IT' ALL GREEK TO ME I last wrote a review in 2010 for this neighborhood gem which is currently celebrating 45 years in business. That is an amazing feat to accomplish in the world of failed Chicago restaurants. I grew up eating here with my family. We had a family business and this was a weekly dinner stop on our way home because of the long hours we always worked. I returned to my old neighborhood again because my wife was craving a good gyro and she wanted Central Gyro. When we arrived I noticed that they had remodeled the interior including fresh paint, new walls and new tables. I was also happy to see the owner standing at the front counter. He is a staple and the pillar of this restaurant. We were seated promptly on a Saturday afternoon. I loved seeing that the restaurant had a great crowd the whole time we were eating here. It wasn't packed but remained half full the whole time we dined which was great considering we were here after lunch. I also noticed a lot of carry out customers too. I'm a little selfish because I want this place to remain open for another 45 years. They are old school here and serve fantastic free sesame seed topped french bread with butter. I miss the days when all restaurants served bread to start a meal. We started with the Saganaki which is the flaming cheese. As it arrived to our table the whole restaurant yelled, "Ooopa!", while our cheese went up in flames. In fact, everyone yells this every time a table receives there flaming dish. It makes the dinning experience fun. We all ordered gyro sandwiches which were fantastic. Each sandwich is topped with raw white onion, tomato slices and tzatziki sauce with a perfectly toasted pita. This is a solid sandwich and it is as good as I remember. If you've never been here then I recommend you dine here. They have a full bar and domestic beer is only $4. There is also a free parking garage across the street which is great for all of the local businesses in the neighborhood. Thanks Central Gyro for providing me and my family delicious Greek food for the last 45 years. You are truly a local gem in the city of Chicago. read more

Ok, I have been meaning to review this location but I have always gotten take out which is picked up by my husband! Finally, had dinner here and order their Gyro sandwich meal. My husband order the gyro dinner plate. Both were so delicious. I would suggest to come here and have their gyros!! The gyro plate was a little yooo much for my husband so he said next time, just get the sandwich. SORRY, no food pictures because I ATE IT ALL! YUMMY read more

Best gyros hands down! The costumer service was amazing! I highly reccomend everyone looking for a great authentic Greek experience to go here. Best in town! read more

It was ok. I expected better taste. Friendly environment. Was served pretty quick.

My family has been coming to Central gyros for over 20+ years and with every subsequent visit, they've never failed to disappoint us. The main reason for the five stars is due to their consistency in providing quality gyros paired with efficient service. The owners and staff are super nice and they always greet us when we come in through their doors; making us feel welcome and at home. Naturally, over the years the menu prices have increased. Despite the inflation, the gyros plate is definitely worth the money. The gyros plate offers double the meat; so you know your getting the most for what you pay. Their gyros are moist and seasoned to perfection. The tzatziki sauce is also worth mentioning. The rich and creamy tzatziki sauce is incomparable to others I have tried. It's nice and thick; with just the right amount of tang. My only critique on the gyros was I wished they were a bit more crispy on the edges. Perhaps that's personal preference but besides that, their gyros are extremely enjoyable! The interior space is substantial and can hold about 60-75 people comfortably. The busboys constantly make rounds to sweep the floor, wipe down, and clear the tables; ensuring an eating space that is clean and odor free. Vibrant Greek themed woodwork can be seen on almost every wall. There is also a full service bar in the restaurant serving up drinks and cocktails. Metered street side parking is available. On busy days, if parking is an issue, there is additional parking at the public garage right across the restaurant on Belmont and Central avenue. read more

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I appreciate the history here, and I appreciate that they are open during this damn pandemic. I ordered online and picked up. I will make this short. A gyro is a very simple sandwich. This one was nothing special. A bunch of sliced, somewhat dry, meat packed into a pita with very little tzatziki, tomato and onion to speak of. Maybe if I had a cold beer and more tzatziki on the side... I gotta continue to say that Athenian Room in Lincoln Park has by far the best gyro sandwich I've ever had. Five Faces on Division Street also has great ones, but I was also seriously drunk on those nights I dropped in at 2 a.m. read more

