Dear Franks of Glenview

The food good is good, but way over priced. 11.06 for two hot dogs and drink and a side of cheese! The owners are rude, but what saves the place the is the old Spanish couple that work most of the time. This not a way to run a business!

Went here for lunch while working in the area. Nice little place in a strip mall off Willow.
I had the Philly Cheesesteak, freakin delicious! Meat was perfectly cooked, cheese melts, the peppers & onions were nice and tender. The flavors were spot on too. Fries were delicious and fresh, they also give a pretty hefty serving of em.
Why a 3 then? The sandwich wasn’t exactly filling, mostly bread, inside deliciousness was lacking. Paying $ 13 for a sandwich, fries and a drink, I was kinda expecting something more substantial out of the sandwich…
The other guys from work ordered other stuff, cheeseburger combo and a hotdog combo. Both those looked like they were loaded up… So it might just be the way they make the Phillies?
Other than that little thing, the place looks nice, clean and open too. Plenty of space in back for seating groups if that’s whatcha need.

Fabulous, hard working folks behind the counter. Clean atmosphere and met all expectations. Chili dog was exactly what doc ordered for a cool, rainy day with fries that tasted like they were cooked in clean oil. Co worker had a burger he loved and his side salad kept the smile moving forward. Not one thing stood out as perfect but the collective effort of value, service, cleanliness, and quality makes it an easy choice to give a second go around.

Dear Frank (s),
Literally just walked into this place for the first time since I was craving an Italian beef and it was near where I’m going. After reading a few of the reviews, I thought it would be worth giving it a go.
I spent about $ 13.00 for an Italian beef, fries, and a bottle of water which is pretty expensive for comfort food but I thought maybe the quality would warrant it.
I took my food to go and can’t even eat the Italian beef. Every single bite I’ve taken, I feel like I’m going to choke because each piece of beef is lined with fat. Literally, each piece is lined with big, white, unchewable fat.
Stay clear from Franks and if you are in dire straights, eat at the Walgreens or Jimmy Johns next door.

I love Dear Franks. It used to be U Dawg U back in the day, and I loved U Dawg U, but I’m just glad that someone amazing is in this location. I don’t live in Chicago but every time I come in to visit I make sure my stop on the way out is Dear Franks. Amazing Vienna beef hot dogs and unbelievable Italian beef! Give them a try!

The staff is very friendly. When we ordered we were having a hard time deciding on cheese for our fries, but the cashier was patient with us. Much appreciated since my family is so indecisive.
The veggie burger was good, but nothing out of the ordinary. The fries were delicious though and for three of us sharing two bags was sufficient. My mom had the Chicago dog, which she said was your typical hot dog. Good, but nothing special.
The atmosphere was ehh. It was really dark inside with weird lighting. Luckily for us it was a beautiful day out, so we sat on the patio.

The food here used to be much better. I find that the staff is not very enthusiastic and the food has gone downhill. The inside of the restaurant used to be decorated nicely, and now, there is a half empty fish tank in the back room.

I love coming here on occasion for lunch to get a French fry fix. I always get the single hot dog special and while the hot dog is good, it doesn’t stand out as extraordinary, but those fries. I think they’re great. Pieces of potato skin on them and just a huge portion. I add salt and always say to myself that I won’t eat them all but I almost always do. Too good to throw away.

We opened a new salon a few doors down and they were immediately welcoming to us, and gave us our first meal free, from then on we have ate there multiple times a week, everything is fresh and delicious and I literally haven’t oerdered even one thing there that i do not like. Love this place!

I LOVE DEAR FRANKS! They have really good Italian Beef Sandwiches and really good Italian Sausage too!

I bring my kids here all the time… two burgers, one order of fries and two drinks for $ 14 is a pretty good deal. For $ 1.89 they give you a huge bag of french fries that will feed 2 – 3 easily. The interior is somewhat dated but we don’t really care since we carry out every time. Both the man and woman working are always very nice. This comes down to a tasty but cheap meal, so I’m not going to be very picky.

Prices are way steep and so not justified, there is nothing special about this place. They make up for low quality with humongous portions. I’ll take a smaller tastier bag of perfectly cooked crispy fries than 1.5 lb pound package of greasy wilty frozen fries anytime. Stale buns and probably the cheapest ketchup in a bottle I have ever tasted (so much sugar to cover up low quality) Skip this place for sure.

Good enough
For a fast food joint.
Not as busy as years ago.
My kids always get the hot dogs n I get a cheeseburger.
Not cheap thou but fresh.

The cheap geezer (don’t you like this onomatopoeia?) arrived at Dear Franks today accompanied by a two-​fer and his wife for lunch. Oops, I meant that I was accompanied by my wife: I am not a cannibal, but I did bring a two-​fer.
We had not been at Dear Franks for at least six months, and when we came into the place, some changes had occurred:
1. They used to have two soda dispensers. Now they have only one. We pop snobs (akin to wine snobs) tend to notice such shortcomings.
2. The place used to be the Art Institute of kitschy Chicago sports art, festooned with photos, prints, posters, etc. of local sports legends, facilities, and miscellaneous pictures. The walls were completely bare, although I noticed that all of the old masters’ works were stored in piles on the floor and on a couple of tables. So, maybe they were redecorating — or were getting ready to donate these masterpieces to a snooty art museum.
3. They used to have two TVs playing sports programs in the back room. Now there is only one.
We did not experience any rudeness by the counter people, and our orders were filled promptly. The old man had a chicken sandwich on a pita bun, and the old girl had an Italian beef (not Italian barf) on Italian bread. Her meal undoubtedly helped her day go by nicely, as she was completely filled. In fact, Mrs. B actually could not eat everything, and we made a genuine doggie bag with a few slices of leftovers for her pet. (When we arrived home, the dog inhaled the entire contents down its craw in 4.2 seconds — a new world record!)
Dear Franks’ prices are about 25% higher than most other local sandwich/​hot dog spots, and the quality of their offerings are not substantially better than other outlets; although their French fry servings are bigger than most.
So, I give Dear Franks an average rating overall. The dog may write a separate opinion.

See what happens when the Elite write justifiably positive reviews!!! Now my TK’s Smokepit was so packed today for lunch that my buddy and I didn’t have time to wait it out…
So I had a couple char dogs this afternoon instead. I used to come in here once in a while back in high school… and man I don’t know how I could have possibly afforded to unless the prices have been inflated drastically since 1998.
9 bucks and some change for 2 dogs, a fry and a drink. That’s a bit steep. Why do I think it’s somehow cheaper to drive all the way down to Gene and Judes? It’s definitely not, but Cookers in Deerfield is comparable to Dear Franks but Cookers has a 2 dog special with fries for $ 5,49…no drink but don’t need the liquid calories anyway.
Getting to the heart of the matter though, the food. The dogs were satisfyingly good, Vienna Beef, charred perfectly, fresh ingredients… no qualms really on the food. I give Dear Franks a solid 2.5 stars but unless the prices come down a bit there’s no way I could consider this a go-​to destination.
My apologies ahead of time to Jay K. b/​c I know how much he loves the «free fry/​combo meal» concept that a lot of these hot dog joints are doing these days :)

This is the closest hot dog joint near my parents’ home in Glenview. I live in NYC now and look forward to getting a Chicago hot dog whenever I go home.
The hot dog is excellent. They put a lot of care in putting the hot dog together — not sloppily like other hot dog joints.
The single order of french fries is MASSIVE. You can easily share with another person.