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Categories: Diners, Breakfast & Brunch
Neighborhood: Hyde ParkMon-Sun. 7:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.
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Its the nostaglic booth seating that makes me want to give this place 4-stars. The food comes out quick and fast. It's always packed with local regulars from the neighborhood. I enjoy this place because the price is right and the food is pretty good.
I had the french toast with the eggs. Sorry yelpers, I'm pretty basic when it comes to breakfast. Just give me the basics and I am a happy camper.
These folks understand the idea of getting folks in and out of the door. But one thing that they don't leave out is the freshness of the food. Yummy, yummy, yummy!
I say go here just for the service alone. If you live in the area, it makes it even better to patronize a local watering hole near the house.
3.5 stars!
This place was a surprising find! bread+soup/salad+dinner+ baklava/rice pudding=10 bucks!
This place is like a mom and pop diner style greek restaurant with a lot of breakfast fare as well.
I had the cream of potato soup, greek salad topped with gyros, and rice pudding. The salad was really delicious, topped with olives, feta, tomatoes, and a vinaigrette dressing. The gyro meat was super flavorful and tasty.
I would definitely go back with friends if I needed to eat in Hyde Park.
This appears to be the ONLY place in Hyde Park to get a Monte Cristo sandwich. I'm actually more fond of Golden Apple's Monte Cristo, but obviously that's a bit of a haul from Hyde Park without a car. I had mine with fries the other day - I'd forgotten how good their fries are. Just nice solid diner fries, not too greasy or soggy, and not flabby (like yours truly, heh. Whut? I like fries.).
I also really adore the pasticchio...one of my best pals when I was a kid was Greek, and I've had her mom's homemade, this absolutely compares. In fact, it's MUCH better than Greek Island's pasticchio, which has a sauce that's a bit more Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee to me than Greek. IMO, if you can't taste the nutmeg, it's not pasticchio. The price has gone up over the years, but the serving size is "gigantor" and you leave happily stuffed.
Nice solid diner food, burgers, breakfasts, etc. I can't judge the sandwiches because I really don't care for diner-style cold sandwiches. And I'm too cheap to pay for a BLT in a diner.
Waitstaff may seem abrupt when the restaurant is busy and the servers get slammed, but they're really nice during quieter times. That's mainly because when Salonica gets mobbed, it gets PACKED.
Cash-only, don't tweak!
Honestly? A good chunk of really fantastic Chicago restaurants of the mom-and-pop diner and takeout joint persuasion are cash only. All the griping in the world won't change this fact. I think it has something to do with the fees that restaurant owners have to pay to process the credit cards, or something like that?
I think it's more of a culture-shock thing than anything else. Just mindful of ATM's without service fees and bring cash if you plan to go to someplace local and yummy. Actually, I've gotten into the habit of assuming that ALL local non-restaurant-chain places are cash-only. It really does save a lot of frustration in the long haul.
Really good, homey Greek food!
I just had a nice Sunday breakfast here. It was pretty crowded, but they seemed to be turning tables over really efficiently, probably because the service was mad fast. I mean, I don't think we waited more then 10 min. for our food, and it was hot and freshly whipped up. They apparently have a system in the kitchen that is working quite well. My breakfast was delicious. Nothing fancy and not to big. It was everything breakfast should be. It was 4 pieces of french toast, 2 eggs, and bacon for $7.50.
I can't wait to try it again. FYI it is cash only, which can be a pain in the arse if your uninformed or unprepared.
Good basic diner. The greek dishes (at least the spinach pie and chicken kebab) that I've had are good. It's also super cheap! $8.95 for the chicken kabob with salad and bread!
So after spending a day not finding this place (cuz im a dumbass) we finally ound it the other morning and it was the bestest breakfast ever. Sure we paid a little extra for french toast and sausage, or the waitress took forever and barely got our orders right, or the small yet expensive orange juice... but the meal itself....amazing!!!!Plus i left my cell phone here and they found it and kept it without asking for a tip. SWEET!
I love little diners like this, as i can eat breakfast anytime anywhere. I was hanging in Hyde Park… Read more »
A good, solid place, and a good value. Their burger combo is good if you get the soup.
Let me address some of the main complaints about Salonica. One -- the prices, esp. in comparison to Valois: yes, it's cash only, and yes, it's probably more expensive than Valois in most cases, but... really? Valois, as far as I know, doesn't have full waiter service, so you're not paying for that at Salonica.
