Athena Restaurant

Recommends

Katie T.

Joined 1 year ago

LOVE THIS PLACE!. Delicious Greek food! Affordable prices! Friendly and Fast Service! Beautiful Outdoor Dining! Great Place~I highly recommend! Enjoy! Opa!!! :)

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SarahBethK

Joined 4 years ago

The best Greek Food I've ever eaten!. My husband and I went to Chicago as a Christmas present to one another. We were wandering through Greektown trying to decide where to eat when an Greek man saw us looking through the window of his establishment. We were trying to decide if it was too dressy inside for what we were wearing. He asked us if he could help with anything and we asked him if it was dressy inside. He said "Be comfortable like you are at home." and ushered us inside.

From then on it was one of the nicest dinners I have ever had. The wait staff was professional and courteous. And the food, oh the food was SO good. We had a gyro platter for an appetizer and it was the best gyros I have ever eaten. My husband had a sample plate with a few different foods on it like mousaka. He loved it. I can't remember what my dish was called but it was like a little pot pie type of food with meat and vegetables inside of phylo dough. It was so good! By far my favorite experience in Chicago!

Doesn't Recommend

JillGeorge

Joined 4 years ago

Horrible experience. I went to Athena for lunch today, and, while biting into my octopus was horrified to discover a metal fishing hook. We pointed this out to our waiter, and the manager came rushing over, yelling "It is the fisherman's fault, not our chef's fault. What do you expect us to do?! Check every piece of fish?!" He acted as though as I was the "bad guy" for mentioning it. Then he called the owner over, who also yelled at us, claiming it was not their fault. No comped food, no apology, no graciousness. ...and somehow, during this encounter, the hook "disappeared." Awful experience, and the food was not very well prepared, by the way. Don't bother.

Doesn't Recommend

george2007

Joined 4 years ago

SO VERY SALTY. The staff was great, but the food was so salty.

My party of six all agreeded how salty everything was, down to the green beans.

I was so looking forward to having a good Greek dinner and was so turned-off by the food. I will stick with Central Gyros and Rodity's where I have never had a bad meal.

Doesn't Recommend

elvis34

Joined 6 years ago

DISAPPOINTED. We went to Athenas and I was really dissapointed. We had the saturday special loin lamb which was 85 % fat. uneatable.

I waited 20 minutes for a drink that I requested twice.

Also when the final bill came I received a handwritten unreadable piece of paper so forget to double check what are they charging you for.

The waiter looked like he hated his job, MEN if you dont like to work saturday nights preferably stay home and let somebody else do a better job.

Will never go to a greek restaurant again.

Doesn't Recommend

constantinou

Joined 4 years ago

Didn't even make it to a table.. Being a first time visitor to Chicago, I was excited to visit Greektown. We first walked into Parthenon and could barely get in the door to ask about seating times, there were so many people. It had to be against a fire code, or something. We were told it would be about an hour. Being pregnant and starving, I didn't think I could wait that long, so we headed back down the block to Athena, where we had already passed and noticed it wasn't that busy. We walked into Athena and were rudely told it was a 45 min to a 1 hour wait. Looking around, there were about 50 empty tables and no one waiting to be seated. We left and went back to Parthenon and were seated in 30 minutes.

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athenayasou1

Joined 4 years ago

Authentic Greek Cuisine.........Great Food. I Love this place.....The food is almost a carbon copy of my yia yia's. The staff was polite and even funny at times. My group was very happy with the way we were served. I will come back to the place 100%.

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dorgepleeze78

Joined 5 years ago

Best All Around in Greek Town. Best Calamari in the City, Hands down. George at the bar is awesome-- he is entertaining and pours well! Try the lambchops, saganaki, and the octopus. Patio cannot be beat when the weather is nice!

Free Valet Parking is the icing on the cake-- awesome for clients when we do business there.

Recommends

vegitoboi

Joined 7 years ago

Tough to judge, but points go to outdoor seating romantic setting. It surprises me to see that this once Zagat top rated restaurant can get these mixed reviews by these users. I for one do not know if success has gotten to their head or what. But I for one like this place and find their service is done well. No, I'm not Greek one bit nor do I work or know anyone from this restaurant. I'm just a customer like anyone else. Now, I may sound repeatative to my review of Greek Islands, but me being fairly new to Greek food (with the exceptation of gyros which anyone can get almost anywhere) I can not judge this place by food alone because to me, it's all the same. Although, I can tell you that from here (or Greek Islands for that matter) one of my favorite things to order is the Saganaki and Grilled Octopus. So if I'm giving the same points to this and the other Greek restaurants I've been to, what the deciding factor? For me, if Greek Islands is more family friendly, Athena is more of the date place. I'm not saying it's not a good place for family or large group dining, but for me this place is more of a couple's hotspot than any other restaurant (with the exceptation of Venus which I have yet to try). Also, on a warm summer day their outdoor patio brings a nice added twist to outdoor eating. So, I say you can go anywhere down Halsted Ave. and find the same taste in food, but come here for the romantic ambience.

Doesn't Recommend

cammyf

Joined 6 years ago

Customer. Our waiter, when he found time to stop by our table, was incredibly hurried and unattentive, to say the least. I got the feeling we were to feel lucky to get him when he happened to breeze by.

During the course of ordering our drinks I overheard him recommend my friend who wanted a "fruity" white wine, the same wine that he recommended to me when I told him a preferred a wine that wasn't fruity. Of course, it was nearly the most expensive white wine by the glass on the menu.

But being rushed to decide so quickly because again, we were lucky to have him there when we could...

The mousaka was without body and a little mushy, no memorable flavor. The after dinner coffee was horrible and tasted like it had been in the urn for three days. My friend's cappacino drink was pure sludge on the bottom. When she brought it to his attention he picked up the cup and flipped it over on the saucer and patronizingly said...here you go, it's a greek custom to read the coffee grounds, looks like your going to come into some money! Not that night...Apparently there's a new greek custom of reading a blob of coffee sludge and the reading of coffee grounds is no longer the practice.