Pockets

Consistently fresh and dependable for decent fast food salads, calzones and small pizzas. This is a great location, and if you’re visiting the Athenaeum, think of stopping if you want something simple. Their pizzas are surprisingly good. My favorite salad is the Popeye – a plentiful amount of greens and ingredients served with a tangy dressing.

Pockets is great! it is a build your own salad fast food place. I really enjoy it because I am a picky eater and you can choose your own salad toppings. They also have frozen yogurt for dessert. They also have homemade ranch. It is so delicious! Great place to grab and go.

Stopped by for a dinner. I remember my girlfriend raving about this place. So I checked it out. The place seems small but it didn’t stop the people from coming here and surprisingly there were plenty of people dining when I came. Oh, don’t be worried about the looks. The décor may not be great, but who cares? It’s about cheap food. And surprisingly, delicious one at that!
The food was hearty. I am very impressed with my Asian Pocket. I also had soup, which was very good. It was hot and full of flavor. Better than I have expected. Food here is perfect, whether you need comfort or just wanting to satisfy your grumbling stomach.

I absolutely love this place. Tonight, however was a little different. I have had a hellish week, ordered online and in my order they included a few cookies. It really made me stop and think that life was so sweet. It was a great silent gesture that set the tone for my weekend. Thank you staff who worked on 9÷4÷15. You rock!

Very efficient and understanding. They allowed me to add an ingredient free of charge after I forgot to ask for it during my order. Considerate and delicious!

Advertised as fast food, it turns out this joint is anything but. Now, I gave them a pass as I ordered a pizza. But others ordered salads and stuff and still had to wait more-​than-​fast-​food amounts of time for their things. Plus, unlike fast food, the offerings are excessively expensive.
It’s mostly Italian style food that requires some prep time, so why not brand themselves that way rather than fast food, which they certainly are not? Oh, because it’s Chicago and the city’s Italian options have them easily crushed. Right. So hopefully if they advertise as something with less competition they can win some of that market share. Except they don’t do that genre well at all.
Glad I tried it, if only to learn that it’s mostly not worth the trouble going forward. The pizza was good, granted. But Chicago also does that much better elsewhere.

Just got a takeout chef salad. Got home and it is old! The cheese is so dried out it is hard. No excuse for serving old bad food, someone could get really sick. Too far to go back and return now. At least I can eat the freshly made pocket sticks, they are good. I have eaten here before and it was good, quality has really slipped.

Wonderful, wonderful sandwiches, wonderful service and the best BBQ calzone I ever had. A great simple fast food restaurant in Lakeview where it is hard to find a place where you can find a healthy meal. They’re open from 11AM to 10:30PM, a godsend to those who forget to think about taking a lunch or dinner. The food they have is always fresh and tasty. The sandwiches are always full of cheese, meat or anything they are supposed to have. Staff is always nice to all the customers who are eating happily inside the place. Most of all, they are always happy to take your order. When it comes to deliveries, they were always on time and based on my experience, they have never blown a single order. They deserve 5 stars no less for their exceptional service.

Nobody loves Pockets more than I do! I would even marry Pockets if it is a human and have sandwich-​human baby hybrids. I am not paid to write this review, for you guys to know. Every time I talk about Pockets, I would always tell everyone about the all the positive things the restaurants have from the wonderful and delicious simple meals they have to the outstanding customer service they do offer. Most of the time, people wouldn’t believe me but I don’t mind because it seems like more and more people are seeing the good side of Pockets. Keep up the good work Pockets and always come up with wonderful ideas to better serve your customers.

Just got delivery from here and our food was incredibly soggy and we has to throw one order away it was so bad. Have enjoyed ordering from here before but we will never order from again.

2 stars = «Meh. I’ve experienced better.» And pretty much sums up this place.
I had walked by Pockets a zillion times and never went in until yesterday for lunch. Why they are getting 2 stars is that the «pocket» is this HUGE piece of doughy bread that over takes the entire sandwich with flavor. I’m Italian and I love my carbs, but this is seriously too much. I enjoyed the «side salad» which is the 5 toppings you ordered on the side of your sandwich as the pocket is over $ 8 with tax; but they should tell you they’re going to do that – what if I only ordered one topping? A one topping side salad?
Probably won’t be back again. I’ve been a Pita Pit fan since college and will continue to go there.
Place also seemed kind of grody.

Trying to find places that deliver healthy food for office lunch can be a challenge. Pockets fits the bill. Our office orders from here at least once a week. I never have any complaints of wilted lettuce or bad veggies. The bread definitely takes away from the healthiness but if you order a salad they give you a smaller piece of bread which I can eat half of without guilt. Many co-​workers love the Southwest Chicken salad, my personal favorite is the Summer Fruit Salad which isn’t on the paper menu but is on the online menu. You can ask them to substitute spinach for lettuce in their salads and make it more healthy as well. They are normally on time with the delivery, however, I have encountered a couple glitches ordering online. Overall I think its a great place to order for lunch if you are looking for healthy options that deliver.

To be honest, I am a sucker for sandwiches. It has never change, ever since I was a kid. Because I was in the area and I saw Pockets, I gave in to my urge — the urge to try their sandwiches. You know what, their sandwich is really, really good. I can taste the flavor and the freshness of the ingredients. I can feel the crispness of the greens and the oven-​taste goodness of the bread. Hot damn! I want to try their tuna and BBQ sandwich again. It was so worth my money!

Customer was rude. Messed up my order and tried to charge me twice. Watch out on this one they try to steal your money.

