Pan Hellenic Pastry Shop

Excellent! Great Greek pastries. Quiet, nice atmosphere. Get the Milopita! (Also galactobutico and bougatsa). Awesome little place.

I lived in the Chicago area for many years. If I got anywhere close to downtown, I had to run in and leave with boxes of these treats. Now, when I pass through Chicago, one of my first and last stops is to grab enough to last a few days. My judge of a good restaurant, or in this case a bakery, is whether they have something «crave-​able», especially items that you can’t get elsewhere. For me, at this bakery, you MUST get the chocolate «cookies» that are really mini, airy brownie sandwiches with a chocolate cream in the middle, and the melt in your mouth almond cookies with almond slivers on the outside and an apricot filling inside. Yes, the chocolate dipped macaroons are divine as are many other items. Just please ship me a couple dozen of each of the two «cookies» noted here. My daughter recently brought me back some, and they were as delicious as ever! I’ve eaten them — not nearly enough — since the 1980’s…

Excellent variety of Greek pastries and the best vegetarian mousaka in town! I highly recommend it!

This bakery has been around forever – having replaced the earlier iteration that burned down. They have all the classics – baklava, kataifi, galactobouriko, kourambededs…
They also have a nice place to sit and eat them now. The owners are very friendly and knowledgeable about Greek pastries – they are glad to make up something special if you call ahead. Of course, nothing is like YIayia’s glyka, but this place is pretty good. Highly recommend if you’re in Greektown.

This place has the best cookies! And, honestly, I don’t usually get that excited about cookies. But these cookies really are fantastic. I love love love the chocolate macaroon things, the almond cookies, and the honey cookies (apologies for not knowing the proper names), but really everything is great.
I like to bring a big box of cookies from Pan Hellenic to friends who are hosting dinner or a party. The cookies are always super popular.
The shop itself is charming and the brother and sister who run it are lovely.

The lady in the store was so rude to me with no reason. I brought group of my friends to show them the store and she was so rude and embarrassed me so much in front of my friends.

Such a nice place to enjoy a snack and catch up with friends. The staff is incredibly friendly, warmed up my dessert as I’m dining in and even prepped it with powdered sugar and cinnamon. Great selection of pastries, so many to choose from also got a mixed assortment that’s perfect for a gift.
Also has free wifi. :)

don’t be fooled by the flashy, decorative atmosphere of the other bakery/​café nearby. Pan Hellenic reminds me of the ‘kafeneia’ in Greece– unassuming but delicious food.
the spinach pie is to die for! and the bougatsa (flaky pastry with custard inside) was not overwhelmingly sweet, perfect for morning. The almond cookies were delicious, too.
AND they’re open until the mid-​evening on Sundays.
We will be sure to return next time we’re in Chicago.

Athena and the Pan Hellenic Bakery provided a bunch of Greek desserts for my wedding two weeks ago. We came in last summer and Athena gave us a huge sampling of so many of their treats, and she was really patient while I asked for specific cookies and pastries. She packaged and delivered them herself for the wedding, and we were blown away with how delicious and beautiful they were! Tons of compliments from our guests, and the few leftovers we had are still delicious after being frozen for a few days! Great experience working with them!

I. am. in. heaven. I just ate these powdered sugar almond crescent cookies. … WHY DID I ONLY BUY HALF A POUND?! I also ate some ginger honey cookies. Those were also divine.
I always have a hard time parking in the area, but I’m glad I persevered. Plus if I had easy access, I would certainly turn into a ball. A ball filled with Greek sugary goodness. Rolling down Halsted street.

Had to walk off our dinner so we Unilocaled for
dessert. This place had high ratings so we checked it out. It’s a small Greek pastry shop. I don’t know the first thing about Greek pastries, but the shop was clean and pastries looked fresh. We tried an assortment of cookies and 4 other desserts. The guy at the counter was not very friendly and didn’t offer any information about the pastries, other than correcting my pronunciation of them. I tried almost everything and I have to say that it was all delicious. The shortbread cookies had a great balance of chocolate and cookie. The custard thing was smooth and not too sweet with a nice hint of lemon. The apple thing was crisp and had a nice balance of filling and crust. The other two things were similar in taste (almonds, honey, etc), not shape. I will be returning on my next trip. Maybe the guy at the counter will have less bakery angst.

