The Nile of Hyde Park

The food is incredible. Service is alright, not very attentive but super friendly. It’s a place that I need to come back. Really enjoyed the food.

Last night I tried a different dish this time at this Middle Eastern Mediterranean restaurant. I enjoyed the Baked Spinach Pie and the Shish Kabob Lamb.

Dining at The Nile of Hyde Park was a pleasant experience. The service was great. The atmosphere was spacious yet quaint. The authentic middle eastern food was scrumptous! I enjoyed the Jerusalem Salad and the combination platter of Shish Kabob Beef & Shish Tabuk (marinated chicken) served with sauteed vegetables and Middle Eastern potatoes. I would certainly dine here again.

The food is really good at this long-time restaurant staple. The reason I give only 4 stars is the service - no tableside banter or personal touch. Just throwing plates and drill Sargent mannerisms. Aside from that, it was a great date location with my boo.

I have been patronizing this establishment for over 20 years after being introduced to it by a friend , starting from the older location. The last 2 visits including today's visit have been disappointing 😞 My favorite is and has been the #14 Combination with potatoes and Lebaneese salad as my preferred side. The dressing for the salad was was watered down which takes away from the character of the salad, usually there are large chunks of tomatoes and cucumber ( basically this was a bowl of lettuce with skimpy pieces of each (see picture). The dinner itself was good but something was missing the squash medley was not seasoned and the potatoes were soft and lacked the crunchy and bit of lemon squeeze ( they were just fried potatoes....... very blah. There is only one waitress.....the same lady that has been there for years everytime I come. I understand she is the only one taking orders and serving which makes her busy but she forgot my drink request after I asked and I still never received it. We only recieved 3 silverware settings and there were 4 of us dining. There were alot of inconsistencies in the service and food that were annoying and plain disturbing. IT IS JUST NOT THE SAME NILE I USED TO LOVE...... AND SADLY NOT FOR THE BETTER !!!!

Best hummus in the city with options for vegans that aren’t just a bowl of lettuce. It’s incredibly authentic Palestinian food and is the only place in Chicago I know of that serves makloubeh. If you get the veggie makloubeh without the side of yogurt it’s vegan (and very delicious). Their yellow lentil soup is also some of the best in the city and comes with a whole pita (rip up the pita and put it in the soup). I ask for a side of lemon with my lentil soup because I prefer it extra lemony and they always oblige with no issues. Service is professional and prompt. I’ve been going here since 2013 and still come back even though I live halfway across the city now.

One of the best Palestinian restaurants in the greater Chicago area. Very kind and incredibly generous owner that love serving big portions to his customers. I drive 45 minutes to this place so we can have their amazingly prepared delicious food.

Amazing food. Good service. Not crowded. Found street parking about half a block away. It's very good and authentic. We had shawarma and kabobs with an appetizer.

Solid, no frills option for middle eastern food. Very casual, service is helpful and direct. As others have noted the portions are very large. My friend ordered a vegetarian rice dish she loved. We shared an order of falafel which was pretty good. The hummus looked great- I regret not ordering some. I had a kebab plate with chicken and beef which was very good and great quality. I think the prices are very fair and comparable to other similar restaurants like Kebobi up in Albany Park. I'll definitely be back when I'm in the area but likely wouldn't go out of my way if I wasn't in the neighborhood. I look forward to returning and trying a wider range of menu items the next time I'm nearby!

such an affordable dining option in Hyde Park!!!! The portions are giNORmous and the food comes out so hot and fast. I'm always so excited when the Nile caters events on campus because you already know it's gonna hit but you guys should check out the actual restaurant too. It's bright and the conversation fills up the room to the high ceilings. I always share the Mezze, an appetizer sampler, and any of the meat dishes are so juicy and yummy tbh. Truly a Hyde Park gem!

This place is amazing. Enjoyed my food. The service is outstanding, and pretty good atmosphere. Recommended 100%

Among the best Mediterranean food around is located on 57th in Hyde Park in this awesome establishment. It always has had great service and food. Nile is a longtime favorite among locals and students. Maybe prices are kind of high on some things, but for around here they aren't bad. There's lots of healthy food for meat eaters and vegetarians alike and most people here should be happy. Got here recently and had lunch. It wasn't too busy in spite of it being in the middle of the week and UC students all around the place. The service was pretty fast too. I wanted to get a lot more but of course, budget. We had the Hummus. It's $5 for the appetizer. This is creamy and garnished with paprika. Good stuff and even though the portion wasn't large we got satisfied anyway. I had the Falafel Sandwich. This is $7.50 and is a pretty good size. Has many good things to choose from. It has quite a few meaty entrees but there's plenty that are not. This has some great things for vegans and vegetarians.