I eat breakfast at Salonica almost every Saturday morning when campus dining is closed, and I end up tipping about 30% because I always feel kinda bad about the measly summation of my bill, which generally comes to a whopping $2.45 for my "cup" of (cream-not-broth-based) egg-lemon soup and the basket of bread that comes with it, which is more than enough to fill my tummy. Never mind $10, I can eat for $5 here. I thought at first that these guys were accidentally giving me the larger size of soup, until I ordered an actual bowl -- it's huge. Their portion sizes are generous, but not ridiculous, and it shows in the pricing. Their fresh-squeezed orange juice, while pricey, is better than the from-concentrate stuff you get at other restaurants. In general, it's pretty easy to get a meal for under $10, even including a drink and perhaps an extra piece of toast or two.
That said, Salonica is definitely one of my favorite Hyde Park breakfast restaurants, and the lunch and dinner menus are equally appetizing.
This is one of the few diners I've eaten at in Chicago and it has a nice combination of Greek and American food that are very desirable on a rainy/snowy Hyde Park afternoon. I've only been here for dinner, though.
Strengths:
1.) Very generous with the bread at dinnertime! I am first and foremost a bread fiend and I was in heaven when they gave me an entire basket of various delicious types of bread to enjoy with soup and butter, even though I was eating by myself. I also really enjoyed their lemon soup, and I am pretty sure that it is the only place in Hyde Park to find gyros.
2.) Convenient location on 57th.
3.) Prices are reasonable.
4.) Staff is friendly, service is prompt, ambiance is relaxing.
Areas for Improvement:
1.) I ordered a Spanikopita, and it was a little too salty and greasy.
Come because you need to kill a hangover
Stay because the food is delicious (Including MOST of the greek food. . . I love their spinach pie special, and their greek salad is so yummy)
Leave because they STILL only take cash.
Come again because they remember you. I lived down the block for a year and ordered the same thing every time (one thing on Friday, one on Sunday). They still remember my order even though I now only go once every few months and I moved away from the block two years ago. Now THAT's service.
This is my boyfriend's favorite restaurant in the world. I like it, but not that much! It's best for breakfast - the portion are normal sized (as opposed to any other brunch place) and the prices reflect it. The omelets are good.
For dinner, I really like the spinach pie (spanekopita).
The service is great. But be warned: cash only!
One of the few Hyde Park establishments that isn't mocked endlessly by the undergrad contingent (cough mellow yellow, cough orly's...you get the picture.)
Brunch here is awesome - I've never been here for anything else, but I don't intend to try anything else for fear it might make me fall out of love with it.
The skillets and omelettes here are great. Try the rice pudding if you're so inclined - it's worth it. and the prices are ridiculously reasonable, so there is no reason why you should try to pay in anything but cash.
If you need breakfast food that is greasy, fast and plentiful this is the place to go! The food is GREAT -- if you are looking for a breakfast diner.
The Greek food is terrible, as the chef is Mexican, but the omelets are heaven for a hangover. I also highly recommend the pancakes -- always fluffy and delicious with plenty of butter and syrup. I don't really recommend any other meal here, not because it is terrible, but because it is only average at best. This place shines at breakfast time.
Salonica's is dirt cheap -- which is good because they only take cash. Luckily there is an ATM right across the street in Harper Foods.
Nice little diner on 57th Street, sort of in the middle of nowhere inside Hyde Park. We went at lunchtime, but had breakfast, and it was perfect. Service is terrific.
My lunch companion went to school at University of Chicago some 25 years ago when she could only afford coffee here at Salonica's. Times have changed. Very cool.
We fell upon this place while walking around my old neighborhood (where I was born) in Hyde Park, Illinois. And we were hungry and cold (January). We were happy to find this place and especially pleased to find all the great Greek specials. I had the Greek Sausage with rice and veggies. My fiancee had the Mousakka. The greek sausage was excellent but the rice was boring (plain white par-boiled rice) and frozed boiled veggies. The Mousakka was also excellent. It came with no sides. We also got some wings which were the typical out of a box pre-breaded wings, so nothing special there either. There strongest point was their homemade lentil soup and they don't skimp on the portion sizes.
We were suffed warm and happy. I do wish they would do more with their side dishes, but overall we were happily fed.
This place is so quick. I went here for breakfast two weeks ago, and I had an appointment 35 minutes after we arrived. I could not believe that we waited for a table, ordered breakfast, received our food, ate it, and still had time left over. That has to be the fastest I've gotten food in a restaurant!
I like the breakfast, the lunch, and the deserts here. I'm not crazy about their saganaki or pasticio (sp?), and I haven't had any of the other Greek food.
