Potbelly Sandwich Shop

I ordered a bacon, egg and cheese square. I wanted mushrooms added to it, to which the woman behind the counter rolled her eyes at me. After waiting an incredibly long amount of time and paying 60 cents extra for the mushrooms, I received only 3, yes 3 mushrooms on my sandwich. Ridiculous!

Fast, tasty… and with live music, which is a great addition to an already great sandwich! Staff is friendly and we had the chance of listening to Wallace Loithian on a Saturday lunchtime!

There are few places in the world where you can get a relatively good sandwich for under $ 5 in less than 5 minutes. So the fact that I can come in, order a hot TKY or Mushroom Melt, get extra pickles, and check out in less than five minutes for under $ 5, this makes this a great pit-​stop.
Plus this one sometimes has live music! And I’ve enjoyed that too.

My wife and i eat here all the time
The staff today was extraordinarily great
Everyone was working together to get all the customers what they needed
Also they now offer Mac n Cheese!!!

I went there a few days ago. The female staffs were all so nice and the sandwich they made was pretty delicious. But this morning, some male staffs were a bit cold. The ridiculous part was that one guy offered me a cup of water and take my tray away which I found nice. But right after that, at the same time I was leaving, that guy laughed hard with another co-​workers! I think they were making fun of me… What did I do? Because I’m a foreigner without PERFECT English ability? I am a customer!!! If you had something to laugh about, do it in the backyard!!!

CATERING DISASTER. I called four days in advance to order 9 box lunches with an 11:30 delivery. I called the day before to confirm. Both times, I should have picked up the cues this group could not have cared less. But obviously they could care less. They didn’t START my order until I called to find out where it was. It arrived 45 minutes late via bike. I’m not opposed to the bike but the order was too large and everything was CRUSHED into the saddle bags. Stay away. Go hungry. Just don’t give this place your money.

I like coming here because it is close to my work but their sandwiches are so inconsistent. One employee puts too much mayo the other puts none. I guess I’ll start requesting my favorite employees to make me sandwich so I know it will be decent. However I don’t blame the employees for this, this is a management issue. The manager should step up and make sure every employee is making the order the correct way.

Yummy yummy egg-​bacon breakfast sandwiches, good robust coffee, friendly staff, we will be back!

Wow. The sandwiches here are great! I had the Italian sandwich. It was super yummy. The bread was amazing. They toasted it perfectly. We don’t have one these at home, I sure wish we did though. Little tip, if you’re a customer go to the cashier first to get a code for the bathrooms.

There could either be more staff here or the staff could be more attentive. We waited at the register (since we only wanted a shake) for 1 minute before anyone came over to help us. They asked, «Did you want a sandwich?» However, on busy weekdays during lunch rush period, there is someone who goes around asking for your order so you can get through the line faster.
The sandwich (A Wreck) I had here was yummy. Nicely heated and crunchy bread, tasted good. The San Pelligrino I got from the fridge was cold. Yum! The vanilla shake I had here was thick and cold and very tasty. The straws are pretty fragile, though, as I made a hole in my straw after trying to stir around the thick shake. I’m glad they gave me another straw. So nice of them!
Facilities seem clean (tables were clean) and I didn’t visit the restroom because I had to ask for a key from the desk which seemed inconvenient as I was leaving, anyway. The condiments table is well-​stocked. A key is probably necessary for the restrooms because it’s in a tourist-​heavy area so people probably come in just to use the restroom and get it dirty and such. Yay!

I decided to dine here this past Saturday night and was met with some less than stellar service. There was only two people working and it was pretty slow considering it was close to 9pm. First off, the layout of the restaurant isn’t that great. When you first walk in and approach the counter, it is the cash register you first see, and this is where the line/​process ends, and one must go to the other end of the counter to actually place their order. There is a long chain that runs the entire length of the counter to keep the line separate. However, there is no opening at the end of the chain where you must go to place your order. I made the mistake of approaching the cash register side of the counter to place my order and I was promptly yelled at by the guy working that I need to come all the way down to the other end to place my order. He was quite rude and took on the assumption that every customer should be familiar with the layout and how things work. From reading all the past reviews, I can tell that bad service has pretty much been the norm here. The guy that served me acted in such a way that I literally felt like reaching over the counter and punching him in the face.

Utterly incompetent employees. Place was dead and it still took over 10 mins to get a sandwich.
The line here makes no sense. Not sure what architectural genius thought it up but it makes no sense whatsoever.

Food — decent, not the best PotbellyI’ve ever had
Service — very rude compared to your average Potbelly, felt more like a crappy Subway
Speed — decent
Find another Potbelly if you can, but it will do the job if you need a fix.

Thinking I had dodged the bullet of the lunchtime rush, I came here today around 2:00 pm for lunch. This is not my regular Potbelly but I decided to stop in as it was convenient to where I was running errands and needed fortification before carrying on with the rest of my rounds. I felt my experience here was not reflective of the consistently high level of service and quality I’ve enjoyed at other Potbellys– the State St and Pedway locations come to mind. I will say that the woman preparing my sandwich and the cashier were both perfectly fine. Before I could get to that stage, though, I had to deal with the guy who was taking orders. First I had to repeat my order of a side soup. This was not a big deal, but slightly miffed me. In fact, I wasn’t sure what role he filled, as someone else prepared the sandwich to my specifications. I guess it was a survival of the fittest scenario, to weed out all but the hardiest customers. I had a really bad taste in my mouth– pun not intended– when I asked him where the cups were for fountain drinks. His rejoinder was to ask me if I had ever been to a Potbelly before. I held my tongue, as I was tempted to respond by stating that I had, but never to one as disorganized in the ordering line and unfriendly as this one.
That incident aside, the rest of the experience was fine. It was hard to get past the setup here. It seemed like the tables were cheek-​by-​jowl, and there seemed to be quite a few Loyola students camped out, to the extent that this place could make a fortune by charging rent on the tables. I finally snagged a seat at a table sandwiched between two others. To my left was a woman with a laptop, side order of chili, and sandwich all balanced precariously on the tabletop. It made me nervous just looking at her! It was also weird that there was not a counter-​style setup, just the individual tables in the most awkward configurations imaginable. Walking by this location of Potbelly in the past, I’d always filed it away as a convenient spot for when I’m in the area. After my experience here today, I now know better and will save myself the aggravation and walk a couple of blocks to a more customer-​focused and better feng shuied outpost of this chain.

