They deserve better than 5 stars. All the food items on the menu are delicious and freshly prepared. The service is fast, friendly and when you eat in you get a free bowl of soup. Inside is very lively and always busy. This is a must stop. There are no disappointments. read more

I've generally had good experiences here, and the food is usually flavorful. The chili, in particular, reminds me of my dad's recipe -- hearty and comforting. This time, though, the meal missed the mark a bit. The cream of chicken and rice soup had a mushy texture, almost like the rice had broken down completely, and I could barely find any actual chicken -- maybe a strand or two. It felt more like "chicken-flavored cream of mushy rice" soup. The Grecian chicken was tasty but the skin was burnt from the broiler. The flavors were still good overall, but the textures made it less enjoyable. I'm hoping it was just an off night, because when everything's fresh, this place can be excellent. read more

Charkies - Grecian Chicken with burnt skin. - American Near Me - Carol Stream, Illinois

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I usually get the Greek chicken dinner and that is always great, but I wanted to try something different. I ordered a grilled chicken Caesar salad and it was a generous portion, perfectly dressed and delicious! Well done Charkies! read more

My husband and I eat at Charkie's often. They have good food, place is always clean. I think last night will be our last. I wish I would have seen this while in the establishment. I ordered a Philly Steak sandwich meal with is noted on their pricing at $16.99 yet I was charged an extra $4.68 for fries and a drink? My husband ordered the 2 hot dog meal but was charged $4.15 for an extra hot dog? Be careful of this place. Watch your receipts. read more

Charkies - American Near Me - Carol Stream, Illinois

Food used to be good i got a gryo plate meat was burnt and dry and my friend got a chicken sandwich and it was raw In the middle

Food came out fast and fries were nice and crispy but 'potatoey' on the inside. :D Great chicken noodle soup included when you dine in! Recommend getting there before noon as the lunch crowd comes in, it's pretty busy. read more

Charkies - Complimentary soup of the day with dine-in! - American Near Me - Carol Stream, Illinois

Charkies is my childhood restaurant! The owner is an amazing guy with 4 little kids that became a friend of my family. This is the place you should support!! Family and locally owned businesses keep our cities alive; they build us up! Onto the food! I get the baked mostaccioli. It is penne with mariana, spices, and baked cheese on top. My mom gets the chicken breast plate, and she has leftovers for days because of the huge portion. It comes with salad and a potato, so she got fries. My dad switches his order almost everytime we're there lol! He got the Italian beef with hot peppers and fries this time. They serve free soup of the day when you dine in, and in IL you need it to warm up! If you're in the area make sure to support this local business! read more

Charkies - American Near Me - Carol Stream, Illinois

Charkie's is one of my favorite restaurants in my hometown! Eat at the restaurant and you get a free bowl of soup (Saturday is beef rosamarina, my personal favorite). The gyros always hit the spot - I got too excited to eat it and forgot to take a picture before I was halfway through! I also love the meatball sub and the mosataccioli with a side of garlic bread. The counter service is always super nice. They recently added gaming machines if you're into that. I always look forward to my next visit! read more

Charkies - Gyro - American Near Me - Carol Stream, Illinois

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Always good, made on premise, many varieties. I have never had a stale one. They sometimes sell variety out. They also make breakfast and lunches. Service is quick and staff are very friendly. Not to much room to sit and eat , but they a snack bag of chips with lunch. read more

This is a big place, it's very casual and the staff are very friendly and helpful. As a group, we tried the bacon cheeseburger, fries with cheese, gyros, chicken tenders, baklava, and complimentary soup of the day. Everything was just fine, but the only thing that stood out in any way was the baklava. read more

Just had the Beef sandwich And Gyro so delish . Best beef I've had in years. I love Portillo but this one is even better. I will be going back. read more

The food and service are top notch. The value meals are well-priced and plentiful. When you dine in, a complimentary bowl of fresh soup comes with meal. I love the gyros and Greek chicken with Greek potatoes. The Baklava is fresh and yummy. read more

Another visit and another delicious meal! Italian beef was amazing! Hot dogs too! Cheese fries and onion rings are the best!! read more

Charkies - Italian Beef with mozzarella - American Near Me - Carol Stream, Illinois

The chicken sandwich was so good. I always enjoy the soup! The service is the best! Staff is always so friendly The place is always clean. Thank you read more

we tried again today. orders a cod sandwich. it was a frozen Pattie on a bun. the beef and cheese sandwich was extremely dry. their famous cheese fries came out with fries that were bearly cooked. they were white, basicacilly raw potatoes . Cole slaw and chilli was good. read more

