Portillo’s Hot Dogs

One of my favorite places to eat at and I do think this location is great. Its gets crowded but if your coming for a work lunch you may want to come a bit earlier than noon.
Clean location, nice staff, and big dining area. The drive-​thru gets a bit hectic but they have enough help outside to keep the line moving fairly quick.
No complaints except I wish they had more locations in Chicago!

Really iconic place that is affordable for people to visit and get the ideal Chicago dishes.
Just moved to Chicago, so on our visits checking out housing, we dropped in. Been to Portillo’s twice, with this location being my first visit. Snagged the Italian Beef on a Croissant, which was a bit underwhelming. The Croissant was good, especially for a chain restaurant. The meat was the more disappointing, or rather, overhyped factor. My wife bought the Maxwell Polish and really recommended it. Ended things with an Éclair cake, which got mixed reviews from my wife and I. I thought it was okay, but the chocolate was a bit overbearing and thick — which my wife thought was awesome.
The second visit (different location), I went with my wife’s recommendation of the Maxwell Polish, and although the onion cut (carmelized) was a bit large at the other location, I was impressed. I have found my on-​the-​go food here in Chicago! And going with a different dessert this time, we tried the Chocolate Cake Shake (recommended by another Carolyn T. on this review thread, thank you!) and I was SO pleasantly surprised! Very yummy. Lots of cake in there! The large is quite large, so just to anticipate well. I thought I might get sick of how much cake was in it, but I wasn’t and it actually got better as the cake got a bit soggy (weird, I know).
Definitely worth the visit! Enjoy!
Ambiance: Classic Retro-​Diner, clean. Bathrooms were a bit untidy, but nbd.
Service: Fairly quick. I was a bit confused how the line worked, but it’s fairly intuitive. Order, then hang a left and wait in line while your order is being prepared. It was late lunchtime, so one of us grabbed a table while the other waited for the food. Pretty busy place (~10 orders in front of us in line).

A Panhandler met me INSIDE the restaurant asking for some change. After placing my order he again hit me up for change. This all happened INSIDE the restaurant!
Food is good and I come here often. But I’ll choose a different business until they have this problem fixed.

Great atmosphere but a little to fast pace for me at dinner. Food was good. To many choices for my mind when new to place. Sure it’s a locals favorite.

Best hot dogs we have ever encountered! We got the Chicago-​style hot dog that was so incredibly delicious. Each hot dog came with a full size pickle, too, mm-​Mm. We are already thinking about the next time we can make it back here!

Ohmigod. This place brings hot dogs to a-​whole-​nother level!!! I ordered a chilly dog, and it blew my mind. Finished it, took a bite of my husband’s Polish dog, and found myself in line for a second one… It was THAT good. Mmm.

Sat in car for 30 minutes. They brought the food to the car but still had to sit in drive through. Big mistake. Horrible.

Awesome awesome. Was, in Chicago for work trip. Never been to Chicago. Awesome experience. My co-​worker is from Chicago and wanted to get his italian beef sandwich fix. So he took us to his spot portillo’s. Atmosphere is awesome. Ordering went quick. The best damn sandwich I ever had. Soaked in juice and with sweet peppers you can’t go wrong. Fresh hot fries to top it off and you’re in heaven. Wish there was was in Portland! Actually no or else I would die of a heart attack. Two thumbs up! Must try!

My lacrosse team ordered food from here on one of our travel trips about a month ago. Our coach didn’t tell us much about the place while she was taking our orders from the bus except that they served hotdogs and hamburgers. Me not knowing that this place is famous for its hotdogs ordered a hamburger. My oh my, what a tasty hamburger! The hamburger was a bit over well done but despite the slight burnt outside flavor, it tasted like a real hamburger. The size was great and the flavors on point. If I ever come back to Chicago, I will definitely be having another burger and a hotdog!

Maybe this was an off night but this was one of the worst beef sandwiches I’ve had. I never get my sandwich dipped and the bun is always wet and perfectly soggy. This sandwich was very dry — just awful. Now I’m sorry I got the big beef cuz now what do I do with the other ½ sandwich?

Everyone that has Portillo’s loves them but I think you could find similar food at other places and be just as satisfied.

One of my favorite pit stops in Chicago.
Baby Back Ribs — If you order the full slab meal, it comes with a stick of garlic bread, cole slaw, and your choice of baked potato or French fries. The meat is fall-​off-​the-​bone tender, and the barbecue sauce is phenomenal (think sweet and tangy).
Italian Beef — I love to add sweet peppers and to dip my Italian beef. If you’ve never tried Italian beef, get it from this place.
Chocolate Cake Shake — There’s real cake in this shake! It’s not too sweet, and the cake added another dimension to the shake. Reminded me of a chocolate chip cookie dough shake.
Love, love, love! And yes, I did finish all this in one sitting.

I found a ticket to fly for Chicago very very cheap (really cheap) and I had never been there so I bought it without much thought.
It was one of the best experiences in my life, I loved the city, and I went to a lot of places, but I was expecting look something about the gangsters and Al Capone, and this kind of stuffs. I had lost hope when my family invited me to Portillo’s.
It was awesome, I ate the traditional hot dogs of Chicago with pumpkin and carrot, was so different to the others.
I loved this place especially because I could see the fusion Italian-​American so characteristic of Chicago.