Great food, fast efficient service, nice ambiance, great for catering too! The Nile has been our longtime go to eatery for many years. Nice comfortable seating great for family, friends or meetings!

Awesome Chicken shawarma! First time here and I'll be back! Also got some of the hummus that was very good as well!

My team and I ordered lunch from here. I ordered the chicken shawerma. I chose to have rice instead of potatoes. It comes with soup or salad and I chose the Lebanese salad. I also ordered the hummos. The salad was ok, the hummos was delicious, and the chicken shawerma was tender and tasty. The veggies that came with it were a little overcooked for my taste, but they were seasoned well and went well with the rice chicken.

Always so good and fresh! Came home to Chicago and this is the first place i came! Authentic, healthy, satisfyingly delicious!!

Very bad service. Wait nearly an hour to get entree. Soups were spilled. Rushing us to finish even when the restaurant is not that busy and even when we started the entree for 15 minutes.

Always phenomenal food. Generous amount of pita provided with each meal. Excellent dine-in or takeout!

Always great food any option you get, good service too! Setting is nice too, always very chill in here

When we arrived, there were only 2 other diners in the restaurant, and yet someone from behind the kitchen counter motioned at us to sit down, and we had to take our own menu. We ordered a large red lentil soup, a fattoush salad, and a chicken shawarma wrap. The red lentil soup was yellow and only lukewarm. I explained to the waitress that it was yellow, not red, like the menu said, and she tersely informed me that it's the only lentil soup. The salad leaves were soggy, and the fattoush had pickles in it but no radishes. It needed feta and some flavor. The homemade chips were alright, and the chicken shawarma wrap was better than Cedars. At the end of the meal, the waitress brought us some to go containers after having to explain our request a couple times and a crumpled check. She was working all of the tables in the whole restaurant (it filled up to over 50% capacity as we were there), and she seemed a little frazzled. I think they can improve their hospitality, food quality, and communication. Maybe we will order a larger entree next time as those platters looked better than what we ordered.

Long time Hyde Park staple. The food is always fresh and delicious! Located on 55th near Woodlawn, it's a relaxed atmosphere compared to the hustle and bustle of 53rd Street. Great for lunch or dinner.

The food was very good. I had a stuffed chicken pita with fries. Carr you service is great. Very comfortable environment and staff exhibited professionalism. Quality service and great.

I was in the area looking for a location to eat food, and I found Nile Restaurant. I found it to be nothing spectacular upon entrance, the atmosphere of the restaurant being that of a stereotypical hole-in-the-wall. I ordered a Vegetarian Makloub because the Makloub was marked as "Chef's Favorite" dish. Service was fast and efficient, and the waitress was very nice. Water was brought out, and then pita bread in a basket that sat on the table for around 10-15 minutes. It was hot when it arrived, but because it was a side for the Makloub I waited until my entrée was given to me to eat it, and in the time I waited it became pretty cold. When the dish arrived, I began to taste it. I'm not sure why, but had very little flavor. I was expecting an abundance of spices, which I feel would've elevated the dish considerably, but those spices were untastable on my dish. Perhaps it was because I ordered the vegetarian option, which contained none of the traditionally-included meat, but if a lack of meat makes the dish bland, why include that option on the menu at all? I must say, though, that all the vegetables were very well cooked, and if I'd been able to try the dish with tastable spices I think it would've been fantastic. Nile Restaurant has a lot of potential to elevate their dishes, and I jolly well hope they harness it. My experience at that restaurant wasn't negative in the least, but it could have been better.

Great food great prices can't wait to try the delicious food again , had the combo lamb shawarma and chicken with rice amazing ! Keep it up

Good service and a nicely priced lunch special was my experience at the Nile. For $10 I had choice of two items from a satisfactory list of options. I chose lentil soup and chicken shawarma. Because the lentils had been so finely puréed the soup lacked much substance but I enjoyed the flavor. The chicken was much like a gyro. The top of a round pita loaf was pinched off and the inside stuffed with grilled chicken chunks, onions, and tomatoes coated with a thin cream sauce. Street parking only for this large, open space.