Family owned and operated. Always fast service free bowl of soup when we eat in. We normally come here for the gyros platter because it feeds my girlfriend and I no problem. This time we got a double cheeseburger with mushrooms. Not to shabby. I think they are canned mushrooms which instantly makes me sad. Meat was a little dense but enjoyed it bc it was not greasy at all. Also tried the Philly Steak Sandwich. Needs to be revamped a bit. Lacked flavor and presentation. Had to cut up the the meat and used more ranch than usual to had more flavor. read more

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Worth the stop in to eat as they offer you up a bowl of their piping hot soup of the day just for eating in. Great small dive food for a quick stop for lunch or dinner. Very friendly staff and decent dining space. Room with slots if you are an avid gambler trying to make a buck and plenty of televisions playing various sports. read more

Charkies - Chicken sandwich - American Near Me - Carol Stream, Illinois

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Beef rosemary soup This was complementary with our meal. This came out hot with pasta noodles, onions, carrots and peppers. This was good Chicken kabob This was very filling the chicken was flavored perfectly. This came with a pita, onions and two slices of tomatoes. Gyro sandwich This was decent. The sauce needed more flavor to it. It didn't really remind me of the sauce that you usual have with gyros. Cheese sticks Nothing special these tasted like your typical cheese sticks with marinara read more

Charkies - American Near Me - Carol Stream, Illinois

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This fast food restaurant has very good food! They make delicious cheeseburgers and french fries. My favorite is their chicken feta pita. Sometimes I get the chicken with it and sometimes I don't. My family and I order from here a few times a month. The service is friendly, and they make you feel right at home. It is a very clean comfortable environment. Whether you are eating in, or ordering out. Their crew are always there to accommodate you! read more

Went back and the owner was working. My food was perfect and delicious. I will be back soon.

It's upsetting to believe how much quality has dropped since covid, not just here but many places. They charge more but degrade the quality and everything tastes bland and dry. Where is the char flavor? Why was the chicken so dry it hurt to chew? The lady at the register wasn't very friendly either, what a sad day. read more

Excellent service. Free cup of soup. Good food at reasonable price. What else is there. Highly recommend this place.

Is Cheap, big portions and delicious everything I tried so far has been great no complaints. My fav is the kebab dinners

This establishment doesn't look like much when you pass by the Shmale Rd strip mall it is part of. It's actually a lot larger than you would think from the street. The restaurant is counter serve and you order immediately upon entering. The dining section is to the left and several video gaming machines are located to the front right. The menu is fairly extensive and portions are large. Both my husband and I had the soup that was included with our entrees and we were surprised at how good (hearty) it was. Hubby had the gyro which he pronounced filling and tasty. I think I had the cheesesteak, which was was also large and tasted good. I can see us adding this eatery to our repertoire. read more

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it did not disappoint The burger was great The fries brought it down to 4 stars It was around 3min wait time and waiter was nice It feels calm over here This is a great place to eat read more

Probably the best gyro I had in a long time. We told our Gyro plate, gyro sandwich, and roasted veggies. The meat was very tender, the veggies tasty, nice roasted flavor and al dente, and big portions - my husband has a food to make himself a large gyro sandwich for tomorrow's lunch. Pleased with this Yelp recommendation station read more

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We were in the mood for gyros and what popped up when i searched? We got the gyros sandwich only and we weren't disappointed. Meat was tender tsatsiki sauce was just about right, pita was soft and everything else came out tasty. When we were waiting for our food, there was a steady stream of people in and out ordering take outs. Their menu is extensive and will try some of them again. Keep up the great work! read more

Charkies is a great family owned restaurant. The prices and the food and the service are pretty good. There's a lot of space in there restaurant itself for you and your family to sit and there's slot machines to play on. The only thing I think they can do better is maybe expand on their menu/have stronger soda. read more

Yum. Exceptional tasting food, always fresh, and the place is always clean. Very friendly staff. read more

Great food, wasn't very busy when we went. Really enjoyed the service. They were especially talkative and helpful when trying to decide what to order. Restaurant was in good condition, not fancy, in a strip mall, but over all nice. read more

