Pita Express

Do not go here. I’ve gone 3x. Their counter girl tries to oversell. It takes forever for the food. My order 2day was like they just nuked whatever they had on hand. Grk kitchen all the way from now on! Fresh fast homemade & amazing!

I just went here for the first time. The food is awesome and very cheap. But most importantly, the manf who served me my food was SO NICE! Although this place is a bit farther from my building, I will definitely go out of my way to eat here simply because of how nice the staff was.

Don’t be fooled by the affordable price or the fact that its vegetarian– the vegetarian plate will fill you up!

Best food In the loop! I am vegetarian and the food is just spectacular. The Hummus is creamy and tastes great. Good value for your lunch, very healthy and they are extremely helpful and friendly even when. I was pretty indecisive.

I had Pita Express for the first time today… I really enjoyed it! I ordered the Meat Middle East combination plate. This dish allowed me to sample an assortment of foods, all of which were delicious. The hummus and the falafels were my favorite, great flavor! The salad that comes with it was light and refreshing… everything was cooked really well overall. I also tried the baklava, loved it! (Get the baklava with extra nuts. #yum)
The customer service was very good… that always makes the difference. I recommend Pita Express to anyone seeking a quick lunch. The food was great, good service and super affordable. Worth it!

I love this place. Kinda tucked away in the corner of the Thompson center food court. Great tastey affordable Mediterranean yum yums. Best falafel in the area. Great friendly staff. Weekly special changes every week and I highly recommend the Messe Chicken.

Great food, great prices, very friendly people. Definitely get the homemade lemonade.

You know what grinds my gears?
Vegetarians freaking driving up the price of vegetarian options at restaurants.
Seriously. Why the heck should a vegetarian option be as expensive as a meat option? I blame the vegetarians.
Factory style animal raising and slaughterhouses? Nah… can’t be…
So anyway this place has a falafel sandwich that’s pretty filling for less than $ 5. This is pretty much the only reason why I come back. The falafel’s a bit on the dry side so I’m swigging a lot of water with this one.
I much prefer Taza over this place.
Buuuut when I don’t feel like spending $ 10 on a meal, I’ll come here.

Great people, great «homemade» food for the Thompson Center food court! Was talked into a half/​half Shawarma today when I was going for my usual Gyro, very good suggestion — tasty meat, pita, salad, rice and a drink for around $ 7.

If you like Pita Inn you will love Pita Express. Good food at a great price. A hidden gem in the Thompson center.

Had the veggie combo special. A good amount of food for 6 dollars and it was all pretty good! The falafel was the best part.

Continues to be great food for the value, and the menu is evolving. We tried the Chicken Tikka Masala & a similar dish on special — both very good!

Amazing lunch specials, my favorite is the Me See chicken, but it’s all good. The spinach pies are simple and delicious. The hummus is smooth and creamy and perfect. The baba ganouj is perfect. Everything is always made fresh. The fatoush salad is more than just lettuce, dressing and pita chips– it’s filed with fresh veggies such as red bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, parsley — and it comes with the meal. I’m addicted to the fresh home made lemonade, not too sweet, tons of lemon. If you’re in the Loop, you must try Pita Express. The owner and his family make you feel welcome, they are lovely, gracious and kind, always have a smile and a kind word for weary office worker bees like myself.

So I met my wife here for lunch one day and decided to try this place out. It was on our list of halal eateries to try for quite some time. This place is kind of to the side and out of the way from the rest of the restaurants in the food court.
Anyways, we walked up, were greeted nicely by the guy working there and after looking at all the option, and there were quite a few options, we ordered our food. I handed the guy my debit card and he swipes it… declined…swipes again… declined. So we just payed cash, no harm done, right? WRONG! Right after 10 minutes while sitting and eating I get an email from my bank stating that my account was compromised and they blocked my card. After eating, I walked out and called the bank to see what the issue was. Turns out, instead of the 2 swipes of my debit card, it was clocked that my card was swiped 6 times! 6 times! So does that mean there was another debit reader hooked up there? I’d be aware of your debit transactions if you have visited or plan to visit this place and use your credit/​debit. Just a warning. BEWARE!
I’m not even going to go into the how the food was because it was OK. Nothing great to talk about. The shawarma isn’t real, it’s just chicken pieces not even marinated properly. The rice were cooked in the morning and you could tell. Sad!
BE WARNED!

It has good specials and the food was pretty decent. not a bad lunch spot. not overly impressed.

Yummy! I found this place because I work across from the Thompson Center and head over for lunch pretty often. I’m trying to eat healthier — and while I wouldn’t say that everything at Pita Express is health food, I think you can get some pretty good options and it’s definitely better for you than 95% of the other restaurants in the food court. And so tasty!
I try something new probably every other time I go and it’s all been delicious. Listen to the owner’s recommendations! The rest of the time, I get the Chicken Tikka. I’m really picky about meat, but the quality is always top-​notch. Tons of delicious chicken breast (sort of tandoori style with a red, dry-​rub seasoning) with rice and salad – at an extremely reasonable price.
The owner is very friendly and really appreciates his customers. It’s obvious he wants you to have the best experience. Makes you feel very taken care of. It’s just too bad that more people don’t know about this place as it’s kind of away from the main food court area… a hidden gem.

The Middle Eastern Veggie Plate special made for a nice, quick lunch in the loop under $ 7. Good people watching in the Thompson Center too!

To Reply back to the comments that were rudely made by Leah B. & Joe B. it really isnt necessary to say such negative feedback on your first time trying middle eastern food, everyone has a different feel for what kind of foods they like, but i tried both of what they were trash talking about which was the Middle Eastern Platter and the Chicken Tikka which were both very good and delicious, i advice people not to take other people’s comments when they never tried middle eastern food before. Be fair. I am just saying, Think.

Really really bad!
Of all the places in the Thompson center that I could have picked, I sure wish this was the one that I didn’t pick.
I’m not a picky eater but the the food was so bad, I didn’t finish much. I got a sampler platter for $ 6.00 which had some falafal, hummus, salad, rice, beef and chicken. The falafal and the salad was fine. The rice was tasteless, the hummus had a weird acidic taste, the chicken and beef tasted like fake spongy meat. I tasted everything, then threw most of it away.
I highly recommend that you don’t go here.
Hey, Dina K… This was not my first time eating middle eastern food, I have been enjoying eating at Pita Inn for the past 20 years, And Chickpea happens to my fav place to go anytime in in that area.

You know what I love? When I go back to a place after more than 2 years, the owner still remembers me, and the food is still the same excellent quality. That’s what I call a consistent restaurant.
It may be located in an obscure location in the state of Illinois building (also known as the space ship building, or eyesore of the Loop), but Pita Express beats most lunch options available in that area. The chicken/​lamb biryani is fantastic, the chicken tikka masala is delicious, the shawerma and falafel sandwiches are as good as I remember them from 2 years ago.
Stop eating at that godawful Panda Express or Arbys and get yourself some fresh food at Pita Express.