Love the food here. Ordered to be delivered came on time. Love the Hummus and the Lebanese rice with zucchini and carrot chunks is delicious. I ordered the lamb beef kifta dinner. Absolute pleasure and the portions are so generous I got three meals out of it. Will order from here whenever have craving for middle eastern food.

Absolutely delicious, freshly prepared and excellent service and you can't go wrong with BYOB.

If you are looking for good Mediterranean food in the Hyde Park area, this is the place to go! The price is decent for the large portions they give you. You will end up taking some leftovers home unless you are really hungry and can eat the whole thing in one sitting. My friends and I ordered the hummus (3 kinds), and falafel. The falafels are made fresh so it's warm and not too oily. The hummus with eggplant (I believe) had a little kick to it and it was flavorful. I ordered the beef and lamb shawarma and chicken shawarma platter and I wanted to try both since it was my first time. The chicken is way better since the beef and lamb was more dry. The platter comes with the Jerusalem salad, pita, and rice. The Jerusalem salad had more sauce than the vegetables itself so it was more soupy. The appetizers itself was very fulfilling especially with the pitas. I ended up taking my main course home since i couldn't finish it. They also give you a lot! I definitely will come here again if I'm ever craving Mediterranean food.

This is a good spot in Hyde Park. The hummus was creamy and full of flavor. The lamb was tender and all the plates are full If good. I will go again when hitting up the museum.

Great food and service. We always get the shawarma wrap and falafel. Highly recommend the Nile!!

Although I haven't here in a while, I would still recommend this restaurant. The service is great and the food was always good. I will be visiting again soon because they are a neighborhood staple!

My husband is a patient at the University of Chicago Medicine. Middle Eastern food is a favorite of his, so we ordered from the Nile for the first time. We had an issue with our entree so we called and explained the situation. They were apologetic and expressed a desire to make things right. They went above and beyond our expectations to resolve this, and the food was delicious to boot!

I love this restaurant!!! My husband and I have come regularly to the restaurant for over 20 years, even when they were at the old location. The owner and his son are very friendly. The waitresses Uod and China are the best ever. My food is always delicious and flavorful. I came back last week and ate on the beautiful patio. My meal was so good and always plentiful. The vegetables were cooked to perfection. The lentil soup and hummus are my favorites. I recommend trying a variety of different types of dishes because all the food is good. Also the parking around the restaurant is free. Again this is a TOP NOTCH restaurant.

Very good Middle Eastern cuisine, well cooked with balanced seasonings. We will try the outdoor patio when the weather permits. We'll be back.

This place time and time again has consistently been delicious. The shawarma wraps, lentil soup, lamp chops etc is some of the best things on their menu. My favorite is their hummus. Not only is their food delicious. Their service is quick and I admire the waitress waitressing 8 tables alone. During this pandemic it has taken a hit on businesses to have employees and here even with the need for more employees they are truly making it work. Thank Nile for always being consistently delicious and fast.

Delicious food! I got a combo of delicious yellow rice with shrimp kebabs with vegetables on the side. It also came with a salad and bread. This fed me for 3 meals! The leftovers are equally delicious. My cousin and friend ordered lamb and chicken shawarmas. Everyone loved the food. The lunch and dinner deals are great. My meal was pricier than what they got, but its so worth it. One con would be how my kebab stick was just bent in the box. There were splinters of wood inside my shrimp and rice. If that gets improved it would make this a 5 star experience.

Baby Friendly: 2 stars Kid Friendly: 4 stars It's about time I update my review, I eat here all the time. The Nile has good food, comfortable seating, helpful staff, reasonable prices, and everything is quick! The outdoor patio is great. We eat outside anytime we can. This is one of the better outdoor patios in Hyde Park. It isn't along the street. I have had most of the food on the menu (if not all). I can't think of anything that I didn't like, but here are our favorites: -Hummus (their hummus is the best! it has a bit of lemon juice and some other liquid that make it fantastic!) -Lentil soup -Lebanese salad -Chicken shawerma entree with potatoes -Shish Taouk entree with potatoes -Mo Jadara They are still BYOB The restaurant is kid friendly. There's enough space to bring in a stroller, they have high chairs, no one looks at you funny if the kids make a little noise, the food is kid friendly, and everything comes out pretty quickly. However they don't have a changing table for a baby.