Bought a greek salad for dinner, got home and they never included the greek dressing. Went back the next day and i believe talked to the owner and he refused to replace the salad. He said he would discount a salad if i bought another one. I have been going there weekly for a few years and could not believe that he would not replace the salad. I am sorry, but eating a salad with no dressing, especially a greek salad ruins the whole thing. So for the few dollars it might have cost to replace the salad-he lost me as a customer, my family and gained a negative review. read more

Our first time visit. Good impressions: 1. nice size fast casual restaurant. Different seating options such as regular table, high tops, banquet seating. 2. Very clean. It seemed like there were only a couple of people working behind the counter yet the eating area was very clean. Tables were bussed. 3. Friendly staff. 4. Varied menu 5. At the counter, they had probably 8 different entrees made up on plates and covered with plastic wrap so you could see what the entrees looked like. Great idea. We used these samples to help us decide on our order. The barbeque pork sandwich looked good to me and the meatloaf dinner looked good to my husband so that is what we ordered. So-so impressions 1. The bathroom was freezing cold. I've noted this in other restaurant reviews. I understand it costs money to heat a location but restaurants have to ensure that the bathrooms are habitable for the customers. It felt like it was 50 degrees in there. And with all that porcelain, aye! 2. Our food was good. Not great but good. It was brought to our table in a timely manner. The bbq pork sandwich had a lot of meat on it. My husband's meat loaf was fine. Mashed potatoes were fine. He said the gravy had no real flavor to it. I thought their garlic bread was really good. No so good impressions: 1. If you eat in, entrees come with complimentary soup. That's a generous offer. We dined in the restaurant for our meal. The counter woman asked if I'd like the complimentary soup. I said 'Yes, but I'd like to take that to go.' I knew I would be too full to eat my sandwich if I ate soup before hand. Well, I was told that the soup is only complimentary if you eat the soup at the restaurant. She said if she packed the soup to go (even though we were eating the rest of our meal at the restaurant) she would have to charge me for the soup. I don't understand that policy. I've ran into the same situation at a Chinese food restaurant. Yet, other restaurants don't have a problem with packing the complimentary soup to go. So at Charkie's I said 'Ok, I'll eat it here.' : ( 2. Taste of the cream of rice soup - I didn't care for it. I can't remember if they called it cream of chicken rice soup or just cream of rice soup. There was not any chicken pieces in either of our bowls so that is why I would call it just cream of rice soup. I would rate the soup a 'fail' but my husband said 'I've had worse'. Conclusion: We wouldn't make a special trip to Charkie's. It is not close to our home and the food was mediocre. read more

Charkies - BBQ pork sandwich - American Near Me - Carol Stream, Illinois

Rating: 3.5 Free Soup with any order when dining in only...great on a gloomy & chilly day!! Food: Chicken on Pita (~$6): pickle is included with the chicken pita sandwich..the chicken was cooked well (not too dry or undercooked..)..tasted good with the pita bread Turkey BLT with fries & coleslaw (~$8-10?): my friend ordered this and said it was good.. as you can see from my photos.. they give you A LOT!!.. unless you eat a lot.. you'll have leftovers for sure! Service: I went at around 1:30PM with my friend for lunch one day and I felt kind of rushed when ordering so I was not a fan of that... Costs: a little bit on the pricier end for the food that you are ordering, but I guess they give you a lot... Atmosphere: laid back and casual atmosphere.. good to come here with co-workers, friends or a friend for a quick meal.. the food isn't to die for or anything, but if I was in the area and looking for something to eat.. I would stop by again.. read more

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3 stars for taste, freshly made food, and friendly service. A lot of people who works in the area comes to this place for lunch otherwise it's across Walgreens and residential, behind and other surroundings are manufacturing and industrial plants. So location gets no star. I've had their gyro and burgers before and those are all good. But right now, I'm on the Paleo diet where I only eat meats and veggies so I came here to get their kabob and veggies. The kabob plate cost about $10, it came with 2 skewers and I skipped everything that came with it-- bread, fries, other sides. I opted for the salad and veggies instead. The chicken was perfectly marinated, very tasty, juicy, and tender. I will most definitely order again. TIP: if you dine in, you get free soup with your meal. read more

