Parthenon, Chicago

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One of the great things that comes with Chicago's diversity is an incredibly wide selection of ethnic restaurants. As some Chicagoans put it, you name a country, they can take you to a restaurant that serves that country's food. When I made plans to meet up with David (VTer dlandt) for lunch, he suggested we head over to Greektown and I knew I was in for something that had nothing to do with the "Greek restaurants" we have in Quebec City. In fact, I was really glad he was there to help me pick something from the menu because The Parthenon offers such a wide variety of dishes, I could still be going through the menu! In the end, we selected spinach-cheese pies as an appetizer, and boy was that good! For the main course, I ordered chicken riganati, which is baked with lemon and oregano and served with rice and roast potatoes. Portions were very generous and everything was so good, I still wasn't hungry when dinner time came around! Something to keep in mind is that service was perhaps a little slow, and you definitely get a better deal if you go there for lunch.

Lively, bright and cheerful, and waiters that are a lot of fun! This place is open 7 days a week from 11AM to 1AM

Favorite Dish: Just about anything -- I love Greek food. The 'flaming cheese' is their signature starter, so you need to order it at least once.

I went to the Parthenon in Greek Town while I was in Chicago. The raspberry iced tea was wonderful and that is as far as it got! The waiters were the rudest things I've seen in a long time and I live in Miami where lots of people are rude! The food was horrible! Yuck - nastiest tasting greek food I've ever had and I love Greek food and always have it. Everything was nasty tasting. From the shrimp, to the dolmades [grape leaves] to the lamb. And when I asked the waiter to take the grape leaves away because we could not even eat more than 1/2 of 1 - boy oh boy! What an attitude I got! No one seemed to care there - all the waiters were rude - I was so happy to leave. They didn't care if I was unsatisfied - the waiter even hovered over me when I was paying - literally directly behind you! Do yourself a favour and DO NOT EAT HERE - PRICEY AND HORRIBLE FOOD AND WORST OF ALL - THE SERVICE SUCKS!!

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Favorite Dish: Saganaki--mild Kaseri cheese flamed in brandy and served with bread. This is so cool! With a rousing shout of "Oopa!!" the server will ignite the dish with a lighter right in front of you as the brandy burns off. We couldn't believe how adept our server was at holding dishes full of flames right in front of his face! And it's delicious stuff to boot.

This year I finally made it to Greektown, Chicago's neighborhood full of Greek stores and restaurants. We tried the Parthenon as our first Greek restaurant downtown, and had a fabulous experience!

Favorite Dish: The vegetarian Family Feast dinner (for two or more)--includes everything but your drink. The selection is huge and absolutely decadent, from appetizer to dessert. We had two dips with bread, saganaki, Greek salad, four mini-entrees (including pastitsio and phyllo spinach pie), and a dessert sampler of bakalva and galaktobouriko with coffee. I couldn't breathe or move afterwards, and that was even with taking a doggie bag home full of half the entree portion!