on the menu, and everything that came out smelled great. We each had an amply stuffed gyros sandwich. Very tasty, and a very good deal. We’ll definitely be coming back.

So after ordering take out from them several times, I have finally had it!
Extremely inconsistent which is a staple in the food industry! This time I ordered their Chicken Souvlaki, which I have ordered to go a million times. I ordered it with Greek fries which means they pour a white wine lemon herbaceous sauce on top. So needless to say I was not expecting crispy fries which come with the Souvlaki. I also ordered the white sauce which is Tzatziki. So fast forward to me opening my to go order at home to find that they had slathered my whole meal with the Tzatziki. Every other time that I have ordered this dish to go, remember that I have ordered it a million times, they have put the sauce on the side. So not only were my fries not crispy, again not what I was expecting anyway, but they were literally swimming in a mixture of the Greek sauce for my fries and the Tzatziki.
My husband, realizing that I was very unpleased with my meal, called up the restaurant to let them know of the mistake hoping that he would at least get an apology if not maybe a free meal during our next visit or something, you know the way almost every single restaurant works. Instead the owner picked up the phone when he called and proceeded to tell him that that is they way they have been doing it for 20+ years and their customers like it that way. So my husband reiterated how we have ordered this meal numerous times and never received the Tzatziki on the dish, rather on the side. Again the owner said the same schpeal about how the customers love it like this. Never once did she apologize, never once did she offer to correct it and never once did she realize that this IS one of her customers telling her that they did NOT like it like this and that maybe when this dish is served to go the sauce should be on the side!
I will never return to Cross Rhodes based off of this experience. This is NOT how you treat your customers, the people who pay your bills and keep your doors open!

2.5 stars rounded up to 3 because the service was so fast.
We had spanakopita, hummus with pita, a Greek salad, and fries, and all of it was fine, but nothing special. The fries were a little weird, sitting in a wine sauce and getting soggy.
We came because it’s the closest place to eat near FEW distillery, and didn’t have time for much else. But it doesn’t seem like a place to seek out.

If anyone at Cross-​Rhodes reads this– Take Credit Cards! You’re not saving any money, it’s an active decision to not come here because you have to get cash.
The best thing here are the Maria fries. So lemony, herby, delicious.
Gyros are fine, not amazing– but good. The greek chicken is delicious, and a massive portion. Egg lemon soup is okay.
But the fries! Worth it alone.

It actually kind of bums me out to have to write this review, but enough is enough. Cross Rhodes, you’ve been a staple of my partner’s world for years and I have spent the last year getting to know you quite intimately as well. You’ve always been tasty, but your service has always been tepid at best. I’ve been able to look past the lukewarm service because you have pretty good food and you’re local! I come from a family who owns local businesses and spent five years running one myself, so I more than understand what good customer service is and you, sadly, don’t have it, CR.
Last Thursday you served up some freezer-​temp service and it was the last straw for me. I usually look passed mediocre service — I’m in the industry myself! — but even I couldn’t stomach it this time. You know the scary part? It had to be almost atrocious because I’m the one with the long fuse in my relationship and my partner just left when she saw the Looney Tunes-​esque steam billowing from my ears. Your waitress was too busy chatting, counting her tips and downing drinks to pay much attention to us or even offer up a smile.
You really screwed the pooch here, CR. You had two extremely loyal customers and you lost them for the foreseeable future, if not forever. Bad, CR, bad! Let this be notice to anyone who frequents CR, don’t put up with the below average service that CR offers just because they’re local and they have great fries. You deserve better!

We came here on a saturday night, looking for an easy and delicious meal– which we totally got. What we weren’t expecting to get, however, was a math adventure. See, while we KNEW that Cross Rhodes only takes cash and we brought cash with us, we were not totally responsible with it. Before looking at how much money we had, we just went ahead and ordered a lot of wine, leaving us with about $ 20 to spend on actual food. Rather than just going for the gyro sandwich route, which certainly would have been in the cards price wise, we decided to branch out a little.
We ended up with maria fries, a spanakopita, and a big greek salad (and, obviously, a lot of wine). It was actually a PERFECT dinner. The maria fries are insane– delicious fries drenched in a lemony sauce, topped with tons of feta. The spanakopita was flaky and fresh, and while the salad could have used a bit more dressing, it was a delicious counterpoint to the fries.
And, despite a few tense moments, we came in well under budget. We’ve been here before, so I know that the menu staples– gyro, chicken– are delish, but this was actually a really fun way to do dinner. Set a random budget and make sure you stick to it!

The food is acceptable and they rarely get orders wrong. The prices have gone up slightly but not enough to be prohibitive. Regardless, I’ll never be back due to the social climate.
A word to management — tell your wait staff that if they’re going to insult gay customers, they should do so out of ear shot. It’s not like there were special dietary demands or time demands. I let it slide the first time but couldn’t overlook it the second time.
This review is short because there’s nothing more to be said. The food is acceptable but the staff is a nasty bunch.