Charkies - Menu - American Near Me - Carol Stream, Illinois

I frequent this establishment on a regular basis despite "detecting slight racial undertones"... such as the manager being polite to the white customers and asking them how they are doing and if they would like soup, but he never asked myself (african American) or my co- workers (mexican) how we were doing or offered us soup. Well, yesterday, at approx 12:30 lunchtime, the lady that works there taking and handing customers their orders (with the ponytail) started joking around saying, "I cant breathe", "I cant breathe", being a young black man and knowing that those were the last words of George Floyd before he was murdered, I was highly offended, I got my food left and vowed never to spend another dime there. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. When I told my mother about it the next day, she decided to call and report it to the manager that was on duty 6/27 @ approx 6pm. Little did she know, he is the one that my coworker and I picked up on the racial demeanor from. Anyway, my mom said she could barely get a word in because instead of listening, he immediately dominated the conversation saying how the lady is sick, has trouble breathing, has a cough and just got out of the hospital 10 days ago and that she didnt mean anything by it, she She wears a mask & probably couldn't breathe..my question there is, if we could have gotten one in is, why is she at work? Those sounds like symptoms of Covid, besides, from my understanding, we are told to stay home if we are sick.... also, he went on saying how he is from Greece, the lady is from Greece and how she has worked there for 12 yrs and saying how "nice" she is..basically ALOT of excuses. I also found a google review (posted below) of a customer referring to her as HORRIBLY RUDE. Like I said, I know what I experienced and how it made me feel. I look over alot and I am not one to pull the race card. If she "could not breathe, why didnt she go to the back of the restaurant, restroom, or call for help? She was standing there laughing when she said it and was breathing perfectly fine, and not in any distress. Bottomline is, I will NOT be spending another dollar of my hard earned money there. I will go elsewhere where I feel comfortable and respected. What's funny is, the manager never said he would address her, or investigate the situation, he immediately took over the conversation defended her and his business and downplayed the whole situation. I dont tell ppl where and how to spend their money. However, at some point we have to STAND for SOMETHING or we will FALL for ANYTHING! read more

Its hard to refer to Charkies as a fast food place. Their top quality ingredients are what you would expect from a nice sit down restaurant. After reading all of the reviews here and seeing that its minutes from my home, I could not wait to give it a try. The reviewers here are correct. This is about as good as fast food gets. I had the Philly Steak sandwich which was so huge that I could barely eat it all. And that is a problem I never have. The steak was tender and juicy, the cheese and grilled veggies were plentiful. The bread was fresh and tasty. The wife had a cheeseburger and that was good as well. We also had the onion rings and those were the best I have ever had. They were not greasy and were cooked to perfection and even had a crunch to them. The amount of rings in the order was huge. I can't believe it took me so long to try this place. It is the best there is in the area of this type of place. It will be our new to-go spot. The prices were a little high for the typical sandwich place but it was well worth it. Their menu has a lot of items and if your not in the mood for a sandwich they have plenty of other entries to choose from. While we were waiting for our order we tried their complimentary cookies that were on the counter. Whoa! Were they good! read more

Worst service ever and not the first time they took 15 mins for a hot dog kids meal and a chicken kabob sandwich

Hubby and I stopped here for lunch. Think this is one of my new favorite fast food restaurants! The restaurant is in a strip mall, but don't let the location fool you. The food was really good. We walked in on a Sunday and there were quite a few people in there, but there was no wait to order. The menu is actually pretty good-sized, with selections of misc sandwiches, dogs, pitas, Italian, deli, burgers, dinners. They have things like a skirt steak sandwich, philly chicken, Grecian chicken, kabobs, shrimp, meatloaf and perch. Things that typical hot dog restaurants don't have. Our food was freshly prepared and when we ordered we were ordered we were offered a free bowl of soup. We both declined because we weren't that hungry, but the portions were pretty decent anyway. I ordered the chicken kabob sandwich and hubby ordered a hot dog with fries. The chicken kabob was really moist, but then again it was sitting on a bed of hot buttered onions which was on a pita. There was a very generous cup of yogurt sauce which complimented the chicken nicely. The chicken were large chunks with great flavor. Hubby's hot dog was really good and the fries were the crinkle-cut kind which were on the crispier side, which I like. I just shared some of his fries. The food was so good that we talked about going back again for dinner, as they had many dinner entrees on their menu. Alas, we did not as we were just too full. They do have slot machines here if you are interested. I would definitely recommend this place and I will report when I try something else from their menu. Their prices are a little higher on some items, but the quality of the food worth it. read more

Charkies - chicken kabob sandwich - American Near Me - Carol Stream, Illinois

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We heard great things about the food but did not gave that experience here. Maybe it was an off day. The place is large. Many choices on the nenu. read more

Amazing food and great customer service . The people here are nice and polite would recommend this place if you want some great fast food.