Mid-Michigan Dining

• 200 S. Halsted St.
• Chicago, IL 60661
• (312) 782-9855
• Website
• Menu

Greek Islands Restaurant on Madison and Adams in Chicago's Greektown

We were in Chicago for the weekend for a friend’s wedding.  Our hotel was the Crowne Plaza Metro in Greektown.  On Sunday morning after a night of drinking, we decided to meet up with some friends from Ohio that we don’t get to see often and have lunch before we went our separate ways.  The night before, I went for a walk to kill time and check out the restaurants in Greektown.  We checked out of our hotel then walked down Halsted.  I had read a little about a restaurant on the corner of Halsted and Adams called Greek Islands.

We walked in Greek Islands and were met by an older gentlemen welcoming us to the restaurant.  He showed us to table on a landing in the dining room.  We were seated and starting looking over the menu which is very traditional greek food.  A bus boy brought us some water and the waiter came over to take the order.  We weren’t quite ready to order, but we did put in drink orders.  They had both Coke and Pepsi.  Three of us got Pepsi’s and J got a Diet Coke.  The drinks that were served were little glass bottles, so there were no refills.  I’m guessing they were six ounce portions, so we had to go light before the meal got there.

After a few more minutes, we were ready to order.  Out of the whole big menu, we only ordered two dishes.  My friend’s wife and I both got Pastichio.  She ordered first and asked the waiter not to make fun of her when she tried to pronounce. He didn’t give her any guarantees, but he was kind enough to correct her when she said “pistachio.”  The dish was similar to a lasagna.  It’s a baked pasta with beef, cheese and a beschemel sauce.  It was really good.  Instead of long sheets of noodles, they used a long tubular pasta.  The portion was really big.  Neither of us were able to finish. 

Greek Islands Restaurant in Chicago's Greektown

My girlfriend originally ordered an item off the specials menu, but the waiter came back and said the chef wasn’t making that today.  She had ordered Mediterranean chicken strips.  Since they didn’t have that, there was a Mediterranean Chicken Breast which is also what my friend ordered.  Both of them really liked the chicken and weren’t able to finish their meals either.  The chicken was served with a pretty big side of rice.  The chicken itself was baked in extra virgin olive oil, garlic and herbs. 

The table also had two loafs of bread.  There was one crusty one and one softer one.  We all went for the crusty bread and dipped it in the Greek olive oil that was on the table.

Our server came back and tried to talk us in to dessert, but our friends needed to get to Union Station to catch a train to O’Hare and we had a three hour drive back to Lansing, so we passed and just asked for our check.  The four of us ate for $70 before tip. 

Greek Islands was a great restaurant.  The people were are very friendly and seemed genuinely happy that we chose their restaurant.  The waiter was having some fun with us knowing that we weren’t Greek and had probably never eaten at a Greek restaurant before.  It was fun watching other tables order the flaming cheese and just watching how into the waiters got when they got to light that cheese on fire.  The atmosphere was really light and open.  My girlfriend said it felt like we were sitting out on a veranda somewhere even though we were inside nowhere near a window.  I think all four of us really enjoyed the meal.  I was kind of surprised I liked it as much as I did.  Foreign food really scares me, but I really wanted to try it.  Greek Islands gets a lot of really good reviews from some really big food critics, so I wanted to make sure to order something that I couldn’t get anywhere else.  I would definitely recommend Greek Islands to anyone who’s looking for a meal in Greektown.  There are a lot of options in such a small area, but Greek Islands deliver on flavor, atmosphere, and customer service.