I am giving this Hyde Park local Greek dive a fiver because you just CANNOT find a better atmosphere. Greasy, good, local with a little edge to the servers. There was NO way i pissing of my server, probably the matriarch of the crew. I had the Mousaka, which was great . . . not that I have anything to compare it to, but just sitting there, i felt all Chicago-esque . . . not that i know that that feels like.
Prices were good, food was good, crowd was local. A five it is!
I really liked this place. It's nothing fancy but charming. They have homemade olives for sale for $5 a jar up by the cash register which I thought was great.
It's pretty standard Greek diner food. Couple Greek options mixed with standard breakfast and diner staples. The open face hot turkey sandwich was really good, the mashed potatoes were a little over salted but still yummy. The strawberry milkshake was really good too.
If you're in the area I would definitely recommend checking it out.
The waffle is very good. Cash only.
I work on the University of Chicago campus, and places to go for lunch are scarce. This place served a good variety of items, hot, fresh, and FAST, time and time again. Try the Monte Cristo!!! It's always a bit crowded, but they have a big back room too. Cash only. They deliver. Menu consists of breakfast (night or day), gyros, sanwiches, burgers, meat plates, appetizers, and drinks. If you dine in, it's BYOB.
The cup of chili was so spicy it made my hair sweat. The Reuben sandwhich was a bit greasy but tasted good. Truthfully, though, it was a slurp and burp special.
The place is fast, friendly, reasonably priced, with passable service. However, I'd go somewhere else next time I'm hungry in Hyde Park, but not because it was bad; just for variety. I'd neither rush back nor complain about this place.
They had a lot of standard Greek fare on the menu but I wasn't in the mood. I might have had a different take on this place had I gone native.
the. french. toast.
I probably got this over 50 times when I was an undergrad at UChicago.
Anyway, brunch/breakfast is great here. The classic menu.
I was not really a fan of anything else on the menu: salads and sandwiches were bland. At the same time, though, they were filling.
Quick service.
Salonica has been around for ages, apparently (you can tell partly from the ancient sign outside). It's a popular diner with Hyde Parkers, who go there in droves for breakfast.
Prices are CHEAP. The food is fairly typical diner fare, but very tasty and plentiful. The egg lemon soup is excellent.
Be sure to bring cash, as they seem to have stopped accepting credit cards.
As a Detroiter, I YEARN for a good Coney restaurant. While I have yet to find a place that can replace Spargo's in my heart, this place comes close. The food is tasty, the omlettes are fantastic, and their coffee is pretty good.
Avgolemono. Enough said.
Bring cash. They have an ATM across the street at Harper Market, but who wants to pay a service charge?
All in all, it's a comfortable, warm, friendly place to go. It's sunny, there are a lot of really nice colors, and I like to sit in the little archways.
Hyde Park isn't exactly a dining mecca, but Salonica is rock solid. The omelets are wonderful, sometimes the souvlaki is good (and other times it is not), and they have saganaki. There are no good restaurants anywhere near here, and this is satisfying diner food. I could easily go five stars here, just because this place is an oasis. Take my review with a grain of salt: I enjoy the aforementioned dishes so much that I rarely stray elsewhere on the menu.
I have been going to Salonica for many years. One of my favorite things about them has always been their hash-browns -- they were lovely: warm and buttery (mm good). Today I went, though, and I found the experience to be somewhat lacking. This included, gasp, the hash-browns....
It is true that it is a greasy spoon and one can normally only expect so much from one of those, but my hash-browns were lukewarm and not so flavorful. It was really disappointing. I also had the Athenian omelet and it was so-so. To be fair, I should report that my eating companion had a Belgian waffle with strawberries and whip cream and she really enjoyed her food. SO, maybe it was just what I ordered or the time of day (not early or late enough to be busier when maybe things would have been a little fresher), but I felt like Salonica was not at its peak of fabulousness.
What is good about it then? Their prices. And the whole diner food thing -- it is so satisfying sometimes, even when it's not spectacular. Also, the reason we ended up there was because we were in Hyde Park and (I couldn't believe this but...) the Medici wasn't open for breakfast (more on that some other time), so this is the only place that I know of now that you can get breakfast in Hyde Park (of the egg and hash-brown variety). So sad....
Go to Salonica for great service and the "back in time" atmosphere. The food is pretty good, especially the Nick's Delight sandwich (roast beef, gyro, swiss & onions on a pita). I know people who think they have the best pancakes anywhere, but I would not use the term 'foodie' to describe these people...
