The 5 Best Indian and Pakistani Restaurants on Devon Avenue
Devon Avenue has anchored Chicago’s South Asian community since the 1970s. The stretch running west from Western Avenue, known to the city as Little India, packs sari shops, gold jewelers, spice groceries, and sweet shops into a few dense blocks, and for decades the restaurants on Devon Avenue have been where Chicago goes for Indian and Pakistani food.
It is also a street that has changed hard. A wave of closures took out several of the names that anchored the old guides, including Viceroy of India, one of Devon’s best known dining rooms. Plenty of guides still send readers to restaurants on Devon Avenue that closed years ago.
How we chose the best restaurants on Devon Avenue
Every spot below was verified open, at its current address, in July 2026. We picked five, one per lane, rather than fifteen that blur together: a nihari specialist, a charcoal grill, a vegetarian institution, a sweets counter, and the cheapest good meal on the street.
One note on naming. Devon is often called Little India, but a large share of the best food here is Pakistani, and several kitchens are both. We have labeled each spot by what it actually cooks.
1. Ali’s Nihari and BBQ (Pakistani, nihari)
2548 W Devon Ave
The nihari on Devon that locals send you to rather than bloggers. Ali’s Nihari and BBQ is a small, tidy room that puts its signature dish in the name and earns it. Nihari is a beef stew simmered for hours until the meat gives way completely, and the version here draws regulars who compare it favorably to what they grew up eating. Order the plain nihari first, then the nalli nihari, made with bone marrow. The haleem and the karahi gosht are the other two things worth ordering. Halal, and open daily from noon.
2. Khan BBQ (Pakistani, charcoal grill)
2401 W Devon Ave
Where Devon goes for smoke. Khan BBQ is a plain room built around the tandoor, and the tandoori chicken is the benchmark against which regulars measure every other grill on the street. Seekh kabab and frontier chicken are the other two orders worth building a table around. No alcohol. Note that it opens at 2pm on Fridays rather than noon.
3. Annapurna (Indian, vegetarian)
2600 W Devon Ave
Open since 1982, before this stretch was called Little India at all, Annapurna is the oldest vegetarian restaurant in the city and still one of the best value meals on Devon. You order at the counter and carry your own tray. Get the masala dosa or the samosa chaat, and if you are here on a weekday, the Gujarati thali changes daily, with daal dhokri on Mondays and khichdi kadhi on Fridays. The name means perfect food.
4. Tahoora Sweets and Bakery (sweets and snacks)
2345 W Devon Ave
No trip down Devon is complete without a box of mithai, and Tahoora has been the default since 1996. The case runs from barfi and gulab jamun to mango kalakand, but the counter also turns out samosas, bun kabab, falooda, and kulfi, so it works as a snack stop as much as a dessert one. Weekends bring halwa puri, the fried bread and chickpea breakfast that regulars line up for. Like Khan, it opens at 2pm on Fridays.
5. Ghareeb Nawaz (Indo-Pak, cheap and late)
2032 W Devon Ave
The best cheap meal in Chicago, full stop. Ghareeb Nawaz is a fluorescent lit counter where most plates run around five dollars and the portions are absurd. Order the chili chicken and a paratha, or the biryani, and finish with chai. It is cash only, and the on site ATM is not always working, so bring bills. It is open from 8am to 2am daily, which makes it the default late night stop for cab drivers, students, and anyone leaving a shift. The name translates roughly to benefactor of the poor, which fits. There are other locations now, but this is the original.
How to eat your way down Devon Avenue
The restaurants on Devon Avenue worth your time sit in a walkable stretch running from roughly 2000 west to 2700 west, so park once and work the strip on foot. Street parking is the only real option and it gets tight on weekend evenings.
A good crawl: nihari or grilled meat first, a stop at a sweets counter for chai and a snack, then a box of mithai to take home. Several kitchens on the street open at 2pm on Fridays to allow for Jummah prayers, so a Friday lunch plan needs adjusting. Most spots are halal, at least one (Ghareeb Nawaz) is cash only, and portions run large enough that ordering across the table beats ordering per person.
For more of Chicago, our guide to the best Chinese restaurants in Chicago covers the other side of the city’s Asian dining. If corridors like this are your thing, Buford Highway outside Atlanta and Little Saigon in Orange County are the closest equivalents anywhere in the country, and our beginner’s guide to dim sum breaks down another neighborhood ritual worth learning.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Devon Avenue’s Little India?
It runs along West Devon Avenue in the West Ridge neighborhood on Chicago’s far North Side, roughly from Western Avenue west toward California Avenue. The 49B and 155 buses both serve the strip.
Is the food on Devon Avenue Indian or Pakistani?
Both, plus Bangladeshi and Nepali. The corridor is popularly called Little India, but many of the best known kitchens are Pakistani, and dishes like nihari, haleem, and seekh kabab come out of that tradition. Vegetarian South Indian and Gujarati cooking is well represented too.
Are the restaurants on Devon Avenue good for vegetarians?
Unusually good. Annapurna is entirely vegetarian, and most other kitchens carry a full vegetarian section. It is one of the easiest streets in Chicago to eat meat free.
Do restaurants on Devon Avenue take cards?
Most do, but not all. Ghareeb Nawaz is cash only, and smaller counters can be unpredictable, so it is worth carrying some cash.
What should a first timer order?
Nihari at Ali’s, tandoori chicken at Khan BBQ, and a masala dosa at Annapurna cover three completely different traditions in one afternoon. Add a box of sweets from Tahoora on the way out.