This place was the REAL DEAL! Portillo’s serves up some of the greatest hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches I’ve ever had! The first time I came here, I ordered 3 dogs and 1 beef sandwich. The roast beef was great and sauteed to the fullest! I’m salivating right now because I have to reiterate… this was hands down THE BEST beef sandwich I have ever had! This is the place to come to if you want that illustrious Chicago Dog that everyone talks about.
Their dedication to serving the best food and the best service available will make it worth your visit. Portillo’s has won so many Silver Platter Awards (the «Oscars» of the food industry) that the company went into hiatus for five years to give other restaurants a chance.
How crazy is that?

I only like the beefs you buy here by the pound and take home to prepare for your family. They’re premade beefs that they sell aren’t good, they’re greasy and gross. I love the prepare at home kind. 1lb gives us 4 – 5 sandwhiches. We can eat them at our leisure. We season them to our liking as well. We don’t always purchase their french bread because it’s a little pricey. We also have the hot peppers at home already, but they sell them too.

I am a big fan of Portillo’s! They have by far the BEST Italian beef. Hands down. I always order mine dry with hot peppers! Their cheeseburger is also one of the best I’ve had. Another great item here are their fries. I can’t have enough of them!
There’s plenty of sitting here so you can come in with a big group and find some seats. Like any other Portillo’s, their drive thru line is long.
Oh and they offer free refills on iced tea! Yeah!

Nothing beats a good run to Portillo’s. I usually get the Italian beef, dipped (of course) with hot peppers, a side of cheesy fries and either a chocolate malt or the classic cake shake. Everything thing here is worth trying at least once, though the high caloric contact may send the best of us to an early grave… because everything is oh-​so heavenly.
I don’t know what it is about the perfect combination of grease, stock, and seasonings, but I have never had a negative experience here with the sandwiches. I definitely prefer the sandwich with peppers, sweet and hot, for that added crunch. It does a body good to cool down from all that heat with a creamy shake.
Now, for those of you who haven’t had a strawberry shortcake here… definitely consider it. The portion is huge, but I imagine most won’t have a hard time finishing the creamy goodness. It’s light and airy, deceiving in the amount of sugar, but definitely holds its weight in cream.
The service is relatively fast, though I do think it gets a bit more backed up than most Portillo’s I’ve been to, perhaps because of the drive-​through lines? Not sure, but other than standard service, I haven’t really experienced anything out of the ordinary.
Tasty food, average price, fantastic desserts. I never miss a chance to eat at Portillo’s, despite the heavy calorie intake.

I usually love me some portillo’s but I was disappointed when we ordered lunch from here yesterday. I tried the beef and cheddar croissant and wasn’t impressed. I had never ordered this before so I can’t say if it was because it was this particular sandwich or the recipe that was bad. Either way, they might want to rename is the beef and grease sandwich because that’s what it was. The beef itself was good but there was barely any cheese on there and it was just dripping in grease. I had to rip the greasy pieces off and try and salvage the rest. Nasty.

I love me a good Portillo’s hotdog. It’s dangerously close to where I work and where I often partake in mid-​week drinks across the street (at McGaffers). There’s always a long, long line of people here, especially around 5:30−6 when people are leaving work, are ready for dinner, and having a hotdog craving. I know that feel.
So, let’s see here. The go-​to is definitely the hotdogs (no ketchup, obviously). I dare you to just get one. I’ve also had the chocolate cake, which is deliciously decadent even though it’s fairly simple as far as chocolate cakes go. It wasn’t until recently, actually, that I finally tried the chocolate cake shake. Oh, good lord. Order this. I can’t believe it’s taken this many years of coming to ’tillos to try this bad boy. It’s so good it’s a problem for my desire to eat healthily.
I’ll end this with a fun personal anecdote. My mom actually almost went into labor when she was in the aforementioned line at Portillo’s 25 or so years ago. So, this particular Portillo’s is part of our family history. Pretty cool, huh? My mom continues to crave Portillo’s and I guess it runs in the family!

I’ve only ever been to two Portillo’s locations: this one and the original in River North. I know this is a chain and I know the food isn’t gourmet/​out of this world, but I really love it. I go nuts over this place! I have my regular order here and I pretty much never deviate because I know what I like. My order: halibut sandwich with a small order of fries.
I recently saw the chocolate cake shake on a list of iconic Chicago drinks, so of course we ordered a large when we came here last week. The shake was MASSIVE and I have to admit that my boyfriend ended up eating pretty much the entire thing. But I did enjoy it in all it’s thick and chocolatey goodness. I can see why it’s considered such a famous shake in Chicago! I don’t know how anyone can drink a massive large, though, but I guess my boyfriend proved to me that it’s entirely possible.
The décor here is kitschy 50’s. It feels like a classic diner, complete with red booths. Or food came out quickly, as usual. I devoured my fish fillet sandwich and fries. I’ve noted that the fries are maybe slightly saltier than I would normally prefer, but they’re still fantastic and crinkle cut and exactly what I want in fries. I don’t come here as often as I would like because it’s admittedly not the healthiest cuisine. But, it’s a real treat to come here and, seriously, five stars of goodness. If I ever move out of Chicago, I’m going to sorely miss Portillo’s!