Sad to see them go. They were my first Greek restaurant as well as a great place to hit before/after Hawks games. I know they'd slid lately, but they were an institution for a long time.

http://chicago.eater.com/2016/9/7/12835 ... cheese-opa

That is so sad. On my recent visit to Chicago we actually went to the Parthenon twice, introducing it to my nieces and they loved it.

Goodbye, good luck and good riddance.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Goodbye, good luck and good riddance.

=R=

Where's the "like" button?

As I'm sure is awfully obvious, this was the kind of place fueled by nostalgia. In 2002 or 3, Vital Information called the first face-to-face gathering of Chowhound members together at Parthenon, and there was griping (totally justified!) even then that it would be chosen as a venue for food enthusiasts. That night I met reneg, justjoan, and lots of others, most of them lost in the internet mist. So, yeah, I'm sorry to see it go...even though I'm not sure I actually ate there again over the past 14 years or so. Say what you will, it was iconic...and ionic.

We first ate at the Parthenon in the early 1970's when they handed out free Ouzo to people waiting in line for a table.
We ordered the family dinner and drinks and soon after a shot glass filled with some sort of liquor with a lemon slice was left by a waiter in our table. We tried to tell the waiter we hadn't ordered that, but he steadfastly ignored us.
After that we used the Parthenon as a quick place to eat if we didn't like a performance at the Lyric and left early.
Introduced us to Greek cusine but I can still leave the Retsina!-Richard

David Hammond wrote:As I'm sure is awfully obvious, this was the kind of place fueled by nostalgia. In 2002 or 3, Vital Information called the first face-to-face gathering of Chowhound members together at Parthenon, and there was griping (totally justified!) even then that it would be chosen as a venue for food enthusiasts. That night I met reneg, justjoan, and lots of others, most of them lost in the internet mist. So, yeah, I'm sorry to see it go...even though I'm not sure I actually ate there again over the past 14 years or so. Say what you will, it was iconic...and ionic.

I couldn't agree more. That stretch of Halsted, while it's essentially Main Street now that we've moved to the West Loop (along with Randolph), is singularly uninteresting for food since the Costas fire and the departure of Venus nearby. Greek Islands and Athena are competent enough with the occasional specials on the menu, but none of the remaining Greektown restaurants are particularly worth more than a place to take tourists or a special occasion trip compared to Taxim in Wicker Park, let alone the likes of Molyvos in Manhattan or Greek in Astoria.

I wonder if that Public House that was supposed to open up in the former Aviva space is still happening...or if the Ambassador Public House is taking over the entire space including Parthenon.

Having said that, it's a shame that the loss of Parthenon will help further erode the identity of Greektown into a few surviving ethnic restaurants/cafes, the Hellenic museum and a couple of Greek-themed take-out stores rather than a distinct neighborhood along the lines of Chinatown. I'd like to see Halsted from Madison to Van Buren be more than a campus town/rental neighborhood for UICers and Loop renters, but that's probably asking too much. Pity a modern Greek or Mediterranean place probably won't be opening up in the old Parthenon space, but the fate of Aviva is an indication that closer to Randolph/Fulton Market would be a better choice today.

sdrucker wrote:

David Hammond wrote:As I'm sure is awfully obvious, this was the kind of place fueled by nostalgia. In 2002 or 3, Vital Information called the first face-to-face gathering of Chowhound members together at Parthenon, and there was griping (totally justified!) even then that it would be chosen as a venue for food enthusiasts. That night I met reneg, justjoan, and lots of others, most of them lost in the internet mist. So, yeah, I'm sorry to see it go...even though I'm not sure I actually ate there again over the past 14 years or so. Say what you will, it was iconic...and ionic.

I couldn't agree more. That stretch of Halsted, while it's essentially Main Street now that we've moved to the West Loop (along with Randolph), is singularly uninteresting for food since the Costas fire and the departure of Venus nearby. Greek Islands and Athena are competent enough with the occasional specials on the menu, but none of the remaining Greektown restaurants are particularly worth more than a place to take tourists or a special occasion trip compared to Taxim in Wicker Park, let alone the likes of Molyvos in Manhattan or Greek in Astoria.

I wonder if that Public House that was supposed to open up in the former Aviva space is still happening...or if the Ambassador Public House is taking over the entire space including Parthenon.

Having said that, it's a shame that the loss of Parthenon will help further erode the identity of Greektown into a few surviving ethnic restaurants/cafes, the Hellenic museum and a couple of Greek-themed take-out stores rather than a distinct neighborhood along the lines of Chinatown. I'd like to see Halsted from Madison to Van Buren be more than a campus town/rental neighborhood for UICers and Loop renters, but that's probably asking too much. Pity a modern Greek or Mediterranean place probably won't be opening up in the old Parthenon space, but the fate of Aviva is an indication that closer to Randolph/Fulton Market would be a better choice today.

From what I heard in one of the articles about their closing(I think Chicago Sun-Times), the sports bar/public house place(whatever it's gonna be called) is supposed to only take up the Parthenon banquet hall/Aviva space. No word yet on what'll exactly fill the Parthenon restaurant space.

Personally(no offense to those who really liked this place), the Parthenon wasn't bad, but I always liked Greek Islands more. I did hear word about their 3 failed health inspections earlier this year(2 in March, 1 in August), and a PM from someone on Reddit(believe he once worked there) about the conditions of their kitchen, and I have to say reading all that shocked me about the Parthenon. My memories of eating there were good(the one incident my family once had about using a card there that strangely got declined aside, and we were all reluctant to go back there for years), but my personal preference was Greek Islands. I've kept wondering if I should revisit to some of the other nearby Greek restaurants like Athena and Pegasus, to see how those compare? And the Greek bakery that was near there(Pan Hellenic Pastry Shop? I forget the name) was good, as well.

sdrucker wrote:but the fate of Aviva is an indication that closer to Randolph/Fulton Market would be a better choice today.

The fate of Aviva was due to operator incompetence, nothing more. Could there have been better locations for it? Perhaps. But it almost certainly wouldn't have helped. I mean the place closed after just a few weeks, long before any place that had been run and planned for correctly would have, even under the worst, most unforeseen circumstances.

=R=

Like many on LTH, it was one of my first experiences with Chicago "ethnic" dining many, many years ago, and altho I saw no reason to return to the restaurant in recent years, they could still lay down a pretty good gyros, and that remained to my mind one of the best options available at the annual Greektown street fair, up to, apparently, the very end.

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/parthe ... ax-claims/

Evil Ronnie wrote:http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/parthenon-facing-about-475000-in-federal-state-tax-claims/

The Chicago Sun Times wrote:Less than a month before the Parthenon abruptly ended its 48-year run in Chicago’s Greektown, the Internal Revenue Service alleged the restaurant owed nearly $230,000 in federal taxes, according to public records.

Dated Aug. 11, the IRS lien for $229,161.03 was the latest in a series of claims against the restaurant by authorities, who said the Parthenon’s total liabilities for state and federal taxes totaled about $475,000.

=R=

Buy A Piece Of The Parthenon (Restaurant) At Auction Tuesday

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/2016101 ... n-for-sale