Fontano’s Subs

Great lunch spot especially before noon for you early people. Italian/​American subs and beef sandwiches are great. Can’t go wrong here.

Best Italian beef in the world and have followed this business from Wells and Van Buren in the financial district of the Loop to Hinsdale to now on Michigan Avenue. Just a great place that has gotten more modern, bigger and busier. Love it!

The first time I ate here, I got pizza to go, so I didn’t necessarily want to leave a review on that. I got a slice of supreme and it was pretty damn good. That was like a week ago. BUT… I went back yesterday, got a sub, and dined in, so I feel a little more qualified to talk about them. I ordered the roasted turkey sub, which was… Okay. It wasn’t absolutely delicious, but it wasn’t terrible. It was a tasty sandwich at most, but I’ve had much better. Like I said, I dined in and honestly, the place is kinda small, so I didn’t feel like it was necessarily a comfortable lunch environment (which is what I was there for). It served its purpose as a nearby lunch location for my classmates and I.

I absolutely love Fontana’s! I was there the last two days for lunch and it was great. I had a sandwich yesterday and it was well done. Today I had deep dish pizza and it was surprisingly delicious. I wouldn’t of expected great pizza from a sandwich place. But that’s what I got. Great job!

I’m a regular at Fontano’s subs and I’m a big fan of their food. It’s good, fresh and the price is right. Today I purchased a small soup and 4″ sub special which normally goes for $ 6.50. I ordered an Italian special and a chili. But upon checking my bank statement, I was charged $ 11.00 dollars for whatever reason. I no longer have the receipt otherwise I’d go and inquire as to why the charge was so much, so maybe it’s my fault for not checking it on the spot. Needless to say they’ve lost a regular customer over this discrepancy.

Good sandwich find. I got the Wise Guy, great selection of meats. Was definitely very full. Bread wasn’t special but this place definitely seems know for their meats. Recommend for casual sandwich lovers.

Favorite sandwich joint in downtown. I am writing this review and then going there for lunch. Where else can I get an Italian sub and a slice of pizza for my side? Nowhere in the loop!

Great place with a good location, right on Michigan Avenue. Had a meatball sub and enjoyed it a lot.

I used to love this place because you could find Italian deli meats that many other sandwich shops don’t carry. It’s a little farther from my office than other places, but it used to always be worth the trip. Twice now, though, they have been out of prosciutto. I went early in both cases to avoid the usual long lines at lunchtime. My experience went like this:
There was nobody in line before me. I went to the counter and asked for an 8″ prosciutto and provolone. The woman went over to talk to two other employees, then went to the backroom for quite some time, then a man came over and said they were out of it. I ended up waiting 10 minutes for turkey and Swiss, which I could have gotten next door to my office.
What I find odd, however, is that their «wise guy» sandwich and some others also have prosciutto in them too. The guy who arrived behind me in line ordered one, and they didn’t mention anything about not having all the ingredients. I don’t know if they just left it out, or magically found some for him. I don’t know if I’m going to bother seeing if there’s a third strike.

This is a great lunch spot that offers sandwiches and salads, but I personally go there for the pizza. It’s fantastic. The thin crust is very good but treat yourself to the deep-​dish. Service is super friendly and you get a good value for your money. Highly recommended.

I liked the service here, the food was good, and the price was right.
What I didn’t like was the location of the bathroom. In the next building, down tube stairs, and asking for trouble. Do not go along!

Come on Unilocalers! This is by no means a solid 4-​star sandwich shop! Slice of cheese pizza was good, service was good and the place was clean. BUT the rest of the food we tried– two different Italian subs and the Italian roast beef were not. All were dry, the bread was dry — had to rip through it with every bite. I had high hopes for this place but was sadly let down.

Visited today at lunch time, first time we tried to come in line out the door! Great sign, didn’t want to wait, so we returned an hour later, still a long line but it moved very quick. My brother from out of town read the quick service behind the counter as rude, five stars from me! Quick, correct and cafeteria style.
I got the big AL, sub was great. Bread was on point. Bro got a beef, dry which was a rookie move (dipped is the way to go) beef was a little salty for me but he liked it.
They sell Peterson’s ice-​cream there, skip that. Will be back, will recommend!
Anyone that works in the loop this is the go to sub shop.

Very. good. pizza!!! Friendly personnel. Good prizes. Definitely recommend it. Hopefully we can come back again before we leave ;)

Split a sandwich after a long day with the spouse exploring this great city. Got here almost at closing time, took an eight inch Italian back to the hotel washed it down with delicious local sour beer– sublime! They make a good one. Can you top it, yeah but who cares, it worked well. Prices are reasonable, service was quick and friendly.

