8 Best Greek Restaurants near Portage

“Ok I'm going to be the outlier review it appears. I was raised by a greek father in the Chicago suburbs. We went in to Chicago's greek town at least once a month if not twice for most of my youth. So Ive been exposed to all of the classic greek joints in Chicago, now mostly gone sadly. And as most of us know the Chicago suburbs are full of greek owned diners. All that to say the bar may be set high for me.
I have to be honest. Right?
Simply wanted a good greek salad and had to try this place, they've now been here over a year and seem to receive good reviews. But as I've learned NWI reviews are sometimes way too generous, I've come to believe people in this community are easily impressed.
This greek salad was basically a chopped salad with some ingredients that allows them to call it greek. It sorted of is I guess. But everything is diced. Just weird and wrong. A greek salad is supposed to be large chunks of tomato and cucumber, medium sliced onion and bell pepper. Everything was diced to little bits that are more appropriate for a spoon than a fork. The feta is grated, and I don't know how you even achieve that with real feta, it should also be chunks and or crumbled. It was overly salty feta and lacking it's traditional flavor. I would switch brands if I were the buyer of ingredients for the kitchen. Likewise with the kalamata olives, overly salty and flavor profiles is off. Very sorry about all of that, I really wanted to find a good salad here locally. Also, lettuce really does not belong and the dressing is weird. It should only be oil, that the tomatoes marinade in for a half hour or so and pull the acidic flavor from the tomato.
I wish that was my only complaint.
Saganaki was not flamed in booze and was not extinguished with lemon. It was evidently griddle cooked, in oil? Idk but it was oily, no alcohol residual and no lemon.
Moving to the chicken skewers, good quality chicken, flavor profile was good with plenty of oregano and I believe real lemon. It could be so much better though if it were flame broiled instead of griddle top cooked.
Lemon rice soup that so many reviews praise? Perfect example of locals who have not ventured out much. This soup is basic, it's from a mix that the majority of greek diners use. And overly lemony. Not a hint of chicken in it. Not creamy enough and doubtful there's any real egg white in it.
I wish I had better things to say. If the owner were to read this, please make the changes to correct your salad to be authentic. That would go a long way with helping to overlook the other issues. Add chicken to your lemon rice soup. And tone down the lemon. Flame broil your meats instead of griddle top. I know I'm stating things that would likely cost money and investment if it were pursued. But the proximity to other real greek restaurants should merit stepping up. I'll try again someday to see if any thing has changed. Until then I hope the rest of the patrons are happy with their meals, I'm sure they will be, not everyone has the same point of reference I come from.“

“Fine gyros and many other things to eat.“

“Friendly service and great food!“

“The best Gyro in town!“

“Parea is very good for an upper scale restaurant in downtown Valpo and could very well be my local favorite for a sit down dinner. The service here has always been very good and the servers seem like pretty down to Earth individuals (at least those I've spoken to). The atmosphere is very nice and the bar area is no exception. The food is the real show here and it (Mostly) never disappoints. The food is about what I'd expect, it's very good, but oftentimes I feel like it's lacking a little something that makes it really shine as opposed to other high end restaurants I've been to in other towns. It's also pretty pricey which is expected for a restaurant of this caliber, but with that high price comes an expectation that the food will be excellent. And for the most part, it does not disappoint.“

“Perfect, no wait...lunch!“

“I ABSOUBLY LOVE THE BIG BABY burger.10/10 👌 Smashed 1950-60's diner type burger patty that you can't really find anywhere no more. My husbands uncle loves the poor man steak & he never likes anything lol 10/10 👌 I'm not a big fan of the Italian beef tho the meat is weird looking\feeling/tasting & the Sandwich was dry. The coleslaw also not a fan it's definitely different it's got a VERY VERY creamy like sause to it. My whole family looks the gyros 100\10. Best around. Inside the place is also very old set but it is cleaned from what we can see anyways. The lady at the counter that takes your order is the absolute SWEETEST so nice,patient, & always so helpful.“

“Went for lunch. There were a couple other customers in the Restaurant. I ordered a steak rice bowl. I added cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and the tahini sauce. I got the side of the Mediterranean carrot salad and the cabbage salad. The carrot salad was really good. The cabbage salad, however was not what I expected it to be. That is no fault to lemon tree. I just wasn’t personally a fan. The steak bowl itself was really good. The bowl Comes with a pita as well. I personally would have ordered an extra pita.
The food was good. The service was good. There were several tables dirty in the restaurant. The drink station was pretty sticky.
Overall, it was a really good visit and the food was good. Next time I go back, I will try in the hummus instead of the cabbage.“