I saw an episode of "Chicago's Best" almost four (4) years ago featuring Central Gyros. At that time I didn't really call myself a foodie and and thought a can of Campbell soup would be much better than a poppin' hot homemade Gyros plate. Sorry, folks. I'm now a changed person, or at least I can say I've changed a lot since moving to Chicago. "Central Gyros" is one of many restaurants I pass by on Central frequent, yet tonight hubby and I walked into this place for the very first time. I brought several "uninvited" guests to dine with us as well: pidgey, rattata, drowzee, jynx, eevee, and spearow. As many of you may have figured it out, "Central Gyros" is a poke stop. Let's just say this in unison: Oppa'a! We ordered one of the most popular appetizers: saganaki, or Greek-style pan-fried cheese. There was a wedge of lemon on the side, and I squeezed some lemon juice on top of the saganaki. It was quite delectable. I must admit that their gyros plate is a little on the pricier side, but the portion is large enough to split into two (2) meals. The gyro meat was delicious, so was the tzatziki sauce. I could tell the quality of everything was superb. Service was also very prompt and responsive. In addition, the boss did a round of greeting to each table to ensure that everyone of us enjoyed the meal. The total for a gyros plate, a vegetarian plate, and an order of saganaki came to $31 and some change. I didn't know how hubby was able to finish his veggie plate. He should know that Rosa J. isn't going to wake up early on her day off to fix him some breakfast, and he better not to touch her leftover gyros! read more

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Best in Chicago for my money. The gyros, dolmades and souvlaki rock and it's tough to choose. The saganaki is simply the best in town. Make it well done and take your time. Welcoming atmosphere. Smells great. read more

Best gyros in Chicago hands down never fails, owner is very nice has well. Love there rice and chicken too. They even have a chicken gyro that's amazing. read more

Ordered the gyros combo plate to try a little of everything. Gyros was delicious with thinly shaved onions, tomato slices and tzatziki on grilled pita! Fantastic! The Greek sausage had a somewhat strange flavor I can't quite figure out what it was -- not horrible but not that good either. The rice was not warm and was just plain rice. The potatoes must have been sitting all day. Neither were anything special. Took souvlaki home to try later. Best to stick just with the gyros -- that's what they're known for. Everything else, I've had better at other Greek restaurants. read more

Central Gyros - Gyros combo plate: gyros, Greek sausage, pork souvlaki, rice & potatoes, tzatziki, pita bread. - Greek Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I stopped at Central Gyros on Monday night, 2/17 because I participate in a couple of Chicago area restaurant pages on Facebook. One of the page monitors called a pop-up dinner at the place which I saw two hours before it was set to start. With no definitive plans for dinner I figured, "why not?" And so I went... Ended up being just four of us, but it was still a great opportunity to try the place out. I was the first one there and when I mentioned there might be a few people coming, the staff quickly set up a table for ten people with more room available should it become a larger group. I found the restaurant to be kind of interesting in that the front area had the look and feel of a fast food place, but the seating area was definitely geared toward table service. Very open, large and clean appearance. Co-members who came ordered a variety of options from the menu and seemed to be pretty pleased with their meals. I ordered a lemon soup and the gyros plate. The soup was good but I have had better. When the server brought out my gyros plate, the potatoes didn't seem right - looked like steak fries rather than Greek potatoes. The server confirmed my suspicion and noted kitchen had plated the wrong spuds. The error was quickly corrected. As for the entree, often a platter comes with two pieces of pita - this came with one. I did manage to get all the gyros meat onto the single piece which kinda confirmed my second observation - the platter was slightly smaller than most platters I've had at similar restaurants. Before I draw my final conclusion, let me step back and talk about the two servers that were on the floor when I first arrived. Both of them were personable and enthusiastic. One of them started to check on us, but I think she was cut so the other server took care of our table. Top to bottom she did a great job. I've said it in previous reviews and I'll say it again here - nowadays anybody can make "good food" - but it's the service that sets places apart. Which is why I'm giving Central four stars rather than three. The food was OK - nothing all that different from most peer restaurants. But the servers that took care of us were friendly and did really well - for me, they made my trip to Central worthwhile and a reason to return. read more

Great food and Great service. We grew up in Chicago and this is one of our favorite places to go.