For me, I was hoping to be super impressed by Fontanos just by the great reviews I saw and high Zagat ratings posted everywhere. However, the food was just good, but mostly forgettable, lowered a star because the price didn’t really match the quality.
I tried a wide variety of items from each separate category and failed to really be impressed by any of them. The Blockbuster and Wise Guy were nice looking sandwiches but the local Italian Deli where I live makes a much better version of this sandwich for much cheaper. The pizza is nothing special at all, neither posessing a special texture nor unique flavor that would ever make me order this versus the myriad of other pizza options in the city. The meatball sandwich, italian beef, breaded eggplant, and ribeye steak were also inferior versions of these sandwhiches that you can find better versions of in other restaurants around Chicago.
This does not mean that the food wasn’t good though — just that for a pricier well-​known deli I was expecting more and didn’t experience that.

DO NOT SPEND YOUR MONEY HERE!
I initially gave this place 5 stars but after ordering breakfast today they get ZERO but that wasn’t an option. HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE FROM THE OWNER HIMSELF! What happened to treating every customer as if it were your only customer. Apparently, this man is so rich, he could care less about any of his customers as long as he is in business (or maybe not so rich since he wouldn’t give me the bread I paid for). Absolutely disgusting!
I order a breakfast omelet from here a couple times a week and eat lunch here every other day. Today I did not order the breakfast omelet, I ordered scrambled eggs and bacon and they charged me for the omelet but did not give me the slices of bread. So I asked if they can just give me the bread with the order since I paid for it, and the owner, who happened to be at the register, flipped out.
Owner: This is why I don’t do special orders! Customers are always complaining!
Me: I didn’t know this was a special order. If I would have known, I wouldn’t have ordered. No one told me it was a special order. (Mind you, an order of eggs, with onion, jalepeno and tomatoes, which is way less than what they put on their omelet, and a side of bacon was the «special order». And I wasn’t complaining, I just wanted what I paid for.
I then asked for a refund since he decided to take whatever personal issue out on me that he had with other customers.
Owner: NO! I don’t like you!
Me: I eat here almost everyday.
Owner: I DON’T LIKE YOU! LEAVE! DON’T EVER COME BACK, I DON’T NEED YOUR BUSINESS!
Talk about HORRIBLE customer service! And this is coming from the owner that yelled at me (a woman) in front of his child and wife. This was very unprofessional, childish and unnecessary. NO SELF CONTROL! I mean this man flipped out over two pieces of bread that I PAID FOR!
All I wanted was what I paid for and that is it. They should not offer breakfast items if it is too much of a hassle for him. They will take your money everyday but if you have one request LOOK OUT! How is this man in business???

Three things are a must try: 1.) hand-​dipped italian beef sub w/​prov cheese and hot peppers!
2.) Meatball Sub w/​cheese
3.) Meatball Ravioli!
–I’ve filled out my club card of 20 subs twice already! Especially good choice for a work lunch break

This review is based on my experience of ordering pizza for delivery.
From the time of placing of the order and to the delivery time (which was very close to the scheduled time) fantastic customer service!
We had ordered two 20″ pizzas — one cheese only and one ½ pepperoni and ½ sausage — fantastic. The pizzas were not greasy — just delicious.
I would highly recommend Fontano’s for their pizzas.

Great place to walk to from my office. Get a little stroll in before eating one of these great subs. I like the new setup they have and it’s sort of like a Italian cafeteria. They have food for every part of the day, from breakfast to salads, to hot and cold sandwiches. Even have slices of what looks like NY style pizza, god I hope so. Have to go back and try it out.
As for today, just got Wise Guy with so peppers. Rolls are fresh, meat was cold and very tasty. Sandwich could have used maybe a little more seasoning of S&P, but that’s just my preference. I got there around 11:30 and there was already a line almost out the door, but other than the person in front of me that had no clue what she was doing, the line moved pretty quick. By 12:15 the line was out the door.
A lot more tables and chairs inside, and there is even an good size outdoor patio. Worse case on a nice day cross over MIchigan ave and eat on a park bench, but bring plenty of napkins cause depending on what toppings you added they can get messy.
Overheard some sort of special, with a sandwich, drink, small bag of chips, and a cookie, but really wasn’t paying that much attention, cause I was drooling waiting in line to eat.
One of the better subs in the city, my go to is still Jersey Mike’s, being I am a Jersey kid, but I would rank this right behind at #2.

I know its cliché to say that everything here is good, but everything I’ve had here is good. Honestly, I have not eaten the entire menu. I come here for the subs, I will walk when there are dozens of others sub places closer.
Try one of the subs! You won’t regret it!