Regarding the food, I have one word - Yummy!!! I'm always greeted with a warm and genuine smile when I come to pick up my carry out order. Great customer service.

The Nile is my go-to for chicken shawarma. I only dined-in once, about a year ago, but I've ordered them on Grubhub several times. My review is solely based on my Grubhub ordering and the quality of the food. When I order online, it usually takes about an hour and the food is always warm when it's delivered. I only live a mile away, so an hour is a little long to me, but I get it. The reason I think so highly of this place is because of the food. I typically order a chicken shawarma dinner, which comes with a salad (I get the yogurt salad), grilled zucchini/squash, rice, yogurt sauce and pita. The chicken is tender and everything in the meal is perfectly cooked and seasoned. And it's so fresh. I also really love their falafel, so I always get a few of those too as an add-on. Overall for this + delivery, it turns out to be about $30. A bit pricey, but the food is so SO incredibly good. I eat every bit of it. And it's so much that I've actually had it last me for that night's dinner and next day's lunch and dinner. So yeah, it's a lot of food if you pace yourself. Consistently good food. 10/10 will probably eat here again soon. And just to be shady--it's a whole lot better than Cedar's.

The most incredible Lebanese food!! Do not miss the tabbouleh, baba ghanoush, falafel and more. Highly recommend this spot!!

I love them but they have Changed. The service is subpar.... No extra pitas... only 1 for a whole platter... only 1 Tahini and no pita with their Lentil Soup...

I been going to Nile for years back when it was located in the old location. The food is delicious and love the falafel sandwich. The humus is no other. I hope to continue going for years to come.

The food was okay but the prices were definitely much higher than I expected. The place is also awkwardly quiet and dark. I would recommend doing take out or sitting outside if the weather is nice.

We ordered takeout from here and it was very bland and I was regretting that I hadn't read my friend Alida's review first. The beef dumplings were soggy and mushy. The chicken shawerma was right on the verge of being dry. The red lentil soup was flavorful, but it was a humid day and I wasn't in the mood for soup. I know it's been a month, but I clearly remember thinking damn, I want zankou (Armenian/Mediterranean chicken place in LA).

So I wasn't close to my usual Mediterranean spot and was craving it. A quick check on yelp and the yelpers did not disappoint. So many great reviews about this spot. And I was quite happy, I decided to stop through. My girl and I stopped for dinner to this pleasant spot. Even though this is Hyde Park, we were able to find a park directly in front of the place. (This area is usually pretty congested for parking, especially on the weekend). We walked in to clean, very nicely setup restaurant. I love the way the tables were spaced out. It made for adequate room for moving through the tables without disturbing the patrons. The service was great and they're a BYOB spot. They opened our wine with no corking fee. Many veggie options available on the menu. Had to start with the hummus and it was delicious! Freshly made, light and tasty. The food was large portions and fresh made as well. The veggies were great. I like my veggies cooked slightly, still having that bit of crunch and they provided that. Our bill wasn't bad either for what we ordered. Two entrees, three appetizers for fifty bucks. Will definitely be a go to spot in the city.

Excellent food!! Everything was flavorful and delicious especially the baba ganoush and steak.

Very good, delicious food! Highly recommend this restaurant. Has a cute outdoor seating during the pandemic.

Ordered the vegetarian maklouba. It came out steaming hot. It was good and even better with the yogurt. I wish there was a more of a tomato flavor and less overwhelming garlic flavor. Portion size is huge and i brought the leftovers home for lunch the next day. The lentil soup was also really good. Four stars because of the service. One server was a little awkward and was rushing us even though the restaurant wasn't full.

From the northern burbs I'm used to eating at Pita Inn, so trying to find a spot now out South I thought it will be hard. But this place is amazingly great! I've ordered their numerous times and its yet fail me. From the chicken shwarama, lentil soup, veggies, the hummus- always on point. And delivery is always on time. This spot is definitely my go to spot!