Very good Greek food and also American food DELICIOUS! Great service and selection. Very cozy location!

This place is decent. I've discovered it accidentally and simce I had it on my mind I decided to give it a try. First of all easy to find, parking is on the street. You can pay trough the app or machine. Restaurant is clean and has a lot of place to seat. You will be welcome by nice hostess which will give you a menu. You can take a seat and peacefully take a look on options they offer. I decided to try Avgalemono soup until they prepare my lunch to go. Soup was ok. It looks like food is fresh and that is walhat I like. I ordered chicken kabob in pita and it was tasty. Dolmade portion come in 4 pcs and they are tasty as well. And large. I like that they are filled with beef and rice. I took also potatoes and rice as a side to go since I was expecting company for lunch. And we both agreed that rice is a winner. We will go again for some food. Owner is also very polite and with good energy. read more

Our go to for takeaway Greek. Gyros plate, Greek salad spinach pie is our go to order. I do wish they would give two pitas with the gyros plate (although not much to add it). read more

A real neighborhood staple. Probably the best Gyros in Chicago. Has authentic Greek food and service to match. Had the fried smelt, crispy not greasy a real treat. Enough food to take home. Have been going here since 1974 when it was located across the street where the present parking lot is located. Where I had my first Gyros. Highly recommended. read more

Once again back to my childhood restaurants in the Cragin- Belmont Area. Wanting to celebrate my middle sons beginning of College we decided on having truly great American-Greek meal. What better place, but Central Gyros!!! The place looks great after being remodeled, post there fire. Warmly greeted, like always, By Chef, Owner, and our Charming Waitress. We sat down and proceeeded to order hydration and Two Greek Beers for oldest son and moi. Two orders of Saganaki, and 5 Orders of the Gyros Plate. Our go to comfort meal...had all their other dishes and of course they are prepared to order and are spectacular. Saganaki was cooked to perfection crispy at the corners and gooey in the middle. Greek bread is just as good as Dimitri's in Deerfield, Yum! Gyros Plate goes without explanation...just well prepared Gyros with onions, tomatoes, Tzatziki sauce (none better, tried others no comparison to its complexity yet simplicity in ingredient) pita Bread and of course their Gyros off the spit. Next time you are near Central Avenue & Belmont Avenue...Stop on by and tell Central Gyros "Hi" from there loyal customer! Cheers! read more

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Ok with a name like central gyro I was thinking a takeout joint. But no it is sit down too and the food is tasty and reasonable and they give you a lot. We shared beets and skordalia which we really liked. My husband had the pork souvlaki which was cooked well and I had the 1/2 mousaka and 1/2 pasticio which was good. The chicken lemon soup was tasty and we were so happy they had roditis!!! read more

My favorite gyro in the city. Recommended by a friend I trust. Walked in and ordered gyro sandwich to go. Standard toppings with taziki, onion and tomato. The gyro meat was extremely tender and fresh. Was not burned or dry like some other places. The pita was hot and toasted. Very good. I didn't get any sides. I will be back. read more

Central Gyros - Ourside - Greek Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Great food with a lot of flavor. When we went the service was a little slow at times even though there were only a few tables seated, but even though we didn't get checked on a ton the food came out really fast and tasted great. The Greek salad was good but it was light on the cheese. Entree-wise - the gyros were great and they piled a lot on, and the 1/2 pastitsio and 1/2 moussaka plate was really great, too. I We didn't get the saganaki but it smelled great when every other table ordered it, so I'd recommend that too on smell alone. read more

Food is delicious... Gyros are one of the best ones in town! Taste very authentic. Customer service is excellent and super welcoming! I highly recommend this place. read more

FYI - just called to place an order and had a recording tell me that this place is now closed on Tuesdays.