I went here a few weeks ago it was sort of late for a Saturday quarter to 9pm (lol) and nothing was else open. At the time I was starving half to death, so I figured why not give this place a try? The menu options are numerous, it took me a couple minutes to think up what I wanted then my friend pointed out the cheesy potato. I went with it and added broccoli. Not too long after placing my order it came out, nice and hot and oh so filling! It perked me right up! The place was very quiet and my friend & I were able to chat for a while. The food was simple and good, just a tad pricey for what it was.

I ain’t gonna lie, I love this place. It is really amazing! I’ve been here for several times already and I find this restaurant really unbelievable. You see, the food does not change.
The food always smells good, freshly made and inviting. Best of all, food is tastegasmic (if such a word really exist). The sandwiches would really leave me wanting more.
That’s just how great their food is.
The only negative thing I could say about Pockets Restaurant is that sometimes you have to wait quite a bit to have your food. Well, this is understandable for me during lunch hours and when there are many people ordering for food. But there are times when wait time is quite longer even if the waiting customer is just a handful.
If you are starving and need food very, very fast, then just a go to a hotdog cart and buy a hotdog. Still, the dining experience here is good.

I was at Pockets once a long time ago. It was a brisk spring day in 2001, not long before I graduated 8^th grade. I had been to the district-​wide spelling bee representing my school and had lost spectacularly (the word was «Himalayan». No one told me there would be proper nouns, dammit!) Before bringing me back to school, my parents took me to Pockets to cheer me up since it was nearby and purportedly healthy.
It was awful, easily the worst cheering up ever. It’s the worst kind of «health» food where the bread is gritty and everything is low-​fat and completely flavorless. Most parents would have sprung for a sundae or something. Not mine! I never went back.
Until now.
Boyfriend and I were out running errands and wanted something quick that wasn’t deep fried or in a bun. Stopped at Pockets thinking, that was a long time ago! I’m sure my tastes have matured.
My tastes may have, but Pockets has not. This location was empty except for one guy sitting by the window nursing a Pepsi. We ordered from a nice but very unenthusiastic lady at the counter, then sat with our food as another employee mopped around us.
At 2:30 in the afternoon.
With a solution that smelled like ammonia.
While we ate.
Despite the cleaning, this place is filthy. And it’s a bad sign when your business is buying its straws, napkins, and TP from Jewel (Essential Everyday, wassup). Are you just not doing enough business to order from restaurant supply, or did you run out and have to run out to Jewel?
The food is as bad as I remember, except the bread, since now I like gritty hearty breads with a lot of protein. But it’s very dry and needs butter, so I guess there goes your low-​cal meal. The chicken is the pre-​cooked pre-​chopped kind that comes in a sealed plastic bag. And the minestrone soup I had was on par with the icky Campbell’s Selects minestrone soup.
All in all it was very expensive for an experience that was pretty unpleasant. This location is obviously not long for this world. Goodbye, Pockets!

Please note that this review is based on service and overall offerings… We never had a chance to actually taste the food!
We needed to stop somewhere quick for food before heading over to the Lincoln Tap Room for a friend’s event. We wanted something hot and would’ve stopped at any fast food place if we had seen one… Unfortunately, we didn’t pass one decent fast food joint once we got off the interstate!
We review the menu… I decide on a calzone. The woman at the counter says, «15−20 minuites.» and precedes to stare at me. I ask her if that’s how long it will take to make my meal and she simply nods…
My bff asks if all of the pockets are served cold. The woman says no. She asks if they can be toasted and the woman nods blankly. The guy next to the woman realizes what my bff is asking and says, «No, all of our pockets are served cold. The meat and the veggies are cold. There is no toaster.»
I then try to order some Dip Sticks. Bread sticks can’t be hard can they? The woman says, «10−15 minutes.» *sigh* I gave up, grabbed a bag of chips, and decided to eat later.
The bff asked if there were any baked potatoes ready or if they had to be cooked too… Nobody answered her!
Nowhere on the menu does it state that it will take a certain amount of time for them to prepare these menu items for you. This place present itself to be like Subway or Quinoz, not a sit down dining experience!
Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever try Pockets after this experience! Why on earth would you be open at 7:30 pm on a Friday night if you don’t have anything available to serve?!

Calzones and pocket sandwiches, what’s not to like?! Inside is similar to a Subway type restaurant except they specialize in calzones and pita sandwiches. It’s also very accommodating as you can build your own sandwich and make alterations where you see fit.
I’d say that when I ordered a specialty pocket sandwich (I think it might have been the Popeye, not positive) — it arrived cold and I was surprised, but apparently some of the sandwiches are served cold and I just didn’t catch that on the menu.
Portions are big enough for two meals. My boyfriend had a calzone and I much preferred that. Now I know for next time. Just be sure to read the menu carefully so you don’t get disappointed when your pocket is basically a salad on pita.
No bells or whistles, but better than fast food in a jiffy!

I’ve got no beef with Pockets and I’m not embarrassed to admit it. At first, I was sad when the Clark St location closed, but I’ve been ordering from this outpost for almost a year now and haven’t had any problems.
They’re fast. Convenient. And somewhat healthy!
My go-​to delivery when I’m too busy to leave the house or I face a sad, empty fridge.
No, it’s not amazing… but hey, they’re not trying to pawn themselves off as a foodie’s dream. They do simple well, and keep it predominantly fresh. I’ve never had a problem with wilted lettuce anyway!
I usually spring for the Southwestern chopped salad which comes with half a pocket. Large enough to make two meals, and cheap enough to keep me coming back for more.
Every 10 orders you earn a $ 10 credit. I’ve cycled through two now, so yeah… I like my Pockets all right!