Pretty good greek diner restaurant, as I chose to go here, when I was recently down at the MSI, and had a change of heart from wanting to go to Medici, and wanted something different from Mello Yello(my traditional go-to breakfast/lunch diner in Hyde Park over the years).
Soulnaki here is really good, and what my friend got was also decent, too(though I stupidly now forget what she ordered). And since it's a greek diner, you get the nice bonus of seeing varied reactions to the saganaki/flaming cheese being lit, lol. Prices are very fair, and the portions are excellent.
Finally, I totally love the slightly-raised booths on both sides of the front room, for some reason, and the decor on both sides of that part of the restaurant are nice. Overall, I'd definitely come back here, whenever I'm in this part of Chicago again.
It's better than average hangover food, but it's still a place whose appeal is slightly hard to explain. I always went for breakfast.
I love Salonica! If you ever notice, behind the counter they sell olive oil from their own farm. WHAT!?!?! I just thought that was noteworthy. Aside from that thought. I've only ordered breakfast here, because I can't bring myself to come here and not order breakfast, but I also can't handle more than breakfast in one sitting. It's always up to my standards! It's a nice place, with a great diner atmosphere, not the cheap feeling atmosphere you'll find at many places, and it's clean. The service is fast, but varies in quality, although the food more than makes up for it. Friends have ordered dinner here before and it was great, but I really only come for my b-fast. It's always greasy, and something to keep in mind is that greasy-ness is necessary if you want to stand out in my book (of breakfast joints). The only thing that keeps me from coming here EVERY weekend is the prices. It's not too pricey, since you can get the frenchtoast and coffee for $5.25 or $6.25, can't recall, but it's when you add the eggs or OJ or potatoes that it starts to add up. There's cheaper places then. Nonetheless, Salonica holds a special place in my heart.
Be warned. This is a cash only establishment!
I have been eating at Salonica for over 15 years. They have a warm and friendly environment. I enjoy their breakfast and burgers. They have a dish called "Nick's Delight," I order it when I can afford to splurge. It is Gyro and Roast Beef on pita...To die for! The soups are good and everything is inexpensive. The owner John is the most kind man, he's very personable. I've been around for his wedding, and the births of children. I absolutely love this place...I highly recommend it...Especially the soups, they are always very fresh and hot.
Good prices, good service, good food -- what else can you ask for? I took some friends who were visiting out of town here and they were pleased. I had the gyro lunch special with fries & drink for $5.75 -- as most gyros go, I can never finish one so my boyfriend had to finish it off for me (not like he was complaining about that). My friend had the saganacki (sp?) aka "the flaming cheese" which he raved about the entire trip. If you're looking for a good, down-to-earth no frills place to eat and have cash on you, hit up Salonica. I don't remember the name of my server but he was very attentive despite the busy lunch rush. I can always tell how pleased I am with the service by the amount of refills I get and he never let my glass get empty. Hooray for that.
Great place for Sunday morning breakfast.
Greek diner - Located near University of Chicago in the Hyde Park area of the south side of Chicago. I've been going here since I was a little girl taking ballet classes upstairs. The prices are very reasonable and the food is the best in Hyde Park. You can get a full meal for under $10. I always have the sagnaki (flaming cheese). Anything you order here is going to be good. The service is also really good. Most of the staff have worked here many many years. They still remember me when I go in.
Simple, greek food. I love the atmosphere, but the food was a little sparse (Maybe I expect the usual extra large portion sizes). However, this little jem is a must when visiting Hyde Park as it a good resturant. I also enjoyed the music on the lunch day I was there.
Full disclosure: this place is only 2.5 stars worthy in terms of food, but I came here every Sunday morning in college, and so the nostalgia bumps it up. Salonica is so cheap it makes you wonder how they do it. The people are nice, and the french toast is mushy yet delicious. A great hangover cure.
Good solid Greek joint in Hyde Park. You can get a variety of things here, most of your favorite comfort foods you can think of. Nice cozy restaurant with great booths! Friendly quick service you can count on when you are hungry.
Salonica, I grant you five stars out of nostalgia and a yearning for the past when I could still manage to survive on no sleep, caffeine pills, and your omelets, rice puddings, cheap soups with heaps of free bread, and my favorite-- the saganaki, which is one of the best in the city.
Salonica is a yummy greasy spoon. It's also cheap as hell! I'd normally get a grilled cheese or some eggs. My boyfriend at the time was much more experimental. He often tried the Greek dishes. Yowsa!
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