I have been going to this place since I was a teenager, over 40 years. Had a friend come in from out of town last week who grew up here in Chicago, and of course we had to hit Central Gyros. I must say that after 40 years, the food is still just as amazing as I remember it. The quality has not changed one bit. It's nice to come back to a place that remains consistent like that. Had the saganaki, avgolemono soup, spanakopita and the pastitio/mousakka combination. Nice, generous sized portions. In fact, the spanakopita was even larger than what I remember it being! I had enough food leftover for a second meal. The taste was impeccable,! The service was awesome, friendly and fast, and I swear the waitress that served us has been there for years! So glad that we decided to make the trip there, it was like coming home. Please don't ever chnage the way you do things, can't top perfection! read more

Just left and had a terrible experience. My husband and I have been going for years. We loved the saganaki. To put things briefly across the board, everything was subpar. Saganaki was different Although there is no cheese I dislike, the flavor wasn't the same. Our main dishes came, onions were on my husbands chicken soulvaki in which he didn't want . Honest mistake, but with the PUNGENT ODOR AND EXCESSIVE AMOUNT OF ONIONS, my husband kindly requested a new order. My dolmades were horrible. Old, and foul tasting to the point of being RANCID. The poor waitress told the manager and we could hear him loudly disparaging us....professional HUH. My husband was tired of the abuse and told the waitress he would just pay, but I refused to pay for rancid food. We left. Will never come back. Don't be a jerk to customers. Be kind. If you want a nice dining experience, avoid at all cost. read more

Great gyros. Great value. Must try. Can't wait to eat here again soon. We love the combo dinner however the gyro meat is tender and lovely. The meals usually are enough for 2-3 meals. Pitas are warm and delicious. Service fast and friendly. We've gotten delivery and picked up foods always hot and read read more

This experience has left me underwhelmed. We placed an order for a pickup. I thought $12 for a gyros plate and $3.50 for a soup was steep. But since there's so many amazing reviews, hey, we gave it a shot. For starters, the fries are pathetic. They're steak fries that are undercooked. Plus, they should say it comes with an order of "fry". I got 7 fries. After I shared a couple with my kids, we each got 2. The fries suck. The gyros is decent. It isn't remarkable. I've had better that is significantly cheaper. That pretty much sums it up. The lemon rice soup was ok. Again, not remarkable. So underwhelmed and out $32 for a "meh" dinner. Disappointing. read more

We ordered through GrubHub - delivery arrived earlier than estimated, & everything was hot and packed so wisely. I love efficiency! The food was all AWESOME. Eggplant Salad - FULL of raw garlic. Lots of it - enjoy bc it's sooo delish, but be forewarned! Topped with greek olives, yummm! Grilled Lamb Chops - marinated then grilled, cut into easily handleable little chops, with enough herby marinade there to put on the rice or potatoes or sop up with the (huge amount of) bread that they sent. So delicious! Braised Lamb - a whole shank, with some of the tomatoey sauce it was braised in, and potatoes and rice. Everything was good but shanks are always my fave! LOVED this. Both meat dishes came with complimentary soup - Avoglemono - and it too was sooo good. It's rare that I feel compelled to overeat SOUP, but this velvety, slightly lemony, ricey stuff was - let me crawl in bed now and eat this - level comfort food. Honestly, the intention behind my review is so I remember that I love this place, so I remember to order from them AGAIN. Haha, you really should too : ) read more

Central Gyros - Eggplant Salad, Braised Lamb w/rice & potatoes, Broiled Lamb Chops, Avoglemono soup, extra rice & potatoes, bread : ) (GrubHub) - Greek Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I brought my parents here for lunch. There is validated parking across the busy street. Chicago has a massive amount of Greek fast food aka Gyros. Central Gyros is not a fast food place but some of the food resembled that feeling. When you step inside the narrow entry way on the right you are greeted by the cook and specials on chalk boards. Am I suppose to order now? the register is present? confused we are an older guy approached and asked to sit wherever we would like. Still confused about having to order we see waitresses. Phew, complicated. Menu was massive. lots of meaty combination items and traditional Greek fare. The parentals order some chicken kabob and Gyros combo. I ordered a dinner combo to share, mine has gyro meat, pastitsio, dolmas, vegetable, rice and potatoes. Combinations come with soup. The gyro meat is well cooked and rich in flavor. The pastitsio was pretty good but the tomato sauce was a bit too sweet. The dolmas were the best, full of flavor and moist in the middle. The rice was buttery but the potatoes had too much thyme. My mothers chicken kabob was a bit dry. The veggies consisted of steamed peas with some tomatoes flavorless sauce. Some of the items were hit or miss, there are other plenty of good options in Chicago. read more

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these gyros are the state of the art. savory perfection. my mouth waters just thinking about it.