Went here on a Tuesday night and immediately found parking across the street. So far so good. It has a big seating area and it's well lit. It was kind of empty, but as we waited for our food, it started filling out. I like that they have combination plates for the meat. So if you can't decide which one you like then you can get whatever you desire. It was great for me because I don't eat a lot of Mediterranean food. I got the combination plate because I wasn't sure which meat I wanted the most. I ended up liking the chicken the most. The falafel was pretty good. I've had pretty meh falafel before, but Nile definitely served a good one. They gave us pita bread and salad. I should have ate some of the salad with pita bread and used the leftover sauce from falafel with it, too, since the pita bread was kind of dry. I really liked the veggies and potatoes served with my meal. They were cooked very well. Too bad they didn't have ketchup. They did have hot sauce. It was definitely a very hot sauce. I'd recommend this place to friends if they want Mediterranean and happen to be on the Southside.

The Nile is one of the best Mediterranean restaurants I've ever been to. We have been coming for years... A favorite for my wife and I when we're in Hyde Park. The food is succulent... I love the chicken and seafood options. Very tasty, and we keep coming back again and again...

This is my second order from Nile. My first Oder was fantastic! Tonight I ordered the Vegetables and rice with an order of Hummus. Delivery was prompt and the entree with salad were fresh and delicious The Hummus is excellent!!! I highly recommend the Nile!

This is a very loud space. By that, I mean that it's difficult to hear the people with whom you're dining unless you shout. There are no sound dampening tiles or anything - evidenced by the very shrill college student sitting a few tables down from me, but making me wish I could throw a piece of pita at her. When I opened my silverware, I was greeted by a very used (and unwashed) knife. This was not a pleasant sight to see. So I asked for new silverware and was brought back just a knife (I wasn't planning on using a fork and a spoon that had touched that knife). Server brought back a whole new set. Onto the food: appetizer sampler with stuffed grape leaves (okay, but nothing special), hummus (not bad, but again, about on par with what you'd get elsewhere), baba ghanoush (again, just meh), and falafel (best part of the plate). I'd get a falafel sandwich if I found myself here again. My husband had the chicken tawook/chicken shawarma combo and I had the chicken maklouba. His chicken was way more flavorful and juicy than mine. I would not order the maklouba from here again. The shawarma and the tawook yes. Overall, this place is very mediocre. It's a bit overpriced for the quality of food you get, but the portion size is good.

We've been here many times after Court Theater and have never been less pleased. We waited over thirty minutes for shawarma wraps--a simple order. People around us are served; people who entered after us are served. One sandwich finally arrives. The next two five minutes later. Sandwiches warm, not hot. Never an apology. Never "I'm sorry the kitchen's backed up." Irritating. If we were non-white we would claim discrimination. My friends may return. I will not. To the end there was nothing from the waitress (a veteran there) to assuage our annoyance.

Tasty Lebanese Dishes Our party of six sampled a number of well prepared Lebanese dishes including Baba Ghanooj, Mosakhan, Lamb Shish Kebab, Chicken Shish Kebab, along with Lebanese salads. All were well prepared and the salads were fresh. Prices are reasonable and the service was very good. An excellent choice in the Hyde Park neighborhood.

The food may be good, at the Nile but the staff is the rudest I have ever encountered. We used the patio shared by the Nile and Saucy Porka(where we got our food). An Asian woman(waitress, owner?) came out of the Nile and berated us for 5 minutes for sitting at HER table. The table was closest to Saucy Porka, farther from the Nile. I talked to the staff at Saucy and they said it was open seating. She had put Nile menus on the table where we sat. No other table had menus on it. This was one of the few tables that had any shade, so I guess she was saving it for that reason. Quality of food is important but it's not important to me if one has to contend with the Nile crocodile. Go to Saucy Porka instead. Great food, good price, friendly staff. But if you sit outside be prepared to defend yourself against the Nile crocodile.

I took my girlfriend here before her flight home and we ordered a combination of various meat dishes. A few hours later, right after dropping her off, we both became immensely sick and had horrible food poisoning. My girlfriend had to postpone her flight and we spent the next day vomiting and incredibly sick. This was the only place we had eaten so I know it was their food that made us sick. This was an absolutely terrible experience and I would steer away from this restaurant

I have never had a problem with the flavors here, what I have had is problems with consistency in carryout portions. Case in point, I just paid $8.25 for a combination appetizer-photo attached. Two tiny dolmas, approximately 2 tablespoons of hummus, a little more than that of baba gannoush and two falafel. This is supposed to be for two people, but it's just ridiculous. I had leftover pita because there wasn't enough dips. This isn't the first time I feel ripped off, but NO more second chances...Although the food tastes great I won't continue to be shortchanged.