Great, great, great Greek pastries, frappes and overall lovely shop. Try EVERYTHING as its that good and fresh. Loukoumades with chocolate sauce are incredible but only on weekends. Worth it.

Absolutely love this pastry shop. It’s unique, a great environment, and worth the trip to Greek Town! They have traditional Greek desserts as well as some unique regular desserts. I recommend getting a few and sharing them with your friends. It’s right next door to some delicious food places. The counter guy was helpful and helped us pick what to try, and even heated up some of the desserts upon request.
The baklava is something you must must try. I’d love to come back and try more desserts.

I liked it. We tried some biscuits, the almond custard, among other Greek desserts — and it was overall a great experience. Great customer service and a nice, little shop for a date. Regret not getting the baklava in retrospect — no Greek dessert honestly compares.

i absolutely love this place. Whenever I’m craving one of the traditional Greek desserts that I grew up with, I come here. I also appreciate their tiropita and spanakopita since these are so time-​consuming to make. Prices are always reasonable and service is always friendly.

I love their pastries. They’re really good, but a bit pricey. They’re not too sweet or anything.

Ms. Rosa J’s food adventure continues… Today we are going to talk about Greek pastries.
Therefore, it’s pretty appropriate to travel to the Greek Town, near west side. Too bad that Rosa wasn’t vigilant to know the hours of the National Hellenic Museum (close on Tuesdays). What did she do to make up for it? Look across the road, where Pan Hellenic locates.
Upon walking into the door, a nice, great-​looking young man assisted us with the ordering process. I know it was too much to ask for the Greek gods to help us with the Greek language, but a picture was worth a thousand words. Looked over the counters. We made our decisions: baklava and galaktoboureko.
I know I’m proud of my intelligence as a smart retail manager, but the Greek language is really something else. I know the young man behind the counter is the messenger sent from the Greek gods, because I saw that he was extremely helpful with other customers who had questions regarding the choices of pastries. By the way, we also ordered the organic peppermint and green teas to go with our pastries.
The baklava was made just the way I liked it; it wasn’t too sweet, yet the aroma of cinnamon was wonderful and ended up having a soothing taste. On the other hand, the galaktoboureko was sweeter because of the presence of honey. It resembled a custard, but it was unique like nothing I have had before. Overall, I really dug the baklava, even though I liked the galaktoboureko as well.
The organic tea was great, too. The young man was very attentive and provided great customer service. Even though they do offer a temporary parking lot on Van Buren, I would say that taking the blue to UIC-​Halstad is the most convenient option because it’s literally a two (2) minute-​walking distance.
Once again, like I’ve said a million times: show your love for local businesses. Tonight the Greek gods and I are «cool.»

The young man running the store was totally friendly and knowledgeable, patiently explaining the best sellers and offering us samples to help us pick a mix of cookies to buy back for friends.
The baked goods are fresh and don’t taste mass produced unlike chain stores like Mrs Fields. The variety is pretty big so you can also grab pre packed stuff to go.
The shop has a small seating area and I regret not having room for desert as I came here stuffed from (a Greece Islands) dinner! I will definitely return and leave room to eat something in store.

Counter guy wasn’t all that nice, I had a crack a few jokes to break him in… Baklava (1 teeny piece) and 3 almond cookies = $ 6
Nice selection but probably wouldn’t go back… Baklava is better in my old neighborhood of Portage Park!

This is my favorite bakery of all time. My sister and I come here every time we’re in town.
I remember my first time coming here when I was in college about 8 years ago. My mom told me that Greek pastries were the best so I stopped by to buy her some. The owner was super friendly and even let me try a cookie! I was very sad to hear that he recently passed away. My condolences go out to his family.
It’s a family run business. The daughter and son now run it. They are both friendly. The girl is funny and a little sassy. The were aired on a TV show recently. I believe the episode was called «The Best of Halsted Street.»
Everything we’ve tried tastes good. I don’t know the actual names of the cookies because they have elaborate Greek names but we like the powdered ones, the crescent shaped ones made of almonds, and the baklava. The powdered cookies melt in your mouth.
The only con is that it tends to be on the expensive side. They charge based on the weight of the cookies.
The shop is pretty small but they have a few small tables that you can sit at to enjoy your cookies.
They also have prepackaged items.