Very fun to have live music during lunch on a Sunday!
I had a salad which was very fresh and definitely a decent portion size. It had plenty of toppings and the only negative was that they did not advertise the blue cheese they put on it, but they were happy to make me a new salad without blue cheese when I asked. If ever in Chicago again, we would definitely stop in and hope that the same wonderful musician was playing!

This Potbelly is the pits. The expectation for their staff must be mediocrity since that is all they offer. Super slow, not really friendly, and frequently prepare food incorrectly. I wouldn’t go there if it wasn’t close to where I work…

Normally I would not review a restaurant like Potbelly on Unilocal but my experience at this location was just so disappointing and uncharacteristic of the store that it had to be documented. I will note that I used to work at Potbelly in my undergrad days so I have higher expectations of the place. Even so, I think this location fell far below the expectations of one working at Subway.
We went to eat here at about 1:30 pm. It was slightly busy. There was a line and only one poor worker at the first station where they take your order and put together the bread, meat, and cheese. Standing behind her was the manager. Just standing. Line continues to grow. Girl keeps trying to take orders and falls behind. People leave the line tired of waiting. Manager continues to stand. Just stand. Not step in and help her out. Way to manage!
The place was also filthy. Tables covered in crumbs and bits of lettuce and napkins scattered on the floor. Now I understand that when it is busy it is hard to keep up on wiping the tables, clearing the garbage, etc. However, there was plenty of staff there (not to mention the manager in charge of «standing») and the line had already died down. Not to mention the manager who could’ve stepped in to pick up while the other workers helped customers. Why didn’t he you ask? Well at this point he was busy. Holding the door open. Not greeting customers as they entered or thanking them as they left. Just standing. Holding the door open. He did this for a good 5 minutes. Seriously buddy what are you doing?!?
Obviously the main issues with our experience were with the manager. It is just very sad because Potbelly workers and managers go above and beyond to help you and are very friendly. Just the other day my husband ordered delivery from the Potbelly in our neighborhood and at the end of the day the manager called him just to see if he was pleased with his order. This is the exceptional service Potbelly is known for. As for this location, it really needs some work. And not in the «standing» department.

Pot Belly Really Skimps on the veggies… and it’s pretty normal for them to give you a ‘tude when you ask for extra lettuce. But all in all it’s quick and it’s potbelly.

Great place to grab a quick and healthy bite before heading out into the great Miracle Mile /​DT Chicago.
I saw Potbelly started out as a mom n pop sandwich shop that grew big. It still tries to retain that local /​small feel by inviting musicians in to play in their front.
We missed out on bfast (ends at 11AM), so we grabbed 2 sammies:
x Skinny T-​K-​Y — skinny turkey on multi-​grain bread $ 4
x A Wreck — salami, roast beef, ham and swiss cheese
Both were delicious, but if I were to order again I’d get A WRECK.
It’s got some delicious chili peppers in there and a very good sauce (duno what it is).
Each item on the menu has the caloric count. Their «skinny» menu basically has sammies with less bread (less cals).
The only downside was having to repeat my order 3 times. They do not have a very efficient system set up where employees know what your order is from beginning to end.

For real, Potbelly is the shit.
Doing some morning shopping on Michigan — I realized I was running short on time and had to hustle back to the hotel before heading out to Wrigley. Fack — I didn’t eat want to eat lunch at a ballpark. Lo and behold — the seas parted and I stumble across a Potbelly on my way back to the hotel.
Pop in — ordered a Big Wreck (Salami, roast beef, turkey & ham with Swiss cheese) with *everything*. Half-​trot back to the hotel and I realized my crew was ready to leave. I take my Potbelly sandwich, stuff it into my jacket pocket (the sandwich isn’t small — I just have huge pockets… so my knots can fit) and hop into the cab.
We were in a van cab — 5 of my cohorts were surrounding me as we were stuck in traffic. My sandwich growled. I was damned hungry and I didn’t want to make a mess in the cab. But the traffic got even worse.
Fuck it — I pull out my sandwich. HOLY FUCK! The paper bag is near transparent from all the sandwich grease. I check my jacket to make sure I didn’t get sandwich dippings on clothes. Shit — grease stain my shirt.
But fuck it — I absolutely devour the fucking thing on the cab ride over. With all my friends jealously looking on as I eat my delicious sandwich, making animalistic grunts and spilling the ‘everything’ contents on my fingers and face.
That was a damned delicious sandwich. My friend half-​heartedly asked me, «How was it?» I’m in too much sandwich bliss to answer. Cab driver offers me a paper towel. I give him a healthy tip.
In a haze, I stumble into Wrigley and manage to get a beer and find my seat. My friends are eating ballpark food as I drift off in my bleacher seat, beer in hand, Potbelly in my potbelly and in sammich euphoria.
Potbelly: please come to Canada.