Ordered their Moussaka, nice size portion with good flavor. I definitely will return to order again. I've had the dish at a few different restaurants in the nearby area and would recommend Central Gyros. read more

Best gyros in the city hand down. Not even a question. I've been going here for 15 years, and my parents have been going for 30+ years. This place is slept on, and it's amazing when I hear people haven't been. They've been closed recently due to a fire next door, but according to the owner, it should be open some time in October. It's a must hit when they reopen. read more

I grew up a couple streets over from this place, so this is "my chicago", far different from the other northside neighbor hoods I resided in as an adult. Awesome customer service, the owner was there (saw him on Chicago's Best!) and he came over to ask how everything was, which is sooo nice! We were just about the only table in there, although it was a weird time...like 3:30 on a Saturday. Gyro was good, but didn't blow me away frankly. Solid though. Get the sandwich, the plate was a bit overpriced for me, 2 sammies would have been a better value. And give me fries with the sammie! Hope you guys make it! read more

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Went to do a distance visit to my mom so of course while in the area, grabbed some takeout and brought it back to the burbs. Smelled just like I remembered it from growing up in the area, I think only the prices have changed. My family enjoyed it a lot, glad this place is still around and serving even during quarantine, we went with the 1lb kit which included the 1lb of gyro meat, 1/2 quart of tzatziki sauce, generous amount of white slices onions with tomatoes yum! And 4 soft delicious pita breads & side of fries for $29.89. They were very busy so we waited about 45-60m, Thank you to my Mexican paisanos for cooking such awesome Greek food. read more

Owner was friendly, but food was subpar. This is basically a Kronos gyro shop, nothing special and definitely not homemade. Portions are microscopic, and overpriced. You're better off going to greektown for a better gyro. read more

Hate to give only a 3 star review for such a Chicago staple but they seem to need to step up their game just a tad. I ordered a gyros value meal and it came with a can of pop and the food wasn't in a styrofoam plate, the gyros was wrapped up and super soggy from the sauce.. I don't mind having the gyros wrapped but maybe leave the sauce on the side since it can ruin the sandwich from how tight you wrap the gyros causing the sandwich to become super soggy and messy.. I feel like if it's priced at $15 it should come in a plate rather then wrapped.. also please give the to go orders a cup of soda not the can! Giving out a can with a $15 meal can come off looking like a school lunch meal.. lol. I hope they step it up and I can update this review cause the food is definitely good and I wanna see them stick around cause I'm my opinion they are one of the best gyros in the city they just gotta do some lil upgrades I think.. no one wants a can of pop with their meal lol! read more

I've been coming to Central Gyros since the 1980's! As a young girl my mother used to bring me here on Saturday nights and special occasions! I always loved the Saganaki cheese on fire! The food is still the same great taste! read more

Went in and got a carry out order the other day. All the employees were wearing masks, and it was super clean inside! They were very fast and it was one of the best Gyros sandwich I have ever had, my husband said the same thing too! Prices are a bit high I think but it was so good it was worth it!! read more

Excellent gyro lunch special. Very fresh and tasty. This was my first time experience and I shall return.

I used the yelp order online (eat24) Love the techs support. However and order that was suppose to 1hr took an hour and a half. The combo plate was great (shockingly was delivered hot). The tiramisu was dry and bland. Will not be ordering again from this establishment. read more

Central Gyros - Greek Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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My family & I have ordered from Central Gyros twice now. We ordered the gyro platter. Not only is it delicious, but it's a great deal! The onion rings are so tasty, too. read more